Florida News
Index of Stories
2019
|
|
Florida News 2019
(scroll down)
|
Posted
April 18, 2019 09:25 am
Florida has
long been known for “government-in-the-sunshine”
– laws that promote transparency and the
public’s right to know about elected officials,
open meetings and public records. But open
meetings and public records have become
oxymorons as the Florida Legislature this
session has been moving to create more secrecy
than sunshine.
|
Posted
April 18, 2019 01:30 pm
TALLAHASSEE – The U.S. Senate last week
confirmed that David Bernhardt would be Ryan
Zinke’s successor as Interior Secretary,
clearing a procedural hurdle in releasing
the department’s proposed five-year
off-shore oil and gas development plan.
|
Posted
April 17, 2019 06:15 am
TALLAHASSEE – Raising the minimum wage
from $10 an hour in 2021 by a dollar a year
to $15 an hour in 2026 would increase the
state’s sales tax revenues, but probably not
dramatically reduce the number of state
residents who qualify for public assistance
and Medicaid.
|
Posted April 12, 2019 05:00 am | Public News
Service
TAMPA, FL – Florida is making some progress
placing foster kids in family settings, with a
three percentage point improvement over a 10
year period, according to a new report.
|
Posted
April 11, 2019 04:05 am
TALLAHASSEE –
Red-light cameras, those never-blinking machine
eyes at intersections, foster ominous Orwellian
chills among many but, for Sen. Jeff Brandes,
R-St. Petersburg, they literally represent evil.
|
Posted April 1, 2019 05:00 am | Public News
Service
MIAMI - Exactly
one year from Monday, the official count of
every resident of the United States begins with
the 2020 Census. But Florida has long had
problems getting an accurate count of its
children.
|
Posted
March 30, 2019 11:15 am
|
Posted
March 27, 2019 07:50 am
TALLAHASSEE –
Amendment 4 could allow an estimated 1.4 million
ex-felons to be eligible to vote, as long as
they've completed their sentence and weren't
convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense.
|
Posted
March 25, 2019 05:15 am
TALLAHASSEE – On Friday, House Education
Committee chairwoman Rep. Jennifer Sullivan,
R-Eustis, opened the public hearing on the
pending proposal hoping a moment of clarity
would end the parade of challenges and
criticisms before it began.
|
Posted
March 22, 2019 10:45 am
TALLAHASSE – Wednesday afternoon, the
Florida Senate Environment and Natural
Resources Committee had a special workshop
regarding the sewage that has been drifting
down river from Valdosta across the Florida
border into North Florida. Many are calling
this North Florida's "Red Tide."
|
Posted
March 20, 2019 09:58 am
TALLAHASSEE – Key components of the House
proposed fiscal year 2020 budget came into
focus Tuesday when two appropriations
subcommittee chairs released their fiscal
year 2020 spending requests.
|
Posted
March 20, 2019 06:30 am
MONROE COUNTY, FL – After a two-year
investigation dubbed “Operation Thimblerig,”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) investigators broke up a
criminal conspiracy involving the
exploitation of the spiny lobster commercial
fishery.
|
March 19, 2019 10:30 am | updated
March 20 07:10 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Unless a giant monkey wrench is
thrown into the mix, Werner Enterprises, one of
the America's largest trucking and logistics
firms is locating to Columbia County. The Werner
Enterprise's trucking facility is scheduled to
be located at the Bell Road economic development
site near I-10 and US 441. For almost a year, this project
has been code named Project 18-6.
|
March 18, 2019 07:30 am | Public News
Service
|
Posted
March 18, 2019 07:30 am
FLORIDA –
If you think bats may be living in your
building, now is the time to check your
attic, eaves or chimney spaces and take
action to exclude them. Bat maternity season
begins April 15 and runs through August 15.
During this time it’s illegal to block bats
from their roost.
|
Posted
March 11, 2019 08:45 am
TALLAHASSEE – The House PreK-12 Quality
Subcommittee on Thursday resoundingly
endorsed a proposal to mandate that public
high school students are offered elective
classes on religion and the Bible, despite
constitutional concerns and fears that
school districts could be embroiled in
lawsuits over “evangelizing.”
|
Posted
March 11, 2019 08:45 am
FLORIDA – Hindus are urging Florida
legislators to add Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita to
House Bill 195, the "Study of the Bible." This
would also require Florida public schools to
offer elective courses on these ancient
scriptures.
|
Posted
March 9, 2019 11:00 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Thursday, March 7, 2019, Sheriff
Mark Hunter's percent based budgeting deal with
the Columbia County 5 almost faded quietly away. After the motion was made to end the
agreement, the discussion began with some humor.
Commissioner Witt said, "I'm only going to be a
minute. I'm not going to do a Tim Murphy and
make a long speech." Everybody chuckled. There
were no more chuckles.
|
Posted
March 7, 2019 08:25 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Commissioner Tim
Murphy has a passion for politics, economic
development, and talking. At yesterday's
Economic Development Advisory Board meeting,
Mr. Murphy demonstrated all three and
announced that he is looking to have a
regional summit to bring Columbia County's
sister counties to the table so they are all
heading in the same direction.
|
Posted
March 6, 2019 05:00 am
Gov. Ron
DeSantis met with the convened Legislature
for his first time Tuesday to spell out his
goals for the coming legislative session,
and if there was any doubt that Tallahassee
is still in a honeymoon swoon over the new
governor, it was evident in the bipartisan
praise he received after his 25-minute
inaugural State-of-The-State address.
|
Posted
March 4, 2019 05:00 am
|
Posted
March 3, 2019 10:30 pm
FLORIDA –
Senator Rob Bradley has been named the first
recipient of the Park Champion of the Year Award
by the Florida State Parks Foundation.
|
Posted
March 3, 2019 09:15 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Each spring, a
nation-wide high school arts competition is
sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House
of Representatives. The Artistic Discovery
Contest is an opportunity to recognize and
encourage the artistic talent in the nation,
as well as Neal Dunn's Congressional
District 2 of Florida.
|
Posted
February 27, 2019 11:pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Tomorrow, February 28,
2018, at 4 pm, the Middle and Lower Suwannee
River and Withlacoochee River Task Force
(the Task Force) will be meeting for its
third meeting. The Task Force has members
from 12 North Central FL counties and while
all counties do not front on the
Withlacoochee and or Suwannee Rivers, the
officials have banded together to help find
a solution to the multi-million gallon raw
sewage spills coming out of Valdosta into N.
Florida.
|
Posted
February 26, 2019 06:45 am
TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis has
rescinded 169 mostly midnight appointments
to 67 state boards and commissions issued by
now-U.S. Sen. Rick Scott in the days before
he left Tallahassee for Washington, D.C.
|
Posted
February 26, 2019 04:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – At 10 am yesterday
morning, Florida Power & Light (FPL)
officially unveiled its Columbia County
300,000 solar panel solar farm. The plant
generates enough zero-emissions electricity
to power approximately 15,000 Florida homes.
|
Posted
February 23, 2019 10:15 pm
TALLAHASSEE –
A Senate subcommittee approved a sweeping
state preemption bill that would dissolve
all local business regulations by 2021 and
make it virtually impossible for city and
county governments to reauthorize them or
adopt new ones.
|
Posted
February 18, 2019 11:45 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On February 12,
2019, the Florida Gateway College Board met
in Baker County for its monthly meeting.
Neither the Olustee Battle Reenactment nor
the Battle Festival was anywhere on the
College's agenda. Columbia County residents
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson and Jim Tatum
brought the item up, which inspired FGC
Board member and Florid Representative Chuck
Brannon to throw up his arms in exasperation
and tell the Board, "I'm not in agreement to
what I am hearing today. And I am not going
to just sit here and not say anything."
|
Posted February 18, 2019 08:30 am | Public News
Service
MIAMI - The goal for the thousands of children in
Florida's foster care program is to find forever homes.
But a new tracking system developed at the University of
Miami shows the dream for many children is short-lived.
|
Posted
February 14, 2019 05:40 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Yesterday, February 13, 2019,
the Florida Gateway College Campus Activity
Board sponsored a Black History Festival in
the Student Activity Center.
|
Posted
February 13, 2019 06:15 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – As the
January 23, 2019 Tourist Development Council (TDC)
meeting got underway, TDC Director Paula
Vann announced, "At the last TDC meeting I
brought up that the hotel owners were asking
that we do some improvements or ask DOT to
do some improvements at the I-75 and Highway
90 exit." As a result, Ms. Vann invited
Florida Department of Transportation's
(FDOT) landscape team to the TDC. Twenty
minutes after the meeting began, DOTs Marty
Humphreys said, "We have a little issue out
there... We've been working with law
enforcement."
|
Posted
February 2, 2019 10:45 pm
TALLAHASSEE
– Sen. Jeff Brandes on Thursday pre-filed
Senate Bill 642, the "Florida First Step
Act," which incorporates the “best ideas”
from the federal criminal justice reform
measure adopted in December by Congress with
widespread bipartisan support and the
backing of President Donald Trump.
|
Posted
January 31, 2019 10:40 am
ST. LEO, FL – Saint Leo University was named
a Top 10 Gold-level Military Friendly®
School Award recipient for 2019-2020 in the
category of private institutions offering
doctoral degrees. Saint Leo is ranked
seventh in the nation as a Military
Friendly® School.
|
Posted
January 28, 2019 10:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – In nineteen days, the
Olustee Battle Festival, the annual
celebration of the February 20, 1864, Baker
County Battle of Olustee, begins. Folks from
all over the world will converge on the area
to fill local hotels, fill up at fast food
emporiums, and visit downtown Lake City for
an "arts and crafts festival." The center
piece of the event is the Olustee Battle
Reenactment. Thousands of white people along
with their children, many waving the
Confederate Battle flag, will be cheering
their Confederate heroes on to victory while
watching Americans blowing each other's
brains out.
|
Posted
January 26, 2019 03:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – Late Thursday afternoon,
January 24, 2019, the Middle and Lower
Suwannee River Task Force (the Task Force)
met for its second meeting. The Task Force
has members from 12 N. Central FL counties
and while all counties do not front on the
Withlacoochee and or Suwannee Rivers, the
officials have banded together to help find
a solution to the multi-million gallon raw
sewage spills coming out of Valdosta into N.
Florida.
|
Posted
January 23, 2019 10:25 am
TALLAHASSEE
– Solidifying a conservative majority, Gov.
Ron DeSantis on Tuesday made his third
appointment to the Florida Supreme Court,
selecting a former top legal aide to Gov.
Jeb Bush and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
|
Posted
January 22, 2019 08:35am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake City Reporter
recently reported on the January 8, 2019,
Florida Gateway College Board meeting, a
meeting in which the board voted unanimously
to end funding for the Olustee Battle
Festival. The College Board is composed of
gubernatorial appointees, six of whom were
present: a banker, three educators, and two
physicians. Three of the six are long time
Columbia County residents.
|
Posted
January 16, 2019 04:20 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Monday, January 14,
Senator Rob Bradley, one of the most
powerful people in Tallahassee (chairman of
the Senate Appropriations Committee), and
considered by many to be one of
Tallahassee's sharpest elected officials,
and newly elected Representative Chuck
Brannan, listened to various government
representatives asking for money. However,
along with the bevy of local officials, were
everyday citizens who came to voice their
concerns from climate change to education
and things in between.
|
Posted
January 14, 2019 12:05 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Senator Rob Bradley (R-Fleming
Island), Chairman of the Columbia County
Legislative Delegation, will preside at the
annual delegation hearing today, Monday,
January 14th at 1:00 pm. The location of
the hearing is the Florida Gateway College
Administrative Bldg 1, Board Room located at
149 SE College Place, Lake City, Florida.
|
Posted
January 12, 2019 03:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Friday afternoon,
Melissa Olin was sworn in as a Circuit Court
Judge in the Third Judicial Circuit of
Florida. Ms. Olin, 48, a former Assistant
State Attorney and a UF graduate, continues
the generational shift begun with the
election of Judge Wesley Douglas and
continued with the elections of Judge Mark
Feagle and Dixie County County Court Judge
Jennifer J. Johnson.
|
Posted
January 9, 2019 10:21 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night, Florida Gateway College
(FGC) Board Chair Suzanne Norris was the only
board member who exhibited any discomfort with
the support of Lake City's infamous Olustee
Battle Festival, which celebrates the victory of
the South over the North in the 1864 Battle of
Olustee in Baker County. FGC President Larry
Barrett signed a contract in July supporting the
festival.
|
Posted
January 4, 2019 06:35 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night's meeting of the
County 5 concluded on an upbeat note when
Commissioner Murphy invited Representative
Brannon's District Secretary to the microphone,
"We've got Representative Brannon's associate
here. Step up and introduce yourself."
|
More
Secrecy Than Sunshine: Lawmakers Push for
Exemptions to Public Records/Open Meeting
Laws
Federal Off-Shore Drilling Plan May Include
Waters off the Florida Coast
Financial Impact Conference: Proposed FL
minimum-wage hike won’t reduce Medicaid
rolls
Florida Finding a Few More Families for Young Foster
Kids
"Tools
of the Devil," FL Bill Banning Red-Light
Cameras Yellow-Flagged
Census
Prep Begins Targeting Underserved Areas
Florida
Voters Restored Ex-Felon's Voting Rights,
But Did They Mean to Include a 'Poll Tax'?
North FL's "Red Tide" - Sewage Floating
South
From GA into the Suwannee River in N.
Florida
FWC, Office of Statewide Prosecutor Charge 3
for Exploiting S. FL Spiny Lobster:
Multiple Felonies
Econ Dev: Werner Enterprises, a Billion Dollar
Co. Coming to I-10 – US441 with New Facility
FL Exceeds "Million Pollinator Garden Challenge" Goal
Bat Maternity Season Begins April 15
FL House Subcommittee OK's 'Study of Bible'
Bill Despite Fears of Evangelizing
Hindus Urge Florida Legislators to Include 
Sheriff Mark Hunter's
Percent Based Budgeting Deal with the County 5 –
Officially Exterminated
County Economic Development Advisory Board Murphy Looking for Regional
Summit
DeSantis on Education: Senate School Choice
Proposals May End Honeymoon With Democrats
Florida bill: 'Recreationalize' marijuana to
dodge labyrinth of litigation, regulation
Senator
Rob Bradley: First Florida State Parks
Champion of the Year
2019 Congressional
High School Art Competition Entries
Accepted Through April 29
Middle & Lower Suw River Task Force On
Tap In LC: Fighting Pollution From Valdosta,
GA
DeSantis Rescinds 169 More of Scott’s
Midnight Appointments: Total Nixed - 214
FPL Officially Unveils Columbia County's
First Solar Power Plant
Olustee Battle Festival: Funding Battle
Continued at Florida Gateway College – Next
Action Unclear
Foster-Care Placement Instability
Florida Gateway College Celebrates Black
History Month
Hotel Owners Complain About Homeless
Under the I-75 at U.S. 90 – FDOT to
Step In
Comprehensive 'Florida First Step Act' Could
Supplant Many Already-Filed Justice Reform
Bills
St Leo Univ Named as Top 10
Military Friendly School - Ranked 7th in
Nation
Battle of Olustee Festival:
Revisionist History Where Black Lives Didn't
& Still Don't Matter
North FL Leaders To Reach
Out to Valdosta to Find a Solution to Raw Sewage
Spills Floating Into N FL
Gov DeSantis Tilts FL Supreme Court to the
Right
The Lake City Reporter:
Keeping the Olustee Myth Alive – A New Twist
on Letters to the Editor
Sen Bradley & Rep Brannan Came to Columbia
Cnty, Everyday Citizens Voiced Their Concerns
Columbia
County Legislative Delegation Hearing Today
at 1PM: You can make your voice heard
Melissa Olin: 3d Circuit's Newest
Judge
FL
Gateway Col Bd Unanimously
Votes to End Support for Olustee Battle
Festival
Dist 10's Brannon Sworn In
- Dist Sec Hartley Appears Before the Cnty
5