By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration wants to boost spending next year on a controversial economic-development program, while tourism-marketing money wouldn’t increase, according to budget requests rolled out last week. During meetings of House budget panels, state agencies outlined proposals that ranged from money to repair National […]
BY Ana Ceballos, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A Republican lawmaker who helped Gov. Ron DeSantis deliver this spring on a key campaign promise to ban so-called sanctuary cities is non-committal about sponsoring legislation that would require businesses to check the immigration status of workers via the “E-Verify” system. Two months ago, Sen. […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida education czar Richard Corcoran bristles at being called a disrupter. He prefers the gentler label of “transformer,” a brand Corcoran burnished during his two-year tenure as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. As speaker, the Republican father of six pushed through a series […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — After three hours of testimony from experts on Monday, the Republican head of a Florida Senate panel looking into mass violence and white nationalism suggested that increased background checks on gun sales might be the answer. “Probably the thing that makes the most sense, if […]
By The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida Supreme Court justices are the highest-paid statewide officials, with their salaries substantially higher than the amounts paid to the governor, state Cabinet members and legislators. Here are the 2019-2020 salaries for a variety of state officials and judges: — Supreme Court justices: $220,600 — District Courts […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis wants lawmakers to double fines for sewage spills into waterways and to lock an environmental-funding pledge into state budgets for at least the next three years. The proposals are the first of a series the governor said he will make ahead of […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — More millionaires are deciding how Florida tax dollars should be used and which laws should be passed. With all but three lawmakers in the 160-member Legislature filing annual financial-disclosure reports, the average net worth of state senators is $5.9 million, according to an analysis by […]
By Ana Ceballos, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis, state lawmakers and university officials on Monday bragged about Florida State University and the University of Florida moving up in the rankings of an annual report that grades the country’s top public colleges and universities. The news of the universities’ improved status […]
By The News Service of Florida Senate Republicans and Democrats filed separate legislation Wednesday to condemn white nationalism and white supremacy after high-profile incidents such as a mass shooting at a Walmart store in Texas. The proposed resolutions are filed for consideration during the 2020 legislative session, which will start in January. While the resolutions […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — An amendment to the Florida Constitution restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences does not require payment of “legal financial obligations,” as ordered in a state law passed this spring, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the law argue in a new […]