Florida Legislature

College DEI programs provide safe space and solace for those of us looking for community in a dominant culture that’s hostile to difference.

The Florida Legislature has a Northeast Florida House speaker for the first time in two decades. Here are 5 issues to watch.

Nearly 50,000 property owners forced from their homes for more than a month by Hurricane Ian or Hurricane Nicole could be eligible for tax relief under a bill that was being prepared Friday for a special legislative session next week. A draft of the bill would allow property-tax refunds based on the number of days — starting at 30 —

With a Jan. 1 deadline looming, a state Department of Education workgroup is crafting a training that all school-library workers must use in selecting books and other materials. But tension has simmered because some members of the panel don’t believe its recommendations go far enough. The group, which includes parents and school media specialists, was formed to carry out part

With Florida’s property-insurance system in turmoil, state lawmakers could be poised to take major steps to try to stabilize the market during a special legislative session next week. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, and House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, released a formal session proclamation Tuesday that indicated lawmakers will consider a series of hot-button insurance issues. Those issues include

As a child I would sometimes get in trouble in school, and then again at home, for trying to express my point of view when I disagreed with something my teachers or parents did or said. To my insistent protestations I was rebuffed with standard parenting quips: “Stay in a child’s place” or “Stay out of grown folks’ business.” At

Republicans narrowly flipped the U.S. House this election cycle, gaining four seats in Florida  — including one in the newly drawn District 4, which covers part of Jacksonville. A Jacksonville Today analysis of voting data show District 4’s predecessor, the former District 5, would have been a close race with a possible Democratic win if Gov. Ron DeSantis hadn’t vetoed

The 2022 primaries taught us a lot about how surprises are possible in local politics, even if some things stay constant. The biggest surprise of all was in Congressional District 4, where in the Democratic primary, LaShonda “LJ” Holloway edged out Tony Hill, a former state senator and district aide to redistricted-out Congressman Al Lawson. Holloway is proof of the

Two Jacksonville City Council members fell short in their bids to springboard to seats in the state Legislature in Tuesday’s primaries, while other candidates for the statehouse punched their tickets to Tallahassee. Voters chose former state lawmaker Kimberly Daniels over Jax Councilman Garrett Dennis in the Democratic primary for state House District 14 by a 47% to 33% margin, while

Tuesday’s primary election will likely begin to close the book on a three-decade run of Black congressional representation in Jacksonville, as the region’s “minority access district,” Congressional District 5 currently represented by Democrat Al Lawson, becomes history. Two Black candidates, Democrats Tony Hill and LaShonda “LJ” Holloway, are running to replace Lawson, but election prognosticators consider the newly drawn District