By Josh Hafenbrack, Dan Tracy and Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE – Once a graveyard for controversial commuter rail projects, the Florida Senate abruptly shifted course Tuesday and voted 27-10 to approve the controversial SunRail project, the 61-mile commuter line...
The pace of Republican Armando Gutierrez's endorsements have slowed somewhat since he first launched his campaign against U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, but he announced yet another one today, this time from House Deputy Majority Leader Anitere Flores, R-Miami. "I'm...
TALLAHASSEE -- According to their press release, the Florida AFL-CIO has reached a deal with Tri-Rail and the Florida Department of Transportation: “The Florida AFL-CIO has achieved compromise with the Florida Department of Transportation and South Florida Regional Transportation Authority...
TALLAHASSEE -- The ongoing Florida Cabinet saga over who oversees the state's $130 billion-plus pension fund took another turn Tuesday. To rehash: Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat running for governor, began pushing last fall to expand the trustees...
The amendments are over, as is the initial discussion about the proposed SunRail train that would run through Central Florida. The state Senate just agreed to debate the bill that would allow for SunRail to run, along with shoring up...
Opponents of SunRail lost two proposed amendments to the bill that would create the commuter train that would run through Central Florida. In something of a surprise, they offered no more, clearing the way for a reading of the bill,...
State Sen. Dan Gelder, D-Miami Beach, hinted in floor debate that he might be changing his vote from a no to a yes on the bill that would create SunRail. This is the clearest indication yet that a deal has...
Potentional amendments in the state Senate to the bill that would create the SunRail commuter train have begun. The first one up, stripping the liability agreement SunRail needs to operate, was proposed by the project's No. 2 opponent, Republican Ronda...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- Count Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson among global warming’s skeptics. Making a presentation to the Senate General Government Appropriations Committee, Bronson threw out an aside: Global warming is overhyped, exposed by hacked e-mails...
By Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel TALLAHASSEE -- That's the word we're getting from Orlando supporters of the rail deal. Supposedly, the AFL-CIO has reached an agreement with Senate leaders, and Democrats have agreed to waive the rules and allow a...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahasee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- Buckle up for some choo-choo drama: Legislation to pave the way for rail systems across Florida is headed to the Senate floor, where it faces an unknown fate. After clearing its final two...
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and his office had a pretty busy period in the fiscal quarter that ended September 30 – or at least their checkbooks did. Spending data for Congressional offices for the latest completed quarter, July 1-September 30,...
TALLAHASSEE -- After his estranged cousin, Rep. Baxter Troutman, declared a conflict of interest on the SunRail vote, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander asked the chamber's general counsel last week for a legal opinion about whether he too had a...
Dan Tracy just filed this report: TALLAHASSEE -- The planned SunRail commuter train that would run through Central Florida cleared its second committee hearing Tuesday morning, setting the stage for debate to begin on the Senate floor this afternoon. The...
TALLAHASSEE -- A second narrowly divided Florida Senate committee gave it blessing to the transportation package launching Central Florida's SunRail system this morning. After 90 minutes of mostly cordial debate and testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave a 5-4 endorsement...
TALLAHASSEE — For the third time in two years, the fate of Central Florida's $1.2 billion commuter-rail project will get settled in the divided state Senate. The Florida House passed a rail package in rapid fashion Monday that would launch...
By Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel TALLAHASSEE -- The SunRail bill made it through its first Senate hearing by a 5-4 margin. It faces two more committee hearings this morning. If it passes, it will make it to the Senate floor...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist was busy doing some gentle arm-twisting this afternoon – meeting with at least three reluctant Republicans who have voted against the SunRail commuter deal in the past. The governor personally...
WASHINGTON -- Florida’s two U.S. senators told state leaders in a recent letter that they backed efforts to bring “commuter and high speed rail to our state” and warned that if Tallahassee lawmakers cannot reach an agreement than the prospects...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- Senate Democrats are deeply skeptical over the rail package – if a rowdy lunchtime caucus meeting Monday is any indication. Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, the sponsor of the bill to build a 61-mile...
TALLAHASSEE -- The fiercest -- and best-prepared -- critic of Central Florida's $1.2 billion SunRail project is once again stealing the show. State Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, took the podium at a noon press conference held by anti-tax groups like...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- House gambing guru Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, ended any talk about a gambling special session Monday, saying the House would put together a reworked, broad gambling package for consideration in the regular session...
By Aaron Deslatte and Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE – The Florida House passed a rail package in rapid-fashion Monday to launch the SunRail commuter train, bail out South Florida's troubled transit system, and set the stage to collect up...
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Carpenters Regional Council is breaking with the ranks of other unions and giving its blessing to the rail package warping through a special lawmaking session this week. The carpenters' union made its announcement as the Florida...
By Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel Political Writer For Republicans, the picture is a political Rorschach test. The photo shows a cluster of Florida Democrats surrounding President Barack Obama this year at a Fort Myers town hall meeting to sell his...
The Florida AFL-CIO is absolutely right about one thing: The Florida Department of Transportation doesn't like unions very much. As Central Florida's $1.2-billion SunRail commuter train hangs in the balance in Tallahassee this week, concerns that FDOT is trying to...
By Josh Hafenbrack and Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE - With billions in federal transportation money at stake, the Legislature returns to the Capitol on Monday for the homestretch of a special lawmaking session with heavy scrutiny on an unlikely...
GAINESVILLE — In a spacious, glass-enclosed office where an autographed photo of President Barack Obama sits on the coffee table, future state Senate President Mike Haridopolos prepares lesson plans, grades papers — and plots the next conservative movement in Florida....
By Mark Schlueb, Orlando Sentinel WINTER PARK - Paula Hawkins, the self-styled "battling Maitland housewife" who elbowed her way through a good ol' boys club to become the first Florida woman elected to the U.S. Senate, died early Friday morning....
TALLAHASSEE -- State Rep. Baxter Troutman said Friday he asked to be excused from voting on the SunRail legislation not to spite his estranged cousin, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, but because of the ethical clouds hanging over the Legislature....
WASHINGTON -- Months after U.S. Rep. Bill Posey took heat for introducing legislation that would demand birth certificates from future presidential candidates, the Rockledge Republican is back with a fundraising appeal that touts this legislation to prospective donors. The so-called...
TALLAHASSEE -- From Gary Fineout's The Fine Print: Former House Speaker Marco Rubio has weighed in on the ongoing special session. Rubio, who during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, has been highly critical of the use of the federal...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed an ethics complaint against Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp over his use of state planes, but ethics commissioners plan to recommend legislative changes to state law that...
TALLAHASSEE -- With tame discussion and a nearly empty public gallery, the Florida House put itself in position Friday to pass out sweeping rail legislation that envisions more than $5 billion in mass transit projects, from Central Florida's SunRail to...
By William Gibson, Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- A surprising drop in the nation’s unemployment rate brought new hope that the job market will improve quicker than expected. At last report, however, Florida’s jobless rate remains at least a full percentage...
Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel WINTER PARK - U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins, the mavericky self-proclaimed "Maitland housewife" who took on the establishment in Tallahassee and then went on to become Florida's first female U.S. Senator, died last night. Family friends just...
TALLAHASSEE -- Things are never certain in the world of economic forecasts, but it looks like the state economists tasked with updating Florida tax revenue predictions will be delivering some good news to Florida budget-writers today. The panel of state...
WASHINGTON -- It's no bowl invitation, but Florida's two senators honored outgoing FSU football coach Bobby Bowden in a resolution this week that commemorates his decades on the sideline and victories that have "come to personify Florida State University." U.S....
By Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel Class sizes in Florida's public schools crept upward this year for the first time since 2002, a reversal fueled by Florida's worsening budget crisis. Education Commissioner Eric Smith warned last month that more districts would...
TALLAHASSEE — The special session launched Thursday to back commuter rail has put Republican lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist in something of a political fix as they defend their rush to pull down $3 billion in federal stimulus funding for...
TALLAHASSEE -- With the outcome of a special rail session growing less certain by the hour, you can add into the mix another spicy family feud between two wealthy members of the Florida Legislature. On Thursday, Rep. Baxter Troutman, a...
Jeannette Rivera-Lyles just filed this report: The Florida Judicial Qualifications Committee has filed an amended charge against Osceola Circuit Judge N. James Turner, whom it accused in July of improperly engaging in partisan politics during his campaign for election to...
More good news for Orange County's hotel and convention center sector: 35,000 folks are expected to attend the just-landed Star Wars Celebration V next year. Orange just won a huge plastics industry convention, nabbing it from Chicago, and that new...
Hundreds of homeless are expected to take advantage of an event tomorrow where one-stop options on everything from haircuts and showers to shelter and job opportunities will be offered up in Orlando. While it's mostly geared to addressing issues faced...
WASHINGTON -- Central Florida’s two freshmen Democrats went their separate ways Thursday afternoon when the U.S. House voted 225-200 (roll call here) to keep an inheritance tax on estates larger than $3.5 million that opponents have labeled a “death tax.”...
By Sarah Lundy, Orlando Sentinel The Sons of Confederate Veterans' fight for its specialty license plate rages on in federal court. It won a legal battle this week when U.S. District Judge John Antoon II denied the state's effort to...
Rich McKay of the Sentinel staff just filed this report: APOPKA – Florida’s longest-serving mayor, John H. Land, announced Thursday that he will seek an unprecedented 19th term for Orange County’s second-largest city. “I’m going to open a [campaign] bank...
TALLAHASSEE -- Two years ago, Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, helped carry the commuter rail insurance language for SunRail in the Senate. But the Central Florida lawmaker abruptly announced he was reversing course Thursday, saying he wasn't a supporter of the...
TALLAHASSEE – The public relations pitch for passing SunRail in the special session that started Thursday is essentially this: Forget SunRail. Couching the debate in terms of creating a statewide rail policy, supporters of the rail deal said Florida needed...
By Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE -- Anytime there’s a big project being considered in the state Legislature, one thing is as certain as taxes and death: Politicians will make hyperinflated, breathless claims about job creation. The special session on...
