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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Legislature 2015: The session ahead
Florida lawmakers begin their annual 2015 session on Tuesday facing a familiar set of issues. Tax cuts will be on the agenda. Lawmakers will renew their debate over Medicaid expansion. And gambling legislation may become a major issue. But new issues will also confront the Legislature. Read Florida Trend's 2015 Legislative Preview and read more from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
See also:
» Rick Scott looks to Legislature on campaign promises on taxes, education, environment
» Will budget battle pit affordable housing against environment?
» Tax cuts, testing, even booze, make Legislature's agenda
Florida hospitals, businesses push Medicaid expansion as cuts loom
Florida is scheduled to lose $1 billion in federal health funds at the end of June, a hole in the state budget the Legislature must fill in its upcoming session if a settlement isn't reached between the administrations of Gov. Rick Scott and President Barack Obama. [Source: AP]
See also:
» Florida’s uninsured rate drop among best in nation
» Take a quick poll: Is this the year Florida's legislature will accept billions of dollars in Medicaid expansion?
How Florida's prison system became so dysfunctional
As the Florida Legislature convenes its regular session on Tuesday, with Scott giving the first State of the State message of his second term, the festering troubles at the state’s prison system have emerged as a problem that won’t go away. [Source: Times/Herald]
See also:
» Dockery: Privatizing prisons could be Scott’s end game
Sen. Ken Plante,1939-2015
Former state Sen. Ken Plante dies after battle with ALS
Former state Sen. Ken Plante died Sunday night after a three-year battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. A Republican, Plante was elected to the Senate from Winter Park in 1967, serving through 1978. After that he remained in Tallahassee as a lobbyist for a number of commercial clients including then Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush said that Plante met "the terrible diagnosis in the way he seemed to face all challenges -- with great courage, incredible resolve, and unwavering faith." [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Falling prices and fewer workers cause Florida strawberry farmers to doubt future
For the first time in at least a decade, strawberries are losing ground. Acreage of Plant City's iconic crop, worth roughly a billion dollars annually to Hillsborough County's economy, has fallen this year to 11,000 acres, according to the Florida Strawberry Growers Association. That's about an 8 percent decline from its peak in 2014. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Controversial standardized tests debut in Florida schools
Ready or not — and many school boards, parents and teachers have been screaming to lawmakers that they’re not — Florida will roll out its new, much debated standardized tests on Monday.
› 'Condo King' Jorge Perez targeting Broward County
The "condo king" is making a push into Broward County. Jorge Perez, known for his Miami skyscrapers, has more than 1,500 units either completed or planned in Broward in the next few years.
› Harris leaving Brevard for Virginia?
Will Harris, which has had its headquarters in Brevard County since 1978, keep its corporate nerve center in Melbourne, or will executives decide to move it Northern Virginia, home to several other major defense contractors and closer to the Washington, D.C.-area power structure that controls federal purse strings?
› More lifestyle hotels coming to South Florida
"Lifestyle" hotel brands are spreading in South Florida, lured by the area's robust tourism and business sectors. Among the new concepts debuting or expanding over the next few years are AC Hotels by Marriott, Hyatt Centric, Aloft, Element and Tryp by Wyndham.
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