Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida
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Facing potential First Amendment challenges, Florida has proposed details about how it will carry out a new law aimed at keeping children off social-media platforms and blocking minors from accessing online pornography.Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office on Tuesday published three proposed rules that include addressing one of the most closely watched issues in the law: age verification.
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An appeals court Wednesday rejected a request by abortion-rights supporters to allow a circuit judge to rule on the legality of a revised “financial impact statement” that would appear on the November ballot with a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion.The 1st District Court of Appeal quickly denied a request filed Wednesday by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a political committee sponsoring the proposed constitutional amendment. The request came two days after a state panel issued a revised financial impact statement that Floridians Protecting Freedom contended was “highly politicized and unlawfully inaccurate.”
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Nearly two years after Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials drew widespread attention by announcing voter-fraud charges against convicted felons, two South Florida appeals courts Wednesday overturned rulings that dismissed charges against a pair of defendants.Divided panels of the 3rd District Court of Appeal and the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the statewide prosecutor’s authority to pursue the 2022 cases against Ronald Miller and Terry Hubbard and sent the cases back to circuit court.
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Amendment 4 supporters accused the members of the Financial Impact Estimating Conference of misleading voters by including that the measure could lead to Medicaid-funded abortions and costly lawsuits.
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With a law taking effect May 1 that prevents abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a new report gives an initial picture of the reduced number of abortions being performed in Florida.The report, posted online by the state Agency for Health Care Administration, is dated July 1 and said 36,221 abortions had been performed in Florida in 2024. That was up from a total of 32,081 abortions included in a monthly report dated June 3.
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A federal judge Wednesday blocked a new Biden administration health-care rule that would clash with Florida’s attempts to restrict treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for transgender people.
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The Biden administration is moving forward with a proposal that would require heat protections for workers across the country, after Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring signed a controversial law barring Florida local governments from imposing such requirements on businesses.The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday released a proposed rule that would require employers to provide such things as water and rest breaks when temperatures top certain thresholds.
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While Florida has sought to speed up the case, an appeals-court battle about permitting authority for projects that affect wetlands likely will not be resolved until late this year — at the soonest.The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday issued an order that gave a schedule for the state, the federal government and environmental groups to file briefs in the case. The earliest briefs will be filed in August, and final briefs will be filed in November.
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Florida has appealed a federal judge’s ruling that blocked state restrictions on treatment for people with gender dysphoria and wants the ruling put on hold while the appeal plays out.
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Among the budget spending vetoed by DeSantis was $11.6 million for renovations to Florida Gulf Coast University’s Reed Hall classroom building.Also among the vetoes was $80 million for the Florida College System to participate in the state group insurance program, which provides health insurance to state workers.Among big-ticket items approved by the governor, the budget includes $14.5 billion for the state transportation work program and $232 million for cancer-research funding, including $127.5 million for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program.Also included in the state budget is $15.547 million for Fort Myers Beach for a new Town Hall site and revenue replacement.