Tag Archives: Florida

NBC News reports: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is moving up the list of former President Donald Trump’s potential vice presidential picks, according to six people familiar with the presumptive Republican nominee’s search for a running mate. Trump’s apparent seriousness about Rubio, 52, a third-term senator, hints at his priorities and presents an intriguing set of potential complications. The Constitution prohibits …

The South Florida SunSentinel reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill Wednesday that forbids homeless people from sleeping in public places and prevents local governments from allowing them to stay there unless the state authorizes them to do so. The governor was joined at a news conference announcing the signing by local South Florida leaders and representatives at Santorini …

Florida Politics reports: Florida often hosts so-called “snowbirds” from Canada during the winter months. But U.S. Sen. Rick Scott wants to clip the wings of Canadian elected leaders who may want to visit the state in the wake of a decision to ban arm sales to Israel amid its war with Hamas. “Canada is sending a clear signal of being …

Newsweek reports: Donald Trump suffered a blow in Tuesday’s primary in Florida, a state he only narrowly won in the 2020 presidential election, after thousands of Republicans refused to vote for him. While the former president won the primary with 910,857 votes, 81.2 percent of the overall share, some 197,000 people, or 17.8 percent, voted for either Nikki Haley or …

The Florida Trident reports: Former Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler and his wife Bridget Ziegler, a Sarasota School Board Member and cofounder of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, have filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the release of records involved in the husband’s criminal rape investigation. The once powerful Republican power couple sued the City of Sarasota and State …

Florida Politics reports: The return of Air DeSantis may be imminent. Gov. Ron DeSantis said some undocumented immigrants intercepted while attempting to land in Florida from Haiti may lead to a trip to New England for those refugees. “We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational,” DeSantis said. “So Haitians who land in the Florida Keys, …

Florida Politics reports: Another prominent Florida Republican is discussing his struggles dealing with surging property insurance rates in the Sunshine State. Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis detailed the issue in a piece for the Florida Daily. “For all of Florida’s many blessings, however, you don’t have to be an actuary to know that when it came to our property insurance …

The Florida Times-Union reports: Some of Florida’s loudest advocates for public school book removals make up half of a state government-sponsored group to advise school districts on how to select titles and when to pull them off shelves. Moms for Liberty members made up three of six members of a Department of Education workgroup that met Thursday in Tallahassee to …

CNN reports: Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrived at the courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, for the 10 a.m. ET hearing in the classified documents case. Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, has set apart an entire day to hear arguments on whether the prosecution should be thrown out on the basis of Trump’s claims about his presidential …

The Associated Press reports: Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction, under a settlement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” Under the terms of the settlement, the …

Truthout reports: At 2:27 p.m. on Friday, March 8, the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die. With this adjournment, 21 of 22 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were effectively killed, leaving an anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in education bill as the lone piece of legislation to pass this session. This session featured some of the most severe bills ever proposed against transgender individuals, …

Axios reports: Conservative states are pushing to allow chaplains in public schools, in theory to help solve a persistent shortage of counselors. Since Texas introduced it own blueprint last year, allowing schools to use safety funds to hire chaplains who do not have the same licensing as counselors, similar bills have ricocheted across more than a dozen states including Florida, …

From Florida’s Department of Health: Today, Florida is providing an update on the measles outbreak in southeast Florida. Since January 2024, sixteen states have reported measles cases including: California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Washington, Indiana, and Arizona. Unfortunately, the measles cases in Florida have received disproportionate attention for political reasons. The national medical health establishment and the media lost …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Hillsborough County prosecutors charged a man with murder Friday, alleging that the fatal shooting of a gay man last month at the West Dog Park in Tampa was a hate crime. Gerald Declan Radford faces a second-degree murder charge in the Feb. 2 death of John Walter Lay. Friends of both men told the Tampa …

“I’m going to sign legislation over the next month or so to really counteract Florida ever going in the direction of California on things like homelessness. “Cities can govern themselves and there are certain state laws, but you know, we don’t want a city to turn into a Los Angeles or San Francisco with respect to having homeless everywhere. “So …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: Detective Victor Manuel Montalvo crashed the unmarked Miami-Dade Police Department car he was driving into a marked police cruiser while driving drunk, according to his colleagues. The police officer, who was injured, reported having to draw his side-arm and order Montalvo, 43, at gunpoint to drop his department-issued gun after he pulled it out from his …

NBC News reports: Florida’s Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban cities and counties from adopting requirements for mandatory water breaks and other workplace protections against extreme heat. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 28-11, along party lines, to pass Senate Bill 1492, which would prohibit local governments from determining workplace heat standards that go beyond those required by federal …

Florida Politics reports: The mistakes made by the Soviets, the Chinese and other communist regimes are one step closer to being part of Florida K-12 classrooms. The House passed by a 106-7 vote SB 1264, a “History of Communism” product previously passed by a 25-7 vote in the Senate, putting the bill on a path for a Gov. Ron DeSantis …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: The State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday it will not charge former Florida Republican Party chairman Christian Ziegler with video voyeurism in connection with an alleged rape that authorities also declined to prosecute. Three assistants in State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s office explained the decision in a memo released Wednesday morning. The memo capped a protected investigation launched …

USA Today reports: Miami Beach is officially “breaking up” with spring break, according to a new PSA released by the city. Framed like, well, a breakup, the ad starts with actors addressing would-be spring breakers. In the one-minute video, spring break is discussed not as the iconic party fest it’s become known as, but rather as a dreaded yearly occurrence …