Tag Archives: Florida

Orlando’s NBC News affiliate reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference in Osceola County on Thursday, where he signed Florida’s bill banning abortions after 15 weeks into law. He spoke from Nacion de Fe in Kissimmee, where signs read, “Florida is pro-life.” The legislation specifically says a doctor may not perform an abortion “if the physician determines the gestational …

Law & Crime reports: Stacking up the ever-growing number of Jan. 6-related assault cases, federal prosecutors arrested and charged a Florida man with pushing police officers and driving a wooden plank through a window of a Senate wing door. Steven Miles, a 39-year-old from Zephyrhills, was arrested on Tuesday. The FBI says that a brown-bearded Miles arrived at the Capitol …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office has submitted the map he wants lawmakers to pass in the upcoming Special Session. Sen. Ray Rodrigues, an Estero Republican and Chair of the Senate Reapportionment Committee, said he was briefed on the submission (P 0109). He said it’s one the Florida Senate can pass. But while Republicans in Florida appear to be …

The Daily Beast reports: Fox News’ overtly anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and coverage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has generated outrage from elsewhere within the Murdoch media empire. An employee networking and resource group for Fox Corporation’s LGBTQ staffers and allies earlier this month condemned the conservative cable giant’s “hateful” coverage of the new Florida law and issues surrounding sexual orientation …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Two residents from The Villages confessed to voter fraud charges after filing two ballots in the 2020 Presidential election, court records show. Charles F. Barnes and Jay Ketcik pleaded guilty to casting more than one ballot in an election, a third-degree felony that could have resulted in a maximum five-year prison sentence. According to the pre-trial …

The Miami Herald reports: Three family members have been charged with a hate crime after kidnapping and beating a gay man so severely that he was permanently blinded, Broward County prosecutors said Tuesday. Two parents and their son [photos above] were formally charged Tuesday on counts of first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery and kidnapping “with prejudice” — all charges …

The Hill reports: It’s unclear exactly why Trump hasn’t issued an endorsement in his adopted home state’s gubernatorial race. One Republican donor suggested that the former president may be holding back because DeSantis hasn’t yet pledged to defer to Trump should he run again in 2024. “I think with the president, you don’t get anything for free,” one Republican donor …

Florida Politics reports: The Legislature won’t produce any new redistricting maps after all. It remains to be seen what that means for an inevitable court challenge. As members prepare for a Special Session, leaders in the Florida House and Senate announced Monday they will leave congressional cartography to the Governor’s Office. Performance analyses show the latest draft from the Governor …

Politico reports: Weeks before The Walt Disney Co. took a stand against Florida’s contentious “Parental Rights in Education” law — which has been called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics — the theme park operator and entertainment conglomerate donated $190,000 to support Florida Republicans. The company gave $125,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and $65,000 to a …

The Washington Post reports: As Disney employees protested what they considered a delayed and lackluster response from the company to what critics call Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill, a Disney heir who recently came out as transgender watched in silence. Now, Charlee Corra Disney, who uses they/them pronouns, is speaking out. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published …

Reuters reports: Orlando cracked a list of the world’s top 10 busiest airports by passengers for the first time last year, as the home of the Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida theme parks joined mostly American hubs as soaring leisure travel underpins a recovery in traffic. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport topped the rankings by passenger traffic published Monday …

Florida Politics reports: Democratic candidate for Gov. Charlie Crist brought his campaign to The Villages this weekend to unveil his “Seniors for Crist” policy initiative. Crist met with more than 250 members of The Villages Democratic Club and joined them on a golf cart tour through The Villages, a well-known Republican stronghold. But Crist said his “Florida for All” campaign …

Via press release from the CDC: There is a large, ongoing outbreak of meningococcal disease in Florida, primarily among gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men, including those living with HIV. There have also been cases reported in the state over the last few months, including multiple cases in college students. At this time, there is no evidence …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida would face a “Cold War” with Georgia if Democrat Stacey Abrams were to become Georgia’s next governor. “If Stacey Abrams is elected governor of Georgia, I just want to be honest, that will be a Cold War between Florida and Georgia at that point,” DeSantis, a Republican, told an enthusiastic crowd …

The Independent reports: A possible juror in the Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial left Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer baffled after appealing to the needs of her “sugar daddy” to justify skipping out on the trial. On Monday, a juror who has come to be known as “Ms Bristol”, told the court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that she had too many commitments …

Politico reports: A federal judge — nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1996 — on Wednesday emphatically rejected Donald Trump’s demand that he recuse from Trump’s sprawling lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, declaring that there’s no legitimate basis to demand that he step back from the case. In a five-page order, Judge Donald Middlebrooks emphasized that he has …

CNN reports: On several occasions since signing the bill into law, DeSantis has highlighted the story of a woman named January Littlejohn, a registered Republican, who says she was not fully consulted about the school’s gender-affirming plan for her child. “We had a mother from Leon County, and her daughter was going to school and some people in the school …

The Hill reports: Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) raked in more than $10 million in the first three months of 2022 for her bid against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), her campaign announced on Wednesday. The staggering eight-figure haul leaves her with more than $13.1 million in cash on hand – the largest war chest ever for a U.S. Senate challenger in …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A $300 million slice of Florida’s nearly $200 billion public pension portfolio is invested in Russian companies, even as the pariah nation faces mounting accusations of genocide and other war crimes in Ukraine. Democrats want Florida to divest that tiny part of the fund, arguing the state’s leaders should act swiftly to dump Russian investments. Florida’s …

The New York Daily News reports: It looks like Mayor Adams succeeded in getting under the skin of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his new “Don’t Say Gay” law. The spokeswoman for DeSantis has tweeted more than a dozen times deriding Adams’ digital ad campaign urging Floridians to move to New York City “where you can say whatever you …