Pointing to concerns that it could provide housing for illegal foreign workers, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed an agriculture industry-backed bill that would have made it easier to build housing for farmworkers.
Rights & Liberties
Trump Is No Longer the Greatest Danger to the Country. Biden Is.
Biden has a choice: certain defeat and a Trump win, or stepping aside and letting Democrats take the only kind of gamble that gives them at least a competitive chance to win in November, with either California’s Gavin Newsom or Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer at the top of the ticket–and with Whitmer clearly the better of the two. If the Democratic Party allows Biden to dig in, the party loses all legitimacy going forward.
DeSantis Vetoes Occupational License Reform Bill Aimed at Broadening Opportunities and Reducing Recidivism
The bipartisan measure (HB 133) sponsored by Miami-Dade Democrat Kevin Chambliss and Seminole County Republican Rachel Plakon, would have reduced the time from five years to three years that the Barbers’ Board and Board of Cosmetology could use a criminal conviction as grounds to deny licenses.
Ocala Prayer Vigil Organized by Police and City Officials to End Violent Crime Ruled Unconstitutional
Nearly a decade after the event was held amid a crime spree, a federal judge Wednesday ruled that the city of Ocala violated the U.S. Constitution in organizing and carrying out a prayer vigil. U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan issued a 50-page decision that sided with atheists, who argued the prayer vigil in a town square violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
Supreme Court Will Decide Legality of Transgender Care Bans in Decision That Will Affect Florida Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a Tennessee law restricting puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender children is unconstitutional, in a closely watched case that is almost certain to affect similar laws in Florida and more than a dozen other states. Justices will hear the case in the fall, with a decision likely coming in June or July 2025.
The Write-In Fraud
Two people who have zero intention to run campaigns have filed to run as write-ins, closing two Flagler County Commission races to 51 percent of the electorate in cynical maneuvers to benefit Ed Danko and Kim Carney in their respective races, against Pam Richardson in one and Nick Klufas and Bill Clark in the other. The write-in fraud takes advantage of a loophole in the law that enables anyone, without paying a dime or showing any intention to campaign, to be a write-in, thus closing otherwise open primaries.
Flagler Sheriff’s Office Implements Rapid DNA at Jail with $250,000 State Grant
Rapid DNA analysis is a fully automated process of developing a DNA profile from a mouth swab. Rapid DNA takes a qualifying arrestee’s DNA profile and automatically enters it in CODIS/NDIS during the booking process. The arrestee’s DNA sample is then searched against all unsolved crimes within 24 hours. The results are usually returned in one or two hours. No human laboratory scientist is needed.
Florida Supreme Court Finds No Threat to ‘Peaceful’ Protest in DeSantis Restrictions on Protesters
Rejecting arguments that the law is ambiguous, the Florida Supreme Court said Thursday that peaceful protesters are not threatened by a measure that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature passed in 2021 to crack down on violent demonstrations.
Social Media and Gun Laws Await Supreme Court Rulings, with Big Implications for Florida
The social-media ruling likely will decide whether Florida can carry out a 2021 state law that placed restrictions on platforms such as Facebook and X. The gun ruling in a Texas case could help determine the fate of a 2018 Florida law that barred people under age 21 from buying rifles and shotguns.
Banning Asylum Is No Way to an Immigration Fix
Under both U.S. and international law, anyone fleeing persecution in another country has a right to request asylum and have their claim assessed. But both the Trump and Biden administrations have dramatically undermined these protections. Most recently, Biden’s executive order and accompanying federal rule on “Securing the Border” — which effectively closed the U.S.-Mexico border this June — all but suspended the right to asylum altogether.