Florida's Latest News

CD 2 candidates gear up for Tallahassee debate Monday

Candidates vying to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District will face off in a debate Monday in Tallahassee.

The debate is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, hosted by the nonpartisan Capital Tiger Bay Club.

Jim Rosica, news director of the Tallahassee Democrat, will serve as moderator.

CD 2 is the state’s most rural District and largest by land area, encompassing 15 counties from the Suwannee River to DeFuniak Springs. Dunn, 73, has held the seat since 2017 but is facing “real health challenges and a pretty grim diagnosis,” according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Businessman Keith Gross and Florida GOP Chair Evan Power have emerged as the front-runners in the race.

Rocky Hanna forms PAC to promote sales tax for 'stronger schools'

Superintendent Rocky Hanna is hitting the road to promote his campaign, "Stronger Schools for Leon County," backing a half-penny sales tax initiative expected to bring nearly $30 million annually to the district for school renovations, maintenance and transportation.

Hanna has formed a political action committee and partnered with VancoreJones Communications, a consulting and public relations firm that works heavily on political campaigns, to help lead the campaign.

"We have polled likely voters twice now and in each one, when we ask the ballot language, over 70% of voters say they intend to support the extension of the half penny for our schools," VancoreJones President Steve Vancore told the Tallahassee Democrat. "And these numbers track with what we are hearing on the ground — the voters in Leon County strongly support our public schools and likewise strongly support continuing the half-penny for our kids."

Florida municipalities are spearheading shoreline resiliency through nature-based solutions

Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States with about 8,500 miles of tidal shoreline.

While a waterfront view seems idyllic, the reality is, communities and their residents are dealing with the pressures of rising sea levels.

Global warming has elevated Florida's water by about eight inches since 1950. And it’s expected to keep growing an inch every few years in some areas.

Public officials have been slowly adapting over the past decade or so by taking the lead on a nature-based way of stabilizing the coast called living shorelines.

WUSF is kicking off NPR’s Climate Solutions Week with a look at some of these initiatives around the Tampa Bay region.

What does AI think about Tallahassee's economy? Here's the answer

What does artificial intelligence make of Tallahassee's economy? It depends.

In general, some of the most popular AI tools echo the same thing: Tallahassee's economy is rooted in government and higher education and has its share of challenges. Some sectors are doing better than others.

The Tallahassee Democrat used ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google and Perplexity to see what comes up when prompted with the following: Describe Tallahassee's economy.

One said Tallahassee's economy was "steady but not explosive" and another said "if you're a first-time homebuyer or a student, the 'affordable' Tallahassee of five years ago is becoming much harder to find."

The good news? Some AI tools pointed to a growing Gross Domestic Product and impactful research tied to Florida A&M and Florida State University, one of the city's largest economic engines.