News Service of Florida

The request for money is also part of long-term goals to rebuild seagrass beds and wean manatees from artificial warm-water sites.

Asked Tuesday about the need for such an audit, Gov. Ron DeSantis replied, “So, that has happened. It passed with flying colors in terms of how that’s going.”

Leon County’s hefty penalty is the latest effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to prohibit vaccine requirements on employees.

“I can apply to The Florida Bar now. I can get a house. I can run for office if I want to run for office.”

The disabilities lawsuit was filed in August and includes the families of 15 children with a variety of disabilities such as Down syndrome, autism-spectrum disorders and chronic kidney disease.

The law set new restrictions on the availability and use of drop boxes, where people can drop off vote-by-mail ballots.

The state can spend school aid from the American Rescue Plan through September 2024.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, has filed a proposal (SCR 324) to rescind the designation of the mockingbird as the state bird.

The crackdown intensified the battle over whether school districts can set student mask requirements, a debate that is also playing out in courts.

The Sarasota business, Bead Abode, Inc., argues that the law violates the First Amendment and is seeking an injunction to block it.

“According to Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there have been 957 manatee deaths so far this year,” Fried wrote.

“Attorney General Garland is weaponizing the DOJ (Department of Justice) by using the FBI to pursue concerned parents and silence them through intimidation.”

The motion contends that Heritage was “intimately involved in meeting, conferring, and strategizing with key Florida legislators about SB 90.”

Florida is now the only state or U.S. territory that hasn’t submitted a plan for spending American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

Sensible Florida would need to submit 891,589 valid petition signatures and get Supreme Court approval before it could take the new version to voters.

“I think there’s a leadership crisis at the top,” Simpson, a Trilby Republican who is running for state agriculture commissioner next year, said.

The lawsuit contends that DeSantis’ executive order violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal laws designed to protect the rights of students with disabilities.

The notice for next week’s State Board of Education meeting said officials will look at the districts’ compliance with the initial and revised rules.