Saying the case should go to trial, an appeals court Wednesday overturned a ruling that sided with CNN in a defamation lawsuit stemming from reports about deaths of children at a Palm Beach County hospital. A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected a circuit judge’s decision that granted summary judgment to […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Saying the restrictions don’t implicate speech, a sharply divided appeals-court panel has put on hold a judge’s ruling that blocked parts of a law prohibiting non-Florida residents and non-U.S. citizens from collecting signatures for ballot proposals. Republican legislators included the restrictions, backed by Gov. Ron […]
The Republican Party of Florida in August continued to expand its voter-registration advantage over the Florida Democratic Party. The GOP had a 1,355,487 lead in “active” registered voters as of Aug. 31, up from a 1,326,217 edge at the end of July, according to data posted on the Florida Division of Elections website. The data […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Days after the city of Miami Beach filed a similar case, Fort Lauderdale has challenged the legality of directives by the Florida Department of Transportation to remove art and markings on streets. Fort Lauderdale filed its challenge Monday at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A battle about the constitutionality of a state requirement that convicted sexual predators have the words “SEXUAL PREDATOR” on their driver’s licenses has gone to the Florida Supreme Court. Attorneys for Michael Crist, who was accused in 2019 of trying to cover up the sexual-predator […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Arguing that “parental-exclusion policies present one of the most important constitutional controversies in the nation,” a couple has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a battle with the Leon County school system about a child who wanted to express a gender identity and […]
Florida this week began accepting immigrant detainees at a repurposed prison in Baker County as part of the state’s support of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation efforts, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. The use of Baker Correctional Institution, which the state mothballed as a prison four years ago because of staffing shortages, coincided with a […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — The city of Miami Beach has challenged a controversial directive by the Florida Department of Transportation to remove art and markings on streets — including LGBTQ-themed rainbow crosswalks. The city filed a challenge Thursday at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, arguing that the Department […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s once-dominant citrus industry is being squeezed for land at an accelerating rate. The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week reported that the industry is entering the 2025-2026 growing season with 208,183 acres in use for producing oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruits, 24 percent fewer […]
By Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Siding with the DeSantis and Trump administrations, a federal appeals-court panel Thursday put on hold a judge’s ruling requiring the wind-down of operations at a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals […]