By The News Service of Florida Florida’s general-revenue tax collections in August topped expectations by 3.4 percent. The Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research in a report Monday said Florida collected about $3.874 billion in net general revenue in August, $127.1 million more than economists had projected. General revenue is closely watched because it […]
By Livia Caputo, Florida Phoenix Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier led 21 states in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday supporting a Tallahassee mother who claimed her rights were violated when a local middle school created a secret plan supporting her child switching genders. Uthmeier’s lengthy letter of support is the latest […]
Leon County prosecutors have convened a grand jury to explore possible wrongdoing associated with Hope Florida, according to a report Friday by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau. State Attorney Jack Campbell’s office over the past few weeks issued subpoenas for witnesses to appear before the grand jury during the week of Oct. 13, […]
By The News Service of Florida Federal government attorneys Thursday urged a judge to reject certifying as a class action a lawsuit alleging that immigrants at a detention center in the Everglades are being denied proper access to lawyers. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other defendants pushed back against a request […]
By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix Escambia County did not violate students’ First Amendment rights in keeping from them a book about two male penguins raising a chick together, a federal judge found this week. In a suit between the authors of the book and the Escambia County School Board, Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to laws allowing use of medical marijuana and hemp, a state appeals court Wednesday reversed course and said police officers can’t search vehicles only on the basis of smelling cannabis. The 2nd District Court of Appeal’s main opinion said that for “generations, cannabis was […]
By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening to put lawmakers on the spot about property taxes during the heat of their reelection campaigns. The governor, during a news conference at Jacksonville International Airport Wednesday, reiterated that he believes voters should decide the fate of the property tax in the state come the […]
By The News Service of Florida Amid confusion over the impact of an appeals-court decision that overturned the state’s ban on openly carrying firearms, a House Democratic leader on Tuesday filed a measure seeking to ensure that certain places — such as legislative meetings, jails and police stations — remain gun-free zones. Rep. Christine Hunchofsky, […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Twenty-five cities and counties filed a lawsuit Monday challenging a new state law that blocks local governments from approving “more restrictive or burdensome” changes to growth plans for the next two years. The challenge, filed in Leon County circuit court, contends that the law (SB […]
By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix Complaints filed by professors “disrupted” by Florida’s ban against diversity, equity, and inclusion spending were mostly dismissed by a federal judge last week. The academics, through American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, filed the suit against the state earlier this year, claiming SB 266 from 2023 imposed viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment, […]