By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — More school vouchers. Expanded restrictions on teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity. Limits on using TikTok. Carrying guns without concealed-weapons licenses. A larger Florida State Guard. More than 200 laws passed during the 2023 legislative session, including a record $116.5 billion budget, will take […]
By Jim Turner and Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis trimmed $510.9 million from a record-high state spending plan signed Thursday, with nearly one-fifth of the cuts coming from a single program designed to keep swaths of rural property from commercial and residential development. While DeSantis didn’t give any […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A federal appeals court Monday sided with Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and kept in place rulings that blocked Biden administration immigration policies. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by the Biden administration for a stay of two […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — California officials are continuing to hold Florida responsible for flights Friday and Monday that brought South American migrants from El Paso, Texas, to Sacramento. The June flights come months after Gov. Ron DeSantis — who recently announced his bid for president — took credit for […]
By The News Service of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill that will eliminate Enterprise Florida, the state’s business-recruitment agency, and announced that J. Alex Kelly will serve as the new commerce secretary. The bill (HB 5), a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, will shift contracts and more than […]
By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — School officials will soon be gearing up to push back start times for many high schools under a new law that mandates changes to the beginning of the school day — but some lawmakers and education experts are wary of the challenges that could come […]
By The News Service of Florida First-quarter tourism into Florida was up 6.7 percent from a year ago, with overseas visitors still under pre-COVID-19 figures, according to a release from the governor’s office Friday. Florida’s tourism agency Visit Florida estimated a record 37.9 million travelers into the state during the first quarter of 2023, up […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Less than two weeks after a mistrial, federal prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to dismiss conspiracy and fraud charges against former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum. The move to drop the charges against Gillum, a former Tallahassee mayor, comes after jurors on May 4 […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — With a federal change expected to lead to a surge in migrants crossing the country’s southern border, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a controversial bill that targets illegal immigration. The bill (SB 1718), which the Republican-controlled Legislature passed during the session that ended last […]
By Jim Turner and Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed 37 bills, including a measure that will prevent the release of past and future travel records of DeSantis and other state leaders. DeSantis also signed bills that will lead to the state inspecting Walt Disney World’s […]