By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session could look to address the problem of chronic absenteeism among public-school students. Data collected by the Florida Department of Education showed that 20.9 percent of students in public schools, including students in adult education courses, missed 21 or […]
By The News Service of Florida Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at ensuring abortion rights in Florida continue to get closer to meeting a signature requirement to reach the 2024 ballot. The Florida Division of Elections website Friday showed 833,743 valid petition signatures for the proposal, up from 753,306 a week earlier and […]
By Jim Turner, Tom Urban The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — While still near historically low levels, Florida’s unemployment rate inched up to 2.9 percent in November. The November rate was an increase from 2.8 percent in October and represented 324,000 people out of work from a labor force of 11.19 million, according to […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A 2018 constitutional amendment designed to bolster victims’ rights “does not explicitly” shield the identities of police officers — or any other people — from disclosure, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a major decision on Thursday. The unanimous opinion, authored by Justice John Couriel, […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A statewide grand jury has issued a 146-page report that calls for taking a series of steps to try to curb illegal immigration, saying “it will be up to Florida and other states to help themselves, at least in the short term,” as problems go […]
Whenever the Democrats suffered one of their humiliating routs at the polls, the late U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina would sometimes try to teach his party that “there is no education in the second kick of a mule.” Well, OK then, how about the seventh kick? How many whacks should it take for […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Tallahassee TALLAHASSEE — The son of Cuban immigrants, state Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, was formally selected Monday to become the next speaker of the Florida House as he offered a message of limited — and more effective — government. “Members, we are in danger of becoming a conveyor […]
By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Nearly 123,000 new students have received private-school vouchers after state lawmakers this year passed a major expansion of voucher programs, while a group that administers the programs says they will not bring an “exodus” from public schools as critics have predicted. As of Sept. 8, […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A federal appeals court has put on hold a battle about a 2022 Florida law that restricts instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, after attorneys said they were in settlement talks. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week issued a […]
By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida PERRY — Several hours after Hurricane Idalia hit, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday went to rural Taylor County, where debris, downed trees and some power lines littered the roads. The Category 3 storm made landfall in Taylor County’s Keaton Beach area, and county Sheriff Wayne Padgett said […]