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Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a $1.6 billion tax-cut package that is dominated by eliminating a commercial-lease tax and providing sales-tax breaks on back-to-school items, hurricane-preparedness supplies and guns and ammo.At the same event where DeSantis signed the tax-cut package he also approved a new state budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will start July 1.

Gov. Ron DeSantis late Sunday proposed a $115.6 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that calls for increasing pay for state law-enforcement officers and firefighters, eliminating a commercial-lease tax and holding a new sales-tax “holiday” on guns and ammunition.The proposal is an initial step as lawmakers prepare to negotiate a final budget during the regular legislative session, which will start March 4. It also was released as DeSantis quarrels with House and Senate leaders over an immigration bill that lawmakers passed during a special session last week.

Out-of-state students attending Florida universities could see a 10 percent increase in tuition this fall and an additional hike the following school year, under a rule unanimously adopted by the state university system’s Board of Governors on Wednesday.Tuition hikes for out-of-state students would have to be approved by university boards of trustees, and schools would have to maintain their current ratio of in-state students to out-of-state students.

Growing faster than almost any other state, Florida’s estimated population topped 23.3 million people this year, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The Census Bureau estimated that Florida had 23,372,215 people as of July 1, up from 22,904,868 a year earlier. Florida’s increase of 467,347 people was second only to Texas, which gained 562,941.

Former Florida Gov. Kenneth “Buddy” MacKay, 91, died peacefully during an afternoon nap at his home in Ocala surrounded by his wife and sons on New Year’s Eve, a family spokesman said Thursday.MacKay’s decades-long public-service career included stints as a state legislator, U.S. representative, lieutenant governor and — briefly — governor.

The Florida International University Board of Trustees on Friday approved appointing Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez as the school’s interim president, setting the stage for Gov. Ron DeSantis to choose a new lieutenant governor.Nunez, a Miami Republican who received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at FIU, called the selection an honor.

On the eve of a special legislative session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican lawmakers Sunday filed a flurry of bills to crack down on undocumented immigrants and place additional restrictions on the ballot initiative process.The bills, in part, would end in-state tuition at colleges and universities for undocumented-immigrant students known as dreamers; place new requirements on police to help with immigration-enforcement efforts; and dramatically change the petition process for proposed constitutional amendments.

Damage from Hurricane Milton is driving down citrus production from what was already expected to be a historic low in the current growing season, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that would have at least temporarily allowed enforcement of a new state law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter the state.Uthmeier last month asked the Supreme Court for a stay of a temporary injunction that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued in April to block the law. Such a stay, if granted, would have allowed enforcement of the law while an underlying legal battle about the injunction played out.

A divided federal appeals court Wednesday backed a 2023 Florida law that requires teachers to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, rejecting arguments that the law violated First Amendment rights of a transgender teacher in Hillsborough County.A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued last year to block enforcement of the law against high-school teacher Katie Wood.