Author

Michael Moline

Michael Moline

Michael Moline has covered politics and the legal system for more than 30 years. He is a former managing editor of the San Francisco Daily Journal and former assistant managing editor of The National Law Journal.

DeSantis appoints two judges to South Florida appellate court

By: - April 26, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis has selected candidates with backgrounds as prosecutors to replace two Miami state appeals court judges. The vacancies happened when DeSantis appointed the two to the Florida Supreme Court. Joining the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal are Monica Gordo, a trial judge in Miami who earlier worked as an assistant state attorney; and […]

mexico beach

Hurricane Michael aid delay: ‘unacceptable, morally wrong’

By: - April 25, 2019

A bipartisan group of Florida’s leaders – including every member of the Cabinet, although not Gov. Ron DeSantis – demanded Thursday that Congress break the gridlock holding up disaster relief for Hurricane Michael victims in Northwest Florida. Six months after the Category 5 storm made landfall, “a recovery bill sits withering in Congress while our […]

State Dept. of Corrections assistant general counsel resigns over offensive social media comments

By: - April 24, 2019

A Florida Department of Corrections attorney has resigned over comments he made about black people during a conversation on Facebook. “Black people need to stop raping, murdering, stealing, and vandalizing, and quit having children out of wedlock. That’s how literally every other once-despised ethnic group broke the cycle and entered into the middle class mainstream,” […]

Gov. DeSantis signs death warrant for 1980s Tampa killer

By: - April 24, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed his first death warrant, for Robert Joseph Long, a confessed serial killer from the Tampa area who has been on Death Row since 1989. Prison officials set the execution for May 23 at 6 p.m., although the warrant authorizes them to put Long to death any time that week. The […]

Florida Supreme Court

FL Supreme Court upholds Gov. DeSantis decision to fire Broward sheriff

By: - April 23, 2019

The Florida Supreme Court has upheld Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for alleged incompetence following mass shootings at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The ruling came Tuesday, a week to the day after the justices approved DeSantis’ removal of another local official – Okaloosa County School […]

Gov. DeSantis: “Do you think I’m just going to, like, bring in a lot of drugs from Pakistan and off the street?”

By: - April 23, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday mocked the pharmaceutical industry’s advertising campaign against his plan to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, and took a swipe at Asia. “Do you think I’m just going to, like, bring in a lot of drugs from Pakistan and off the street?” he said. “C’mon. We’re talking about, there’s a […]

Vaping bill, other legislation now on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk

By: - April 23, 2019

Legislation is now on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk that would  enact a constitutional amendment banning vaping in workplaces, create a public-records exemption for home addresses for civilian police employees, and  boost penalties for harming police animals, The items are among 10 bills sent over Monday by the Legislature and now awaiting the governor’s signature or […]

Trump and DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis reaching into Trump World to staff his administration

By: - April 19, 2019

Ron DeSantis won Florida’s governorship by cleaving to President Trump. He’s maintained those ties by attending Trump events, frequently conferring with the White House, and by bringing former Trump insiders to Tallahassee to help staff his administration. To keep us all up to date, here’s a rundown, so far, of Trump administration people who are […]

Florida to FBI: If you think our elections system was hacked, tell us what you know

By: - April 18, 2019

Florida’s election overseers insisted Thursday that the state’s 2016 elections process had not been hacked by the Russians, notwithstanding a suggestion by special counsel Robert Mueller that Russian security agents (the GRU)  cracked at least one county’s system. The Florida county is not identified in the Mueller report. “We understand the FBI believes that this […]

Gov. DeSantis links today’s Venezuela political situation to Cuba Bay of Pigs invasion

By: - April 17, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday linked efforts to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. “They were fighting the good fight – against tyranny, against communism, against oppression,” he said during a luncheon in Miami commemorating the 58th anniversary of the disastrous CIA-backed incursion by 1,000 […]

Ron DeSantis

Gov. DeSantis meeting with Trump official, billionaire, and lunching at the Coral Gables Biltmore

By: - April 17, 2019

Gov. Ron DeSantis is meeting today  – for the second time in two weeks – with National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has been counseling the governor about the situation in Venezuela. The meeting is at the swank Biltmore Hotel Miami in Coral Gables, according to the governor’s schedule. The governor and first lady will […]

Gov. DeSantis and the Cabinet are going to Jerusalem next month on taxpayers’ dime, but no details forthcoming

By: - April 16, 2019

In about five weeks, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the three members of the Florida Cabinet will fly to Israel to promote Florida as a business destination. While there, they’ll hold their regular monthly meeting. How will they get there? Where will they stay? Who’ll be included among the legislators and business people tagging along? What […]