Florida's Latest News

Republicans at Dallas convention ponder options for post-Trump leader

As Vice President JD Vance addressed the crowd at the Republican midterm convention, he was interrupted by a fan who shouted “JD 48!” Others joined in, and Vance paused with a smile before cutting them off.

“We gotta take care of business this November and then we’ll worry about what comes next,” he said.

Vance was front and center Thursday night as he and President Donald Trump urged Republicans to turn out for fall elections that will signal the looming end of Trump’s time in the White House and the beginning of the race to succeed him.

“Vance was awesome,” said Phil Torrison, a longtime Trump supporter from Omaha, Nebraska. “I think tonight he probably won the 2028 nomination.”

The vice president's speech solidified his status as a potential frontrunner, and Trump talked him up afterwards as a “very talented guy” who “did a very good job."

DeSantis Announces Implementation of Anti-Communism Education Standards in Schools

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the implementation of Florida's anti-communist education standards to teach students about the history and horrors of communism while speaking during a press conference at the Bay of Pigs Museum & Library in Miami this week.

The announcement comes after Gov. DeSantis signed a bill in 2024 requiring Florida schools to teach the history and evils of communism from kindergarten through high school in 2024. The bill, SB 1264, was sponsored by in the Florida Legislature by then Sen. Jay Collins and Reps. Chuck Brannan III (R-Macclenny) and James Buchanan (R-Sarasota).

"The history of communism standards are embedded in multiple social studies courses to give students a deeper understanding of communism's historical impact worldwide and reinforce our commitment to freedom and constitutional principles," DeSantis said. 

Judge: Florida congressional map won’t be decided by jury

Opponents of Florida’s current congressional map suffered another setback in state court earlier this month when a Leon County judge rejected a bid by voting-rights groups to have a jury settle the legal dispute.

The Florida League of Women Voters, Equal Ground Education Fund and other plaintiffs had filed a motion for a jury – or advisory jury – to be empaneled to decide the merits of the case. But Judge Joshua Hawkes of the Second Judicial Circuit Court sided with state officials, concluding that the nature of the case meant the plaintiffs were not entitled to a jury trial.

“Plaintiffs’ operative pleadings seek declaratory and injunctive relief regarding the state’s 2026 congressional redistricting plan and do not plead damages,” Hawkes said in his Sept. 3 order. “Injunctive relief is equitable, and actions seeking a declaratory judgment follow the nature of the underlying remedy. Equitable actions are not triable by jury as of right.”

The hunt for Sept. 11 attackers started near Tampa. 2 ex-agents remember it

The two federal agents had just poured their morning coffee when they were called into a conference room in the FBI’s Sarasota office. Like so many, they watched, stunned and helpless, as a TV screen showed the moments that would change a nation.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Rod Huff, an FBI agent, and Jeff Adams, who then worked for U.S. Customs, were working on a massive drug smuggling case targeting South American cartels. For them, there could be nothing more important.

Yet a sickening feeling took hold as they watched the smoke billow from the north tower of the World Trade Center and a second jetliner slam into the south.

Their work chasing drug runners on the high seas would soon be put on hold. Within a day, the agents were at the front lines of an unprecedented effort to track down the people responsible for the terrorist attacks.

Today, 25 years later, they speak with a sense of pride about their work, which probed the hijackers’ connections to a Sarasota flight school and a German terrorist cell.