This week, in one of my last stories here at The Florida Independent, I wrote about Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to veto $1.5 million from the state’s $70 billion budget during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The money would have gone to rape crisis centers around the state.
A hotly contested bill that would have allowed certified landscaping professionals to ignore local fertilizer ordinances died in a Tallahassee committee yesterday, despite being passed unanimously by past committees.
The redistricting maps approved by the Florida Senate on Tuesday “do not meet the criteria set forth by the Fair Districts amendments,” writes state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, in a new column explaining her decision to buck the party line and vote against the maps.
Participants in a panel on water quality spoke today during the Everglades Water Summit, highlighting the importance of working with both lawmakers and environmentalists to ensure the health of state waterways. Panelists included Herschel Vinyard, Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, Jim Harvey, Marine Biologist with the Guy Harvey Research Institute, Tamara Pigott, Executive Director of the Lee County Tourism Board and Gwendolyn Fleming, Region 4 Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency.
The Florida Senate redistricting committee has released a revamped draft of how it proposes to redraw Florida’s congressional lines. The new map shows a big shift in the district of Rep. Vern Buchanan — a shift that came about because of urgings from Charlotte County residents to lump them in with other coastal residents, according to committee chairman Don Gaetz.
An all-day public workshop on Florida’s hotly contested water pollution standards held Tuesday brought up several concerns about the efficacy, and accuracy, of the state’s proposed rule.
The latest on FPL’s hotly contested bid to raise fees on customers to pay for upgrades to its nuclear power plants. Plus: five more important items!
A recent large-scale algal bloom in Southwest Florida had residents concerned about both their financial and physical well-being. Recent rainfall has diluted much of the bloom, but questions about the future of state water pollution rules remain.
rss