Tuesday’s Florida primary and the upcoming general election in November are the first since the highly controversial Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which removed all limits on how much corporations can spend to help federal candidates get elected. As Jessica Palombo reports, Florida’s campaign finance system already allows unlimited money to flow through committees that help elect candidates. Now, political scientists are worried that adding Citizens United to the mix is making it even harder for average voters to know who’s behind campaign messages.
The City of Tampa is gearing up for the Republican National Convention, which takes place in that town August twenty-seventh through the thirtieth. Tom Flanigan reports the event will attract thousands of delegates, reporters, security personnel and attention seekers.
A Leon County Judge has dismissed a case to knock three Florida Supreme Court Justices off the November ballot. Now, Regan McCarthy reports, the conservative group that brought the case says they plan to appeal the ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if that what it comes to.
A part of the state budget that would have privatized health care services in Florida’s prisons has expired, but the Department of Corrections is moving forward with the plan saying they have the authority to do so even without the expired provision. It was challenged in the courts before, but, as Sascha Cordner reports, two unions are calling on a trial judge to weigh in again, before thousands of state employees are out of a job.
By 2015 almost all of the nation’s public school students will be learning the same things when it comes to math and language arts. Florida and more than 40-other states have adopted uniform education standards called the common core. And this year, those new standards will be in place in many Florida classrooms. Lynn Hatter reports as students prepare to go back to school this month; they won’t be the only ones facing a learning curve.