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

Associated PressJuly 27, 2017

For decades, a well-funded conservative group has helped state lawmakers across the U.S. write legislation to rein in unions, expand charter schools and lower taxes. Now, it’s expanding to the final frontier: normally nonpartisan city halls and county governments, which have become a bastion of liberal resistance to President Donald Trump. The American Legislative Exchange […]

Associated PressJuly 27, 2017

Having just closed the case on a police shooting that occurred more than eight years ago, Miami’s top prosecutor said her office takes “far too long” to investigate shootings involving police officers. In a statement Wednesday, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office will post regular status updates on its website about shooting […]

Associated PressJuly 26, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott wants the state’s highway patrol troopers, wildlife officers and law-enforcement agents to get another pay raise. Scott announced the proposal Wednesday during a visit to a Florida Highway Patrol station in Jacksonville. This year legislators agreed to give the state’s nearly 4,000 sworn-law enforcement officers a 5 percent raise. Scott wants to […]

Associated PressJuly 26, 2017

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Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has fired an information technology staffer following his arrest on a bank fraud charge at a Virginia airport where he was attempting to fly to Pakistan. Wasserman Schultz spokesman David Damron says Imran Awan was fired by the Florida lawmaker on Tuesday. Awan’s attorney, Chris Gowen, confirmed that his client […]

Associated PressJuly 25, 2017

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay cooked up a unique dish while filming in Florida: Burmese python. Ramsay joined Kyle Penniston of Miami on July 15 to hunt invasive pythons in the Everglades for an upcoming episode of his competitive-cooking television variety show “The F Word with Gordon Ramsay.“ Penniston hunts pythons for the South Florida Water […]

Associated PressJuly 25, 2017

Voters will choose a replacement for a Florida legislator who resigned after using a racial slur and vulgar language in a conversation with two African-American colleagues. The Tuesday election features three Republicans and two Democrats contending for the seat based in Miami-Dade County. The winners of the primary will advance to a special election on […]

Associated PressJuly 25, 2017

Authorities investigating the wife of a man who massacred Florida nightclub patrons have seized three computers, cellphones, an IPad and a Facebook account as evidence. Documents filed last week show federal prosecutors have provided Noor Salman‘s defense team with those items. Salman is charged with aiding and abetting her husband, Omar Mateen, and with obstructing […]

Associated PressJuly 24, 2017

A manager at a national park along Florida’s Gulf Coast inappropriately touched an employee, misused his position and created potential conflicts of interest, according to a report released the U.S. Department of Interior’s watchdog office. The report by the agency’s inspector general documents allegations made in 2015 against a manager of De Soto National Memorial […]

Associated PressJuly 24, 2017

Clay Henderson has lived on the same block along the Indian River in New Smyrna Beach for 34 years. Living in a storm-prone state like Florida, you expect to see a river top its bank on occasion, but only in the past two years has Henderson seen it happen on sunny days. He hears similar […]

Associated PressJuly 23, 2017