Florida's Latest News

Heather Fitzenhagen files for SD 27, setting up clash with Ray Rodrigues

Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen has dropped her run for Congress and instead is running for an open seat in the Florida Senate.

“After a lot of soul searching, I made the decision to run,” Fitzenhagen told Florida Politics after filing for Senate District 27.

In the Republican primary, she faces Rep. Ray Rodrigues, an Estero Republican, who announced in May last year.

Randolph Bracy, Jason Brodeur avoid primaries in Senate races

Democratic Sen. Randolph Bracy and Republican Senate candidate Jason Brodeur avoided primary challenges late Friday when potential party opponents failed to qualify for the Aug. 18 ballot.

Democratic Sen. Victor Torres picked up a late-entry Republican opponent in Senate District 15.

Bracy of Ocoee will face Republican rival Joshua Adams of Winter Park in November in his bid for a second term representing Senate District 11 in western Orange County. Democratic challenger Charles Law Jr. of Orlando, who filed in 2018 to challenge Bracy, did not qualify for the ballot at the close of the qualifying period Friday.

New law mandates more electric car charging stations along Florida highways

One of Florida’s newest laws lays the groundwork for building a vast network of electric vehicle charging stations along highways, part of a broader effort to improve the appeal of such environmentally cleaner cars and trucks.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed the Essential State Infrastructure bill, supported by Republicans and Democrats in Tallahassee. It represents a nod by the DeSantis administration to the threat of climate change from vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions, after Florida’s previous Republican governor, Rick Scott, generally avoided acknowledging causes of climate change.

Florida’s number of confirmed new COVID-19 cases exceeds 2,000 for second day in a row

Sunday, Florida halted its three-day run of single-day highs for positive COVID-19 cases reported and the day’s positive test rate slid down toward the overall positive test rate.

Still, the 2,016 confirmed new novel coronavirus cases in Sunday’s update represented the second-largest single day total for the state. South Florida accounted for 740 of the new cases (36.7%), but four of the six new deaths.

The percentage of people who tested positive for the first time was 4.46% in Sunday’s update, the lowest in four days and the day after a June high of 6.21%.