Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) today released the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) approving the “Preclearance Application” for the newly adopted Sections 20 and 21 of Article III of the Florida Constitution (Amendments 5 and 6). “The preclearance of Amendments 5 and 6 was a necessary step before the [...]

Veteran political convention organizer Bill Harris was named Tuesday by the Republican National Committee to manage the preparation and execution of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, reports the News Service of Florida. Harris, who has had top roles in the previous two RNC conventions, will be the chief executive officer of the convention. [...]

Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Tuesday that creates a three-day holiday from the state sales tax on many items starting Aug. 12. The sales tax holiday will include clothes and shoes up to $75 and school supplies valued at $15 or less. The popular sales tax holiday at back-to-school time saves 6 cents on [...]

A stunning new Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll raises the specter that the NFL could lose hundreds of millions of dollars as more than 1 of every 4 NFL fans say they will sit out the season if it is negatively impacted by the stalled and prolonged NFL lockout. The poll shows that a startling 27 percent of [...]

Bob Gualtieri, Chief Deputy of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and Republican candidate for Sheriff in 2012, today announces the names of the first endorsers of his campaign and members of his campaign committee. “I am very grateful that in only my first 14 days as a candidate for Sheriff, 128 prominent members of our [...]

In an eye-opening report, a study executed by the Bank of America (BofA) indicates that some 96% of Americans under the age of 50 use Facebook. A total of 418 participants were included in the polling. Such a limited sample size will surely bolster calls that the survey was statistically unreliable, but the persons questioned were [...]

The U.S. Department of Justice green-lighted a pair of controversial redistricting amendments Tuesday, saying that the agency could find no reason why the Voting Rights Act barred the Florida from using the new standards in the once-a-decade redrawing of the state’s political maps, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida. “The Attorney General [...]

The Florida House of Representatives received the first two redistricting proposals from the public this week.  You can check them at  http://mydistrictbuilderplanexplorer.wordpress.com/. The first submission is a complete congressional plan for Florida at http://mydistrictbuilderplanexplorer.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/hpubc0001-ortiz-nicholas-a/. The second submission is a partial State House plan for Brevard County area at http://mydistrictbuilderplanexplorer.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/hparh0002-alvarez-john/.

Individuals receiving temporary cash assistance from the state will have to pass a drug test to get their benefits under a measure signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Rick Scott, reports the News Service of Florida. The controversial measure (HB 353) would require Temporary Assistance to Needy Families recipients to pay for drug tests beginning [...]

A federal appeals court has ruled that Florida’s cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases does not violate the U.S. Constitution — but wants the Florida Supreme Court to look at other “unsettled” legal questions, reports the News Service of Florida. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Friday in a [...]