Florida News Archive

The Florida Department of Education on Tuesday released a report showing that 54 percent of third-grade students this year scored “satisfactory” or above on the state English-language arts exam. Here are percentages of students in each county that scored “satisfactory” or above:

— St. Johns: 78 percent

— Baker: 68 percent

Saying he wants Florida to be the “number-one state for civic literacy,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed bills aimed at boosting civics education in public schools and gauging “intellectual freedom” on college campuses.

After the state Department of Transportation reinstated tolls Sunday, a hearing has been called off in a long-running legal battle about a Northwest Florida bridge.

Texas is backing Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s effort to convince a federal appeals court to block immigration-enforcement decisions by the Biden administration. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office last week filed a brief at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that seeks to bolster Moody’s arguments that the Biden administration has shirked responsibilities in enforcing immigration laws and threatened public safety.

Sunsets across Florida in the coming days could become even more spectacular, as clouds of dust from the Sahara desert sweep in across the Atlantic coast.

In a case that could have far-reaching implications, a state appeals court this week ruled that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services improperly denied a concealed-weapons license for a man who said his civil rights were restored after a 1969 conviction in Illinois.

The Florida State University Board of Trustees on Thursday approved a five-year contract for incoming President Richard McCullough, as retiring President John Thrasher reflected on his nearly seven years at the helm..

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge by Florida and 17 other states to the Affordable Care Act, leaving intact the law that has helped more than 2 million Floridians obtain subsidized health insurance this year.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that Florida law-enforcement officers will go to Texas and Arizona to help with border control, as Florida continues to challenge the Biden administration in federal court about immigration enforcement.

Florida is among 21 states that have not submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Education detailing how they intend to use the latest round of federal stimulus funds earmarked for schools. The department on Monday released a list of plans submitted by 29 states and the District of Columbia.