Author

Mitch Perry

Mitch Perry

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.

Attorney General Ashley Moody weighs in against legalizing recreational cannabis in FL

By: - May 16, 2023

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has submitted ballot language to the Florida Supreme Court for a proposed 2024 constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis in Florida. She also informed the court that she opposes the measure. Moody told the high court that she believes the proposed amendment “fails” to meet the requirements of Florida law, […]

Florida’s top GOP legislative leaders back Ron DeSantis for president in 2024

By: - May 16, 2023

Florida’s two most powerful members of the state Legislature – Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner– said they will endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 — if he plans to run. DeSantis still has not announced his bid for the presidency, though he has been crisscrossing the country for months […]

Ron DeSantis not ready to say that he’ll announce his presidential candidacy

By: - May 15, 2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis would not confirm a report Monday that he is expected to announce his candidacy for president of the United States within the next two weeks. NBC News reported over the weekend that the Florida governor was set to move his political operations into a new building in Tallahassee on Monday, and that the […]

Brevard School Board member Jennifer Jenkins ‘considering’ a run for U.S. Senate

By: - May 12, 2023

As the Florida Democratic Party continues to search for candidates to challenge GOP U.S. Senate incumbent Rick Scott next year in his bid for re-election, Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins’s name has popped up as an emerging possibility. In an interview with the Phoenix on Friday, the 36-year-old said she will support any […]

Florida Young Democrats ponder the future

By: - May 12, 2023

Florida Democrats, who haven’t even managed yet to find someone to run against Rick Scott for re-election to the U.S. Senate next year, are finding recruitment of candidates for down-ballot races difficult, too. Their plight was made stark during an exchange at a Florida Young Democrats workshop during the state party convention in Tampa last […]

Poll: More Florida Republicans accept that human actions cause climate change

By: - May 11, 2023

A survey of more than 1,400 Floridians shows that 65% believe that the causes of climate change are predominantly due to human action, and that includes nearly half of all Republicans (49%). The poll shows that more half of Floridians (52%) say they would be willing to pay a $10 month infrastructure improvement tax to […]

Gov. DeSantis signs the most restrictive bill on illegal immigration in the country

By: - May 10, 2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed what both he and his critics agree is the strongest anti-illegal immigration bill passed by any state legislature in the country on Wednesday. Speaking in Jacksonville behind a podium with a sign reading, “Biden’s Border Crisis,” the governor blasted the president for the large influx of undocumented immigrants that has occurred […]

In St. Petersburg, Uhuru members deny federal charges in Russian-influence case

By: - May 10, 2023

For the first time since a federal grand jury indicted members of the St. Petersburg-based Black nationalist group known as the Uhuru Movement last month on allegations that they worked on a Russian political-influence campaign in the U.S., three members of the organization have vehemently denied the charges. “My crime is my absolutely belief in […]

FL HCA hospital workers say staffing shortages are leading to unsafe conditions

By: - May 9, 2023

Staffers at hospitals run by HCA Healthcare in the Tampa Bay area spoke out on Tuesday against their employer, claiming that staffing shortages in their facilities have created unsafe conditions for patients. The charges are serious because HCA Healthcare is the nation’s leading health care provider in the country with 184 hospitals nationwide and 46 […]

Rick Scott wants to take Florida’s school ‘guardian’ program national

By: - May 8, 2023

Less than a month after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed 17 people in February 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature came together quickly to pass a major gun-safety bill that required every public school to post an armed officer, or “guardian,” on campus by that fall. Now, as […]

In Tampa, FL Democrats vent frustrations following bruising legislative session

By: - May 8, 2023

Approximately 48 hours after the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature concluded a blockbuster legislative session that produced major conservative policy victories on abortion, immigration, public-employee unions, the death penalty, LGBTQ+ issues, and higher education, Florida Democrats gathered in Tampa for a pep rally on Sunday afternoon to revive their spirits and aim for better times ahead. “Every […]

DeSantis signs bill voiding Disney development deal

By: - May 5, 2023

Wasting no time in firing back at The Walt Disney Co. in their continuing feud, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Friday purporting to void the entertainment giant’s development agreement with the Reedy Creek Improvement District when that special district was still under Disney’s control. The original bill (SB 1604), sponsored by Central Florida Republican Blaise […]