Florida's Latest News

Trump taps Army vet and longtime surrogate Waltz for national security adviser

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Rep. Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser, according to two people familiar with the matter.

By picking Waltz, Trump is tapping a Green Beret combat vet to oversee what promises to be a realignment of U.S. posture around the globe, including a nearly three-year-old war in Ukraine and a broadening conflict in the Middle East.

Waltz didn’t play a central role in Trump’s day-to-day campaign, but he has been close with the president-elect and his team since their first term. During this summer’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Waltz delivered a podium-pounding, red-meat speech extolling Trump’s fitness as commander-in-chief while shredding President Joe Biden’s “woke” legacy at the Pentagon and the bloody, confused withdrawal from Afghanistan.

That kind of movement between policy and politics, coupled with the ability to make the case for Trumpism in a plain-spoken manner, is the kind of one-two punch that eluded some of Trump’s past national security advisers in his first term in office, including H.R. McMaster and John Bolton.

Trump plans to nominate Rubio for secretary of State

President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio to serve as secretary of State, according to two people informed of the decision.

If confirmed for the role, Rubio may bring some more traditional GOP views into Trump’s foreign policy orbit. The Florida Republican has hawkish views on many U.S. foes, but he has also championed maintaining alliances, such as NATO.

It’s unclear whether Rubio would endorse large-scale cuts to the State Department workforce as some Trump allies hope to push through, but he will likely support some reforms to the institution.

The people confirming the information — a former Trump administration official and another person told of the decision — were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the selection process.

The choice of Rubio will ease concerns among many U.S. diplomats, who had feared that Trump would choose Ric Grenell, a pugnacious former U.S. ambassador to Germany, for the role. Many believed Grenell would be particularly antagonistic toward the department.

Gov. DeSantis reveals first fruits of Italian trade mission

Florida’s first day strengthening relationships between the state and the country of Italy is a success, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Florida’s commitment to innovation and growth continues to attract global partners. I am pleased that today has resulted in new partnerships for Florida in higher education and aerospace,” DeSantis said on the first day of the 85-person delegation trip.

Indeed, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Sapienza University of Rome have agreed to share research and to otherwise cooperate. And Space Florida urged Italian aerospace companies to set up operations in the Sunshine State as well.

“The growing collaboration between Florida and Italy’s aerospace industries is a testament to the vision that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez gave for Florida’s position in the aerospace economy, and research and innovation globally,” said President and CEO of Space Florida Rob Long.

Court: Florida can’t claw back payments for preapproved hospital care for undocumented immigrants

It’s the second time in 5 years that the court beat back the state’s efforts to recoup these payments.

In a ruling that could have widespread ripple effects for hospitals across the state, a Tallahassee appeals court has blocked the state from clawing back Medicaid payments from hospitals that provided state pre-authorized emergency health care to undocumented immigrants.

The ruling upholds a previous decision on clawbacks the court made in 2019 in a case known as Gulf Coast Medical Center v. the Agency for Health Care Administration. The hospital is part of the Lee Memorial Health System. A 2020 legislative staff analysis suggests the ruling would require the state to drop 42 Medicaid fraud cases against hospitals and result in the loss of nearly $13.5 million to the state at that time.

A three-Judge panel of the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal had ruled that the state cannot retroactively audit hospitals for providing emergency care to undocumented citizens that the state initially approved.