The U.S. Department of Labor announced this week it will be send $7.5 million in Reentry Project grants to the Sunshine State. 

The grants will go to programs helping former criminals who have been imprisoned and are now reentering society and the workforce, including grants for former prisoners between the ages of 18-24 who have not graduated from high school. 

Lawyers representing teachers are accusing the Florida Department of Education of improperly allowing school districts to deduct employer taxes from teacher bonuses, cutting into the financial awards of tens of thousands of high-performing educators.

The lawsuit, filed in Leon County Circuit Court on Tuesday, alleges that Florida education officials wrongly directed school districts to pay teachers less than the award amount provided in state law, under the controversial “Best and Brightest” teacher bonus program.

Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity [DEO] has distributed more than $2.9 million in grants for infrastructure and economic development programs to support communities reliant on the 21 military installations across the Sunshine State.

“As a veteran, I know the value in supporting Florida’s military installations and their surrounding communities,” Gov. Ron DeSantis, who served in the Navy during the Iraq War, said in a statement accompanying last week's DEO announcement.

This week, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., cheered the European Union (EU) for sanctioning the Maduro regime and Venezuelan security forces.

With the EU announcing plans for the sanctions, Scott weighed in on Tuesday. 

On Monday, the U.S. House passed U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch’s, D-Fla., resolution honoring the victims of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires and calling for action against Hezbollah and Iran who were behind the attack which killed 85 people. 

The U.S. House Monday passed Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan’s "Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act" (RAWR Act), which allows the State Department to offer rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of wildlife traffickers around the globe.

“Wildlife trafficking is a nefarious and persistent threat to endangered animals across the world,” Buchanan said in an afternoon press statement. “The RAWR Act provides another tool to crack down on the billions of dollars generated by this illegal activity. It is now up to the Senate to approve this important measure.”

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is behind a proposal from U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., to create a federal fund to teach students about the Holocaust. 

Rubio, U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., announced their support of Rosen’s “Never Again Education Act." Rosen’s bill would have the U.S. Education Department create the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund, expanding middle and high school education on the Holocaust. 

Two Democrats in the Florida delegation are championing a proposal to have the U.S. Housing and Urban Department (HUD) crack down on federally assisted housing properties that do not comply with federal laws. 

At the end of last week, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-NC, brought out the “HUD Inspection Act.” 

Lawson introduced the bill on Friday and weighed in on why he had introduced it. 

An omnibus elections package passed by the Legislature in May includes a slew of issues proposed by county elections supervisors seeking fixes to voting problems that cropped up over the past few years. But those parts of the legislation have been overshadowed by a controversial last-minute addition aimed at carrying out a constitutional amendment that would restore voting rights to felons.