Five men who spent years on death row for crimes they did not commit delivered a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday, urging him to halt James Dailey’s upcoming execution and thoroughly review the evidence in his case.

Dailey, who is set to be executed Nov. 7, was convicted in the May 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio, who had been hitchhiking with her twin sister and another girl near St. Petersburg, according to court documents.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried joined a group of second grade students from Pineview Elementary School on Tuesday to celebrate National Agriculture Literacy Day. 

Florida will pay $2.4 million to a sugar grower as part of an effort to clean and shift water south from Lake Okeechobee through the Everglades.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet -- Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Attorney General Ashley Moody -- agreed Tuesday to pay $1,940 an acre to New Hope Sugar Co., a subsidiary of Florida Crystals, to terminate a 1,234-acre lease of state-owned land.

The land is planned to be part of a project that involves building a reservoir.in the Everglades Agricultural Area.

A freshman congressman from Florida is championing a proposal to streamline state income tax collection for Americans who take out of state temporary work assignments. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., announced on Tuesday that he had introduced the “Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act” which U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-SD, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced in the U.S. Senate back in February. 

With the Florida Department of Education planning to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education on how career and technical education (CTE) centers around the state help students enter the workforce, state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is getting ready to hit the road. 

Corcoran announced that he will host a series of events across the state to gather input as the state gets ready to submit the report in the spring and receive federal funds. 

Two South Florida Democrats have filed companion Senate-House bills seeking to restore the state’s former judge-selection system to restrict partisan domination of the process and encourage diversity.

Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, filed Senate Bill 86 and Rep. Al Jacquet, D-Riviera Beach, introduced House Bill 379, last week.

Both want the composition of the state’s 26 state judicial nomination commissions (JNC) that vet state court nominees before submitting finalists to the governor to each include only three gubernatorial appointments instead of nine.

Ignoring the conclusions of a Senate special master, a key committee voted along party lines Monday night to uphold Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ouster of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

The Senate Rules Committee’s 9-7 vote was a prelude to a Wednesday vote by the full Senate, which is meeting in a special session to decide the embattled law enforcement official’s fate.

From his perch as one of the chairs of the Congressional Caucus to Cure Blood Cancers and Other Blood Disorders, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., is championing a proposal to reauthorize the cell transplantation program named after a longtime Florida congressman. 

Now in his second term, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., continues to concentrate on college student athletes, calling for a new congressional body to “focus on the well-being and rights of our nation’s student-athletes.”

Lawson, who lettered in basketball and ran track during his undergrauate career at Florida A&M University, called on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to create a Select Committee on Student-Athletes.

Florida senators have a tough task ahead. Today they convene in special session to decide the fate of suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

Expect a high emotion quotient. More than two dozens Broward citizens, including parents of murdered children, vowed to travel to Tallahassee to have their say at the proceedings.