In the first six months of 2019, Florida has seen record tourism numbers according to new figures from Visit Florida and the governor’s office. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that almost 69 million tourists visited the Sunshine State during the first half of the year, beating the record high figure from last year by 5.6 percent. Most of those tourists--61.2 million--are Americans while 2.4 million came from Canada and 5.2 million from overseas. 

DeSanits noted how the state’s economy continues to rely on tourism.  

Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva and his successor don’t consider a heated text-message exchange with an embattled lawmaker to be state-related business.

But Rep. Mike Hill, a Pensacola Republican who this year was chastised by members of his party for his response to a suggestion that gay people be put to death, did and turned over the text messages after a public-records request by The News Service of Florida.

A prominent seniors group is backing U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s, R-Fla., effort to lower prescription drug prices for medicines created with taxpayer dollars. 

Heading into a critical election year, Florida legislators may have to tighten spending because of a combination of a slowing economy and reverberations of financial decisions.

State economists on Wednesday drew up new estimates that predict the state will take in about $867 million less in revenue over two years than earlier anticipated. The new forecast was drawn up on the same day that the stock market tanked amid worries that a recession could be looming.

Pointing to First Amendment rights, a divided South Florida appeals court Wednesday overturned an injunction that state Sen. Lauren Book had obtained against a man she accused of cyberstalking and harassing her.

Florida’s two senators on Capitol Hill weighed in on China's crackdown on protests in Hong Kong in recent days. 

The protests, which started over an extradition policy that could lead activists in Hong Kong to be deported to mainland China, have resulted in the shutdown of the Hong Kong airport.

Weighing in on the protests, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., ripped into the Chinese regime and on Wednesday urged President Trump to stay strong.

The Florida League of Cities and three communities this week filed a renewed constitutional challenge to a state law that is expected to help telecommunications companies install wireless technology on city-owned utility poles and in public rights of way.

With the nation reeling from mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, one Florida lawmaker -- known for sponsoring controversial bills -- has pre-filed 2020 legislation seeking to do away with “red flag” gun control measures adopted in the wake of the Valentine’s Day Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in 2018.

Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, pre-filed House Bill 6003 on Friday. For the legislative session beginning Jan. 14. He filed a similar bill during the 2019 legislative session that did not get a committee hearing.

U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., wants the U.S. Labor Department to restore federal policies ended by the Obama administration on paying home healthcare workers overtime. 

This week, Rooney sent a letter to acting U.S. Labor Sec. Patrick Pizzella calling on Pizzella to rescind the Obama administration’s decision to end the Companion Services Exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

A Florida Republican congressman is continuing his efforts to build economic ties with Mongolia. Why Mongolia? Because it's a friend and it's strategically located nation between two major powers, China and Russia.