State & Local
Along with up-to-date political coverage, The Floridian takes the opportunity to post about issues, legislation, and lawmakers in local municipalities and at the state level
President-elect Donald Trump became the first president to be criminally sentenced after the US Supreme Court declined to stay sentencing in his New York ‘hush-money’ criminal case. President Trump had argued sentencing would unduly burden his presidency and should therefore be halted. The Supreme Court, however, disagreed. In a brief one-paragraph memo, the court argued […]
Florida Chief Financial Officer and U.S. Congressional District 1 (Pensacola) hopeful Jimmy Patronis (R) answered questions during a recent public forum. During the event, CFO Patronis was asked about his knowledge of the area compared to his potential predecessor, former Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Patronis responded by saying that he's a "son of Northwest Florida." […]
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was violently detained by Dictator Nicolas Maduro’s security forces, as reported by local media. Machado was leading global rallies to dispute Dictator Maduro’s planned January 10th inauguration when she was abruptly sequestered. According to Democratic opposition forces, Machado was released after being forced to film a series of videos, […]
Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL) has written a letter demanding expedited housing repairs for servicemembers living at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Rep. Castor explained in her letter that MacDill "is home to the 6th Air Refueling Wing and a number of additional mission partners, including U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the […]
City of Coral Gables manager Amos Rojas appears to be on the verge of resigning. Apparently, managing a city the size of Coral Gables was too much for him. As one Cuban-American voter recently said, “he's outgrown the suit.” A source within the local municipality told The Floridian of the potential resignation and said that […]
US Central Command (CENTCOM) has released reports describing its ‘Defeat ISIS’ (D-ISIS) operation in Iraq and Syria. D-ISIS included US-led operations against ISIS strongholds in the Hamrin mountains of Iraq and the Dayr az-Zawr region of Syria. According to CENTCOM, ISIS forces garrisoned inside a cave attacked US and allied forces during the operations. In […]
Two top DeSantis staffers praised Florida's "dedicated" Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Tuesday for canceling the driver's license of a transgender person who "improperly changed" the ID's sex marker from male to female. The individual, who runs a popular Tiktok account called Jamesissmiling, had their license canceled and replaced by the Florida DMV […]
Gov. Ron DeSantis lauded Hillsborough County's first-ever female elected State Attorney, Suzy Lopez, at her Tuesday swearing-in two years after he swiftly suspended her predecessor and appointed Lopez to the post. Lopez, a Republican, tearfully thanked the star-studded conservative room minutes after her investiture ceremony and soon after Gov. DeSantis praised her respect for the […]
Florida Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat, filed a bill Tuesday that would repeal a state statute exclusively defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. While the 1997 statute has been inoperable since a 2015 Supreme Court ruling nixed all gay marriage bans, Sen. Polsky wants Florida to strike down its anti-gay language. […]
Louisiana has reported the first confirmed death of a US citizen from bird flu, also known as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or H5N1. The death comes after President Joe Biden recently directed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to preparing for an HPAI outbreak. The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) broke the news, […]
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) has released a statement after he was sworn into the United States Senate for the second time. He defeated former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) by a double-digit margin. Scott's Statement In his statement, the Florida Senator recollected on his time as Florida governor and how that shaped his identity as a […]
Job seekers and public employees in Florida who use medical marijuana won't face repercussions for drug use from employers. At least, that's what Democrat state Rep. Mitch Rosenwald hopes for with his new bill, HB 83, filed on Friday. Under the bill—introduced in 2020 and again in 2024 by Democrat state Sen. Tina Polsky—job applicants […]
President elect Donald Trump has been lauded by Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky as potentially “decisive” in ending the Russia-Ukraine war. President Zelensky claimed President Trump’s “unpredictability” could be leveraged to help reach an end in the war during an interview with Ukrainian media. “He’s very strong and unpredictable, and I would really like to see […]
Members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) voted for newly re-elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Republicans head into the 119th Congress with a slim majority. While the House Freedom Caucus, including Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Eli Crane (R-AZ), did in fact vote for Speaker Johnson, it appears they did so […]
The Florida scrub jay could be one step closer to becoming the official state songbird now that the leading opponent of the idea has hung up her guns in the decades-old fight to replace the mockingbird. Marion Hammer, a former Florida president of the National Rifle Association, told The Floridian on Friday that she’s stepping […]
President-elect Donald Trump is blaming President Joe Biden’s policies for permitting the wave of attacks unfolding across the US. Mass shootings and car explosions in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and New York, some of which are being investigated as acts of terrorism, prompted President Trump’s comments. “With the Biden “Open Border’s Policy” I said, many […]
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have announced the Israeli Air Force (IAF) killed Hamas terrorist leader Hassam Shahwan during a strike in Gaza’s Khan Yunis humanitarian area. “Shahwan was responsible for developing intelligence assessments in coordination with elements of Hamas’ military wing in attacks on the IDF in Gaza,” claimed the IDF. The attacks follow recent […]
New Year’s Eve festivities did not halt conflict in the Middle East, as Hamas fired rockets into Israel during the evening of the last day of the year. According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), Hamas fired two rockets into civilian areas of Southern Israel. “Hamas continues to threaten our civilians and just fired 2 […]
