Florida's Latest News

4 things to watch after DeSantis places 2nd in Iowa

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis notched a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, coming in far behind former President Donald Trump but achieving a much-needed, yet narrow, victory over former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the first vote of the 2024 primary season.

“We got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” he said, celebrating the results at a gathering of supporters in West Des Moines. For months, the governor and his allies had telegraphed that at least a silver medal in Iowa would set him up to be the clear alternative to Trump.

Ahead of Monday’s vote, DeSantis’ allies argued that to stay on track he simply needed to outperform the polls, which on average showed him with just under 16% support. (With more than 95% of the vote counted, the governor’s support topped 21%.)

But Monday night’s vote also served as a reminder of Trump’s lasting influence over GOP voters. The former president finished first in the caucuses, with the Associated Press calling the race for him just 30 minutes after voting began. He held just over 50% of the vote after midnight.

2024 Session: Health care a driving issue — but don't talk about Medicaid expansion

Florida lawmakers are poised to spend much of the two-month legislative session focusing on health care, improving patient access and expanding the state’s medical work force. What they won’t talk about is expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act. 

Florida Republican leaders opened the 2024 Legislature vowing to continue a decade-long stiff-arming of a program which has allowed millions of uninsured, lower-income Americans gain health coverage in 40 states and Washington, D.C. 

Republicans command legislatures in the 10 states, including here, refusing expansion. But the Sunshine State, with 2.5 million uninsured, also has one of the nation’s highest shares of residents without health coverage. 

“I do think that Florida and Texas are going to be last to take up Medicaid expansion," said Arielle Kane, director of Medicaid initiatives for Families USA, a national health advocacy organization. "But I’d love to be wrong.”

Lawmakers propose school elopement safeguards for kids with special needs

Two Florida lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill that would put extra safeguards in place for students with special needs at risk of running away from school, also referred to as elopement or wandering. Autistic students are nearly four times as likely as their nonautistic peers to try to leave school unattended. That’s according to the National Autism Association.

The measure (HB 1395 and SB 1578), proposed by Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, and Sen. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, would require schools to have a plan in place to quickly respond when a child with special needs goes missing.

It would also require schools to designate a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies Team (SAFE Team) in charge of deploying the plan and carrying out the search for the child. Each team would be made up of the school’s principal, vice principal and at least five other members..

“And unfortunately, there have been these really heartbreaking cases where a child has walked away toward something like a body of water or toward traffic, and we ended up losing that child," said Eskamani. The goal of the bill, Eskamani said, is to act quickly in order to save lives and prevent further tragedies.

What happened to thousands of voters? Registrations suddenly drop in Broward, Palm Beach counties

Broward, the state’s second largest county, had a robust roll of active registered voters at the beginning of December: 1.28 million. By the start of 2024, the number suddenly had plunged — to 1.09 million. A few months earlier, records show, Palm Beach County saw a large downward bump as well. The county went from 946,189 active registered voters at the end of September to 847,617 a month later.

The drop-offs in South Florida and elsewhere in the state have generated questions, concerns — and even a conspiracy theory — at the beginning of what already promises to be an enormously contentious election year in which people will decide on the presidency and, possibly, referendums on highly charged questions of recreational marijuana and abortion rights.

Statewide, Florida had 13.5 million active registered voters on Nov. 30, the most recent data posted by the Florida Division of Elections — a decrease of 996,676 from 7.4% fewer than in Jan. 1, 2023. That’s a decline of 7.4% even though the state’s population is increasing.

By the time the full-year figures are collected, the drop will be even well over 1 million because the statewide numbers don’t yet reflect Broward’s big December reduction.