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COVID-19 deaths across the state top 1,200; East coast lists most

Seminole Tribe Stops $350 Million Gambling Payments To State

The Seminole Tribe of Florida made good on threats Tuesday by telling Gov. Ron DeSantis it is quitting a long-standing revenue-sharing agreement with the…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives his State of the State address during a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives in Tallahassee, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Florida lawmakers won’t return after Memorial Day break

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed SB 1388, which will take effect July 1, will require Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers to have probable cause to halt boaters.

Bill stops FWC officers from random boat inspections

Lee Health will sponsor Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Men’s Basketball student-athletes through the SWFL Flight Crew, a community-driven Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) collective, which is organized independently of FGCU to advance the opportunities of FGCU Athletics. Lee Health is the first corporate sponsor of the NIL collective. The collaboration, which will be a first-of-its-kind in Southwest Florida, will support the student-athletes from a community and healthcare-perspective, especially when it relates to orthopedic care, through Lee Health Sports Medicine. Lee Health is focused on enhancing its state-of-the-art, nationally leading orthopedic program.

The Florida House plans to take examine issues related to 'NIL'

The Florida House will dive into issues about college athletes getting paid for use of their names, images and likenesses, or what is known as NIL.

Activists with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, known as PETA, protested outside the Coach store in Brickell City Centre in Miami on Black Friday to call attention to the luxury retailer’s sale of “animal and planet-killing leather.”

Black Friday protest: PETA activists demonstrate outside Coach store in Miami

The protest on S. Miami Avenue is part of PETA's nationwide “Free the Animals Friday” initiative, which urges holiday shoppers to choose “cruelty-free vegan options.”

Minimum wage bill likely dead; attempt to carve exemption fails

A proposal to carve an exemption in the state’s voter-approved minimum wage isn’t expected to pass during this year’s legislative session, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, told reporters last week.

Florida Senate, House to convene at DeSantis request Monday

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, said in a joint memo Friday that the Legislature will convene at 10:30 a.m. Monday in a special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis. But Albritton and Perez, who have raised objections to the special session, did not detail how lawmakers will handle a series of issues that DeSantis wants them to address.

Legislative agreement remains unresolved on key budget details

Legislative leaders have not reached agreement on key initial budget details, as lawmakers prepare to return to the Capitol to hammer out a spending plan for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will begin July 1. The House and Senate did not pass a budget before Friday’s scheduled end of the annual legislative session, requiring an extension.

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla.

Supreme court sends suit on detention center to lower court

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday sent to a lower court a case filed by Democratic state lawmakers after they were denied entry to a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

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