Just weeks before another hurricane season, large numbers of Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the storm-battered state continue to struggle to meet requirements that they have backup power generator to keep facilities cool.

State records show that 89 long-term care facilities have told Florida officials in the last month that they won’t have generators by June 1 --- which is when the six-month hurricane season kicks off. Some forecasters have predicted it could be a normal hurricane season resulting in as many as two to four major hurricanes.

Earlier Wednesday elected officials, business owners, and North Florida college students originally from the Glades communities gathered in Waller Park at the Florida Capitol to voice their support for state funding to expedite plans north of Lake Okeechobee to “slow the flow” of untreated water flowing into Lake Okeechobee and impacting coastal estuaries.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, D-Fla., who led the U.S. Health and Human Services Department for eight years in the Clinton administration, turned her attention this week to the rising number of young Americans using tobacco and e-cigarettes, backing a proposal to raise the age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21. 

The Florida Association of Destination Marketing Organizations (FADMO) delivered “green slime” (gooey, green glow-in-the-dark putty) Wednesday to Florida’s legislators with a clear message -- reauthorize and fully fund VISIT FLORIDA. 

U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., has thrown his support to two security bills making their way through the U.S. House. 

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-SC, showcased his proposal “to improve the national instant criminal background check system in order to search the National Data Exchange database when conducting criminal background checks” which, he insisted, would have closed the loophole which allowed the shooter in the 2015 Charleston church shooting to purchase a gun. 

As the debate over so-called sanctuary cities is back in the national spotlight, two Republican-led proposals that would bar such policies in Florida are close to being ready for final consideration.

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the House version of the bill, which would carry fines and penalties for local governments that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“It is important to not put the citizens of our state at a disadvantage to criminal aliens,” said Rep. Cord Byrd, a Neptune Beach Republican sponsoring the bill (HB 527).

Siding with Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday that the governor acted within his authority when he suspended Okaloosa County Superintendent of Schools Mary Beth Jackson.

DeSantis stripped Jackson of her post less than a week after he was sworn into office, citing “scathing” grand-jury reports that alleged “dereliction of duty.”

Now in his second term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., has moved up into the leadership ranks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) as the Democrats look to protect their new majority in the U.S. House. 

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., the chairwoman of the DCCC, announced that five regional vice chairs, including Crist, had been elected by her caucus. 

“Elected by their colleagues, these vice chairs will help lead the on-the-ground effort to fortify and expand our new Democratic majority,” the DCCC noted. 

Sports betting, “designated player” card games and bingo are all on the table as a future Senate president tries to nail down a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as early as Friday.

The state and the tribe are back at the negotiating table in hopes of finalizing a revenue-sharing agreement, called a “compact,” in which the Seminoles would pay the state in exchange for the exclusive rights to operate certain types of gambling.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday downplayed growing concerns that President Donald Trump is putting Florida’s coastal waters back in play for oil exploration.