Florida's Latest News

Jay Collins, NFIB Florida PAC Endorse Byron Donalds for Governor

Byron Donalds received endorsements Tuesday from Jay Collins and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Florida PAC in his campaign for governor, weeks after Donalds defeated Collins in the Republican primary.

Donalds announced Collins’ endorsement in a post to X, where he praised Collins’ military service and said Republicans are united ahead of the November election.

“I’m proud to have the endorsement of [Jay Collins], who has served our country heroically,” Donalds wrote. “Republicans are fully united to WIN in Florida this November.”

Collins was one of 11 Republicans who sought the party’s nomination for governor in the Aug. 18 primary. Donalds won the nomination with 811,131 votes, or 47.79 percent, while Collins finished second with 427,014 votes, or 25.16 percent, according to official results from the Florida Department of State.

Leon County Commission forum: Minor, Lorch talk issues, trade barbs

The two candidates for Leon County Commission District 3 – incumbent Rick Minor and challenger C.B. Lorch – squared off during a debate that saw both of them playing a bit of offense as they staked out positions on issues from jobs to the environment.

Minor, a former nonprofit CEO who’s running for a third term, and Lorch, a first-time candidate and owner of a video production company, took part in the forum Sept. 21 at WFSU’s studio.

It was sponsored by the Tallahassee Democrat and its longtime partners in the election-year candidate forums, WFSU and the League of Women Voters, in conjunction with the Capital Region News Collaborative.

The forum saw a fair number of barbs and zingers as Minor highlighted his accomplishments over the past eight years. Lorch criticized him for not doing enough to improve the northwest district.

USF extends Top 50 public university streak to 8 years

The University of South Florida has extended its run among the nation’s Top 50 public universities for an eighth consecutive year.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best Colleges rankings place USF at No. 46 among public universities and No. 100 among national universities, a list that includes both public and private institutions.

The latest showing is down from last year, when USF reached No. 43 among public universities and a record No. 88 overall. But it extends the university’s Top 50 public-school streak and also marks a fifth consecutive year in the national Top 100.

“Year after year, the University of South Florida has been recognized for our academic and research strengths as well as the significant and growing impact we have across Florida and beyond,” USF President Moez Limayem said. 

'A chance to rebound.' How Manatee project could help save rare Florida bird

Florida scrub-jay experts hope a newly-established population in Manatee County will help preserve the threatened species and improve future conservation efforts.

Earlier this year, biologists with Archbold Biological Station and The Mosaic Company conducted a “first-of-its-kind” translocation of 48 Florida scrub-jays from three sites around the state to Wingate Creek State Park in Manatee County.

The only bird species that’s found nowhere but Florida, the Florida scrub-jay is facing increasing threats from human development, making projects like this crucial for biologists to learn the best conservation methods. “It’s a really cool experiment that will actually inform future translocation, and we think that is important because all these scrub-jay populations are becoming isolated from each other over time,” said Sahas Barve, the program director of avian ecology at Archbold. “They are getting increasingly isolated because of development and loss of habitat connectivity between them.”