Florida's Latest News

Governor sets Special Elections to replace Blaise Ingoglia, Joe Casello

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Special Election dates to replace former Sen. Blaise Ingoglia and the late Rep. Joe Casello.

The elections in Senate District 11 and House District 90 have Primary votes scheduled for Sept. 30. Meanwhile, the Special General Election will be held Dec. 9. That will allow winners of the races there to take office before the start of the 2026 Legislative Session.

In both cases, a qualifying period will be held from 8 a.m. on Aug. 4 to noon on Aug. 5, so candidates will need to move quickly if they plan to run.

SD 11 opened after DeSantis appointed Ingoglia as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, requiring the Spring Hill Republican to resign his Senate seat. The district spans all of Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties, along with a portion of northern Pasco County.

The district leans heavily Republican. Ingoglia in November won 69% of the vote there over Democrat Marilyn Holleran. Similarly, more than 69% of voters in the district supported Republican Donald Trump for President over Democrat Kamala Harris, according to MCI Maps.

Sen. Rick Scott leads lawmakers in urging crackdown on international scams targeting seniors

Sen. Rick Scott and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are urging top federal agencies to ramp up efforts to combat international scams that target older Americans, calling the growing threat a matter of “public trust and security.”

In a letter sent last week to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran, members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging demanded coordinated investigations to dismantle foreign fraud networks exploiting seniors, citing $3.4 billion losses and trafficked labor in Southeast Asia in 2023.

“These scams often involve international perpetrators and require a coordinated federal response to effectively prevent further harm,” the senators wrote in a statement. “Protecting seniors from fraud is not just a financial issue — it is a matter of public trust and security.”

According to FBI data cited in the letter, elder fraud complaints increased by 14% in 2023, with reported losses topping $3.4 billion. Many of these scams originate overseas and are linked to transnational criminal organizations using trafficked labor to conduct cyber fraud.

DeSantis' 'Florida DOGE' will launch audits into Broward County and Gainesville

The targets of Governor Ron DeSantis' "Florida DOGE" taskforce have been revealed: two municipalities that historically lean Democrat.

As first reported in an X post by E.W. Scripps reporter Forrest Saunders, Broward County and Gainesville officials were sent letters Monday announcing the task force intends to audit them at the end of the month. The letters were signed by the Governor, newly appointed Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia, and DeSantis advisor Eric Soskin.

The Florida DOGE initiative takes inspiration from government efficiency efforts promoted during the Trump administration, but are focused on auditing local governments.

The letters highlight increases in collected property taxes in both municipalities as property values have increased there, as well as budget increases. The task force is requesting direct physical access to buildings, data systems and personnel at the cities for the audit into spending and other local programs. The request includes expansive information on employee payment and contracting, but also wants information on Diversity Equity inclusion initiatives, green initiatives and homeless programs.

Lee Discusses Protecting Pipelines from Cyberattacks

Representative Laurel Lee (R-FL) discussed protecting America's pipelines from cyberattacks in a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, where witnesses argued that this was the greatest threat to the nation's critical infrastructure.

"My home state of Florida is a large producer of electricity and relies heavily on pipelines to deliver energy," Rep. Lee began, turning to Chesapeake Utilities Vice President Jim Moriarty to say, "You mentioned that one of the top risks you perceive for pipeline safety is, in fact, cybersecurity. Would you share with us a bit more about the cyberthreat landscape you are seeing and how you are partnering with federal agencies like the FBI and CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] to meet that threat?"

Moriarty replied by describing how Chesapeake makes use of what they nicknamed a "DMZ" [demilitarized zone], which prevents hackers from accessing sensitive digital information from a company's public website.

"Every day we have threats," Moriarty continued, "We have a scoreboard where we see threats coming in in real time. Because of the investments we have made, most of those are stopped before they become a real threat. However, if there is a threat, it is sequestered, and then it is studied by our team, and then we report that to the various authorities, the FBI, and others, and we have briefings constantly with the federal parties to help us grow."