Politics & Government

By now, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has made it almost blatantly clear he’s in the pocket of the gun lobby. Less than two weeks after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Gaetz tweeted, “The @NRA is an organization that takes 100% of the blame for the conduct of 0% of its members.” Then, in May, he accepted a $2,500 campaign donation from the organization. To no one’s surprise, the NRA endorsed Gaetz, a Republican who represents the Pensacola area, for Congress last July.

If you steal anything worth $300 or more in Florida, that counts as a felony. That is, to be blunt, an absurdly low number in 2019: It’s the second-lowest felony theft threshold in America (behind New Jersey), and Florida has not updated that number since 1987. Adjusted for inflation, $300…

Senator and flesh-hungry Nordic draugr Rick Scott has spent a lot of time lately attacking Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. He is, in Scott’s estimation, a “dictator.” Scott’s tough talk, though, would be a lot less hypocritical if Florida’s newly minted U.S. senator weren’t also begging President Donald Trump to do some very dictator-like things of his own.

Sen. Marco Rubio’s career has improbably rebounded since Donald Trump humiliated him during the 2016 election season. It didn’t seem to matter that Rubio used an LGBTQ mass murder as an excuse to break his own promise and run for Senate again. Now Trump has basically deputized Rubio to serve as what some politicians are calling “virtual secretary of state for Latin America”…

Much of the news surrounding Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony since his appointment by Governor Ron DeSantis on January 11 has concerned his sweeping the agency clean of former Sheriff Scott Israel’s numerous cronies, Many were hired on the public dime from the world of politics. Now Tony is bringing U.S…

Last year, a group of progressive activists convinced the Florida Democratic Party to stop accepting campaign donations from private, for-profit prison companies. The industry, which makes billions by keeping other human beings behind bars, immorally incentivizes cities to needlessly lock people up, many activists agree. One of America’s two largest…

While Broward Supervisor of Elections employees counted ballots after this past November’s vote, an angry crowd gathered outside the door. The riled Republican protesters carried signs accusing those inside the Lauderhill office of stealing the election. They waved Trump flags and chanted against socialism and for draining the swamp. Most…

On a Saturday morning in November 2003, Dorsey Miller called his old friend Brenda Snipes and asked if he could drop by. Miller, an adviser to then-Gov. Jeb Bush, didn’t explain his motivations over the phone. He knew he’d have a better chance closing the deal in person. Expecting just…

This past November, Florida Republicans, conservative TV pundits, and President Donald Trump fabricated claims of “election-rigging” by two Florida elections supervisors in two of the state’s most heavily Democratic counties. Now those same Republicans have attempted to fire both of those elections chiefs. The Florida Democratic Party has already blasted Gov. Rick DeSantis’ latest move as a “politically motivated power grab” and an attempt to “consolidate” control of elections across the state.

Earlier this week, Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub decided, for some godforsaken reason, to post on Facebook that she was worried that Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, was a “Hamas-loving anti-Semite” who would “blow up Capitol Hill.” In other words: With zero evidence, she accused a Palestinian-American of being a terrorist. That’s racist, full stop.

New Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony has officially begun the process of turning former Sheriff Scott Israel’s many controversial political hires into political fires. Tony took additional steps to clean house at BSO today, this time taking aim at two of former sheriff Scott Israel’s political cronies who’d been given high-level…

Unlike five other members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office command staff, Col. Frank Adderley remained at the agency over the weekend after Gov. Ron DeSantis ousted his boss, Scott Israel, as sheriff. Adderley, the at-times controversial former police chief of Fort Lauderdale, tried his fate with new Sheriff Gregory Tony, who…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to remove Broward Sheriff Scott Israel from his post today at 3 p.m. during a news conference in front of BSO headquarters. That much is clear. But there is much speculation about whom DeSantis will install as the top cop. New Times has confirmed a Politico report that the governor is expected to choose former Coral Springs sergeant Gregory Tony as the interim sheriff. Tony would become the first black sheriff in Broward history.

As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was sworn in this week, rumors swirled that Broward Sheriff Scott Israel would soon be removed from office over his agency’s botched response to the Parkland school shooting. One possible replacement for perhaps the most powerful job in Florida’s most Democratic county, according to two…

Embattled Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s second in command, Undersheriff Steve Kinsey, has informed numerous sheriff’s department staff members he is resigning his post, according to three well-placed BSO sources. The decision by Kinsey comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who took office Tuesday, is widely expected to suspend…

Newly elected Sen. Rick Scott is not, it seems, capable of empathy. If there’s one thing Floridians learned about Scott after eight years as their governor, it’s there is no amount of shameless, Rich Uncle Pennybags-style money-grubbing that is beneath him. Well, now he’s bringing his own, special brand of avarice to Washington…

Israel’s numerous political hires need to be swept out.

Given Florida’s reputation as the National Rifle Association-dominated “Gunshine State,” many political observers were surprised state lawmakers passed a relatively long list of gun-safety restrictions after the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For example, legislators approved a “red-flag” law that lets cops temporarily confiscate guns…

The First Amendment protects Americans from being punished by the state for the things they say. The “state” part here is key: You are not being censored, for example, if you’re fired from your job as a newspaper columnist because you got caught hanging out with a neo-Nazi biker gang…

In most states, it’s legal for property owners to sell home-generated solar power to other people or to tenants living in their homes. This is usually called a “power-purchase agreement” — your landlord, for example, might put some solar panels on top of your apartment building and charge…

The record shows that BSO Lt. Kevin Shults’ high-ranking colleagues failed to conduct a complete investigation and essentially covered up the case, which has never before been made public

In public spaces across Florida, at least 30 monuments pay tribute to Confederate soldiers. Many of the memorials glorify members of the renegade army that declared war on the United States as “uncrowned heroes” or “a noble band” and celebrating their “dauntless valor.” It would become illegal to remove any of those…