Florida News Archive

More than 100 new laws passed during the 2021 legislative session will hit the books this week, ranging from a record $100 billion state budget to a ban on COVID-19 vaccine “passports” and an expansion of school vouchers.

Also taking effect are two measures from the 2020 session, including a law that will allow college athletes to make money off the field based on their names, images and likenesses.

President Joe Biden early Friday approved federal assistance as crews continued working at the scene of a collapsed condominium building in Miami-Dade County and as dozens of people remained missing.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday released a report estimating that 6,792 unemployment claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended June 19. Here are numbers of claims filed in other states during the week:

— California: 64,714

— Pennsylvania: 44,112

Calling it a “tragic day,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said engineers will need time to determine why most of a 12-story, 40-year-old oceanfront condominium building in Surfside collapsed early Thursday.

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.