Two well-known activists/conservationists are leading the charge to protect the Big Cypress National Preserve and the rights of the indigenous and non-indigenous families who live among it. 

Betty Osceola and the Rev. Houston R. Cypress are organizing a prayer walk scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7, beginning at 9 a.m. The walk along Loop Road will start just off the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress National Preserve and last until 7 p.m. the following day.

A federal judge Wednesday granted a temporary stay of execution to 73-year-old James Dailey, convicted in Florida of stabbing and drowning a 14-year-old girl in 1985.

In a rare about-face -- and besieged by criticism that he was using the presidency to enrich himself -- President Donald Trump on Saturday reversed his decision to hold the next Group of Seven world leaders' meeting at the Doral golf and country club he and his family own.

“Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020,” Trump tweeted. He said the White House “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.”

The Florida First Amendment Foundation (FAF) announced the appointment Friday of Pamela Marsh, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida, to replace Barbara Petersen as president of the organization, effective Dec. 1. Petersen announced her retirement earlier this year.
 

Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Palm Harbor and Rep. Mel Ponder, R-Destin filed legislation Monday to reauthorize VISIT FLORIDA for eight years, extending the sunset date for the organization to Oct. 1, 2028.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent a letter Sunday to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green urging him to request the United States Naval Ship (USNS) Comfort be repositioned to the Bahamas as soon as possible -- as well as any assets needed from the Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group. 

In the letter, Rubio writes, “The USNS Comfort, and its crew of trained medical staff, flight deck and ability to desalinate water, would be ideal in helping the Bahamian people.”

Rubio's palpable sense of urgency is two-fold. 

Florida Carry (FC) filed another class action lawsuit Thursday against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for its ongoing violations of Florida's firearms background check and preemption laws. 

State political candidates faced a Monday night deadline to file reports showing how much campaign money they raised in July. The report below gathering this information is entirely the work of News Service of Florida.

Here are the top 10 legislative fundraisers for the month. These totals reflect money raised for campaign accounts and do not include money raised by political committees affiliated with many legislators:

Senate: