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Three suspects in the murder of Florida rapper Julio Foolio appeared in a Hillsborough County courtroom for an arraignment hearing on Monday.

Florida’s Record School Choice & The Power of Community Unity – Top 3 Takeaways. School choice. With Floridians having now fully settled into the new school year, we have a clear picture about how Floridians decided to enter the new year...making use of school choice like never before. Florida has long been the national leader in school choice options but what’s happened as we’ve entered a new school year is an incredible expansion of parents and students making use of school choice like never before. This school year marks year two of Florida’s universal school choice law and as it has turned out, it’s the largest year of school choice expansion in Florida’s history. Prior to the passage of last year’s school choice law enabling all Floridian families to make use of vouchers worth $8,000 dollars or more, for the school of their choice, there were about 170,000 students using school vouchers in Florida. In year one of Florida’s school choice law, there was a significant increase (43%) to about 243,000 students at the start of the new school year. But year two is proving to have brought the biggest boom yet for school choice in Florida. The latest figures show approximately 488,500 students have started the new school year, in a school of their choosing. That’s a total representing over 17% of the total enrolled number of students K-12 and a total that’s greater than double last year’s total school choice enrollment at the same time. In my initial analysis of the impact of Florida’s new school choice law in April of 2023, I pointed out that the high-end estimate for the number of students who’d make use of school choice was 17.1%. In year two that’s what Florida’s school choice program is going to do which speaks to the...

WPTV has been relentless gathering from people on all sides of the issue surrounding Jonathan Dickinson State Park and a now retracted proposal to clear a portion of the land for golf courses.

A new football season, a new ranking system. After years of utilizing its own ranking system, the Florida High School Athletic Association is now using team rankings directly from MaxPreps. The rankings are determined by a team's wins and strength of schedule with wins over highly-ranked opponents (dubbed "quality wins"). ...

Democrats claim they are getting removed from the voter roll in larger quantities compared to Republicans. Is that true?

The people who say you can’t take principled stands and make a difference in public service never met Florida Governor Reubin Askew. He ended the culture of corruption at the time in Florida government, he modernized our judiciary and state government, grew our economy, provided tax relief to Floridians, and restored public trust.

A divided federal appeals court has stayed a lower court's decision to block enforcement of Florida's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

PALM COAST - Between May and June, Flagler County deputies responded to 21 false reports of shootings at elementary and high schools in the area, costing taxpayers an estimated $210,000. All the "swatting" calls except one, were traced to an 11-year-old Virginia boy who seemed to treat the threats as some sort of...

Florida Blue Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate of the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, announced $2.4 million in funding to seven nonprofit organizations across the state to help increase access to mental well-being services and support. The grants will assist nonprofits with programs aimed at addressing youth mental health...

Jeff Sturman, the chief digital information officer, talks with Chief Healthcare Executive about the Florida system’s approach and offers advice for other organizations. Memorial Healthcare System has embraced artificial intelligence carefully in some ways. “We are certainly leading in a lot of respects, but we are also a fast...

Ellianos Coffee has identified its 11th and 12th sites in Northeast Florida. With eight drive-thru kiosks open and two more coming soon, Ellianos is now working on a site at southwest 103rd Street and Brannon Avenue in West Jacksonville, west of Interstate 295, and another along Atlantic Boulevard in the Regency area of Arlington.

TAMPA, Fla. — A local race has the potential to make history. If elected — Ashley Brundage would become the first openly transgender person to hold elected office in Florida. The Democratic nominee for State House District 65 is challenging first-term Republican incumbent Karen Gonzalez Pittman. The district...

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I’m Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network. Last week we talked about Florida-specific funds that were being doled out in response to Hurricane Debby. This week we add in numbers from the USDA. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has now...

Red Lobster is set to close more restaurants across the country, a new report from restaurantbusinessonline.com says.

A recent study revealed concerning results: no state earned an “A” for school water quality, and over half, including Florida, failed to meet acceptable standards.

With only 650 more orders needed to reach the 3,000 pre-order goal, there’s still time for residents to ensure these tags hit the road.

Thousands of AT&T workers across the south are refusing to work. From Florida to Louisiana and everywhere in between, they're on strike while Communication Workers from America and AT&T work to negotiate a new contract. Here in North Alabama, workers remain unpaid, and customers may be wondering how this will...

The Florida Airports Council (FAC) presented Fredrick J. Piccolo, president and CEO of the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, with the 2024 Aviation Leadership Award. The award is presented to an airport professional who has demonstrated outstanding service and contributions to the Florida airport. community. Gulf Coast Community Foundation has announced...

As electric collection trucks become more common, companies such as Coastal Waste and Recycling are beginning to experiment with electrifying heavy equipment as well. Earlier this year, the Florida-based company announced plans to pilot a Volvo EC 230 electric excavator while also purchasing a Class 8 electric collection truck from Volvo Group subsidiary Mack Trucks.