Jim Turner/News Service of Florida

Michael Lee King, 54, was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison in Starke for the 2008 murder of a North Port woman that resulted in changes in state law regarding 911 operators. King was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. by the state Department of Corrections. The announcement came several hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his latest application to stay the scheduled execution.

Florida will soon be able to legally designate groups as “domestic terrorist organizations” under a bill headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

Cities and counties won’t be able to fund or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion programs under a bill headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who would have the power to remove local officials for violating the proposed changes.

A proposal to tighten voter eligibility rules was approved by the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday over the objections of Democrats who contend seniors and students will be among those blocked from casting a ballot. The House voted 83-31 on the bill (HB 991), which contains wide-ranging changes to the state election code, including new proof-of-citizenship requirements when registering to vote, reductions to the kind of photo identification cards that can be used at polling locations, and requiring an individual’s legal citizenship status to be posted on drivers’ licenses and ID cards issued by the state.

With farmers caught shorthanded and with crops not ready for harvesting, a pair of winter storms at the beginning and end of January potentially inflicted more than $3.17 billion in losses to the state’s agricultural industry.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson’s wide-ranging “farm bill” is now ready for the Senate floor, without controversial language to expand the ability of farmers to pursue legal damages over the “disparagement” of agricultural products. The Rules Committee on Tuesday backed the proposal (SB 290) after several changes were made, particularly the removal of a section on the “agricultural disparagement” law.

- A push by Gov. Ron DeSantis for Florida universities to pause hiring international faculty and staff members through what are known as H-1B visas moved forward Thursday.The state university system’s Board of Governors set up for final approval a proposed moratorium as part of rule changes involving powers and duties of university boards of trustees.

A House proposal that would ask voters to phase out non-school homestead property taxes moved forward Thursday, as lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis try to reach agreement on a November ballot measure. The Republican-controlled House State Affairs Committee voted along party lines to back a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 203) that would annually increase the homestead exemption by $100,000 over the next decade, with a full exemption for non-school taxes in 2037.

Florida posted a slight increase in tourism during the third quarter of 2025 from a year earlier, even as Canadians continued to back off on travel to the U.S. Visit Florida estimated 34.339 million people traveled to the state between the start of July and end of September, up from 34.239 million during the same period in 2024, according to figures posted Wednesday on the state tourism-marketing agency’s website.