The Latest
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DeSantis Signs Bill Targeting Explicit Books in Schools
Saying Florida public schools are making sexually explicit books available to children, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Friday to give parents a say in what books schools can and can’t have in their libraries. It will force all elementary schools to provide a searchable list of every book available in their libraries or used in instruction. School...
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Disney, DeSantis Butt Heads Over ‘Don't Say Gay' Bill
Walt Disney Co. is suspending its political donations in Florida after the company’s CEO received huge blowback for not using Disney’s vast influence in the state to try to quash a recently passed Republican bill that would prevent teachers from instructing early grades on LGBTQ issues. The bill has sparked a spat between Florida’s tourism giant and Republican Gov....
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2022 Legislative Session Largely Driven by DeSantis Agenda
There are two things the Legislature must tackle in the 60-day session that begins Tuesday: pass a massive state budget and redraw political maps. But as Florida heads toward the 2022 election, the session will largely be shaped by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda, which includes banning critical race theory from schools and workplaces, creating a state office to investigate…
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DeSantis Announces Bill to Eliminate Florida Standards Assessment Testing
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he will ask the Legislature to drop the current annual standardized testing in public schools and replace it with assessments taken throughout the year to better gauge individual student progress. The Florida Standards Assessment are given at the end of each school year to assess students’ gains in English, math and other…
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‘Voters Are Enthusiastic': South Floridians Voting in Huge Numbers Compared to 2016
Catharine Skipp voted by mail for the first time ahead of Florida’s primary on Tuesday because she has largely confined herself to home during the coronavirus pandemic. She also had another new experience: Her ballot was challenged. The 66-year-old Democrat and native Floridian lives in Miami-Dade County, the area hardest hit by the virus. She said she registered to...
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Florida Supreme Court on the Death Penalty: We Got It Wrong
The Florida Supreme Court said Thursday it erred in 2016 when it ruled a jury must be unanimous in deciding a convicted murderer should be sentenced to death, announcing a dramatic legal reversal that could affect dozens of death row cases. The opinion pulled back from the court’s 2016 state Supreme Court decision that subsequently led the Legislature to change…
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Pompeo Talks Nicaragua After Florida Senate Condemns Ortega
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Latin American affairs with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, the day after the state Senate unanimously voted to condemn Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. DeSantis and Pompeo hosted a roundtable discussion with prominent members of South Florida’s Venezuelan community, as well as government and elected officials. It was closed to the press....
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Florida Parental Consent Abortion Bill Heads to Full Senate
Girls under the age of 18 would need to get a parent’s permission before having an abortion in Florida under a bill that received its final Senate committee approval Wednesday. The Senate Rules Committee voted 9-7 in favor of the bill Thursday, on the 47th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide....
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Florida Bill Would Take New Look at Drug Crime Sentencing
Florida could ease penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs and eliminate some mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers under a strict set of circumstances under a bill unanimously approved by a Senate committee Thursday. Republican Sen. Rob Bradley said he’s sponsoring the bill because of a growing recognition that the criminal justice system needs a new approach to...
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Florida Could Change Fireworks Law That's Now for the Birds
Floridians would no longer have to lie about buying fireworks to scare birds away from their crops when they celebrate the Fourth of July and New Year’s under a bill approved by a Senate committee Wednesday. Fireworks that explode or fire off into the air are illegal in Florida unless they’re used to scare birds away from farms and...
