Space X, the aerospace company owned by Elon Musk, wants to make big changes at Cape Canaveral, boosting the number of rockets it annual launches and lands there to 44, as well as boosting the size of the rocket involved. “Starship-Super Heavy” is “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed,” according to the Space X website. Floridians are concerned about increased pollution, rampant water waste, a huge loss of public access, lots more sonic booms and — not to be rude — the tendency of Space X rockets to blow up. There have been four explosions so far this year.
Florida
Florida GOP Lawmakers File Slew of Proposals Slashing Property Taxes
After months of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia promising Floridians a chance to substantially reduce if not outright eliminate property taxes, eight Republican members of the Florida House filed legislation Thursday to achieve that goal.
Florida Prisons Chief Wants ‘Staggering’ Half a Billion Dollars Next Year Just for Operations, Not Salaries
Sounding as desperate as he ever has since being appointed four years ago, Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) Secretary Ricky Dixon asked a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday for more than $512 million for next fiscal year to maintain the prison system. “It is a staggering amount of money that we’re asking for. I’m aware of that,” Dixon told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice. Adding to the scale of the needs, he said that amount did not include funding for salaries of correction officers, which he said rank among the lowest for its size in the country.
Bill Would Require Florida Teachers to Take Oath
A bill filed Monday by state Rep. Tom Fabricio would require teachers to take an oath to the Constitution and nonpartisanship. The bill, HB 147, would require teachers to, “before entering upon the duties of a classroom teacher,” take the oath. The language is similar to oaths taken by lawyers, doctors, and public officials.
Students Protesting Gaza Genocide File Lawsuit Against USF, Alleging Violations of Constitutional Rights
Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, a group protesting in support of Palestinian rights, filed suit last week against the University of South Florida, claiming the university violated members’ constitutional rights after expelling one student and disciplining others.
Mystery Development Company Buys Marineland Dolphin Adventure for $7.1 Million, Outbidding Hutson
Marineland Dolphin Adventure, the world’s first oceanarium and for most of its 87 years a Florida tourist destination with a storied past, was sold at auction on Monday for $7.1 million to an apparent shell company that goes by the name of Delightful Development LLC. If the name augurs its future intentions for the 5.1-acre property, the site’s days as an oceanarium are approaching their end, and the 17 dolphins there, six of them born in Marineland, will have to find new homes.
Only 3 States Passed License Plate Reader Laws This Year Despite Concerns
Lawmakers in at least 16 states this year introduced bills to regulate the use of automated license plate readers responsible for collecting large amounts of data on drivers across the country. But just three states — Arkansas, Idaho and Virginia — enacted laws this session that establish or amend rules for law enforcement agencies using the high-tech camera systems and the manner in which license plate data should be stored. And this month, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have restricted use of such data.
Florida’s 1st Public School Chaplain Is Trump Disciple at War with Church-State Wall
Rev. Jack Martin, the state’s first public school chaplain, twice ran for Congress, wrote an ode to Charlie Kirk, preached the need to “battle alongside Trump” and defended the Jan. 6 assault on Congress as “the ratification of the theft of the presidency.”
He identifies with the Black Robe Regiment, a coalition of pastors committed to tearing down the wall of separation between church and state.
Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill Cuts $3.8 Billion from Florida’s Healthcare System, Hurting Hospitals and the Poor
President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will cut $3.8 billion from Florida’s health care system, with that money primarily affecting Florida hospitals. Five Florida programs are over a certain cap and currently receive $9 billion. That total will drop to $5.2 billion in state-directed payments by 2034-2035, Meyer told the group of lawmakers after facing earlier questions in the week about how children are being disenrolled from the Florida KidCare program for not paying their premiums.
DeSantis Signs Warrant to Kill Bryan Jennings, Murderer of 6-Year-Old Girl, for 16th Execution of the Year
Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 13 and could be a record 16th inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in Florida. The state has carried out 13 executions and is slated to put to death Samuel Smithers on Tuesday and Norman Grim on Oct. 28. Jennings was convicted of murdering Rebecca Kunash on May 11, 1979, in Merritt Island.
With Shutdown, Democrats Finally Take a Clear and Critical Stand
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will add $4 trillion to the national debt and throw 20 million people off Obamacare over the life of the bill, which lets supplemental premium subsidies enacted during the Biden administration expire. It would more than double premium costs for Obamacare recipients. The cost of extending the subsidies over the next 10 years is $350 billion, or 8 percent of the Trump tax cuts. This is what the Democrats have been willing to shut the government over. It’s about time.
Florida Could Face Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Food Stamp Costs Under Trump’s ‘Beautiful’ Bill
Currently, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits — commonly known as food stamps — distributed by the state are fully funded by the federal government. But under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed this summer by President Donald Trump, that could change on Oct. 1, 2027, when states could be required to contribute money based on payment error rates. The error rate isn’t based on fraud but overpayments and underpayments. Benefits are calculated based on household sizes and net monthly incomes, which can change and might not be immediately reported.
Flagler Cares’ Carrie Baird Is Among ‘Women Shaping Florida’s Future’ at State Awards, a First for Flagler County
Close to 200 people gathered at Tallahassee’s DoubleTree Hotel Wednesday evening to honor “women who are shaping Florida’s future, who are leading, innovating and lifting others up as they rise,” as Shevaun Harris, Secretary, Agency for Health Care Administration, a keynote speaker and one of the honorees, told the audience. One of the women was Carrie Baird, Chief Executive Officer of Flagler Cares, the 10-year-old, Palm Coast-based nonprofit. It was the first time that the leader of an organization in Flagler County was the recipient of the News Service of Florida’s annual Above and Beyond Award.
Florida National Guard Can’t Retain Enough Troops Or Recruit New Ones
Compared to other states, the Florida National Guard ranked 53rd out of 54 in the guardsmen-to-citizen ratio, said Major General John Haas, an Adjutant General of Florida with the Department of Military Affairs. Haas warned during a Senate hearing that the Florida National Guard should be more than double its current size. He said Florida has the same size force as much smaller states like Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
Derek Barrs Is Finally Confirmed as Administrator of Motor Carrier Safety Administration After Fractious Senate Maneuvers
The U.S. Senate in a strict party-line 51-47 vote Tuesday night confirmed Derek Barrs, the former Flagler County school board member, administrator of the federal Transportation Department’s Motor Carrier Safety Administration, seven months after President Trump nominated Barrs to the post.
Florida’s Colleges and Universities May Be Forced Each to Change a Street Name for Charlie Kirk
Every one of Florida’s 40 public universities and colleges would have to redesignate a road, a street or an avenue after Charlie Kirk, the extremist controversialist who was assassinated last month, if a bill introduced by a Dade City Republican becomes law. Revered among wide swaths of the right, Kirk had a long record of making divisive and bigoted comments. It is likely the bill will generate significant debate if it is taken up in committees.
Florida Has No Clue How Many Kids Have Lost Health Coverage Since DeSantis Refusal to Comply with Eligibility Rule
In 2023. the Legislature ordered that children in families making up to 300 percent of the poverty level be eligible for KidCare, not 200 percent. The DeSantis administration has refused to comply, sticking with 200 percent, and causing enrollment to fall. But Brian Meyer, the state’s top Medicaid official, couldn’t answer a simple question: How many children have been disenrolled from the program because their families haven’t paid the premiums.
Florida Attorney General Leads 21 States Backing ‘Parental Rights’ Over Child’s Gender Privacy in Court Case
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier led 21 states in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday supporting a Tallahassee mother who claimed her rights were violated when a local middle school created a secret plan supporting her child switching genders.
Grand Jury Reported Imminent in Hope Florida Scandal
Subpoenas are being issued to Gov. Ron DeSantis staffers over the Hope Florida spending scandal. The subpoenas come as prosecutors in Tallahassee are convening a grand jury to meet during the week of Oct. 13, according to the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times. Hope Florida has been the subject of increasing scrutiny. Leaders of the organization faced lawmakers’ questions during the last Legislative Session.
Rampant Gaslighting About Freedom of Speech at Florida Universities
Our state government is authoritarian and proudly ignorant, hell-bent on destroying what makes universities great — freedom of expression, critical thinking, creativity, exposing students to ideas that may challenge them (or even upset them), unfettered research, scientific rigor, and advances in knowledge based on data. Why would a scholar want to pursue a career in such a fact-resistant, small-minded, censorious state?
Universal Is reopening Stardust Racers at Epic Universe
Despite potential litigation and an ongoing probe, Universal Orlando is reopening Stardust Racers after a man’s death last month. Stardust Racers had been closed since Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died Sept. 17. Rodriguez Zavala died from multiple blunt force trauma after his family’s lawyers said he hit his head repeatedly on the metal bar of the ride. They called his injuries extensive although the full autopsy has not been released.
Teacher Who Certified Student as ‘Most Likely to Become Dictator’ Battles Pending Firing
With state Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas vowing to prevent her from teaching again, an Alachua County teacher is fighting a disciplinary case that includes allegations she presented a certificate to a student that said he was the most likely to “become a dictator.”
State Debating Trophy Will be Named After Controversialist Charlie Kirk
The top student debaters in the state will hoist a trophy named for the late, controversial conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas announced Friday that the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative championship trophy will be named for Kirk, who gained notoriety for debating students on college campuses before he was assassinated.
Loving Penguins Lose as Federal Judge Backs School Board’s Ban of ‘And Tango Makes Three’
A federal judge this week rejected a challenge to a 2023 decision by the Escambia County School Board to remove the book “And Tango Makes Three” from school libraries, ruling the move did not violate First Amendment rights. “And Tango Makes Three,” which tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo, has become a prominent part of a debate in recent years about removing or restricting access to books at Florida schools. The Escambia County lawsuit alleged the book was targeted for its depictions of same-sex parents raising a child.
DeSantis May Call Special Session to Force Amendment on Property Tax Repeal
Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening to put lawmakers on the spot about property taxes during the heat of their reelection campaigns. The governor, during a news conference at Jacksonville International Airport Wednesday, reiterated that he believes voters should decide the fate of the property tax in the state come the November 2026.
Florida Schools and Parents Censored 444 Book Titles in 2025, Down from 732
Both the Florida Department of Education and PEN America, a nonprofit advocating for freedom of expression, have released their annual lists of books removed from school classrooms and libraries, each reporting fewer removals than last year.
Cops May No Longer Search Your Car Based on Pot Smell Alone, Court Rules
Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal’s main opinion said that for “generations, cannabis was illegal in all forms — thereby rendering its distinct odor immediately indicative of criminal activity.” But the opinion said legislative changes have “fundamentally changed its definition and regulation” and made cannabis legal to possess in multiple forms.
FWC Employee Fired Over Charlie Kirk Instagram Post Sues Accuses Agency of 1st Amendment Violation in Lawsuit
A biologist has filed a federal lawsuit challenging her firing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because of a post on a personal social-media account after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Brittney Brown, who worked for the commission studying shorebirds and seabirds in the area of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Panhandle, alleges in the lawsuit that her firing on Sept. 15 — five days after Kirk was shot during an appearance at a Utah university — violated her First Amendment rights.
Paul Renner Isn’t Interested in UNF Presidency
Don’t expect a former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor to swoop in as President of the University of North Florida. UNF’s President Moez Limayem is the sole candidate in the running for the presidency of the University of South Florida, creating a likely opening at the Jacksonville school and stoking speculation about whether Renner might want the job.
Battalion Chief in Lee County Faces 31 Charges, from Embezzlement to Voyeurism and Stalking
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested Albert “Shane” Sibert, 54, of North Fort Myers, a Battalion Chief with the Estero Fire Rescue department in lee County, on one count, each, of a scheme to defraud, grand theft, official misconduct, digital voyeurism dissemination, unlawful use of a tracking device, aggravated stalking, violation of injunction for protection against stalking, battery and money laundering. Sibert is also charged with 16 counts of unlawful interception of wire or oral communications and six counts of video voyeurism.
As He DOGE-Targets Blue Governments for ‘Fraud,’ Florida CFO Ingoglia Wants $600,000 for His Own Bureaucracy
In a state Legislative Budget Request filed last week, Blaise Ingoglia, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked new Chief Financial Officer, is seeking more than $600,000 and six full time employees to permanently establish a new “Florida Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Office,” with the provocative acronym “FAFO.” Its mission is to review local government data and “uncover the truth about how these government entities are using taxpayer funds, especially property taxes,” according to the budget request.
US Passport Is Best Defense Against ICE False Arrest as Supreme Court Approves Profiling in Mass Detentions
The aggressive drive to carry out mass deportations of people without legal status already has led to U.S. citizens being swept up in raids and detained, according to news reports from around the country as well as immigration experts. Such detainments now will increase, experts predict. Once in detention, it can take time to verify citizenship. A passport is considered the gold standard for proof that an individual is a citizen, but fewer than half of Americans hold passports, according to the State Department’s most recent data from 2024. Even fewer are likely to carry the bulky document around.
It Is Happening Here
Where would America be without hyperbole? From the chutzpah of the City Upon a Hill speech aboard the Arbella to the skirmish-turned Boston “massacre” to American Carnage a few years ago to the ongoing beatification of Charlie Kirk, it’s fair to say that without hyperbole, America would be more like a sprawly humble Saskatchewan than the Galactic Empire it’s become. But America’s slouch toward fascism is no hyperbole. Sinclair Lewis once mused that it can happen here. Today, it is happening here.
Florida CFO Ingoglia Targets Blue Alachua County with Unspecified Claim of ‘Wasteful Spending’
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia traveled to Alachua County Thursday, where he said his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team of auditors had determined that the local government had indulged in more than $84 million in “wasteful spending” over the past five years. As has been the case with the other local government budgets that Ingoglia’s team has reviewed this year, he did not mention any specific programs that constituted what he defined as wasteful spending.
Looking Beyond the Turning Point of Charlie Kirk’s Death to the Soil We’re Tilling for the Next Generation
Charlie Kirk’s assassination feels like more than another entry in America’s long and tragic list of political violence. It feels like a hinge point, writes former School Board member Colleen Conklin. But history suggests scars can be the beginning of strength. If the pattern holds, today’s youth may yet rise to become the next Greatest Generation. Now is the time to cultivate compassion stronger than ideology, courage rooted in empathy, the ability to separate people from their ideas. What then grows could astonish us.
Advocate for Hands-Free Driving Law in Florida Blasts Lawmaker Who Blocked It
An advocate for legislation that would have banned drivers from operating a motor vehicle while using a cellphone lashed out at a state legislator on Wednesday, claiming that she prevented the measure from advancing in the Florida House of Representatives and potentially becoming state law earlier this year.
County and City Leaders Push Back Against DeSantis Claims of ‘Waste, Fraud and Abuse’ in Property Tax
After months of financial abuse allegations lobbed by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration against local governments, city leaders pushed back Tuesday in a Florida House meeting focused on cutting property taxes. “Waste is in the eye of the beholder,” said Casey Cook, the Florida League of Cities’ chief of legislative affairs. “Nobody likes paying taxes, but safe isn’t free. Clean isn’t free.”
Florida Is Misleadingly Invoking Slavery as It Readies to Kill All Vaccine Mandates in Schools
On Sept. 3, 2025, Florida announced its plans to be the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates for its citizens, including those for children to attend school. Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s surgeon general and a professor of medicine at the University of Florida, has stated that “every last one” of these decades-old vaccine requirements “is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” He is wrong.
30 New Laws Go In Effect Next Week, Including Steeper Penalties for Several Crimes and End of Business Rent Tax
The elimination of the business rent tax is projected to collectively save businesses–and cost the state–nearly $1.15 billion during the current fiscal year, which will run through June 30. That amount is projected to increase to $1.53 billion next fiscal year. Other laws include harsher penalties for people who flee police, harass utility workers and kill someone while driving drunk.
Contrition, Grimness and Encouragement from Flagler County’s Lawmakers Ahead of Another Messy, Miserly Session
Florida Sen. Tom Leek spoke contritely, then grimly, then encouragingly at Friday’s annual Flagler County legislative delegation meeting, ahead of the legislative session in January. The contrition was for the misbehavior of the legislature in the last session, the grimness was about another year of tight budgets, and therefore few legislative appropriations for local governments, and the encouragement was for local officials to make their pitches anyway, as long as they matched that with commitment of their own.
UF Rescinds Emeritus Status for Professor Over Kirk Facebook Post
The University of Florida rescinded a retired professor’s emeritus status Friday, the university announced, over a Facebook post the evening of Charlie Kirk’s death that garnered social media backlash. The university posted to social media Friday that “a retired faculty member who issued a post on social media that is raising concerns” had lost emeritus status. In a followup, the university did not confirm to the Phoenix who the professor was. The Gainesville Sun reported that it had confirmed the professor in question is retired UF law professor Jeffrey Harrison.
Condemning the Kirk Assassination, and Condemning What Kirk Stood For
It is possible to condemn the assassination of Charlie Kirk and still condemn the ideas he stood for, to decry the flags at half-mast for so-called values hardly distinguishable from those of Proud Boys. A glean of the successful agenda Kirk pushed shows to what extent nationalist Christian extremism has been re-normalized, with Kirk playing an essential role in that latest of Great Awakenings. It was not a healing voice.
Conservation Group Files Suit to Halt Florida Bear Hunt
Bear Warriors United, a conservation group, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from holding the state’s first bear hunt in a decade. The group contends the commission violated several legal requirements, including approving a hunt using “obsolete” bear population numbers. The 23-day hunt, approved by the commission last month, is scheduled to start Dec. 6.
David Jolly, Democratic Candidate for Governor, Supports ‘School Choice’ But With More Accountability
The main Democratic candidate for governor — former Republican U.S. Rep. David Jolly — called Thursday for changes to Florida’s universal school voucher program, which helps pay to send students to private school, but not repeal.
Majority of Florida’s Republican Voters Back Clean Energy Initiatives
An overwhelming number of Floridians report that their utility costs are rising, according to a statewide poll of voters showing that nearly 80% back alternative, clean energy sources that could mitigate those rising prices. The survey of 1,000 likely 2026 voters commissioned by Conservatives for Clean Energy Florida shows that 78% support clean energy initiatives, including 63% of Republicans.
Tech Industry Groups Want Appeals Court to Uphold Ruling that Blocked Florida’s Restrictive Social Media Law
Pointing to what they called “draconian restrictions,” tech industry groups are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a decision that blocked a Florida law aimed at preventing children from having access to certain social-media platforms. Attorneys for the groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a 78-page brief Friday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contending the 2024 law violates First Amendment rights.
Palm Coast Attorney Marc Dwyer on the End of Open Carry Ban: Correct Decision, Not Without Street Consequences
Palm Coast attorney Marc Dwyer is of two minds about last week’s decision by a Florida appeals court invalidating the ban on openly carrying firearms. On one hand, he found the ruling legally right and in line with history and current law since 2008. On the other hand, he says there’s “going to be an uptick in crime” as a result. Sheriff Rick Staly disagrees, seeing not much change ahead as a consequence of the decision.
State Regulators Reject Counter-Proposal by Customer Representative to Limit FPL Rate Increases
As they consider a proposed settlement that would increase Florida Power & Light’s base electric rates, state regulators will not take up a “counter proposal” offered by opponents. FPL wants base-rate increases of $945 million in 2026 and $766 million in 2027. The counter proposal would have resulted in increases of $867 million in 2026 and $403 million in 2027.
In Florida, We Want Guns in Our Streets, Not Rainbows
No doubt Gov. Ron DeSantis expects Floridians to be grateful for saving us from yet another woke attack on decency, probity, and speeding motorists. Meaning colorful crosswalks. Just as he has fought to expel books by Black and gay authors from our schools, the governor has ordered FDOT to paint over the flowers, the sunbursts, the fish, the musical notes, and the rainbows — especially the rainbows. At least a dozen schools in Tampa will see their “Crosswalks to Classrooms” school crossings destroyed, including one painted to look like a shelf of books. Florida’s government is particularly scared of books.
Florida Projecting $1.5 Billion and $6.6 Billion Deficits in 2027 and ’28 if Lawmakers Don’t Rein in Spending
The economic forecast showed a $3.8 billion surplus for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. But without altering current levels of spending, shortfalls are anticipated of $1.5 billion and $6.6 billion in subsequent years. After a contentious legislative session this year that required overtime to hammer out a budget, Florida lawmakers could again face decisions about limiting spending during the 2026 session.