MICHAEL PELTIER

Auctioning off eight licenses to operate Las Vegas-style casinos could produce $2.3 billion in upfront revenue for Florida — more than triple the state’s cut under the next most lucrative proposal, the Legislature’s top economist told a House gambling panel ...

Environmentalists, coastal business and tourism-related enterprises have a formidable ally in the fight against offshore drilling in the Gulf that is not normally associated with wading birds and preserving the pristine. The U.S. military is emerging as a less vocal ...

With controversy surrounding their use and lawsuits pending in court, lawmakers again are expected to wrangle with red-light cameras when they return this week for the 2010 legislative session.

Expect a lot of talk but possibly little action as lawmakers continue the debate on offshore drilling when they return Tuesday to begin the 2010 legislative session.

Opening days of the legislative session used to be largely floral affairs. Desks were so laden with ferns, fruit, cut flowers and other flora that it was often difficult to see the members through the trees, as it were. There ...

Property taxes, government spending, health care, the environment and the economy will intermingle during a 2010 legislative session, the results of which could have a particularly significant effect on Southwest Florida. With the state facing a $3.2 billion budget gap, ...

Gov. Charlie Crist Wednesday suspended Cape Coral City Councilman Eric Grill, who faces felony charges for fraud and larceny related to his construction company business.

Prompted by agencies that don’t know what they own and lawmakers funneling millions for pet projects, leaders in the Republican-led state Legislature have been screaming for more transparency in the way government works. But with budget matters taking precedence and ...

Political tumblers within the tightly-knit South Florida Republican machine began to trip last week as Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart announced he would not seek re-election to the congressional seat he has held since 1992.

The Florida Supreme Court late Monday stepped into the fray between Collier County Commission and Collier County Clerk Dwight Brock by temporarily staying an appeals court ruling in Brock’s favor.

Florida growers may soon see federal assistance for the recent freezes that devastated winter crops as far south as Immokalee and Homestead. Farmworkers, who have seen their paychecks temporarily frozen as well, are waiting for similar relief.

Despite being shot down two weeks ago, Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday that a gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is still in the cards.

Private insurers have had another year with no hurricanes, yet many remain on shaky financial ground as they weather non-hurricane losses and stormy investment markets that have hindered efforts to rebuild surpluses necessary to pay claims from the next big ...

House Speaker Larry Cretul on Wednesday asked the federal agency regulating Indian gambling to force the Seminole Tribe to shut down blackjack and other card games at its Immokalee casino until the state hammers out a compact with the tribe.

The case may have been about a piece of central Florida horse country, but a unanimous vote cast last week by Gov. Charlie Crist and the cabinet sent a loud message to local governments and developers from Pensacola to Naples.

Gov. Charlie Crist chose trust and loyalty Friday over Washington experience or potential political gain in choosing former chief of staff George LeMieux to replace Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

State regulators Thursday approved a slate of requests from State Farm Florida Insurance Co. that will raise premiums for homeowners by an average of 28.4 percent.

TALLAHASSEE — Following through on earlier hints, Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday vetoed a measure to allow Florida’s largest property insurers to charge higher rates without state regulatory approval.

Florida lawmakers called its quits - sort of - Friday as they passed a list of high priority measures but left gambling and the budget for when they return next week to finish out the 2009 legislative session.

Babcock Ranch developer Syd Kitson said Tuesday that reluctance on the part of state lawmakers may dim the chances that Babcock Ranch’s solar array will see the light of day this year. Plans to begin construction on the 75-megawatt solar ...

TALLAHASSEE — Insurance premiums would increase for more than 66,000 resident and commercial policies in Southwest Florida covered by the state-run insurance pool under a measure a key Senate panel passed Friday.

In less time than it takes to drive across the capital city, a panel of lawmakers on Wednesday approved a $3.8 billion package of federal economic stimulus funds that includes $28 million to expand the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge on ...

In less time than it takes to drive across the capital city, a panel of lawmakers on Wednesday approved a $3.8 billion package of federal economic stimulus funds that includes $28 million to expand the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge on ...

A temporary influx of state cash could mean new homes for 12,000 first-time homebuyers and billions of dollars in economic activity in Florida, a coalition of housing, consumer and builders groups said on Friday. Part of the 2009 federal economic ...

Plans to spend $1.34 billion to purchase 180,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corp. for Everglades restoration should be approved by South Florida voters, a pair of lawmakers insist as they work to slow down a deal between state water managers ...

TALLAHASSEE—Naples Republican and former state Rep. Dudley Goodlette will return to state service as House of Representative chief of staff, the newest head of the House announced Monday.

TALLAHASSEE — Environmental groups won a victory Tuesday as Gov. Charlie Crist restored $365 million in budget cuts from a $2.6 billion fix-it package that includes trust fund shifts and the use of state reserves.

Saying he was placed in an “impossible situation,” a state disciplinary panel on Tuesday exonerated a Marco Island police officer who faced charges of battery and excessive force surrounding a February on-duty scuffle at an island comedy club. Accompanied by ...

TALLAHASSEE — State officials warned Southwest Florida residents that they may bear the brunt of Tropical Storm Fay as it passed into the Florida Straight and was expected to make landfall in the Keys later today.

State transportation officials have extended talks on the future of Alligator Alley as they amass more information on proposals by at least eight vendors that want to lease the pathway through the River of Grass.

A last-minute disagreement has at least temporarily scuttled a private developer’s plans to build 19 boat slips along Coon Key Pass The Florida Cabinet agreed this past week to withdraw a request by the project’s developer, Illinois-based Palmer Ranch LLC, ...

Competing plans working their way through Tallahassee would provide varying degrees of relief for Southwest Florida property owners. As legislative leaders scramble to put together a compromise tax relief package to face voters in January, the outcome of negotiations over ...

Florida motorists will again be protected by no-fault automobile insurance under a measure passed Friday that now is on its way to the governor for his signature. But not all drivers will be protected as soon as Gov. Charlie Crist ...

A proposal to replace the state’s recently defunct no-fault insurance plan with a more accountable version got its first public airing Tuesday as lawmakers prepare to take action as early as Friday. Critics argue the plan unveiled to key committees ...

Lawmakers returning Wednesday to plug a $1-billion shortfall in the state budget say cuts will affect services in Southwest Florida and other parts of the state, but they hope to ease the pain by using one-time and unspent money for ...

Starting Monday, motorists no longer will be required to carry automobile coverage that for the past 36 years has provided up to $10,000 in medical care regardless of who is at fault. In response, auto insurers are offering replacement policies ...

More than half of 23 gas stations in Collier County expected to pump gas if the power goes out remain out of compliance under a law that went into effect June 1. But officials aren’t banging down doors. Seven of ...

Unable to find a middle ground on how to cut more than $1 billion from the state budget, legislative leaders Wednesday called off a special session scheduled to begin in less than two weeks. Lawmakers had been scheduled to return ...

Money issues will dominate the next several weeks as Florida lawmakers respond to economic forecasts that suggest the state, like local governments, is due for some serious belt-tightening.

Sensible shoes are in. Expensive shoes are out. Notebook paper is in. An iPod Nano? Definitely out. So goes the drama for parents starting Saturday as they once again navigate the details of another Florida back-to-school sales tax holiday. The ...

After a last-minute revision to give all homeowners a choice, Florida lawmakers on Friday passed a property tax reform measure that backers say could reduce local taxes by more than $24 billion over five years. “I’m excited. I’m energized. We’ve ...

Three months after leaders vowed to bring property tax relief to Florida property owners, lawmakers in the coming week will see for the first time concrete numbers on the effects of sweeping changes to the state’s tax structure touted to ...

Florida legislative leaders Friday unveiled a property tax plan they say will save local taxpayers billions over the next five years but would do away with Save Our Homes protections for many in exchange for higher homestead exemptions.

Florida voters would go to the polls Jan. 29 to determine long-term property tax cuts under a tentative agreement reached Monday as lawmakers prepare to meet next week to address reforms.

Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday signed into law a $71.5 billion spending plan but not before cutting a few Southwest Florida projects while approving many others. Included in Crist’s budget veto message was $100,000 for the community school in Immokalee ...

Call it legislative wonkishness but it will be a particularly interesting week here in the state capital as state lawmakers, local officials and scores of special interest groups watch what the governor does with a pen.

Monday's column from Tallahassee correspondent Michael Peltier

Despite a no-go on property tax reform, local delegates said today there were few disappointments in the 2007 legislative session that ended Friday. With $400 million available for Everglades restoration, advances in affordable housing and a small but important list ...

During a series of tough queries by the six justices present, a skeptical court questioned the basic premise of the appeal brought by Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Solutions (CARES). The Marco political action committee argued that new residents were being ...

With millions set aside for education and Everglades restoration, local delegates say state House and Senate budget proposals maintain significant programs despite the state’s tight fiscal times. House and Senate members will begin negotiations next week to hammer out a ...