Florida Senate

Senate Republicans on Tuesday will hold a ceremony to formally designate Ben Albritton, 55, as the next Senate president. Currently the Senate majority leader, Albritton will succeed President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, in November 2024.

Senate Bill 90 passed in the Florida Senate and was signed by Governor DeSantis last May. Its provisions amend the state election laws to, according to the Senate website, “improve election security, transparency, and administration.” Here’s what you should know about the bill before the state elections this fall.

Florida lawmakers are reviewing the most controversial environmental bill to arise during the current legislative session. SB 2508 is the latest attempt by lawmakers sympathetic - or beholden - to the sugar industry to give it and the agricultural industry the key to the Everglades’ huge spigot by guaranteeing “existing legal users” continue to receive a huge amount of the water.

Large amounts of nutrient-rich water released from Lake Okeechobee could once again flow down the Caloosahatchee River if a last-minute Florida Senate bill becomes law. The last-minute bill, SB 2508, effectively returns control of Lake Okeechobee’s water management to agricultural interests and was filed by the Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. In addition to largely giving deference over the lake’s water usage to South Florida’s farming interests, critics of the bill say it would jeopardize water quality and lower water quantity in the Everglades, and threaten the viability for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir.

State health officials reported 8,452 new COVID-19 cases, Wednesday, for a total of 1,134,383 cases.The Florida Department of Health also reported 137 new coronavirus-related deaths, Dec. 14, increasing the statewide death toll to 20,271 fatalities since the start of the pandemic. Florida surpassed the 20,000-death mark on Saturday.

Republican candidates in Tuesday’s election won every Florida House and Senate race covering a district in Southwest Florida.

This year’s election is seeing a lot of first-time candidates. One of those is Florida Gulf Coast University student Rachel Brown, the Democratic candidate in the Florida State Senate District 27 race.WGCU’s Michelle Alvarez introduces us to the Southwest Florida native.

State health officials reported 2,251 new COVID-19 cases, Tuesday, bringing Florida's total to 720,125 infections. The Florida Department of Health also reported 55 new coronavirus-related deaths, Oct. 6, increasing the statewide death toll to 14,945 fatalities.Of the more than 5.4 million COVID-19 tests that have been reported in Florida so far, the overall positivity rate stands at 13.24% and the latest single-day positivity rate increased to 5.21%.

Perhaps the most vulnerable victims of the opioid crisis are babies born addicted. Known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, babies born to mothers who’ve…

In Florida, minors can currently marry if they have parental consent or if the couple is expecting a child, but Senate Bill 140 aims to change…