Staff Reports
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
The Free Speech Coalition dropped a lawsuit challenging Florida’s law requiring pornography publishers to verify the age of visitors.
The move follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming a similar law in Texas. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker approved the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss on Tuesday.
The voluntary dismissal means the state cannot recover legal costs, and the absence of a ruling allows for further litigation to be filed in the future.
The Free Speech Coalition, dedicated to protecting the rights of the adult entertainment industry, has also filed a lawsuit challenging the Texas law. That resulted in the 6-3 Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ruling.
The Coalition acknowledged that hindered the Florida case.
“However, we are continuing to monitor the governmental efforts to restrict adults’ access to the internet in Florida,” Mike Stabile, a spokesperson for plaintiffs, said in the statement to the Northwest Daily News. “The Paxton decision does not give the government carte blanche to censor content it doesn’t like.”
But legal experts last week said the ruling on the Texas law spelled a difficult path for the Florida lawsuit.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—”Seven overlooked provisions in Donald Trump and the GOP’s ugly tax bill” via Nikki McCann Ramirez and Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone
—”Impostor uses AI to impersonate Marco Rubio and contact foreign and U.S. officials” via Matthew Lee of The Associated Press
—”How insularity defined the last stages of Joe Biden’s career” via Tyler Pager of The New York Times
—”The nuclear club might soon double” via Ross Andersen of The Atlantic
—”Elon Musk says he’ll start a new political party. He’s not the first.” via Annabelle Timsit of The Washington Post
—”Miami-Dade Mayor demands access to Everglades detention camp on seized county land” via Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald
—”Ron DeSantis spending orgy at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ benefits donors” via Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel
—”Byron Donalds draws line in sand against ‘mass amnesty’ for undocumented immigrants” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
—”How a flash flood turned Camp Mystic into a disaster zone” via Joshua Chaffin, Scott Calvert, Jim Carlton and Patience Haggin of The Wall Street Journal
—”The truth behind the endless ‘kids can’t read’ discourse” via Constance Grady of Vox
Quote of the Day
“Are people still talking about this guy?”
— President Donald Trump, responding to a question about Jeffrey Epstein.
Put it on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
Florida TaxWatch predicts that prices will continue to rise under President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. That likely means “boozeflation” will continue unabated as well.
Without Congressional action, Affordable Care Act premium tax credits will sunset at the end of the year … As they say, Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder.
The Sunshine State is lagging behind the pack in artificial intelligence jobs, and without a course correction, it could be Losers all around for Floridians.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Marlins keep climbing as All-Star break approaches
The Miami Marlins continue a three-game series in Cincinnati against the Reds tonight as they try to climb back toward the .500 mark before the All-Star break (7:10 p.m. ET, FanDuel Sports Net Florida).
Since an eight-game winning streak was snapped on July 2, the Marlins have won three of six games and sit 11 games behind the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies. More importantly, the Marlins enter play today 7.5 games out of the final wild-card spot in the National League. It would take a significant effort to close the gap before the All-Star break, but the Marlins have three more games against the Reds, another team fighting for wild-card contention. Then, three games in Baltimore against the Orioles before the break. Baltimore is also fighting to keep its season significant, trailing the American League wild-card race by 7.5 games.
The Marlins learned this week that outfielder Kyle Stowers would represent the team at the All-Star game. Stowers has hit 16 home runs and driven in 46 runs in the first half of the year. Stowers was traded by the Orioles last July in a deal for left-handed pitcher Trevor Rogers. He didn’t do much last season, hitting just .186 in 50 games for the Marlins. But this season, he has emerged with one of the more surprising starts to the season in the Major Leagues.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
