Florida's Latest News

Personnel note: Capital City Consulting makes gold medal hire with addition of Maicel Green

Capital City Consulting announced Tuesday that Maicel Green will be joining its government affairs practice as a partner.

Green comes to CCC with more than 20 years of experience in public relations, client management, coaching, recruiting and crisis communication. Most recently, she served as the media and external affairs coordinator at Talquin Electric Cooperative.

“Maicel’s recent experience as media and external affairs coordinator at Talquin Electric Cooperative will prove to be an exceptional benefit to CCC’s clients,” said CCC founding partner Nick Iarossi. “Her proven ability to navigate and sustain critical partnerships with the news media, key agencies, elected officials, businesses, policymakers and stakeholders makes Maicel a welcome addition to CCC’s expanding team.”

CCC founding partner Ron LaFace added, “With her broad knowledge, cross-sector experience and commitment to success, Maicel will thrive within the culture of CCC, and her dedication to furthering relationships and knowledge on key issues will work well alongside our team.”

Senate President Simpson kicks off 2022 legislative session; highlights statewide political accomplishments

Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson signaled the start of the 2022 Legislative Session on Tuesday morning with his opening day address where he highlighted political ambitions that largely mirrored those of Governor Ron DeSantis.

Simpson’s ‘to-do list’ included pay increases and bonus payments to law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians, increased investment in teacher salaries, bus drivers, and maintenance workers, and improvements to the child foster care system.

“We invested record funding in education, with the biggest per-people funding ever,” said Simpson. “We expanded school choice. One of the cornerstones of breaking generational poverty is to ensure we have a strong school choice option so parents can direct their children’s education. We are the promised land for education-minded families.”

Gov. DeSantis vows to stand with police, blasts ‘soft on crime’ policies in State of the State

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared Florida a state of “law and order” during his State of the State address on Tuesday, further vowing to support law enforcement and push back against proponents of progressive criminal justice reform.

“We will not allow law enforcement to be defunded, bail to be eliminated, criminals to be prematurely released from prison or prosecutors to ignore the law,” DeSantis told lawmakers during the more than 30-minute address.

An outspoken supporter of police, DeSantis touted several pro-law enforcement proposals lawmakers will consider in the 2022 Session, which began Tuesday.

He highlighted plans to raise pay for state law enforcement officers by 25% and emphasized his intent to provide $5,000 bonuses for new police officers. Out-of-state officers who transfer to Florida will also qualify for the bonus.

Florida can still use those 1 million expired COVID-19 tests, after all

At the Florida Capitol on Tuesday, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie ran into Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. He had news for her.

The federal government has agreed to give Florida another three-month extension to use the nearly 1 million rapid COVID-19 test kits that expired in a state warehouse at the end of December, Guthrie said.

Fried, Florida’s lone statewide elected Democrat and a candidate for governor, had sharply criticized the DeSantis administration for letting the kits expire as the omicron coronavirus wave left thousands of Floridians scrambling for a test. In a statement last week, she called the governor’s actions a “disgrace” and accused his team of having “lied and covered up the massive failure of a million unused tests.”