Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineApril 12, 2017

Senate President Joe Negron’s $1.5 billion plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, and stop overflows of toxic “guacamole water” into the state’s rivers and streams, passed the Senate Wednesday on a vote of 36-3. Last June’s overflow of toxic algae blooms, which devastated tourism and sickened many people, and prompted Gov. Rick Scott to declare a […]

Associated PressApril 5, 2017

os-ed-janet-reno-role-model-for-women-lawyers110816-20161108.jpg

The South Florida home where the late U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno lived will be preserved and donated to Miami-Dade College. The Miami Herald reports a final agreement is being ironed out to donate the ranch which sat on the edge of the Everglades where Reno’s mother built the rustic home in the 1940s. It’s […]

Scott PowersApril 3, 2017

If anyone has ever tried to insert a passive integration transponder tag into a lionfish, they may have an idea of how seriously the Florida House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee is viewing control of invasive species. Under House Bill 587, lionfish become one of three invasive species animals, along with python snakes and tegu […]

Guest AuthorMarch 30, 2017

$everglades-fracking-1024x1024.jpg$

As a former state legislator and now a member of Congress, I’ve been proud to support investments in protecting Florida’s natural resources, including the Everglades. While located far from the Emerald Coast, the Everglades are about as iconic in Florida as the Blue Angels, the Space Shuttle, and the orange. Everglades National Park alone welcomes […]

Peter SchorschMarch 27, 2017

Joe Negron’s controversial plan to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges is not going over well with federal officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Last week, many of those involved in Everglades restoration called for Florida to stay the course on federal restoration projects; many were critical of the Senate President’s plan to build a reservoir south […]

Scott PowersMarch 22, 2017

Florida’s Congressional delegation is united in its position urging President Donald Trump to fully fund Everglades restoration and to do so quickly – but a small schism has opened between Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Mast and Francis Rooney over whether there needs to be another task force. Last week Mast, of Palm City, and and […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 8, 2017

Florida sugar workers are the latest to come out strongly against Joe Negron’s Senate proposal to create a $2.4-billion, 60,000-acre reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee for Everglades water storage. In a joint letter sent Wednesday from Sugar Labor Management Committee, IAMAW District 166, Florida State Council of Machinists, and Local 2152 (Osceola & Okeelanta), union […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 26, 2017

So far, 2017 has been unkind to proponents of buying land south of Lake Okeechobee. That’s the takeaway from two January Senate committee meetings that have been held on the issue. In the titanic legislative battle pitting landowners, minority residents from the Glades and state and water management district officials against Senate President Joe Negron and environmental groups, the […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 19, 2017

It’s incredible how foggy some people’s memories are when it comes to past efforts to restore the Everglades, buy farmland and build a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. Time and again, environmental extremists are quick to blame the sugar industry for every ill in the region, past, present and future, without any regard to science […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 3, 2017

The tegu lizard is dead to Frank Artiles. The Republican state senator from Miami-Dade County filed legislation (SB 230) Tuesday to eradicate the non-native reptile tegu from Florida. The lizard is “decimat(ing) the fauna and flora of the Everglades and other natural areas and ecosystems in the southern and central parts of this state at […]

Tag: Everglades

Senate approves plan to fix Lake Okeechobee, end algae invasions

Report: Janet Reno’s ranch to be donated to Miami college

Lionfish tagging, hunting pythons, designating reefs: bills pass House committee

Matt Gaetz: Fix Florida’s Everglades, avoid distraction of costly land buy

Feds say ‘stay the course’ with Everglades, rejecting Joe Negron’s land buy

Francis Rooney says Everglades doesn’t need a task force right now

Florida Sugar Union blasts Joe Negron’s ‘job killing’ Lake O reservoir plan

Proposed plan to buy farmland south of Lake Okeechobee off to slow start in Florida Senate

J.P. Sasser: Environmental activists rewriting history, fraudulently manipulating data to sell land plan

Frank Artiles takes on the tegu