Governor-Elect Ron DeSantis’ economic transition team held a conference call this week to pitch suggestions on how to harness what will drive Florida’s economy going forward. Ryan Dailey has more.
After a year that saw an explosion of toxic algae blooms in Florida and a host of other environmental concerns, it’s no surprise that the state’s incoming governor would like all the information he could get in advance of leading the state. This week was the first meeting of Governor Elect DeSantis’s environmental transition team. But as we hear from Blaise Gainey, a number of environmental advocates were not exactly thrilled with the outcome.
After years of investigation, a Tallahassee city commissioner and one of his business associates are hit with dozens of federal corruption indictments. But the name of his commission colleague – the city’s mayor who was narrowly defeated for governor in last month’s election – was nowhere to be found in those documents. Regan McCarthy talks about it with Tom Flanigan.
Florida recently surpassed New York as the third most-populous state in the country. By 2060, another 15 million people — nearly the population of the state today — are expected to move here. As part of a collaboration with the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, WUSF's Steve Newborn takes a look at one part of the state that might be a preview of what the rest of Florida could become.
A 2016 Kaufman Foundation study found the Miami and Fort Lauderdale metro areas are hubs for immigrant high-tech entrepreneurs, in particular. And immigrants are a big part of the workforce across industries here in South Florida. This new campaign gives stickers to local businesses to post on their doors or walls--the red, white and blue stickers read: "immigrant powered.” Natalia Martinez-Kalinina [Kuh-lee-KNEE-nuh] is the founder of the campaign and she talked to WLRN's Nadege Green.
Florida’s forty-first governor, Lawton Chiles, died this week twenty years ago. Shawn Mulcahy looks back at one of “Walkin’ Lawton’s” most famous moments: the he-coon debate.
The Florida Senate held a brief memorial service this week for the late Senator Dorothy Hukill. The Port Orange Republican died in early October just days after abandoning her re-election bid because of an aggressive recurrence of cervical cancer. She was 72. Hukill served as Port Orange mayor for four years before being elected to the Florida House in 2004. She served in the House until she was elected to the Senate in 2012. As family and friends looked on, Hukill was remembered as an honest, hard worker who was never late, loved Chinese food, and made close friends across the aisle. Gina Jordan put together this retrospective from Senators who spoke in remembrance of their time with Dorothy Hukill.