News
Panhandle county tells private beach grumps – pick up your own trash, we’re not doing it anymore
Commissioners in Walton County – which is in the middle of a high-profile fight over the public’s right to walk on the beach – is telling waterfront homeowners and condominium complexes that county workers will no longer collect the trash from their beach side bins, the Northwest Daily News reports. The county doesn’t want to […]
Southern Poverty Law Center sues ICE & Customs and Border Protection for withholding documents in Florida immigration cases
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed lawsuits against two federal government agencies on Wednesday, saying that the government is withholding public information about Florida’s undocumented immigrants. The social justice group, which is based in Alabama but has been working in Florida in recent years, sued the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for failing to […]
Conservative student group that hosted AG Jeff Sessions, chanting ‘Lock her up,’ has 23 Florida chapters
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addressed a crowd at a high school leadership summit Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., when the audience began chanting the phrase “lock her up.” Sessions laughed and joined in once. He was there to speak to Turning Point USA, a national student-centric conservative group that’s growing in Florida. The group […]
Advocacy group challenges Florida’s “fake” concern over women’s health
Pro-choice advocates will be in Tallahassee next week to petition Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Health to demand more accountability for how a state-funded network of women’s clinics spends taxpayers’ money – and whether clinic workers peddle religious views. The network of not-for-profit women’s clinics – known as the Florida Pregnancy Care […]
Federal court overturns Florida prohibition of early voting locations on college campuses
College campuses can be used for early voting sites in this year’s elections, a federal judge ruled today Judge Mark Walker granted a preliminary injunction against Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner’s interpretation of the state’s early voting law, which he claimed prohibited public college and university campuses from hosting early voting sites The League […]
LGBTQ community rocked by series of Florida murders
In the past five months, four transgender women of color and an African-American gay man – possibly tied to the same drag show touring circuit – have been murdered in Florida. The murders are spreading fear through the LGBTQ community, with activists banding together to demand more action from state leaders and from law enforcement. […]
Targeting younger voters: New political ad buy to reach a half-million under age 40
Progressive political action committee NextGen America is poised to release its first wave of online ads promoting gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Gillum. The ads will target half a million Floridians under the age of 40 and will appear all over Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for the next two weeks. Two-thirds of the targeted audience are African […]
Traffic gridlock: Critics say pricey, exclusive toll lanes (“Lexus Lanes”) hurt the poor. Will it change with a new governor?
Vexing traffic congestion seems to be an issue in all of Florida’s major urban regions, yet it has not received much attention from the seven major candidates for governor this campaign season. Plenty of people have criticism for Gov. Rick Scott’s approach, which saw the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) over the past eight years […]
Activists call for Tampa Bay prosecutor to file charges in shocking ‘Stand Your Ground’ shooting case
In the wake of the shooting death of Markeis McGlockton last week in Pinellas County, a coalition of activist groups are calling on Pinellas/Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe to file charges against the shooter, 47-year-old Michael Drejka. Drejka, who is white, shot and killed McGlockton, a 28-year-old African American man, outside a convenience store […]
Cash flows into “8isGreat” as battle over public schools – especially charter schools – continues
The Republican Party of Florida, investment companies, education groups and fans of charter schools have so far contributed $167,000 to 8isGreat.org, a political committee pushing to approve a contentious education amendment to the state’s Constitution. The largest contribution was from the Florida GOP — $100,000 on June 13, according to the state’s Division of Elections. […]
New political effort to let independent voters – not just Dems and GOPs – participate in Florida primaries
Though there is considerable interest this summer in who the next governor of Florida will be, the fact is that more than three million people – a quarter of all registered voters in the Sunshine State – are banned from participating in the Aug. 28 primary election. That’s because they’re a part of the fastest […]
Increase in young Floridians registered to vote post-Parkland shooting, analysis finds
The number of young people registered to vote has surged nationwide since the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, according to a recent analysis of voter registration data in 39 states. The TargetSmart analysis found there was a significant increase in Florida and other “key battleground races” in the number of […]