Senate President Joe Negron's plan to buy farmland south of Lake Okeechobee to try to prevent the return of toxic algae blooms in Treasure Coast waterways drew unanimous support Tuesday at its first Senate committee.
Senate President Joe Negron appeared willing Tuesday to look beyond sugar farmland to carry out his proposal to acquire 60,000 acres to reduce the flow of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into estuaries on both coasts.
The Stuart Republican, speaking to reporters and editors gathered at the Capitol for an annual Associated Press event, maintained his desire to buy land for a reservoir south of the lake to store and clean water.
Gov. Rick Scott's political organization tried to send a shot across the House bow this week. But the House doesn't appear to be backing off its opposition to his business-recruitment and tourism funding proposals.
The Scott political committee "Let's Get to Work" released results Monday of a telephone poll intended to show public support for the governor's funding requests for Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who remains highly critical of using tax dollars for business incentives and tourism marketing, appeared to scoff at the poll.
A coalition that includes two state House members and a former congressman announced Monday it will fight for money to protect waterways in North Florida as Senate President Joe Negron tries to move forward with an ambitious proposal to spend heavily on cleaning waters in South Florida.
Treasure Coast lawmakers, concerned about a passenger railroad service that will travel through their districts, want high-speed operators to pay for safety upgrades.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Gov. Rick Scott have started to exchange some not-so-subtle jabs about the future of the state's business-recruitment and tourism-marketing agencies
Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, has repeatedly expressed opposition to Scott's focus on providing money to Enterprise Florida for business incentives and has questioned the need for tourism-marketer Visit Florida to even exist.
And this week, Corcoran dragged one of the governor's favorite businesses into the mix: Wawa convenience stores.
A measure that would expand how and where Florida's more than 1.67 million concealed-weapons license holders can carry handguns may have an easier path through the Senate in 2017 than in the past.
Lisa Edgar, who is ending a 12-year run as a state utility regulator, has been appointed director of the Florida Park Service, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Tuesday.
Another agency's controversial contract with a Miami rapper, and its aftermath, was on the mind of Space Florida officials Friday, as they reaffirmed a $1 million line of credit for an unnamed company.
Hurricane damages in Florida have reached at least $1.59 billion from the two storms that hammered parts of North Florida and the East Coast this year, according to the latest numbers from the insurance industry and the state.
