With Congress agreeing to a temporary truce in the battle over funding the federal government and President Donald Trump’s proposal for a wall on the southern border, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., scored a win as the U.S. Senate passed a bill he championed focusing on the Middle East. 

At the start of the month, Rubio paired up with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Col., and James Risch, R-Idaho, to unveil the “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act.” 

An economic-development fund created as a compromise after a battle between former Gov. Rick Scott and House leaders could be short-lived.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said a close look is warranted at the $85-million-a-year Job Growth Grant Fund, which was passed by the Legislature in 2017.

“I’ve always had some concerns about the parameters of that money,” Bradley told reporters last week.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration has quickly appealed after a circuit judge ruled that it improperly awarded a Medicaid managed-care contract in Southwest Florida.

Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers last week rejected AHCA’s contract with Molina Healthcare of Florida, Inc., finding the agency exceeded a limit on the number of health plans that state law allows to serve Medicaid beneficiaries in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Lee and Sarasota counties. 

The Trump administration will not set legal limits for two toxic chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, that may contaminate more than 110 million Americans’ drinking water, including the drinking water of millions of Floridians, according to Washington, D.C. sources familiar with the upcoming decision. 

The worst contamination occurs near sites where firefighters have trained with an aqueous film-forming foam.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced the appointment of Judge Laurel M. Lee as secretary of state, replacing Mike Ertel who stepped down from the position last week after "racially inappropriate" photos of him 14 years ago surfaced. 

Lee is the wife of Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, whom DeSantis once considered as his running mate.

A House panel Thursday began delving into an arcane and potentially controversial issue that has lingered in Florida’s education system for years --- how to divvy up money among the state’s school districts.

The issue focuses primarily on determining how much it costs to hire teachers and other school employees in various parts of the state. A price-level index, which is calculated to try to represent those costs, is part of a broader formula that lawmakers approve each year to distribute money to districts.

Two veterinarians currently serving in Congress have teamed up again to bring back a bill banning horse soring. 

Back in 2013, U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oreg., paired up to introduce the “Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act.” Yoho’s and Schrader’s bill would amend the Horse Protection Act of 1970 to end horse soring which involves injuring the hooves and legs in order for the horse to have a dramatic, exaggerated leg motion which can be seen in Tennessee walking horses. 

“One of the hallmarks of our republic is the electorate’s trust in our elections.”

Those were the words written by Mike Ertel in a memo to his boss, Gov. Ron DeSantis, just a week before he was forced to quit his job as secretary of state after a newspaper published photos of Ertel wearing blackface while dressed up for Halloween in 2005 as a female Hurricane Katrina victim.

State ethics officials have found probable cause that former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who narrowly lost the governor’s race last year and continues to draw national political attention, violated Florida ethics laws by accepting gifts from lobbyists.

Roger Stone, President Trump's informal longtime adviser, has been charged as part of the special counsel investigation over his communications with WikiLeaks, the organization behind the release of thousands of stolen Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign.