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 […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Rapidly growing in strength, a potentially devastating hurricane remains on a path to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast. At tropical-storm strength Monday morning with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, Idalia was forecast to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane in the northeast gulf’s Big […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, an immigrant born in Ecuador who served one term in Congress, entered the race Tuesday to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott in 2024. The announcement made Mucarsel-Powell the top name in a Democratic field that includes former U.S. Rep. […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Tallahassee TALLAHASSEE — A federal appeals court this week will hear arguments in a fight about a 2022 Florida law that placed restrictions on how race-related issues can be addressed in workplace training — part of what Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act.” Attorneys for the […]
By The News Service of Florida Glen Gilzean, administrator of a special district that includes Walt Disney World properties, shouldn’t continue to serve as a member of the Florida Commission on Ethics while holding a public job, the ethics panel’s general counsel concluded Thursday. Commission lawyer Steve Zuilkowski wrote it would be “inconsistent” with state […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge Thursday refused to block a new Florida law that restricts people from China from owning property in the state, saying plaintiffs are unlikely to be able to show the measure was motivated by discrimination or lacks a “rational basis.” U.S. District Judge […]
By Ryan Dailey and Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday suspended Orlando-area State Attorney Monique Worrell, accusing the prosecutor of “neglecting her duty” and being lax on criminal enforcement. DeSantis’ suspension of Worrell, elected in 2020 as state attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit in Orange and […]
By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s restrictions on instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity have “effectively banned” an Advanced Placement psychology course throughout the state, according to the organization that develops the college-level courses offered to high-school students. The College Board, which develops the courses, said in a press […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Tallahassee A group representing journalists is supporting Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in a federal-court fight against Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying state retaliation against the entertainment company violated the First Amendment. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group, filed court documents Friday […]
By The News Service of Florida A former Florida Department of Corrections officer has gone to the state Supreme Court in a dispute about his firing for using medical marijuana. An attorney for former officer Samuel Velez Ortiz filed a notice last week that is a first step in challenging a June 21 decision by […]