Florida's Latest News

DeSantis, other Republicans seize on GoFundMe controversy over Canadian trucker protest

Right-wing politicians and media personalities in the United States aren’t letting the crowdfunding website GoFundMe off the hook just yet.

The platform became a target over the weekend for prominent Republican lawmakers and state leaders after freezing more than $9 million in donations earmarked for the ongoing protests in Ottawa.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were among those who attacked GoFundMe for initially saying it would redistribute the remaining funds among charities chosen by protest organizers.

The company reversed course quickly, however, promising automatic refunds to donors just hours after its initial announcement.

Bill requiring a financial literacy class in high school aces first committee stop

Legislation requiring high school students take a financial literacy and management class passed its first committee Monday.

HB 1115, which would require all students to take a half-credit financial literacy class before graduating, passed the House Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee unanimously. The class will teach students about banking practices, money management, credit scores, managing debt, loan applications, insurance policies and local tax assessments.

Republican Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation is aimed at helping all of Florida’s students regardless of their career goals.

“Whether our students are headed to one of our great colleges or universities, a valuable trade or apprenticeship program, the military or a career in the arts, every single one of them deserves to be equipped with education and information on how to succeed and thrive financially in our society,” she said.

Florida wants to shield health officials in COVID data lawsuit

The Florida Department of Health has gone to an appeals court in a battle about whether it should provide daily COVID-19 data, as it seeks to be shielded from explaining officials’ decision-making about releasing the information.

Attorneys for the department filed a petition on Feb. 2 at the 1st District Court of Appeal as part of a lawsuit filed in August by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and later joined by several media organizations.

The underlying lawsuit alleges the Department of Health violated public-records laws by turning down requests for daily COVID-19 data. The data, in part, would have provided county and demographic information about COVID-19 cases.

Manatees warming up to lettuce at Florida Power & Light power plant

Scott Calleson took cover behind a camouflage tarp, then tossed a head of Romaine lettuce to a crowd of restless manatees that jockeyed for position to chomp at a leafy free lunch.

Like the others feeding sea cows Friday at Florida Power & Light's natural gas power plant, Calleson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, prefers not to be seen, at least not by the sea cows. If manatees glimpse his generosity, they'll begin to link him and other humans with their meals and stop fending for themselves.

"We don't want them to associate people with food," said Tom Reinert, a regional director with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, standing along a dock within the FPL plant's intake canal.