The Florida Public Service Commission held the first of a series of hearings Thursday into how much utilities can potentially charge their customers to repair storm-damaged electrical infrastructure.
Thursday’s hearing was an organizational one to set the stage for the main hearings Sept. 14-17. Each utility and the commission’s staff can call witnesses and offer testimony during the hearings.
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The Florida Board of Education (BOE) voted Wednesday to require restrooms in private K-12 schools and state colleges to be used on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
The new rule requires all institutions within the Florida College System to alert the Florida BOE if their bathrooms and locker rooms within instructional spaces and dormitories are separated on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. If violations of the policy are reported, institutions must have an investigation process that determines disciplinary actions, such as termination, under the rule.
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The state of Florida says a record number of students are either participating or have applied to the state’s two school choice scholarship programs.
In a news release, Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that almost 430,000 scholarship applications had been received for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship programs.
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Despite incorrectly predicting a mild recession for the first two quarters this year, Florida officials estimate that the state’s economy and tax revenues will continue to grow.
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research held a Revenue Estimating Conference last week, with officials saying that the “current economic environment presented significant forecasting challenges.”
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Despite incorrectly predicting a mild recession for the first two quarters this year, Florida officials estimate that the state’s economy and tax revenues will continue to grow.
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research held a Revenue Estimating Conference last week, with officials saying that the “current economic environment presented significant forecasting challenges.”
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A small public Florida college has rapidly transformed under Governor Ron DeSantis-appointed trustee board, as liberal faculty have resigned in large numbers, a gender studies major is slated for demolition and admissions numbers rise.
Conservative activist and journalist Christopher Rufo, who serves as a trustee of the New College of Florida, motioned at the latest board meeting to begin to dissolve the gender studies program.
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Florida has become the first state to sanction Medicaid providers for covering the attempted gender transitions of minors.
The state is fining five Medicaid health care insurers for violating Florida’s new rule banning taxpayer funds from going to transgender treatments, such as performing a double mastectomy or administering puberty blockers, Jason Weida, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.
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A federal judge ruled not to block the new Florida law that restricts Chinese nationals and some nationals from other countries from purchasing land in the state
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor on Thursday denied an injunction requested by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was representing four Chinese citizens and a real estate firm that wanted the law overturned.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ travel and security costs have cost state taxpayers over $8 million to Florida taxpayers over the past year as he tours the United States for his campaign to win the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
Over the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which in Florida is from July 1 to June 30 of the following, DeSantis’ travel and security expenses cost $8,073,607, according to data from the state Department of Law Enforcement cited by The Miami Herald in an article Wednesday.
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The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) ordered a clinic Monday to pay nearly $200,000 in fees for violating a rule preventing women from receiving an abortion within 24 hours of requesting the procedure, according to a final order.
The rule, which lawmakers passed in 2015 and instated in April 2022, mandates that women must receive an ultrasound as well as a full explanation of the risks posed by abortion at least 24 hours before the procedure takes place, the Orlando Weekly reported. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the rule in June 2015, and the legal move prevented the bill from taking effect until Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed the suit in 2022, according to The Associated Press.
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Florida officials project that taxpayer-funded student aid will increase in coming years as more students graduate from high school in the Sunshine State.
The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research’s Education Estimating Conference was held on Friday to discuss projections for various scholarship programs for Florida college students in fiscal 2023-24 to fiscal 2028-29.
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Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector continue to apprehend foreign nationals with criminal records who are already inland, living in Florida towns.
Miami Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said that agents working with law enforcement officers in Fort Pierce apprehended a Honduran national illegally in the U.S. The Honduran was in possession of firearms, miscellaneous drugs and U.S. currency. He was apprehended during a traffic stop.
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The New College of Florida (NCF) board of trustees voted Thursday to direct the administration of the institution to abolish its gender studies program, according to Chris Rufo, a member of the board.
In January, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed six new conservative members to the NCF board of trustees in an effort to overhaul the ideological education system. Since being appointed, the board has voted to eliminate the college’s diversity, equity and inclusion office (DEI) and ban the use of diversity statements.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended a prosecutor on Wednesday for not doing enough to prosecute crimes in her district.
In an executive order issued Wednesday, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell of the 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties, and replaced her with Andrew Bain, who served as a judge in Orange County.
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The Florida Board of Governors is expected to vote at the end of August on whether to offer the Classical Learning Test (CLT) along with the SAT and ACT for public college admissions, a move that would make the Sunshine State the first in the nation to offer a test based specifically on the foundations of Western civilization and a “back to basics” education model.
A committee of the board of governors already met in June and approved the CLT as an option for the 12 schools in the State University System, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time. After a two-week public comment period, the full board of governors will take its final vote August 30.
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In a major shakeup weeks in the making, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign announced Tuesday it had replaced its campaign manager amid low polling in the 2024 GOP primary.
DeSantis’ gubernatorial chief of staff James Uthmeier replaced campaign manager Generra Peck, DeSantis’ team confirmed to The Hill.
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Florida officials predict that contributions to the state’s education system from the state lottery will decrease this fiscal year by $270 million.
Officials at the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research forecast that Florida Lottery and other sources such as slot machines will transfer $3.12 billion to the various education trust funds, which includes $560 million left over from the previous fiscal year.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have agreed to participate in a debate hosted by Sean Hannity on Fox News, pitting two younger, Generation X governors seen as standard bearers of their respective parties against each other for 90 minutes.
First discussed between Newsom and Hannity when Newsom was interviewed by Hannity in June, the proposal was made into an official request by Newsom’s office last week, according to Politico, with suggested dates for November 8 or 10.
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The Florida Department of Education (DOE) is rejecting the College Board’s claim that its Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course was banned from the state’s public school classes, according to a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The College Board, an academic organization that administers and writes high school courses for college credit, claimed on Thursday that the Florida DOE had “effectively banned” its AP Psychology course because they cannot modify the course to comply with the state’s guidance prohibiting age-inappropriate lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in Pre-K-12 classrooms. The Florida DOE clarified that it has not banned the course from its state’s schools and that the class still remains listed in the 2023-2024 course directory, according to a statement to the DCNF.
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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and law enforcement officials are sounding the alarm over opioid deaths occurring in the Florida panhandle.
According to newly published data, the panhandle has the highest per capita opioid death rate in the state.
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The board appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida to govern Walt Disney World Resort in Florida will abolish all in-house diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, was reconstituted by the Florida state legislature in February, which replaced the district’s existing board with DeSantis’ appointees. The board will abolish “all DEI programs” and DEI-based contractor requirements, according to a press release on its website.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his economic plan to revamp the U.S. economy at a presidential campaign event in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Monday.
He launched his “Declaration of Economic Independence” platform at a manufacturing facility with local business owners and workers suffering from 40-year high inflation, higher costs and regulatory burdens resulting from what he says are Biden administration policies.
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A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General says Florida failed to comply with state requirements for its foster care system regarding prescription drugs.
According to the report, Florida failed to comply with requirements for documenting psychotropic and opioid medications prescribed to children living in the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN), which is also a federal requirement in order to receive funding.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is laying off more than one-third of his campaign staff as he falls in 2024 presidential primary polls.
The cuts are across multiple departments and will amount to 38 positions, including the roughly 10 event planning staffers whose positions were axed earlier this month, according to Politico.
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Several teachers unions are seeing a decrease in their revenue due to a Florida law that prohibits automatic paycheck deductions, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Florida teachers unions of both public schools and universities filed a revised lawsuit and injunction against the state’s dues-deduction ban that went into effect July 1, arguing that the law has caused the organizations to suffer major revenue loss, according to the Tampa Bay Times. In June, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker declined the unions’ May injunction, arguing that granting one would “offer no redress for plaintiffs’ injuries.”
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An amended complaint was filed Friday by parents of transgender kids against the state of Florida over legislation it passed two months ago that bans sex change surgeries, trans hormones and puberty blockers for minors.
The amended complaint, filed by the Southern Legal Counsel and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation on behalf of the parents, alleges that Florida Senate Bill 254 prevents parents of transgender minors from making “necessary” medical decisions about their children’s health and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, according to the complaint. The complaint follows several past instances of groups suing the state over the legislation and seeks to enhance a preliminary injunction that was issued on the bill in June.
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Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking the state’s investment manager to consider legal action against Bud Light parent company AB InBev over recent controversial marketing tactics.
CNN obtained a letter Thursday that states DeSantis suggests that AB InBev “breached legal duties owed to its shareholders” when it decided to associate with “radical social ideologies.”
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Florida taxpayers are set to save millions of dollars after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that some of the Sunshine State’s debt had been paid down early.
A total of $400 million in state debt has been paid back through the Debt Reduction Program, designed to accelerate the payment of bonds before they mature and saving Florida taxpayers almost $34 million in interest.
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Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez says the $65 million appropriated by the Legislature will help Alzheimer’s and dementia patients with technology and resources.
Florida is home to more than 4.4 million people 65 and older, making up over 20% of the population. Because of this, Nuñez said at a news conference in Ocala on Wednesday that it has been a priority of leadership to make sure Floridians have the opportunity to live long, secure lives, and funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia will help achieve that.
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A super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president is launching a new television ad on Tuesday using an Artificial Intelligence-generated version of Donald Trump’s voice criticizing popular Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The Never Back Down PAC ad features an AI version of Trump’s voice reading a post he made on Truth Social last week attacking Reynolds.
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The Middle District of Florida United States Attorney’s Office has announced the results of an investigation into fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2020, the Middle District U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with federal, state, and local law enforcement, combined resources to form the Middle District of Florida COVID-19 Fraud Task Force to investigate and prosecute cases of fraud that happened during the pandemic.
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A judge sentenced a 26-year-old Florida resident to 18 years in federal prison for aiding a foreign terrorist organization, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari of Tampa, Florida, was under FBI investigation beginning in December of 2018 for allegedly providing support to ISIS which is recognized as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law, court documents revealed. Agents arrested Al-Azhari after he engaged with a confidential human source (CHS) who he obtained a gun and silencer from in 2020.
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A fire that broke out on Thursday morning at a wildlife center in Florida killed hundreds of animals being housed in its facilities, authorities said.
The Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg, Florida, caught fire at around 2 a.m. local time on Thursday.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis announced this week that $487 million in state funds has been awarded to Florida communities impacted by recent hurricanes.
These grants are intended to help communities with infrastructure projects, rebuilding homes and providing better protection from storm surge flooding.
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Twelve Republican-led states have joined an amicus brief in support of Florida, which is being sued in federal court over a law that bans Chinese citizens from owning land in the state.
Florida’s Senate Bill 264, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 8 and went into effect on July 1, bans all Chinese citizens who are domiciled in China from buying, inheriting or receiving land in the state, while nationals of other “countries of concern” face land ownership restrictions. After the American Civil Liberties Union sued Florida on behalf of Chinese plaintiffs, Republican-led states have rallied to Florida’s defense.
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The Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability released its 2022 report on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Florida and it says that numbers were slightly lower than in 2021.
A total of 354 youths were verified as being victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in Florida in 2022. This was slightly lower than in 2021, with 379 youth identified as victims of exploitation.
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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Monday called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking to account for how Meta is being used to facilitate human trafficking and sex exploitation.
Moody did so while announcing what she described as the “stunning” and “disturbing” findings of a statewide investigation that found that Meta platforms are being used more than any other social media platforms by human traffickers to commit crimes.
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A U.S. District court judge has blocked a Florida election law that criminalized noncitizens from collecting voter registration forms, a statute some say was aimed at Hispanic migrants and asylum seekers.
The law, which was overruled last week would have gone into effect this month, resulting in fines for as much as $50,000 against non-citizens “collecting or handling” voter registration forms.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted the best first fundraising quarter of any non-incumbent Republican candidate in over a decade, according to campaign finance data.
The DeSantis for President campaign raised $20 million in six weeks, surpassing the amount the Trump campaign raised during its first two fundraising quarters combined.
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The Board of Trustees at the New College of Florida submitted a $2 million budget request to the state legislature Thursday in order to establish a “Freedom Institute” that will seek to combat “cancel culture” in higher education.
The trustees, a majority of whom were appointed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, say that the new institute will allow for the expression of dissenting views, according to the board’s July 6 meeting agenda, which outlines the proposal for the institute. The institute will also honor a commitment to upholding the right to free speech and will prompt civil engagement.
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Driver’s license classes in five states have been singled out as no longer valid in Florida, in accordance with legislation that took effect Saturday.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, said Wednesday the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has published a list of classes by state which are invalid because people living in or entering the country illegally can obtain them in Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont or Hawaii.
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by Bethany Blankley The Florida State Guard welcomed its first graduating class of more than 100 soldiers who recently completed their training program and requirements. They are the first class of members of the Florida State Guard since 1947. Gov. Ron DeSantis first proposed reestablishing the State Guard in December 2021. Within months, he reestablished it to lessen the burden of an understaffed and over-stretched Florida National Guard and to hire servicemen and women being forced out of the U.S. military over the federal vaccine mandate, he said. By June of last year, over 1,200 people applied to join the new state guard – three times the amount of open positions. One of its newest recruits was a former New York resident who said he moved to the lower-taxed and less regulated “free state of Florida.” “I am proud to welcome the first class of Florida State Guard members since 1947,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Even though the federal government has underfunded our National Guard, we are ensuring that we have the manpower needed to respond during emergencies. I’m proud of these men and women who answered the call to take on this important mission. When the need is greatest in their…
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More than 2,200 new recruits to Florida law enforcement agencies have been awarded bonuses through a new program launched last year, with those moving to Florida from 48 states and two U.S. territories.
Florida was the first state to launch such a recruitment program last year and has since issued over 2,265 bonuses. Florida’s Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program awarded more than $15 million bonuses officers in fiscal 2022. The $5,000 bonus includes a $1,694 payment to cover federal income taxes so the net each receives remains $5,000. Florida does not assess an individual income tax. Each new recruit receives a gross bonus of $6,694.
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Florida public universities will have a harder time accepting grants or working with the People’s Republic of China and other “countries of concern” due to a recently enacted law.
Senate Bill 846, which became effective on July 1, prohibits “state universities and state colleges from accepting grants from or participating in partnerships or agreements with a college or university based in a foreign country of concern or with a foreign principal unless specified conditions are met,” according to the legislative summary.
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With one of the fastest-growing populations in the U.S., Florida’s electricity consumption is steadily rising.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Florida is the second-largest electricity producer nationally, second to Texas. Natural gas fuels the vast majority of electricity in the state, accounting for three-fourths of the state’s net generation capacity.
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Sixteen states attorneys have asked members of two manufacturers groups to continue to include AM radios in new electric vehicles.
In a letter led by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and signed by 15 other attorneys general, Moody asked the Electric Drive Transportation Association and the Zero Emission Transportation Association to continue including AM radios despite reported interference caused by electrical equipment, which hasn’t prevented some manufacturers from continuing AM radio production.
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XPO Logistics employees ousted the Teamsters Union from their workplace after colleagues in other states also successfully ousted them with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
In Hialeah, Florida, XPO Logistics employees, led by Martin Garcia, successfully voted to oust Teamsters Local 769 union officials from their workplace.
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Florida law enforcement officers and Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution have shut down a trafficking ring in the Orlando area. The group is responsible for pushing large quantities of narcotics, including fentanyl laced with xylazine, into the area.
Moody’s prosecution team is scheduled to prosecute 12 people on drug trafficking charges who are accused of trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, xylazine and amphetamine in the Orlando area.
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The College Board refused to revise its Advanced Placement courses in response to new Florida laws limiting school instruction on controversial sexual topics.
The board, a nonprofit that produces the SAT and Advanced Placement programs, “will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” it stated in a recent news release.
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by Bethany Blankley Leaders from Florida law enforcement agencies are praising Gov. Ron DeSantis’ fiscal 2023-2024 budget, which prioritizes public safety to the tune of several hundred million dollars. The budget allocates salary increases for correctional officers, enhancements to officer safety, and additional mechanisms to combat the fentanyl crisis stemming from the southern border. Over the last year, law enforcement leaders statewide have acknowledged that Florida is benefiting from a 50-year record-low crime rate. Year-over-year crime in Florida is also down nearly 10%, according to state data. Florida’s new “Framework for Freedom Budget” allocates an additional $20 million for a second round of $5,000 recruitment bonuses for new recruits and those who relocate from out of state. The budget also allocates $110 million to provide one-time recognition bonuses for eligible local first responders and nearly $100 million to boost pay for correctional and probation officers. Since last July, when the Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program was launched, over 2,000 people have joined Florida law enforcement agencies. Among them are nearly 600 new recruits from out of state with over 200 relocating from New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania. Florida Sheriffs Association president and Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said…
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