Just hours after Florida Republicans unexpectedly postponed the state party’s biggest fundraiser of the year, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker at the event, which is now scheduled for Dec. 7.

DeSantis was previously scheduled to be the main speaker at the Republican Party of Florida's 2019 Statesman’s Dinner in Orlando, originally slated for Nov. 9. But the state GOP on Monday afternoon announced via Twitter that its gala would be postponed until an unspecified date later this year.

Two prominent Republican senators will push to require Florida private employers to use the E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new workers, as the presidential election kicks into full swing next year.

The bill, filed Thursday by Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, and Sarasota Sen. Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, is expected to draw heated and emotional debate over immigration during the 2020 legislative session.

A House education panel on Thursday began delving into the issue of raising teacher pay, with a key lawmaker saying that while "everything is on the table," the panel still needs to figure out where the money would come from.

Rep. Chris Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who chairs the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said his panel has been asked by House leaders to find about $500 million in potential cuts as part of a broader budget exercise. But that exercise also could help determine if a teacher-pay package would be viable.

House and Senate criminal justice panels on Wednesday once again received an education about the ongoing problems plaguing Florida’s prison system.

Ahead of the 2020 legislative session, lawmakers on the committees heard alarming statistics showing a skyrocketing rate of violence, contraband being smuggled into state prisons, and high turnover rates among correctional officers.

And the legislators were also reminded that it will take millions of dollars to fix the problems.

If Florida Democrats could sum up the state party’s early 2020 strategy in three words, they would be registration, registration, registration.

During the party’s convention this weekend in Orlando, leaders stressed they have fixed past errors in their voter-registration strategy and are busy building a more Democratic-friendly electorate more than a year from Election Day.

“I think we are going to win by putting our head down and doing the work,” said Juan Peñalosa, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party. 

Florida’s prison system, the third largest in the nation, has long faced issues with contraband drugs, yet the state agency that grapples with the problems does not track the number of inmates treated for overdoses.

Department of Corrections officials say they deem the health and well-being of prisoners a priority and that the system has protocols to provide inmates with "proper medical treatment" when they overdose.

Gov. Ron DeSantis will be on hand when President Donald Trump visits friendly turf Thursday in The Villages, but two of the president’s other closest Florida allies won’t accompany him.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Joe Gruters and Congressman Matt Gaetz have prior commitments and will not be able to attend the president’s event, which is happening in the midst of a U.S. House impeachment inquiry into the president.

A project designed to detect “homegrown violent extremists and lone actors” before they attack is estimated to cost the Florida Department of Law Enforcement millions of dollars --- and agency officials want lawmakers to start paying for parts of it next year.

The agency is asking the Legislature for $3.6 million to support multiple parts of its “behavioral threat assessment” tool, which has been extolled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen.

Impeachment. Impeachment. Impeachment.

That was the drama that dominated Washington, D.C. this week as Democrats backed impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

But in the nation’s largest swing state, Florida Republicans’ support of the president remained unwavering, with some GOP officials using the unfolding events to raise money.

School districts in 11 Florida counties are open to training teachers to carry guns in schools as a defense tactic in case of shooting situations, according to an official with the state Department of Education.

Damien Kelly, director of the state Office of Safe Schools, told the Senate Education Committee on Monday that of the 36 school districts participating in a controversial school “guardian” program, 11 have indicated an interest in arming classroom teachers.