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DeSantis gets personal in ‘legacy media’ interview; also acknowledges that Trump lost 2020 election
By: Michael Moline - August 7, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis, struggling in his campaign for president, has put on display his personal side by joining First Lady Casey DeSantis in discussing her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. The couple had discussed her illness before, in Florida and with the media, but not for a national audience. In a recent interview with NBC […]
United Faculty of FL union sues state over rights to arbitrate employment disputes
By: Michael Moline - August 4, 2023
A union representing public university professors, its chapter at New College of Florida, and a professor denied tenure at the Sarasota campus have filed a constitutional challenge to a new state law denying the right to arbitrate employment disputes. A 35-page complaint filed Thursday in state circuit court in Leon County by the United Faculty […]
DeSantis campaigning last week promised (presumably metaphorical) blood will flow if he’s elected
By: Michael Moline - August 3, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis, struggling in the Republican presidential primaries, is resorting to sanguinary rhetoric on the campaign trail, promising to execute drug smugglers and start “slitting throats” of federal bureaucrats. DeSantis made the comments over the weekend during a campaign event in New Hampshire. Of drug cartel members caught at the border, he said, “they’re […]
Appeals court: Contractor liable for economic losses arising from Pensacola Bay bridge damage
By: Michael Moline - August 2, 2023
A construction company can’t hide behind federal admiralty law to avoid legal claims for economic losses caused after 28 barges came unmoored during Hurricane Sally in 2020 and knocked the Pensacola Bay Bridge out of commission for months. That’s the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which rejected Skanska USA […]
DeSantis blasts DOJ while conceding, ‘I have not read the indictment’ of Trump
By: Michael Moline - August 1, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis, acknowledging he hadn’t ready Tuesday’s indictment of former President Donald Trump for seeking to violently disrupt the election of President Joe Biden and cling to power, has decried the charges. “As President, I will end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all […]
American Bar Association plans to honor Andrew Warren, the FL prosecutor DeSantis suspended
By: Michael Moline - August 1, 2023
The American Bar Association will honor Andrew Warren on Friday, the one-year anniversary of his suspension by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as elected state’s attorney for Hillsborough County. Warren is one of two prosecutors to receive the Curtin-Maleng Minister of Justice Award, intended to highlight the principle that under ABA standards “the duty of the […]
DeSantis attacks ‘elites’ in economic message intended to revive his campaign
By: Michael Moline - July 31, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis, flailing in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, proposed a starkly nationalistic and populist economic program during a speech Monday in the early primary state of New Hampshire, promising to overthrow a “failed ruling class.” Speaking in a logistics warehouse in Rochester, N.H., the Florida governor decried decades of U.S. economic […]
Scott, Rubio address conservative state lawmakers but don’t focus on Florida
By: Michael Moline - July 28, 2023
U.S. Sens. Rick Scott — facing reelection next year — and Marco Rubio — reelected last year to a new six-year term — addressed a conservative gathering in Orlando Friday without once mentioning any of the problems facing Florida right now. That might have been because of the nature of the event, the annual meeting […]
Conservation League PAC endorses FL Dems in Congress for reelection next year
By: Michael Moline - July 27, 2023
Two Florida Democrats in Congress have won endorsements from an arm of the League of Conservation voters for reelection next year, and more may be forthcoming in the months ahead. The League’s Action Fund singled U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor and Darren Soto in this round. Castor represents the Tampa area, including a slice of Pinellas […]
Off the presidential trail, DeSantis jabs at the Bidens, fails to mention his campaign problems
By: Michael Moline - July 26, 2023
Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Florida Wednesday to deliver a speech to a national group of conservative state legislators in Orlando. He used the occasion to deliver a series of slaps at the Biden administration — some political, some highly personal. For example, during a discussion of parental rights in education, DeSantis referred to Joe […]
Catholic bishops urge Gov. DeSantis to spare death row inmate
By: Michael Moline - July 25, 2023
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to cancel the Aug. 3 scheduled execution of a man convicted of murdering two women and commute his sentence to life in prison. In a letter dated Monday, the bishops noted that James Phillip Barnes waived his own defense in the murder to which […]
Injunction sought against new curbs on gender-confirming care for adults
By: Michael Moline - July 25, 2023
Four transgender Floridians have asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new law sharply restricting gender-confirming care for adults, arguing its provisions are irrational and not justified medically. The request comes in a lawsuit originally targeting legal restrictions against transgender care for minors but expanded recently to cover denial of care to adults. […]