Associated Press, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Associated PressSeptember 23, 2017

For the third year in a row, Florida State University President John Thrasher is getting a substantial bonus and another boost in pay. FSU trustees on Friday voted to boost Thrasher’s annual salary by 7 percent to $555,560. Trustees also agreed to give him a $200,000 bonus for his performance. Last year, Thrasher was given […]

Associated PressSeptember 20, 2017

Republican governors are getting into the “news” business. The Republican Governors Association has quietly launched an online publication that looks like a media outlet and is branded as such on social media. The Free Telegraph blares headlines about the virtues of GOP governors, while framing Democrats negatively. It asks readers to sign up for breaking […]

Associated PressSeptember 19, 2017

During Hurricane Irma, Temple Shalom served as a sanctuary of a different kind. When the storm changed course at the last minute, the Naples synagogue suddenly became an emergency shelter. As power stayed off for days, the Reform temple, which had only minimal damage, was a place for neighbors to escape the heat and have […]

Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Dealing with wrecked belongings and reports of toxic muck, residents of a tiny town where Florida’s Everglades meet the Gulf of Mexico cleared their homes Monday in scorching 92 F (33 C) heat with no air conditioning and no electricity except from a few generators. The isolated Everglades City community of about 400 people suffered […]

Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Florida’s agriculture commissioner said Monday that the path of Hurricane Irma “could not have been more lethal” to the state’s farmers and that the scope of damage to the state’s fruits and vegetables is unprecedented. Commissioner Adam Putnam, along with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, flew over hundreds of miles of Florida farmland to view […]

Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Florida’s economy has long thrived on one import above all: People. Until Irma struck this month, the state was adding nearly 1,000 residents a day — 333,471 in the past year, akin to absorbing a city the size of St. Louis or Pittsburgh. Every jobseeker, retiree or new birth, along with billions spent by tourists, […]

Associated PressSeptember 17, 2017

As the devastated Florida Keys began reopening to residents who fled Hurricane Irma, officials warned the returning islanders to bring enough supplies to sustain them for a while, because no one yet knows when water and power will be fully restored. “The Keys are not what you left several days ago when you evacuated. Electricity, […]

Associated PressSeptember 17, 2017

The first 911 call from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills didn’t sound ominous: A nursing home patient had an abnormal heartbeat. An hour later, came a second call: a patient had trouble breathing. Then came the third call. A patient had gone into cardiac arrest – and died. Over the next few hours of […]

Associated PressSeptember 17, 2017

Standing tall in a NAVY cap, Florida Gov. Rick Scott will be an enduring image from Hurricane Irma. Seemingly everywhere but the eye of the storm, he was there on social media urging millions to evacuate, calmly taking charge at emergency briefings, even delivering early word of devastation in the Keys after a much-publicized flyover. […]

Associated PressSeptember 17, 2017

Tim Stanton emerged from his ruined workshop off Highway 1 on Big Pine Key and collapsed to the ground, his sunburned, tear-covered face contorted in anguish. The skeleton-thin 58-year-old with long, stringy gray hair sat under an old gas station awning, overcome by his personal loss in this idyllic place that was one of the […]

Associated Press

Florida State gives big bonus, raise to President Thrasher

GOP governors launch ‘news’ site critics call propaganda

After Irma, Florida Jews seek respite in High Holy Days

SW Florida residents clear sodden homes in scorching heat

Official: ‘Lethal’ Irma a ‘major calamity’ for Florida crops

Irma’s damage a reminder of Florida economy’s vulnerability

Officials: Returning Keys residents must be self-sustaining

‘Red flag’ calls signaled post-Irma deaths at nursing home

Rick Scott could get political boost for leadership in Irma

Irma wipes out dreams across independent-minded Florida Keys