Orlando

Scott PowersNovember 15, 2018

The Orange County vote canvassing board has completed its machine recounts of the 2018 election with very little change in the final tabulations of contested races. Orange is the first of Florida’s seven big, urban counties — which include Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Duval — to report the machine-recount numbers. It’s among […]

Scott PowersNovember 15, 2018

Orange County Mayor-elect Jerry Demings is expecting to start making announcements about his transition no earlier than next week, and, so far, he has been keeping his staffing choices close to his vest while his administration’s core values and agenda still are being openly debated. Demings won the Mayor’s job in the Aug. 28 election and […]

Scott PowersNovember 14, 2018

Democratic U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto didn’t waste any time flexing muscles of their centrist sides, signing a letter Tuesday to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi outlining a number of demands for House rules changes if Pelosi wants their votes for House Speaker. The two Central Florida lawmakers, members of the bipartisan “Problem Solvers” caucus, […]

Scott PowersNovember 13, 2018

It might be from fraying, old, nylon boat ropes. It might be from clothing. It might be from straws and plastic grocery bags. Whatever the sources, a University of Central Florida research team is investigating an alarming – record – level of pastics discovered in oysters in the northern end of the Indian River Lagoon. […]

Scott PowersNovember 13, 2018

The most dramatic power change Orange County has seen in a generation in county government began Tuesday with jokes, gifts, and tributes to the three outgoing members of the Board of Commissioners and only a slightly uncomfortable air of wonder of what Mayor-elect Jerry Demings and his Democratic-controlled board will bring next month. In their […]

Scott PowersNovember 12, 2018

Railing against what they call a Republican effort to discredit recounts through legal intimidation and allegations of fraud, Democrats state Sen. Linda Stewart, Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and state Rep.-elect Anna Eskamani insisted Monday the process just needs to proceed now in calm and confidence. “Calm down,” Stewart said Monday on the front steps of the […]

Drew WilsonNovember 9, 2018

Centerplate has been the Orange County Convention Center’s exclusive food-service provider for a decade and based on its performance the Orange County Commission voted in favor of keeping the company around for another decade-plus. After a lengthy bidding process that saw Centerplate go up against a consortium of food-service companies including one-time contract holder Levy […]

Scott PowersNovember 8, 2018

Democratic state Rep.-elect Anna Eskamani has been no stranger to national media coverage throughout her campaign, and now her election in House District 47 Tuesday also is drawing attention of Iranian media and international media broadcasting into Iran. Eskamani, of Orlando, had been open throughout her campaign about her Iranian-American heritage, even working it into […]

Scott PowersNovember 8, 2018

Few election losses anywhere in 2016 drew more Republican vows for revenge than when Stephanie Murphy came out of nowhere, dubbed the “Girl Rescued at Sea” for her life story as an infant in a family who fled Vietnam on a rickety boat, and stunned 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica in Florida’s 7th Congressional […]

Scott PowersNovember 8, 2018

Brightline, the operator of the new South Florida private passenger train service with plans to extend to Orlando, has submitted the only proposal to Florida officials for a proposed new route from Orlando to Tampa. The Florida Department of Transportation announced late Wednesday that Brightline, which initiated the process by submitting an unsolicited proposal in […]

Orlando

Orange County machine recount finished with no discernible changes

Jerry Demings keeping Orange County mayoral transition plans close to vest

Stephanie Murphy and Darren Soto demand Nancy Pelosi support reform package

Plastics in Indian River Lagoon oysters have UCF researchers looking closer

Orange County Commission transition begins

Linda Stewart: Calm down and let the elections officers do their work

Orange County Convention Center re-ups deal with Centerplate

Anna Eskamani’s fame is rising – in Iran

‘Girl rescued at sea’ now riding high toward Democratic-controlled Congress

Brightline submits only proposal for Orlando-Tampa train line