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We have a deal: Lawmakers agree to increase money for higher ed and Hoover dike

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Gov. Rick Scott expanded the call of the Legislature’s special session Friday to include money he wants to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike and higher education investments important to the Senate. House Speaker Richard Corcoran had proposed both items in a letter to Scott earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the Senate went into recess pending what President Joe Negron referred to as “an amendment being prepared based on current developments.” Corcoran posited the dam project as economic development spending, fully compatible…

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Rick Scott signs SB 10, the Lake Okeechobee restoration plan, into law

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Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation Tuesday pledging $800 million in bonds toward Senate President Joe Negron’s signature project — a $1.5 billion plan to restore Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades by building a reservoir south of the lake. Scott had signaled his intention to sign the legislation earlier in the week, calling Everglades restoration “a top priority.” SB 10 did not include Scott’s call to invest $200 million in the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding the lake. Still, the governor said…

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While installing panels, Gwen Graham vows to push solar energy

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gwen Graham spent a good part of Wednesday installing solar panels on roofs in Orlando, while vowing she’ll do all she can to make the Sunshine State a solar energy leader. It’s not one now. Florida’s solar energy generation per person falls somewhere between Illinois and Ohio, well behind such un-sunshiny states like Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, Delaware, and New Jersey, and far, far behind the national leaders of Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada, according to CleanTechnica.com, a…

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Joe Negron’s signature Lake Okeechobee project headed to governor’s desk

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The Senate voted Tuesday to send a trimmed-down version of SB 10, Senate President Joe Negron’s Lake Okeechobee restoration plan, to Gov. Rick Scott. The 33-0 vote followed approval by the House earlier in the day. Under amendments adopted in the House, and accepted in the Senate, bonding authority to acquire land and construct reservoirs would shrink from $1.2 billion to $800 million, bill sponsor Rob Bradley explained. The complete price tag for the project is $1.5 billion. The project…

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Ken Lawson on VISIT FLORIDA funding: ‘Protect our people’

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Ken Lawson, CEO of the embattled VISIT FLORIDA, again pleaded with lawmakers to fully fund his agency, saying jobs depend on it. Lawson appeared before the Legislature’s tourism and economic development budget conference on Friday as Gov. Rick Scott left the state to attend a National Rifle Association meeting in Atlanta. Meantime, Scott’s political committee, Let’s Get to Work, has been “robo-calling” residents in key districts, asking them to encourage their lawmakers to vote for $200 million to start work on…

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Bob Martinez, Dominic Calabro: The time is now to address the Everglades crisis

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Florida’s Everglades is an American iconic national park known and revered throughout the world for its biodiversity. Floridians, regardless where they live, must join together to protect and restore this treasure before the Everglades reaches a point of no return. The Everglades is home to thousands of plant and animal species and draws millions of visitors to Florida. Unfortunately, decades of massive changes to the habitat’s water flow have resulted in unintended consequences that threaten Florida’s environment, residents and economy.…

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Rick Scott demands full funding for tourism, development

in 2017 by

Rick Scott did not look like he was negotiating. The governor fired a shot over the bow of the Legislature, all but demanding full funding in the state budget for his 2017-18 priorirites: $200 million to begin fixing the dike at Lake Okeechobee, $100 million for VISIT FLORIDA, and salvaging Enterprise Florida from House Speaker Richard Corcoran‘s wrecking ball. “All three of those project impact jobs,” he said. “And whatever happens after this session—I’ll have 610 days to go—I’ll spend…

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