Latest Ron DeSantis News

Florida ballot measures would legalize marijuana and protect abortion rights

Nov. 05, 2024 02:03 AM EST

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida voters are deciding whether to protect abortion rights and legalize marijuana, potential landmark victories for Democrats in a state that has rapidly shifted toward Republicans in recent years. The abortion measure would prevent lawmakers from...

A presidential campaign unlike any other ends on Tuesday. Here's how we got here

Nov. 04, 2024 06:42 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's the election that no one could have foreseen. Not so long ago, Donald Trump was marinating in anger at Mar-a-Lago after being impeached twice and voted out of the White House. Even some of his closest allies were looking forward to a future without the...

Musk tests the role of money in U.S. politics with multimillion-dollar effort to back Trump

Nov. 01, 2024 16:56 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Next week's presidential election isn't just a referendum on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. It's also a measure of the influence the world's richest man wields over American democracy. Elon Musk, the South African-born tech and business titan, has spent at least...

Texas hospitals must now ask patients whether they're in the US legally. Here's how it works

Nov. 01, 2024 07:11 AM EDT

Texas hospitals must ask patients starting Friday whether they are in the U.S. legally and track the cost of treating people without legal status following an order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that expands the state's clash with the Biden administration over immigration. Critics...

A Florida school board candidate lost his race. DeSantis appointed him to the board anyway

Oct. 31, 2024 15:52 PM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida school board candidate who lost his race in a county south of Jacksonville will get a seat on the board anyway, after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped him to fill a vacancy. Derek Barrs will take an open seat on the Flagler County School Board...

Abortion-rights groups outspend opponents by more than 6 to 1 in ballot measure campaigns

Oct. 31, 2024 12:38 PM EDT

The groups promoting ballot measures to add amendments to the constitutions in nine states that would enshrine a right to abortion have raised more than $160 million. That's nearly six times what their opponents have brought in, The Associated Press found in an analysis of campaign...

Judge continues to block Florida officials from threatening TV stations over abortion ads

Oct. 29, 2024 16:10 PM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge who recently chastised Florida officials for “trampling” on free speech rights continued to block the head of the state's health department from taking any more steps to threaten TV stations that air commercials for an abortion rights measure on next...

Seminole Tribe settles legal challenges to online sports gambling exclusivity in Florida

Oct. 28, 2024 18:24 PM EDT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Seminole Tribe of Florida and a group of businesses that operate racetracks and poker rooms have settled a yearslong legal dispute over whether the Seminole Tribe should have exclusive rights to online sports betting in Florida, the tribe announced Monday. ...

State alien land laws drive some China-born US citizens to rethink their politics

Oct. 27, 2024 00:06 AM EDT

Diana Xue has always followed the politics of her husband, friends and neighbors in Orlando, Florida, and voted Republican. This Election Day, she'll break that pattern. When Florida's GOP-dominated Legislature and Republican governor enacted a law last year banning...

Florida sues Garland for blocking state probe into Trump assassination attempt

Oct. 24, 2024 13:06 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida is suing the Justice Department to stop federal authorities from blocking the state's investigation into the second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the state's Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a...