Florida is the second most distressed state in the union in terms of its residents’ debt obligations. The state saw a 23% increase in the share of people with distressed bank accounts between 2024 and 2025, the data show. In addition, Florida holds the sixth-highest overall share of people with accounts in distress, at 7.3%. In human terms, this financial distress looks like a sharp increase in bankruptcy filings; residents with accounts in forbearance or deferred payments; America’s lowest average credit scores; and higher prices for groceries, rent, mortgages, gasoline, and health care.
Ron DeSantis
DeSantis Ridicules Spate of House Proposals to Cut Property Taxes as ‘Political Game’
Florida House members have proposed seven constitutional amendments for the 2026 ballot that would slash the state’s property tax. Gov. DeSantis dismissed them all, saying that “placing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes,” and describing it as “a political game, not a serious attempt to get it done for the people.”
DeSantis Signs 17th Death Warrant of the Year, More than 6 States Combined, Including Texas
In what could be Florida’s 17th execution this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a death warrant for Richard Barry Randolph, convicted of raping and murdering Putnam County convenience-store manager Minnie Ruth McCollum in 1988. The 17 death warrants are more than the number of executions in six states combined, including Texas, which has the second-most executions so far this year, with five, and Alabama, third-most with four.
Ending Property Taxes Is Tempting. It’s Also Practically Foolish.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have been promoting the idea of doing away with property taxes for homeowners, or at least severely lowering them. That poses problems. The sales tax — would have to be raised to replace the revenue. That’s regressive: the sales tax bears no relation to your ability to pay. There’s also a logical flaw in the professed GOP belief that you never truly own your home if you have to pay taxes on it. It’s not a penalty. You’re paying to maintain cops on the beat, libraries for everybody, to fix potholes.
Miami’s Bonfire to Trump’s Vanities
Florida is home of the Waste Pro Garbage Truck Museum, the Bike-Riding Parrots of Sarasota Jungle Gardens and Big Betsy, Islamorada’s 30-foot high spiny lobster, but none of it will compare to the the Trump Presidential Library Hotel and Massage Parlor soon to be built in Miami on land Miami Dade College secretly voted to give to the state. The state will, in turn, give it to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation, which means the place will be controlled by the Trump family.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Appeals Judge’s Order Invalidating Part of Book-Ban Law
Florida has appealed a federal judge’s ruling that said a key part of a 2023 law that led to books being removed from school library shelves is “overbroad and unconstitutional.”
14th of the Year: DeSantis Signs Death Warrant for Samuel Smithers, 72, Who Murdered 2 Women in 1996
In what could be Florida’s 14th execution this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of murdering two women in 1996 in Hillsborough County and dumping them in a pond. Samuel Smithers, 72, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Oct. 14 at Florida State Prison for the murders of Denise Roach and Christy Cowan at a secluded property where he worked as a caretaker.
Poll Said to Show Democrat Jolly in Statistical Tie with Renner and Donalds
The campaign for Florida Democrat David Jolly said Wednesday that a new public opinion poll it has commissioned shows the former GOP congressman in a statistical dead heat with both Byron Donalds and Paul Renner, the two major Republicans to enter the contest for governor in 2026.
Florida Cabinet Supports Revoking Free Speech Rights and Visas of Migrants Over Charlie Kirk Expressions
Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Attorney General James Uthmeier argue admission into the United States is a “privilege” that shouldn’t be extended to immigrants who praise Kirk’s murder, Ingoglia and an Uthmeier aide told The Florida Phoenix. This comes one day after the State Department warned immigrants against mocking or praising 31-year-old Kirk’s death.
55% of Floridians in Survey Oppose DeSantis Push for Congressional Redistricting
Although Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s intent on pursuing a mid-decade congressional redistricting that would help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in 2026, the majority of Floridians do not agree — and that includes a majority of Republicans. The survey of nearly 500 Floridians of all political stripes conducted by Common Cause finds that 55% oppose the idea, with only 26% in support and another 19% undecided.
Ft. Lauderdale Joins Miami in Challenging Transportation Department’s Erasing of Street Art and Memorials
Days after the city of Miami Beach filed a similar case, Fort Lauderdale has challenged the legality of directives by the Florida Department of Transportation to remove art and markings on streets. Fort Lauderdale filed its challenge Monday at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, arguing that the department did not go through a legally required rule-making process. Such directives went to local governments across the state and have drawn heavy attention, in part, because they required removing LGBTQ-themed rainbow crosswalks.
Florida’s DOGE Should Investigate the Money Wasted on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to blow millions in taxpayer money on a tent-and-fence camp in the middle of a major nature preserve. Believe it or not, he did it without doing one single thing to check its impact on our endangered panthers, our clean water, or our recovering Everglades. Instead, he just rushed to build it as fast as possible, spending $218 million. He had to truck in everything the staff and inmates needed, from portable toilets that repeatedly overflowed to blinding lights that ruined one of the few dark-sky places left in our state.
Shuttered Baker County Prison Reopened as Migrant Lockup
Florida this week began accepting immigrant detainees at a repurposed prison in Baker County as part of the state’s support of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation efforts, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
Florida Medical Association Unequivocally Backs Vaccine Mandates in Schools as DeSantis Prepares to End Them
The Florida Medical Association, the state’s largest physicians’ organization, strongly backed childhood vaccinations Thursday, a day after state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo vowed to end vaccine mandates.
What the Hell? An Indecorous DeSantis Calls Renner’s Governor Run ‘Ill-Advised’
Ron DeSantis does not want former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner to succeed him as governor, he told a packed crowd Wednesday. His blunt take on the 48-year-old’s candidacy stood in contrast to Renner’s campaign launch earlier Wednesday, when the former House Speaker lauded himself as a top GOP figure who played a key role in advancing DeSantis’s agenda.
Palm Coast’s Paul Renner, Aligning Himself as DeSantis Heir, Enters Race for Governor Against Byron Donalds
Former state House Speaker Paul Renner on Wednesday launched a 2026 campaign for governor, becoming the first high-profile candidate to take on Congressman Byron Donalds — who has the backing of President Donald Trump — in the Republican primary. Renner, whose district represented Palm Coast and Flagler County, left the House in November after two years as speaker. He issued a statement that drew links with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cannot run again because of term limits.
Every Week Is Banned Book Week in Florida
Every day seems to bring another hissy fit from a state goon or “concerned” parent hell-bent on returning us to the glory days of censorship. We live in a state where librarians are called child abusers for offering books such as “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “What Girls Are Made Of,” “The Bluest Eye,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Slaughterhouse Five,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”–written by a Booker Prize winner, a National Book Award winner, winner of a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Nobel Prize laureate.
Complying with Judge’s Order to Dismantle It, ICE Stops Sending Human Beings to ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Federal officials are complying with a judge’s order and have stopped sending immigrants to a detention center in the Everglades, less than two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration launched the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
DeSantis Signs 13th Death Warrant of the Year, for Victor Jones, Murderer of 2 in 1990
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted in the 1990 murders of a couple in Miami-Dade County, as the state continues a record-setting year for executions. Victor Tony Jones, 64, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 30 and could become the 13th inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in Florida. The Jones death warrant came after Curtis Windom was executed Thursday evening at Florida State Prison in the 1992 murders of three people in Orange County.
Federal Judge Refuses to Pause Order to Close ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams has refused to pause her order requiring state and federal officials to wind down operations at an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Kevin Gurthrie Says ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Will Likely Be Empty Within Days
The Associated Press is reporting that Kevin Guthrie, Florida’s director of emergency management, says that the controversial Everglades facility used to detain migrants may be empty within days.
3rd Lawsuit Challenges Florida’s Authority to Run ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and Hold People Without Charges
Calling it “exactly the kind of disaster that Congress took pains to avoid,” attorneys for immigrants held at a detention center in the Everglades filed a lawsuit alleging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration lacks the authority to run the facility. The lawsuit, filed Friday in the federal Middle District of Florida, is the third major legal challenge to the detention center, erected by the DeSantis’ administration as part of the state’s support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Columbia’s Donald Landry, Medical Researcher, Named University of Florida Interim President
The University of Florida Board of Trustees unanimously approved Donald Landry, a Columbia University medical researcher and professor, as its interim president Monday. During a special meeting in Gainesville, Landry committed to uphold state laws relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to condemn antisemitism.
The 7th Judicial Circuit, Which Includes Flagler County, Is Getting Two New Circuit Judges, Initially by Appointment
Following a determination by the Florida Supreme Court and ratification by the Legislature last June, the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which includes Flagler, Volusia, St. Johns and Putnam counties, is getting two additional circuit judgeships, in addition to the 27 existing ones. The nine-member Judicial Nominating Commission for the Seventh Circuit, which currently has no representation from Flagler or Putnam counties, is accepting applications for the two judgeships until 5 p.m. on Sept. 15.
DeSantis Says He’s an Equal-Opportunity Executioner
Responding to an X follower’s highlighting of a quote from a former Democratic Governor of Alabama who “erroneously” claimed there was “racial bias” in DeSantis’ state execution decisions, he set the record straight and, true to form, blamed “leftists” for deliberate misinterpretation of the relevant facts.
Free State of Florida Proclaims Right-Wing Indoctrination in Schools
We’re proud to be bringing these precious boys and girls (note the statutorily mandated unambiguous sex designations) the finest curriculum in these United States, handcrafted with love by Gov. Ron DeSantis (J.D. Harvard), Commissioner of Education Anastasios “Stasi” Kamoutsas (J.D. Regent), and your Florida Legislature, all of whom graduated from high school, probably. Here’s a taste of what we have in store for your student! Not to worry: Kids educated in Florida have been trained to resist inappropriate thought.And they can always report professors pushing DEI or CRT or BLM.
Federal Court Orders Florida to Dismantle ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ DeSantis Is Not About to Do It.
Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t backing away from a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades after a federal judge ordered his administration to begin dismantling the facility, as environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe gear up for the next stage of the legal battle. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction preventing additional construction and bringing additional detainees to the complex, which the state has dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Williams also ordered the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing, detention-center lighting and such things as generators.
Canadians Not as Interested in Florida as They Used To Be Even as Overall Tourism Numbers Rise
U.S. travelers continue to bolster Florida’s tourism industry, while the state hopes to make up for a decline in Canadian visitors by drawing people from other countries. Visit Florida on Tuesday estimated 34.435 million people traveled to Florida from April 1 through June 30, up from 34.279 million people during the same period last year. The estimate for this year would be a second-quarter record, according to the state tourism-marketing agency.
Florida Cities and Counties Line Up to Defy New Pro-Developer State Law Known as SB 180
All over the state, local governments are pushing ahead on common-sense changes to their growth plans, wetlands protection, and impact fees. They’re doing so despite warnings from big, bad opponents that what they have in mind will violate a new pro-developer state law that limits city and county governments’ authority on new land-use or development regulations. It’s bad news for Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature.
Scaffolding Record, DeSantis Signs 12th Death Warrant of Year: David Pittman, Polk Murderer of 3
In what could be the 12th execution this year in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of killing three members of his estranged wife’s family in 1990 in Polk County. David Pittman, 63, is scheduled to be executed Sept. 17 at Florida State Prison. Florida has already set a modern-era record this year with nine executions, and two more men are scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection this month.
Amid Legal Wrangles, DeSantis Is Reopening State Prison in Baker County as Second Lock-Up for Migrants
Amid legal wrangling over a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state plans to use a shuttered prison in North Florida to boost detention of people targeted for deportation. The conversion of Baker Correctional Institution, which state corrections officials mothballed four years ago because of staffing shortages, into a second detention center in Florida will scrap a plan to house immigrant detainees at Camp Blanding west of Jacksonville.
Judge Rules Illegal a Florida Law Banning Trans Teachers’ Choice of Pronouns
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker sided with Hillsborough County teacher Katie Wood and a Lee County teacher, identified as Jane Doe, in finding that the state law discriminates in violation of what is known as Section VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That section bars employment discrimination because of a person’s “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” But the outcome of the issue might ultimately hinge on an appeals-court ruling in a Georgia case.
Federal Judge Rules Unconstitutional Part of Florida Law That Led to Book Purges from School Libraries
Siding with publishers and authors, a federal judge Wednesday ruled that a key part of a 2023 Florida law that has led to books being removed from school library shelves is “overbroad and unconstitutional.” U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 50-page decision in a First Amendment lawsuit filed last year against members of the State Board of Education and the school boards in Orange and Volusia counties.