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What’s at stake in Florida’s Presidential Primary?

Florida will hold its Presidential Primary Tuesday, though stakes are nothing close to what was imagined a year ago.

Two Florida candidates will appear on the Republican ballot — former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis. With 125 bound delegates up for grabs in a winner-takes-all state, the prize pot for Florida’s election is the biggest contest of the Primary season that hasn’t already been decided.

But since DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign days after the Iowa caucus, the first delegate-awarding contest, the marquis battle of Florida men has been put on hold.

Moreover, Trump last week already clinched the nomination. Wins in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington lifted the front-runner above the 1,215-delegate threshold to make him the presumptive and prohibitive nominee.

Pressure to expand Medicaid in Florida keeps slowly rising.

The effort to bring Medicaid expansion to Florida will have to wait at least another year — even though many other southern states that resisted the expansion offered under Obamacare have had second thoughts and changed direction.

The question is whether Florida will be one of the last states in the nation to enact expansion — similar to how it was among the last states to enact the initial Medicaid program that was first authorized in 1965. Florida did not come on board until five years later.

“If Congress were to ever repeal Medicaid expansion and Obamacare, I’d be the first in line in support of that,” said state Rep. Joel Rudman, a conservative Republican and doctor who now says Florida should support expansion.

“But the fact of the matter is, they are never going to. And when you escape that reality, to simply refuse federal dollars for a program that’s never going away is just absurd.”

Florida among states with highest rate of student loan forgiveness

Florida is among the top three states, alongside California and Texas, benefiting significantly from student loan forgiveness initiatives under the Biden-Harris Administration, according to a release issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

Under the administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, 12,790 borrowers in Florida have been relieved of a total of $105.4 million in student debt. To qualify for forgiveness, recipients needed to have at least ten years of loan payments on record after initially borrowing less than $12,000. California and Texas lead the nation in the number of beneficiaries, with 13,580 Californians receiving $114.8 million and 14,510 Texans benefiting from $116.6 million in debt relief, respectively.

“When we talk about fixing a broken student loan system, this is what we’re talking about,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a prepared statement.

Despite the high rate of forgiveness, Florida leaders have long opposed the measure, including Attorney General Ashley Moody, who has referred to Biden’s actions as a “major power grab.”

Rare disease grant program to ‘push the boundaries of science and medicine’ awaits Gov. DeSantis’ signature

There are more than 7,000 known rare diseases that affect approximately 350 million people across the globe — including some 30 million Americans. Now, Florida may be offering those individuals some much-needed hope,

The Legislature passed a bill (SB 1582) that would create a grant program to fund scientific and clinical research on rare diseases. It awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature.

One of those affected is bill sponsor Rep. Adam Anderson, whose son Andrew suffered from Tay-Sachs disease. The grant program would be named after Andrew, the Andrew John Anderson Pediatric Rare Disease Grant Program.

Andrew was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease, an ultrarare fatal genetic disorder with only 16 cases annually nationwide, and passed away at just 4 years old.