Florida's Latest News

DeSantis will seek control over federal Everglades restoration funds

He said he will ask President-elect Donald Trump to give Florida authority over federal money. The proposed 2025-26 state budget includes $805 million for Everglades restoration and $330 million for targeted water quality projects.

As he works on a proposed budget for the upcoming year, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday the state will ask President-elect Donald Trump to give Florida authority over federal money for Everglades restoration projects.

DeSantis offered a few environmental snippets that will be included in a proposed 2025-2026 budget that he said he will release “very, very soon.” If Florida had oversight of the federal money, it could more rapidly advance work, such as on the decades-old state and federal Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, he said.

“Send us the funds. Give us the authority and let us get to work, and we’ll get this done and move it along very, very quickly,” DeSantis said during an appearance at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach.

Gov. DeSantis appeals to Donald Trump to delegate environmental projects to the states

'We don't want to be bogged down by red tape. We want to get it done.'

Florida’s Governor is celebrating six years of attempting to “right the ship” regarding Everglades restoration, and is looking to the incoming Donald Trump administration to give Florida more latitude in spending and programming federal environmental funds.

“Send us the funds. Give us the authority. And let us get to work,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

Speaking at Juno Beach’s Loggerhead Marinelife Center, DeSantis said he wanted more federal collaboration and less obstruction from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Interior Department and the like, agencies he says have “hindered” Florida efforts.

“We don’t want to be bogged down by red tape,” DeSantis said. “We want to get it done.”

Lake Okeechobee, for example, is a USACE project primarily, and “they’re just not on the same schedule we are.”

Who’s running for Florida governor? How the 2026 field is shaping up.

In May, the Tampa Bay Times published an (admittedly) early look at the 2026 governor’s race.

Included in that story were the names of 13 potential candidates: five Democrats and eight Republicans.

Some eight months later, the governor’s race has still yet to begin in earnest. No major candidates have filed to run to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis. The 2026 primary is still nearly 600 days away.

But some of the potential candidates have lived what feels like a political lifetime since we last checked in on the governor’s race. For example, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz was rumored to be considering a run, but he has since been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as his national security adviser. Sen. Marco Rubio, thought to be a potential wild card in the race, will almost certainly be Trump’s secretary of state.

Still, election season is creeping toward us. Politicians are hinting at possible runs and amassing cash for what’s sure to be an expensive election.

Here’s an update on the candidates to watch.

Trump eyes Florida’s emergency management director to lead FEMA

As wildfires rage in California, President-elect Donald Trump is looking to Florida to run the key agency tasked with responding to disasters — and one that is frequently a target of his ire.

Trump’s team is eyeing Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to two people familiar with the president-elect’s transition.

“That’s their leading candidate,” one of the people, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s plans, told POLITICO. This person added that Trump had not yet interviewed Guthrie.

Guthrie, who would be the latest in a long line of Floridians tapped for major administration jobs, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Guthrie’s pick isn’t official, and a Trump transition spokesperson said they “don’t speculate or get ahead of President Trump on personnel or policy announcements.”