A Florida lawmaker called for Gov. Ron DeSantis last week to enforce laws that stop protests at the state’s universities that he said support “Jewish genocide.”

Florida is banning gender-affirming care for minors, effective immediately.

Florida lawmaker Randy Fine drew criticism Wednesday after tweeting a message aimed at President Joe Biden who called for the nation to act after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school.

School districts that ignored Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates will face a $200 million penalty under a budget bill passed by the Florida House.

The full House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved cutting $200 million from the budgets of 12 Florida school districts that defied the state’s ban on mask mandates.

Florida school districts that defied the state’s ban on mask mandates could lose out on a total of $200 million in state funding as a consequence of their action.

A legal resolution isn’t likely to come before lawmakers gavel out in early March.

For the first time, Floridians will be able to place legal sports bets on an NFL game Thursday night following the launch of the Seminole Tribe’s new sports betting app.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted skyrocketing student enrollment in virtual education, putting a spotlight on competition among Florida providers -- and igniting a debate about whether lawmakers should tweak the way public schools are funded as more students take classes online.

President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday warned top Florida education officials to “reconsider your threatened actions” after the state said it would try to thwart attempts to use federal money to cover salaries of county school-board members who approved student mask requirements.

During a House committee meeting Wednesday, Florida lawmakers continued looking for answers to why students went missing from the school system after the pandemic hit.

The NCAA is ratcheting up the pressure on universities scheduled to hold championship games, requiring them to reaffirm their commitment to nondiscrimination, including against transgender athletes.

Roughly 175,000 Florida teachers and 3,600 principals can soon expect $1,000 bonuses in their mailboxes.

Florida State University has narrowed down its presidential candidates to three candidates. Notably, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran isn’t one of those, after the university’s accreditation was threatened over his candidacy. But some are now calling for the search to be halted.

The Seminole Tribe would be able to operate sports betting and add roulette and craps to its casinos and Florida would potentially receive $20 billion over the next 30 years, under an agreement the Legislature approved Wednesday.

The Florida Legislature gaveled in Monday for what is expected to be a quick special session to ratify Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 30-year compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Florida may soon have its first $100 billion budget, a nearly $8 billion increase over the current year.

Florida’s Legislature is on the verge of requiring public schools across the state to set aside one to two minutes of silence every morning, adding to the mix of school announcements, the Pledge of Allegiance and roll calls.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Republican state lawmakers are putting pressure on the University of Florida after it suspended three conservative student organizations for allegedly violating COVID-19 rules at an on-campus event. YAF, along with the Network of Enlightened Women and Turning Point USA, were the three organizations suspended by the university. He’s tweeted photos of other UF students that he claimed are evidence the rules aren’t being uniformly applied. Sponsor state Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers, said the bill creates protections for students and students government officials facing disciplinary action. The student groups said they hope they’ll be able to work with UF to resolve the issue soon.

While some students likely moved to virtual or homeschooling, others simply were not participating at all last year and some lawmakers are pushing for more accountability from parents. AdHe said Florida superintendents have done their best to try and get kids back in the system, but they need more tools to hold parents accountable. “Parents know their kids are supposed to go to school. AdAnd while most districts saw a decline in enrollment last year, three counties actually saw more students than they’d anticipated. Florida Virtual School also saw more than 14,000 additional students.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Florida House panel looking at public-school funding is asking the state Department of Education for answers on how federal CARES Act money is being spent, and if those expenditures are tied to COVID-19 recovery. The clock is ticking for the state to disburse districts’ shares of the “CARES Act 1.0” money, as Kelly called it. He told lawmakers that those federal funds must be obligated to districts by May of this year, and districts will have until September 2022 to spend the money. To do that, Kelly told the panel that districts had to “collapse funds around critical services.”“For those students, those schools were spending more money on food services. Florida expects to receive $2.8 billion in federal K-12 stimulus funding through a second round of CARES Act money, which officials anticipate could be spent through September 2023.

“Right now, we have 90,000 students getting $700 million of phantom funding for phantom students that don’t exist,” State Rep. Randy Fine, chair of the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said. Some of these kids could be going to private school and their parents just didn’t turn in a form telling the school district, that also is not a big deal. The full-time equivalent (FTE) figure doesn’t directly translate to a literal number of students, but is a metric used to calculate funding based on enrollment of respective school districts. As part of the assurances in their Spring 2021 Re-Opening Plans, Florida’s 67 school districts were asked to include their plan for locating students. “We know that parents may not have notified the school district if they moved to another district or out of state,” Florida Department of Education Spokesperson Cheryl Etters said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida legislators and local education officials are trying to pinpoint what happened to nearly 90,000 “missing” public school students, as public school enrollment estimates have dropped amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Imagine a school district just closing. Ad“We could have 9-year-old elementary school dropouts out there,” Fine told the News Service. Under Corcoran’s order, school districts aren’t punished financially for students who don’t show up in person. Fine told the News Service that lawmakers have the authority to address the situation.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Trying to return former President Donald Trump and other banned conservatives to social-media platforms, two Florida lawmakers filed proposals Tuesday that would prohibit state agencies and local governments from contracting with some tech-industry giants. The proposals (SB 810 and HB 439), filed by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, target Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet. It’s letting people like the 70,000 conservative voices that have already been suppressed back on Twitter,” Gruters said. “It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open. On Jan. 12, state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis tweeted support for divesting Florida from the technology companies.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – More than two dozen loyal Republicans gathered in the Senate chamber of the Florida Capitol on Monday afternoon and cast the state’s 29 votes in the Electoral College for President Donald Trump. The 29 electors -- many of them current or former elected or party officials -- were submitted to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Aug. 31 and earned a seat in the chamber when Trump won the most votes in Florida in the Nov. 3 election. Had Joe Biden carried the state, a slate of 29 prominent Democrats selected as that party’s electors would be voting Monday instead and, based on the certified popular vote, Biden will win 306 electoral votes to 232 votes for Trump. That fact made Monday a bittersweet day for Dr. Roy Hinman, of St. Augustine, who case one of Florida’s 29 votes for Trump.

The Student Senate at FSU voted June 5 to remove its president for statements he made about Black Lives Matter. FSU’s current Student Senate President Ahmad Daraldik grew up in Palestine. “What it simply says is that antisemitic conduct, speech, behaviors, etcetera, have to be treated in an identical manner as racist speech and conduct,” said Rep. Randy Fine, sponsor of the legislation. In an email, FSU said it investigates all complaints, and that student conduct and disciplinary matters are protected by federal and state privacy laws. The Student Senate voted 19-16 last week to remove Daraldik but the vote fell short of the needed two-thirds majority.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - An effort to allow people to legally set off fireworks four days a year, without a pretense of the purpose, nearly failed to ignite this week in the state House. Also, she said Memorial Day was included in the bill to match the Senate proposal, and she wouldn't have a problem eliminating the May holiday from the measure. Florida's fireworks regulations have repeatedly come under scrutiny by legislators, with one lawmaker calling the current state law one of the "goofiest laws in the nation." State lawmakers over the years have tried and failed to amend the fireworks law, with proposals including a repeal of the ban altogether and making changes to the legal waiver. But fireworks companies -- including TNT Fireworks, Phantom Fireworks and Sky King Fireworks -- have opposed changes, warning of more injuries to consumers if the market is less restricted.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - An effort to allow people to legally set off fireworks four days a year, without a pretense of the purpose, nearly failed to ignite this week in the state House. Also, she said Memorial Day was included in the bill to match the Senate proposal, and she wouldn't have a problem eliminating the May holiday from the measure. Florida's fireworks regulations have repeatedly come under scrutiny by legislators, with one lawmaker calling the current state law one of the "goofiest laws in the nation." State lawmakers over the years have tried and failed to amend the fireworks law, with proposals including a repeal of the ban altogether and making changes to the legal waiver. But fireworks companies -- including TNT Fireworks, Phantom Fireworks and Sky King Fireworks --- have opposed changes, warning of more injuries to consumers if the market is less restricted.