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Florida pension reform looms large
TALLAHASSEE With a larger Republican majority, legislative leaders are expected to try again in the 2015 session to revamp the Florida retirement system. The House will be under the speakership of...
View ArticleJuvenile crime rate is plummeting in Florida
TALLAHASSEE Like the adult crime rate, the juvenile crime rate is also plummeting in Florida. “This trend grossly underreported,” state Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, tweeted after Gov. Rick Scott...
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5 challenges for Scott's second term
TALLAHASSEE With his re-election behind him and an improving state economy, Gov. Rick Scott takes the oath of office at noon Tuesday, beginning his second term as Florida’s governor. Scott narrowly won...
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Lawmaker files medical marijuana bill
State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from St. Petersburg, has filed a bill to make medical marijuana legal in Florida on a fast track, putting application forms in patients’ hands in less than a year....
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No brief in same-sex marriage case
TALLAHASSEE Although she continues to defend Florida’s ban on same-sex marriages, Attorney General Pam Bondi will not be filing a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case that is likely to settle the issue...
View ArticleBuchanan's says he's globetrotting for good reasons
As he begins his ninth year in Congress, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is getting a lot more worldly in his approach to the job. The Longboat Key Republican just finished his second trip to the Middle East...
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Developer, a Scott loyalist, at helm of hospital panel
As a political supporter of Gov. Rick Scott and already a gubernatorial appointee to several regional boards, Manatee County-based developer Carlos Beruff is regarded by political observers as an...
View ArticleHealth care commission adds new element to funding debate
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott’s newly formed Healthcare and Hospital Funding Commission this week will launch itself into the middle of a bitter debate over health care funding that has stalemated the...
View ArticleGOP already calculating electoral votes
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has slipped in some national polls and has drawn the ire of some talk radio shows for not being conservative enough. Still, Bush remains one of the Republican Party’s most...
View ArticleClosing a chapter in the quirky Sarasota political scene
Every community in America has its brand of oddball politics. But when I arrived at the Herald-Tribune more than a decade ago, I had no idea covering politics would include stories about pole dancing,...
View ArticleBudget deal set, but Scott still a wild card
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida will avert a state budget crisis and avoid a government shutdown, which was always a remote possibility. On Friday, Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker...
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House rejects Medicaid expansion
H-T Capital Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- After a seven-hour debate that pitted calls for compassion for struggling Floridians against dire warnings about government programs run amok, the Florida House on...
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Four takeaways from Florida gathering of GOP presidential contenders
He drew the loudest applause and the largest media scrum, and seemed at ease after a rocky stretch. ormer Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at Rick Scott's Economic Growth Summit in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.,...
View ArticleHospitals to get $400 million in state funds
Florida lawmakers began negotiating a new state budget on Saturday, agreeing to give hospitals $400 million in state funding. Hospital funding was a major part of the regular session standoff between...
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New Florida laws for July 1: Beer growlers, flags, abortion waiting period
By JIM TURNER The state's record-setting budget goes into effect on Wednesday, along with 130 other new laws that were produced by the Legislature this year in the regular and special sessions and...
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Medicaid is growing in Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Although lawmakers rejected a plan to expand it, Medicaid continues to grow in Florida. A new estimate from state economists shows the health care program for the poor and disabled will...
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Bush returns to Florida to reboot campaign
As governor of Florida, Jeb Bush kept a brick in his office that was salvaged from the rubble of Charlotte High School after Hurricane Charley wrecked the historic building in August 2004. Memories...
View ArticleFlorida teachers protest state's education policies
Nearly 2,000 people rallied outside the Florida Capitol Thursday in an event organized by the state's largest teacher's union to protest education policies coming out of Tallahassee. Teachers blasted...
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Lawmakers closing in on big tax cuts
By Lloyd Dunkelberger and Katy Bergen TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Senate and House committees approved competing $80 billion budget plans on Wednesday that have wide differences on tax cuts, economic...
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Millennials identify with Marco Rubio
(left to right) Miranda Latima, David Thompson, Chris Happle, 19, Chris Ward, 26, Georgia Pevy, 20 -- all students in the USF "Road to the White House" class DERRY, N.H. — On the eve of the final...
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