Florida's Latest News

Blaise Ingoglia launches campaign for a full term as CFO

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia has formally launched a campaign for a full term in office.

The Spring Hill Republican released a campaign video Tuesday morning where he advocated for eliminating property tax in Florida and promised to continue ferreting out waste at all levels of government.

“Today, I’m officially launching my campaign for Florida’s Chief Financial Officer because families and taxpayers deserve a trusted, conservative fighter to make Florida more affordable,” Ingoglia said in a statement.

Gov. Ron DeSantis in July appointed Ingoglia, then a Senator, to the Cabinet post. The job opened up after former Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis resigned for a successful campaign for Congress.

“I’m thankful to Governor DeSantis for putting his trust in me and appointing me to stand strong on key priorities — lowering property taxes, auditing local governments, holding insurance companies accountable and supporting our brave first responders in my role as Chief Fire Marshal,” Ingoglia added.

As changes near for Florida's healthcare coverage, one group proposes Medicaid expansion to voters

To anyone living in Palm Beach County, it has become clear that rapid growth means more traffic and fewer ways to get around.

Welcome to the countywide transportation master plan.

“What we’re really doing here is helping you through the process of deciding what your county is going to be like when it grows up,” said planner Victor Dover at the kickoff event Friday for the county’s one-year, $1 million master planning effort.

The Coral Gables planner is part of a team headed by international engineering and planning conglomerate WSP, which has assigned its Atlanta-based Southeast region executive, Claudia Bilotto, to head the project. 

The effort dates to February 2024, when the County Commission met with the League of Cities to discuss adding to the sales tax an extra 1-cent for every dollar spent. Voters approved such a tax for construction needs in cities, schools and the county in 2016 but it expires this year. 

Trump says he’s awarding former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Donald Trump said Monday he will award former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, two days after his longtime political ally was seriously injured in a car crash.

The decision places the award on a man once lauded for leading New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later sanctioned by courts and disbarred for amplifying false claims about the 2020 election. Giuliani was also criminally charged in two states; he has denied wrongdoing.

Trump in a statement on social media called Giuliani the “greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot.”

For much of the past two decades, Giuliani’s public life has been defined by a striking rise and fall. After leading New York through the aftermath of Sept. 11, he mounted a brief campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and became one of the most recognizable political figures in the country. But as Trump’s personal lawyer, he became a central figure in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Courts repeatedly rejected the fraud claims he advanced, and two former Georgia election workers won a $148 million defamation judgment against him.

Aaron Bean backs Byron Donalds for Governor

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds continues to score endorsements for his gubernatorial bid, and a Florida congressional colleague is the latest to announce.

U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean of Fernandina Beach is vouching for Donalds as a “rock-solid conservative who will lead Florida boldly into the future.”

“His unwavering commitment to strengthening our economy and making Florida more affordable is the kind of leadership voters want in their next Governor,” Bean first told Townhall, a national conservative website, in a statement that ran Tuesday morning.

“Byron will deliver for families and seniors by expanding opportunity, lowering taxes and insurance rates, and cutting wasteful spending,” Bean added. “I’ve had the privilege of serving alongside Byron in the Florida Legislature and now in Congress, and I know firsthand he will be an outstanding Governor. He has my complete and enthusiastic support.”

Bean is only the latest prominent Republican to endorse Donalds, whose campaign initially launched with encouragement from President Donald Trump.