Regan McCarthy

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed the state’s new budget into law. He used his line item veto power to cut almost $400 million in projects from the budget and Senate Democratic Leader Chris Smith said he’s worried about some of the items the governor axed—like water and road projects—which Smith said really affect small communities.

Six Republicans are vying for the seat Representative Clay Ford vacated when he lost his battle to cancer at the beginning of this year’s legislative session. Escambia County Elections Outreach coordinator, Sonya Daniel, encouraged voters to check online to see if they’re eligible to take part in the election.

Despite a few hang ups, the Florida House of Representatives passed a number of bills Wednesday including one that deals with what’s known as nuclear cost recovery. The measure is intended to put more rules in place for Florida utilities using the provision to pay for building nuclear power plants.