Florida's Latest News

Kathleen Passidomo follows Ron DeSantis’ lead and endorses Donald Trump

“Our party must unite and work together.”

Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo followed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lead and endorsed former President Donald Trump. The Naples Republican had been an early supporter of DeSantis’ presidential campaign.

“America’s Governor Ron DeSantis is an exceptional leader, and he has a bright future leading our state and, one day, our nation,” she said. “I was proud to support his campaign and share with voters his incredible record of success here in the free state of Florida.”

Passidomo suggested firmly that she believed DeSantis could be a viable candidate for President in 2028. But within hours of DeSantis suspending his presidential campaign, she shifted her support to the GOP front-runner.

She followed DeSantis’ lead on that, as the Governor announced his support for Trump in the same video where he announced his own departure from the trail. Passidomo also joined Florida House Speaker Paul Renner in immediately shifting allegiance from DeSantis to Trump.

With campaign over, Gov. Ron DeSantis could reassert hard-right pull on Florida policy

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his spiraling presidential campaign Sunday with a four-and-a-half-minute video on the platform X which he ended promising that “down here in Florida, we will continue to show the country how to lead.” 

After spending $35 million in Iowa, alone, for a distant second-place finish behind former President Donald Trump and traveling the country for months, DeSantis is headed back to a Florida Capitol still with almost three full years left as governor. 

With his advisors already talking up another White House run four years from now, a dinged-up DeSantis could be looking to revive himself, politically, by reasserting the hard-right pull he’s had on the state. 

The 2024 Legislature, which opened earlier this month, is chock-full of the kind of culturally divisive legislation DeSantis has advanced in earlier years. And while the governor hasn’t been involved much in the session so far, his State of the State address on opening day did urge lawmakers to “stay the course.” 

Nonprofit promotes mobile app for instant feedback on Florida legislative issues

'We are letting people weigh in on legislation and providing that input to their legislators in real time during the debates in the Capitol.' A nonprofit organization is looking to get more Floridians to participate in its instant polling on a mobile application about statewide legislative issues after three years of testing, experimenting and improving.

The Digital Democracy Project is hoping 2024 will be the year more Sunshine State voters will use their mobile app to provide feedback on some of the most serious legislative bills going before lawmakers in Tallahassee.

“We use mobile voting technology to let voters weigh in on legislation as it’s being debated in Tallahassee,” said Ramon Perez, Executive Director of the Digital Democracy Project in Florida.

Backers say the technology for the app is secure, and users must be registered voters who are residents of Florida.

Beating the heat behind bars: The effort to add air conditioning to Florida prisons

Floridians use any means they can to beat the heat during the state's sweltering summers, but air conditioning is usually the first line of defense.

For inmates across the state, however, access to chilled air is more of a dream than a reality. Thousands serve their time in un-air-conditioned cells, and advocates have been pushing for change in the wake of last summer's record-breaking heat waves.

"This is a crisis. Especially this past summer is the worst heat we've ever seen," said Connie Beroth-Edson, an advocate for inmates' living conditions. "And it's not going to get better. It's going to get worse every summer if we don't do something now."

After relentless efforts, Beroth-Edson was able to get some lawmakers on board. Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, and Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, filed identical bills (SB 296, HB 181) striving to make air-conditioning mandatory in every housing unit in all Florida correctional institutions.