Florida's Latest News

Daniel Perez banks $180,000 in August for unopposed HD 116 reelection

Republican Daniel Perez had a gangbusters round of fundraising in August, with $179,500 raised to defend his Florida House District 116 seat.

Still more than a year away from the 2022 election, Perez holds $1.3 million for a race in which he is so far unopposed.

Donations last month came from a variety of business sectors, with the biggest coming via a $50,000 check from Publix Super Markets. Publix has given to the larger of Perez’s two political committees, Conservatives for a Better Florida, every year since 2019. This year’s check is his most sizeable yet from the Lakeland-based grocery store chain and is twice the amount he got from the company last year.​

DeSantis says local governments face millions in fines if they mandate COVID vaccines for workers

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration will start issuing $5,000 fines to cities and counties, including Orange, that require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, he said Monday.

The governor’s comments came during a campaign-style rally of politicians and residents who blasted President Biden’s vaccine mandate order from last week.

“Nobody should lose their job over this issue,” DeSantis said, calling vaccine mandates “very intrusive” and “illegal.”

Orange County is one of several local governments throughout the state with a mandate for employees. DeSantis, who said the fines could reach into the millions of dollars, made the announcement in Alachua County, where workers for the city of Gainesville are suing over that city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lee County Schools put mask mandate on pause, but beg students to mask up anyway

Leadership for Lee County Schools confirmed a student mask mandate won’t be enforced as the state appeals a court ruling. But acting Superintendent of Schools Ken Savage is begging them to take steps to limit the spread of COVID-19 in school.

“I will always be an advocate for parents’ rights,” Savage wrote in an email to parents. “I am especially considerate of those parents who want the right to send their child to school and not have to choose between the safety of their household and their child receiving an in-person, quality public education. I also can’t help but think of the rights of parents whose children lay isolated in the ICU at Golisano Children’s Hospital whose only desire is for their child to be able to survive this terrible ordeal.”

Trulieve launches first hydrocarbon product line in Florida market

Trulieve is selling its first hydrocarbon product in Florida, an extract created through a newly approved process.

The medical cannabis company launched its Live Resin product line on Monday, with its first sale at a Tallahassee dispensary.

“We’ve spent the last year focused on developing products that highlight more than THC and CBD, creating terpene-heavy, full-spectrum, and single-source oil products including our TruWax concentrate and signature TruSpectrum cartridges,” said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers.

The release of a hydrocarbon extract makes Trulieve the first medicinal marijuana company in Florida to bring such a product to market. Live Resin products come through an extract lab, derived from the company’s TruFlower product after being frozen immediately after harvest. The extract used a proprietary propane-butane blend. Company officials say the hydrocarbon process results in an extract with high levels of cannabinoids and terpenes, making for a higher-flavor product with a “powerful and richly aromatic experience with a broader sensation of effects.”