Government

Jacob Rodgers was a passenger in a friend’s pickup truck on the evening of Oct. 7, 2015, when the driver of a Gainesville city utility vehicle ran a stop sign and hit the pickup.Rodgers, then 20, was thrown from the pickup and suffered injuries that left him paralyzed. Now, nearly a decade later, Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have approved a bill directing the city to pay $10.8 million to Rodgers.The bill (HB 6521) was one of nine “claim” bills that lawmakers approved this year directing state and local government agencies to provide compensation for injuries, a death and a case of wrongful incarceration.

Understanding the ins and outs of city government is the outcome for those attending the eight-week North Port University program.North Port residents and business owners can participate in the third session of the program, which gets started at 6 p.m. Thursdays beginning Aug. 7.

One of the more contentious legislative sessions in recent history came to a close late Monday as lawmakers approved a $115.1 billion budget for next fiscal year and prepared to send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The race to become the governor of Florida is beginning to bubble, with U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds leading what is becoming a crowded field of hopefuls, all jockeying to assume the mantle.It’s way too early to divine who will win the open governor’s seat next November, but Donalds, who is Black and represents Florida’s 19th Congressional district, is bumping up against the reality that in its 180-year history, Florida has never elected a Black governor, man or woman, Democrat or Republican.

More delays in the development of the historic McCollum Hall

By a narrow margin Tuesday night, a majority of the DeSoto County Commission voted to deny allowing biosolids sludge — the remains of human waste — to be brought into the county so it can be composted as fertilizer.The vote was 3 to 2 to deny a special exception for the sludge plan.

After successfully ending the practice of spreading biosolids, Desoto residents brace for the possibility it may return