Florida's Latest News

2 others join Ralph Massullo in SD 11 Special Election

Former Republican Rep. Ralph Massullo leads a slate of three candidates hoping to fill former Sen. Blaise Ingoglia’s shoes in Senate District 11.

Massullo faces a Republican Primary against Anthony Brice, an Inverness rancher and military retiree.

Democrat Ash Marwah, a civil engineer from The Villages, is also running. His entry ensures a closed Republican Primary on Sept. 30, and a General Election on Dec. 9.

Ballot qualifying for the Special Election ended at noon Tuesday.

Brice has never before sought office. He posted a photo Tuesday morning of turning in his candidate paperwork at the Division of Elections office in Tallahassee.

Marwah, an immigrant from India who became a U.S. citizen in 1977, ran in House District 52 in 2022 and 2024, receiving under 30% of the vote both times against Republican John Temple.

Marwah, a civil engineer, said he wants to protect working families and the poor.

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development

The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a statement Tuesday that 22 projects, totaling $500 million, to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be halted.

Kennedy’s decision to terminate the projects is the latest in a string of decisions that have put the longtime vaccine critic’s doubts about shots into full effect at the nation’s health department. Kennedy has pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened.

The health secretary criticized mRNA vaccines in a video on his social media accounts, explaining the decision to cancel projects being led by the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, that offer protection against viruses like the flu, COVID-19 and H5N1.

“To replace the troubled mRNA programs, we’re prioritizing the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate,” Kennedy said in the video.

Florida awards $39K contract as it prepares to build immigration detention center at Camp Blanding, records show

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ' administration is apparently preparing to build a second immigration detention center, awarding at least one contract for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility.”

The site would add to the capacity at the state's first detention facility, built at an isolated airfield in the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz." Already, state officials have inked more than $245 million in contracts for that facility, which officially opened July 1.

Florida plans to build a second detention center at a Florida National Guard training center called Camp Blanding, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southwest of downtown Jacksonville, though DeSantis has said the state is waiting for federal officials to ramp up deportations from the South Florida facility before building out the Camp Blanding site.

“We look forward to the increased cadence,” of deportations, DeSantis said last month, calling the state “ready, willing and able” to expand its operations.

Civil rights advocates and environmental groups have filed lawsuits against the Everglades facility, where detainees allege, they've been forced to go without adequate food and medical care, and been barred from meeting with their attorneys, held without any charges and unable to get a federal immigration court to hear their cases.

Commercial rent phaseout could cost state budget more than $1B per year

According to state estimates, the ending of sales tax on commercial rentals could cost the state’s general fund and local governments more than $1.5 billion annually by 2030.

The Office of Economic and Demographic Research did a recent analysis on the legislation passed in the legislative session that concluded on June 17.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the budget into law in June and part of that deal was the elimination of the levy of sales tax on commercial rentals. Until the elimination, the Sunshine State was the only state to tax commercial rentals, and the move was supported by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and Florida TaxWatch.

The biggest line item in the $1.3 billion tax relief package was the commercial rental sales tax elimination.

State officials estimate axing the tax on Oct. 1 will cost the state’s coffers $679.1 million this year, $926.7 million in fiscal 2026-27, $951.9 million in fiscal 2027-28, $981.3 million in fiscal 2028-29 and slightly more $1 billion by fiscal 2029-30.

For counties that levy a local option sales tax, it would add up to $371.6 million for this fiscal year, $478.3 million for fiscal 2026-27, $451.7 million for fiscal 2027-28, $445 million for fiscal 2028-29 and $448 million for fiscal 2029-30.