Florida Politics

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Pregnant pigs, voting rights, marijuana: Legislature looks to add more roadblocks to direct democracy

TALLAHASSEE — Nearly every spring the same battle plays out in the Florida Legislature over citizen-driven ballot initiatives, those measures that over the years asked voters whether to protect abortion rights, legalize marijuana or shrink public school class sizes.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/16/pregnant-pigs-voting-rights-marijuana-legislature-looks-again-to-rein-in-florida-ballot-initiatives/?

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Florida lawmakers push their own government efficiency bills over DeSantis’ ‘DOGE’

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans from Gov. Ron DeSantis on down quickly jumped onto the DOGE bandwagon after President Trump was sworn into office, echoing his call to root out alleged waste and fraud in bloated government bureaucracies.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/19/florida-lawmakers-push-their-own-government-efficiency-bills-over-desantis-proposed-doge/?

ps:Good for them! The guy can't even think up is own policies!!

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Commentary: I’m a Trump Republican, but I oppose more Musk rocket launches from Florida

In case you missed it, Starship exploded again.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/21/commentary-im-a-trump-republican-but-i-oppose-more-musk-rocket-launches-from-florida/?

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Report: Federal Medicaid, SNAP cuts could have crushing blow to Florida’s economy

A new analysis of potential budget cuts for safety net programs such as Medicaid and in food aid provided to low-income families says the impact could be crushing and far-reaching in Florida and other states.

https://floridaphoenix.com/briefs/report-federal-medicaid-snap-cuts-could-have-crushing-blow-to-floridas-economy/?

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Florida jobs

Florida’s efforts to crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants have presented a problem for businesses: not enough workers willing to fill low-wage and often undesirable jobs. To fix the problem, the state’s legislature has advanced a bill that would loosen child labor laws. If passed, businesses would be able to hire children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts, even on school days. The bill would also eliminate working time restrictions on 14 and 15 year olds if they are home-schooled and end guaranteed meal breaks for 16 and 17 year olds.

ps:What a joke!!!

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Scott Maxwell: With migrants fleeing, Florida seeks child labor

The Newsweek headline looked like satire: “Florida May Replace Immigrant Workers With Child Labor.”

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/28/scott-maxwell-with-migrants-fleeing-florida-seeks-child-labor/?

ps:This was my point these pass few years, "Who are they going to get to do the jobs of all the immigrants or migrants that they want to get out of the country??????????

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Florida bill would force media to remove ‘false’ stories from internet

TALLAHASSEE – For the third year in a row, Florida lawmakers are pushing legislation to make it easier to sue media outlets and journalists for publishing articles later demonstrated to have falsely put a person in a bad light or hurt their reputation.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/03/31/florida-bill-would-force-media-to-remove-false-stories-from-internet/?

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Casey DeSantis touts Hope Florida as a way off welfare. But the state won’t back up her claims.

The loosely-structured program has no budget or list of employees, and its fund-raising arm apparently has not filed required tax returns

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/04/lawmakers-decry-lack-of-transparency-over-hope-floridas-finances/?

Editorial: Doing away with FEMA would be a disaster

Doing away with FEMA would be a disaster

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/04/editorial-doing-away-with-fema-would-be-a-disaster/?

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DeSantis officials assigned $10 million to his wife’s charity. Was it legal?

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration diverted $10 million in state settlement money last year to the charity arm of a welfare initiative led by his wife.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/08/desantis-officials-assigned-10-million-to-his-wifes-charity-was-it-legal/?

ps:Isn't that something?? But they can't use that same money to help the homeless at least, since they're not interested in using this money towards welfare!!!!!!!!!!

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Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse.

Perched on a spit of land, two biologists peered into slate blue water. Below them, manatees floated like clouds, raising whiskery snouts to let out long, loud breaths.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/10/rampant-pollution-caused-manatees-to-starve-florida-waters-are-getting-worse/?

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‘I am having nightmares.’ Florida seniors anxious over the economy

Alina Garcia sits next to her husband at a small table in a Pembroke Pines senior center. As they work on their tax forms, Garcia fumes. She has lived in South Florida for over 56 years and says she is furious preparing her taxes as she watches the stock market plunge, hears about potential cuts to Medicaid, learns of disruptive changes to Social Security and sees her cost of living rising.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/11/i-am-having-nightmares-south-florida-seniors-anxious-over-the-economy/?

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DeSantis administration wants to inject Hope Florida into Medicaid program

TALLAHASSEE — The DeSantis administration wants to do for Florida Medicaid recipients what it’s been trying to do for people on food stamps and welfare — use Hope Florida’s network of nonprofits to help wean them off government assistance.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/14/desantis-administration-wants-to-inject-hope-florida-into-medicaid-program/?

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DeSantis says House Republicans are running a ‘smear’ campaign against him, First Lady

On the eve of another Florida House hearing on the workings of Hope Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday accused House Republicans of working with the “liberal media” in a smear campaign against First Lady Casey DeSantis and the Hope Florida Foundation.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/14/desantis-says-house-republicans-are-running-a-smear-campaign-against-him-first-lady/?

ps:Why? Because they're finally standing up to him and actually being Republicans?????

Judge backs manatee help, says Florida violated Endangered Species Act

TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to ongoing threats to manatees, a U.S. district judge Friday said the state has violated the federal Endangered Species Act in its regulation of wastewater discharges into the Indian River Lagoon.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/14/judge-backs-manatee-help-says-florida-violated-endangered-species-act/?

Maxwell: DeSantis Hope Florida scandal looks like real trouble

It’s hard to overstate just how serious — and shocking — it is to see Ron DeSantis on the ropes in Tallahassee.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/15/hope-florida-scandal-ron-casey-desantis-maxwell/?

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State House deepens probe of Hope Florida Foundation’s political activity

The state’s new attorney general may have engaged in criminal conduct in organizing the transfer of legal settlement money through the Hope Florida Foundation to campaign against a marijuana legalization initiative, a key Republican House member said Tuesday.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/15/state-house-deepens-probe-of-hope-florida-foundations-political-activity/?

Florida: Immigrants are not welcome here

Last week, my best friend, who lives in South Florida, was explaining the hellscape that undocumented immigrants have been forced to endure since Gov. Ron DeSantis – in his slavish devotion to nastiness and cruelty – mimicked the federal government and called a special session in which the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a law that would further punish them.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/16/florida-immigrants-are-not-welcome-here/?

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Maxwell: DeSantis stresses his wife ‘devised’ Hope Florida

Developments in the DeSantis family’s Hope Florida scandal are coming so fast and furious that it’s hard to keep up.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/16/desantis-hope-florida-andrade-uthmeier-maxwell/?

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Hope Florida Foundation releases records; program executive director resigns

The nonprofit group associated with Hope Florida, which has been at the center of a probe by the Florida House that has drawn the wrath of Gov. Ron DeSantis, finally released details of some of its operations on Wednesday, a day before the Hope Florida Foundation is scheduled to hold a public meeting.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/16/hope-florida-foundation-releases-records-program-executive-director-resigns/?

Federal cuts leave Central Florida food bank with $11 million shortfall

The Trump administration has canceled a COVID-era program that delivered $11 million worth of fresh food to Central Florida’s largest food bank annually, a significant budget cut that comes as growing numbers of residents struggle to afford groceries.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/17/federal-cuts-leave-central-florida-food-bank-with-11-million-shortfall/?

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U.S. citizen released from jail after arrest under Florida’s new anti-immigration law

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez held his mother in a tight embrace and wept following his release from the Leon County Jail Thursday evening, where the U.S. citizen was held after his arrest for illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien.”

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u-s-citizen-released-from-jail-after-arrest-under-floridas-new-anti-immigration-law/?

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Maxwell: Manatee corpses — the price of the ‘freedom’ to pollute in Florida

It’s hard to think of a more defenseless creature than the manatee. The curious marine mammal has no natural enemies — other than man.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/18/florida-manatee-deaths-pollution-maxwell/?

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With tumult in their new home and homeland, Central Florida’s Venezuelans wonder where to turn

Alfonzo Castillo came to the U.S. in 2019, fleeing the oppressive Venezuelan regime with his wife, daughter and a dream to keep his restaurant alive. He’s done more than just that — graduating from a food truck to two restaurants, one in Orlando and one in Tampa, and adding a son to his family.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/20/with-tumult-in-their-new-home-and-homeland-central-floridas-venezuelans-wonder-where-to-turn/?

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🐊 Fewer people moving to Florida

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

Domestic migration to Florida has taken a big hit, Axios Tampa's Yacob Reyes writes from a Redfin report. Why it matters: People once saw Florida as a cheaper alternative to New York City and the Bay Area. But that gap has narrowed. The big picture: Hurricanes, skyrocketing insurance premiums and steep HOA fees have made out-of-staters think twice about the Sunshine State. More companies now require employees to go into the office, which means fewer people can relocate, and some who moved during the pandemic have had to leave. 🧮 By the numbers: Tampa Bay had the biggest slowdown in domestic migration of the 50 most populous U.S. metros last year, according to the report. Three other Florida cities — Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale — were among the top 10 metro areas where net domestic migration tanked the most in 2024.

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Florida Senate unlikely to pass repeal of gun-buying age law passed after Parkland

TALLAHASSEE — Days after a mass shooting at nearby Florida State University, the state Senate appears poised to scuttle a controversial proposal that would allow people under age 21 to buy rifles and other long guns, a restriction that went into effect after the 2018 Parkland massacre.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/21/florida-senate-unlikely-to-pass-repeal-of-gun-buying-age-law-passed-after-parkland/?

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Florida had a $67 million settlement, then moved to help Hope Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Before it was fired by Florida in 2023, a politically connected Mississippi law firm negotiated a $67 million settlement with the state’s largest Medicaid managed care plan provider that had overcharged for prescription drugs.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/23/florida-had-a-67-million-settlement-then-moved-to-help-hope-florida/?

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Judge finds manatee die-off proves Florida broke endangered species law

Unlikely victory by environmental group marks the second time in two years Florida DEP has lost an Endangered Species Act court fight.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/24/judge-finds-manatee-die-off-proves-florida-broke-endangered-species-law/?

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Florida lawmaker shelves Hope Florida investigation — for now

TALLAHASSEE — Two nonprofit executives called to testify about a charity affiliated with First Lady Casey DeSantis failed to show Thursday morning, and the state lawmaker leading the investigation into Hope Florida announced he was suspending that work, at least for now.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/24/florida-lawmaker-shelves-hope-florida-investigation-for-now/?

Florida Board of Education member advocates for arming college students

Students and professors should carry guns as a way to defend against campus shootings, a former Broward County School Board member and current state Board of Education member wrote in a new essay.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/23/florida-board-of-education-member-advocates-for-arming-college-students/?

ps:Why not and lets just lower the age limit for carrying to 15?????

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Maxwell: Scandals for Dummies. Breaking down the Hope Florida fiasco

The Hope Florida scandal has been a lot like an onion — if onions were capable of swindling $10 million from taxpayers.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/25/hope-florida-scandal-desantis-uthmeier-alan-lawson/?

Is the Democratic Party ‘dead’ in Florida? Defections cloud 2026 chances

TALLAHASSEE — As President Donald Trump jolts the country to the right, Democrats in the Florida Legislature are increasingly quitting, injecting more turmoil into a party that has repeatedly failed to regain power in the once-purple state.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/04/26/is-the-democratic-party-dead-in-florida-defections-cloud-2026-chances/?

ps:This is the same thing that was said about the Republican party a few years ago!!!!!