Tag Archives: Florida

Florida Officials Confirm Abortion Rights Measure Has Qualified For Ballot Pending FL Supreme Court Ruling

Miami’s NBC affiliate reports: Florida election officials confirmed Friday that a proposed abortion rights amendment has qualified for the 2024 ballot, but its future hinges on a Florida Supreme Court decision. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody submitted the measure to the Florida Supreme Court for judicial review last October, but justices have yet to make a decision. The court is …

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FL University To Close “Indoctrinating” LGBTQ Center

NBC New reports: The University of North Florida, in Jacksonville, will close its Office of Diversity and Inclusion — and, with it, its interfaith, intercultural, women’s and LGBTQ centers — to comply with the new law, President Moaz Limayem said in a letter. Cassandra Edwards, a spokesperson for the university system, said in an email Thursday that Florida “will remain …

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Florida House Approves Social Media Ban For Minors

The Messenger reports: The Florida House of Representatives has passed two bills banning social media for minors under age 16 and requiring age verification for pornographic sites, just two weeks into their 2024 legislative session. With House approval, the bills will now head to the state Senate before making its way to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk. If the governor …

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Florida Advances Bill Forcing Public Schools To Set Aside Time For Student Recruiting By “Patriotic Organizations”

Florida Politics reports: The House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee is advancing a bill that would give some groups certain rights in K-12 schools. Rep. Wyman Duggan’s bill (HB 1317) would allow representatives of so-called “patriotic organizations” time to meet with students and distribute recruitment materials, with schools providing designated time for these groups to pitch their attendees. The bill also …

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Florida Advances Bill To “Legally De-Trans” Individuals

CBS News reports: A Florida House panel has backed a measure that would require state-issued identification cards to reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth and impose requirements for insurers who cover gender-affirming care. The Republican-controlled House Select Committee on Health Innovation approved the bill (HB 1639) along party lines, despite opposition from transgender people and their allies. Under the …

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DeSantis Won’t Rule Out Another WH Bid In 2028

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis left the presidential race after the first caucuses in Iowa this year. But in four years, he may run again, he said on the “Steve Deace Show.” “We’ll see what the future holds,” DeSantis said. DeSantis said he viewed this year as “really a hinge point in American history and if we don’t get …

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DeSantis Camp Spent $2262 Per Iowa Vote Received

The Huffington Post reports: Ron DeSantis ran for president for less than nine months before ending his campaign following the Iowa caucuses, and before a second nominating contest in New Hampshire that he was primed to lose to both Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. But in that time, the DeSantis campaign and its allied super PAC, Never Back Down, spent …

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DeSantis: No, Florida Will Not Pay Trump $5 Million

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s Governor nipped in the bud proposed legislation that would put the taxpayers on the hook for Donald Trump’s legal bills. “But not the Florida Republican who wields the veto pen,” Ron DeSantis tweeted from his campaign account, responding to a story about legislation that would provide up to $5 million from a fund that gives public …

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FL Advances Bill Giving DeSantis Power To Remove Any Elected Official Who Votes Against Confederate Statues

Florida Politics reports: A bill that would protect historical memorials, including controversial monuments to the Confederacy erected after the Civil War by White citizens’ groups, moved through a committee in the Senate, powered by a Republican supermajority on the Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability. Sen. Jonathan Martin’s bill (SB 1122) would impose penalties on local officials who removed …

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DeSantis: Legal Weed Will Likely Make Florida Ballot

Marijuana Moment reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) says a marijuana legalization initiative will be on the state’s November ballot, predicting a favorable legal outcome for activists in the Supreme Court in the face of a challenge from the attorney general who is seeking to block the vote. Days before dropping out of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential …

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Florida Chief Financial Officer Pushes Bill For State To Pay Trump $5M For Supposed “Political Discrimination”

Florida Politics reports: Former President Donald Trump could receive $5 million from Florida coffers if Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ proposal to pay his legal fees over alleged “political discrimination” passes the Legislature. Patronis previously called for the fund to be set up after Trump was hit with indictments and charges relating to several allegations in various jurisdictions. “We’ve got …

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Only FL Rep Who Backed DeSantis Switches To Trump

Florida Politics reports: U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee was the only member of Florida’s congressional delegation to endorse Ron DeSantis for President. Now she’s following his lead and backing former President Donald Trump. “Our country needs a conservative leader in the White House,” said Lee, a Thonotosassa Republican. Lee announced her support a day after DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign. She …

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BREAKING: DeSantis Drops Out And Endorses Trump

Bloomberg News reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended his campaign for president on Sunday, just two days before the New Hampshire primary election, and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump. It marked a spectacular implosion for a candidate once seen as having the best chance to dethrone Mr. Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024. But Mr. DeSantis’s …

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DeSantis Abruptly Cancels Sunday Talk Show Interviews

The Washington Examiner reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has canceled interviews with two different networks less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to appear on air. Both CNN’s State of the Union and NBC’s Meet the Press announced late Saturday that DeSantis would not appear on their Sunday programs as planned. The cancellations come three days before New Hampshire …

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Florida Bill Allows Lawsuits Against Abortion Providers

Politico reports: Florida abortion rights supporters are worried a new proposal that would allow parents to file wrongful death lawsuits in cases involving unborn children is an attempt to target doctors who perform the procedure. The legislation, HB 651, would change the state’s civil liability law to add the parents of an unborn child to the list of potential survivors …

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DeSantis Joins MAGA Calls To Impeach Mayorkas

The Hill reports: GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has joined House Republicans’ calls to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Yes, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be impeached,” DeSantis posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Saturday. House Republicans kicked off a series of impeachment hearings against Mayorkas last week. A Homeland Security Committee hearing last Wednesday focused on …

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Mr. Mom For Threeways May Face Voyeurism Charge

Florida Politics reports: Sarasota Police have forwarded their investigation of Christian Ziegler to prosecutors. Investigators delivered a probable cause affidavit to charge Ziegler with video voyeurism, but not rape. Police in October launched an investigation of the now-former Republican Party of Florida Chair after a woman accused him of rape in a Sarasota apartment. Over the course of a two-month …

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Florida Republicans Seek To Stem Flood Of Banned Books By Charging $100 To Object To More Than Five

Politico reports: Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature wanted to keep obscene books out of the hands of kids. But some are now acknowledging they created a “logistical nightmare” that lawmakers are trying to rein in. Legislators this month introduced a new idea to curb frivolous challenges to books — one of the first admissions the law, which tightened scrutiny around books with …

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Florida Police Release Racist And Anti-LGBTQ Manifesto Of Nazi Who Committed Dollar General Mass Shooting

Florida Politics reports: Months after a racially motivated murder of three people in a Dollar General in Jacksonville’s New Town neighborhood, the Sheriff’s Office has finally released the killer’s manifesto. “No matter what happens, there will be more of me. Expect more of me. By God, we’ll have our home,” it reads. On that fateful August day, the Clay County-based …

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FL Advances Bill On Suing Journalists For Defamation

Florida Politics reports: Members of the House Civil Justice Subcommittee voted 12-4 for a measure (HB 757) that would lower the legal bar in defamation lawsuits by shifting the burden of proof from the plaintiff to the defendant. That’s appropriate given how little faith there is today in media to get the story right, argued Pensacola Republican Rep. Alex Andrade, …

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