By The News Service of Florida Florida last week had its largest number of first-time unemployment claims in two months. The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 6,510 initial claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended April 5, up from a revised count of 5,587 during the week that ended March […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — The House and Senate on Wednesday passed proposed budgets that are billions of dollars apart, giving them a little more than three weeks to mesh their spending goals and reach an agreement on tax cuts. While the House has proposed cutting the state’s overall sales-tax […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A bill aimed at preventing a return of efforts to build golf courses, pickleball courts and resorts in state parks is ready to go to the full Florida House. The House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously supported the measure (HB 209), which sponsor John […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Shortly after the Biden administration issued a health-care rule last May to try to prevent discrimination based on gender identity, Florida filed a federal lawsuit challenging the measure. And as recently as Jan. 2, federal-goverment lawyers were defending the rule in a legal brief. But […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to the federal government’s power to regulate immigration, a U.S. district judge Friday temporarily blocked a new Florida law aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigrants. Miami-based Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-page decision granting a request for a temporary restraining order against the […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a wide-ranging education bill that includes eliminating a requirement that high-school students pass algebra and language-arts tests to earn standard diplomas. Senators unanimously approved the measure (SB 166), which would represent a major change after years of Republican leaders […]
Immigrant-advocacy groups Wednesday filed a potential class-action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a new Florida law aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigrants. The Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in federal court in Miami. It challenges a law (SB 4-C) that passed during a February […]
TALLAHASSEE — After fending off Democratic opponents, Republicans Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis are heading to Congress. Fine, a former member of the Florida House and Senate, won a special election Tuesday to replace former U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz in Congressional District 6, according to results posted on state and county elections websites. Meanwhile, Patronis, […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday argued Floridians aren’t “clamoring” for a sales-tax cut as House Speaker Daniel Perez proposed last week and said they would prefer reducing homeowners’ property taxes. DeSantis said during an appearance at the industry group Florida Realtors in Orlando that the […]
By The News Service of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday called the Republican-controlled House’s decisions to override a series of budget vetoes “misplaced priorities.” In a video posted online, DeSantis said the overrides Wednesday would undo “millions of dollars in cost savings that I instituted back in June of 2024, when I signed the […]