Florida's Latest News

DeSantis announces 20 arrests tied to voter fraud charges

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced that the state is in the process of arresting 20 ex-felons — mostly in South Florida — for voter fraud tied to the 2020 election, the first round of what he promises will be a wave of voter fraud arrests.

The investigation was led by the DeSantis-championed Office of Election Crimes and Security, an office created during the 2022 legislative session to focus on election fraud investigations and prosecutions. The first round, announced during a press conference in Broward County, was focused on felons who illegally voted in 2020 by either not properly applying to have their voting rights restored or were ineligible because of the severity of their crimes.

DeSantis said those arrested were convicted of crimes like murder and sexual assault, but provided no details about the defendants. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement later provided the names of the 20 individuals, who are facing third degree felony charges related to voting violations.

Millions of Florida residents reap health benefits from Inflation Reduction Act, feds say

A top official with the Joe Biden administration predicted on Thursday that in the coming year, an additional 543,000 additional people will qualify for Obamacare policies, the costs of coverage for the two million-plus insured on the federal health insurance exchange would remain steady and Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes will pay lower costs.

All come as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, insisted Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra. Becerra contended in a press availability that the new law delivers on President Biden’s promise to lower health care costs and continue to improve upon the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.

“The IRA is one of the most consequential laws of our lifetime — and I say this having been in Congress to help draft and pass the Affordable Care Act and having been the Attorney General defending the law before the Supreme Court,” Becerra said of the new law.

State proposes new hospital licensure rule

The state Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) is altering its existing licensure standards and application form that hospitals submit to the state for initial, renewal and change of ownership applications.

The agency will hold a one-hour meeting on the proposed changes, which have not been published, at agency headquarters in Tallahassee on Sept. 13.

A previous attempt to alter the licensure rule to include neonatal intensive care units was challenged by the North Broward Hospital District — which is now headed by Shane Strum, the former Chief of Staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis — and Tampa General Hospital. Ultimately, those challenges were dropped when AHCA withdrew the proposed rule.

Biden administration says Florida, Seminole Tribe gambling deal should get OK

The Biden administration is urging an appeals court to reinstate a deal that gave the Seminole Tribe control of sports betting throughout Florida, nearly nine months after a Washington, D.C.-based judge ruled that the 30-year agreement violated federal law.

A U.S. Department of the Interior brief filed Wednesday offered a full-throated defense of the Biden administration’s decision to allow the gambling agreement, known as a compact, to go into effect.

The deal, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. and ratified by the Florida Legislature in a special session last year, opened the door for the first time to sports betting in the third-largest state in the country.