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Survivors of Florida's Death Row Deliver Message to DeSantis: 'Don’t Kill James Dailey'

October 23, 2019 - 6:00am

Exonorees (Credit: Lance Oliver Photography)

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.

Nikki Fried Brings Second Graders to the Old Capitol for National Ag Literacy Day

Sunshine State News

October 23, 2019 - 6:00am

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

Identity Politics Is Shattering Democrats' 2020 Hopes

Jim Bleyer

October 23, 2019 - 6:00am

The conventional wisdom that earlier this year projected the 2020 political demise of Donald Trump and the Democratic control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives lies in tatters.

Democrats themselves are responsible for dashing those high, if unrealistic expectations. The majority of Americans abhor identity politics, but major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination employ that questionable strategy and their supporters have picked up on it to the 10th power.

State Approves Paying Sugar Grower to End Lease

Jim Turner News Service of Florida

October 23, 2019 - 6:00am

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.

Greg Steube Introduces Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act

Kevin Derby

October 22, 2019 - 2:15pm

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.

Florida Workforce Listening Tour Coming With Focus on Career and Technical Education

Sunshine State News

October 23, 2019 - 6:00am

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.

Companion Bills Seek Restoration of Florida's Pre-2001 Judge-Selection Process

JOHN HAUGHEY THE CENTER SQUARE

October 22, 2019 - 7:00am

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.

Senate Rules Committee Narrowly Upholds Governor's Wishes to Remove Broward Sheriff

Dara Kam News Service of Florida

October 22, 2019 - 7:00am

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.

Bilirakis, Matsui Call for Reauthorization of Federal Cell-Transplant Program

Kevin Derby

October 22, 2019 - 7:00am

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.

Al Lawson Calls for Congressional Select Committee on Student-Athletes

Kevin Derby

October 22, 2019 - 7:00am

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.

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