Michael Barfield/Florida Trident

Appeals court reverses order sealing and destroying records in Ziegler investigation, affirming Florida’s public records law.

For seven months, the finding sat in a sealed envelope at the Leon County Clerk of Court’s office in Tallahassee: a state grand jury had concluded that Florida officials misappropriated $10 million in taxpayer money and funneled it, through a charity tied to First Lady Case DeSantis, into political committees ran by the appointed Attorney General that spent it on an election.

Across Florida, law enforcement officers have been asked to gather names, photographs, addresses and other personal information about people they suspect may be in the country without authorization and upload them to a centralized surveillance database during the course of their routine job duties.

Hidden files show Wyoming entity was backing Jim DeNiro and Kristina Sargent before it incorporated.

An anonymous Wyoming corporation is spending to unseat two Sarasota commissioners. Its beneficiaries are obvious. Its funders are not.

On a July evening in Washington, D.C., right-wing operatives and artificial intelligence enthusiasts gathered in a historic building on Capitol Hill to sip cocktails and hear from Florida officials about their efforts to slash local spending across the Sunshine State. Standing in front of a pair of American flags, Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE — director Eric Soskin and a collection of organizational “partners” offered up a pitch. What Elon Musk tried and abandoned in Washington, they said, is alive in Tallahassee — and up for franchise.

In a unanimous vote that could set up a major legal showdown, Sarasota County commissioners this week moved to block developers from building large apartment complexes next to rural homes and farmland, rejecting applications amid legal uncertainty over a controversial state law.

Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh issued an order Wednesday granting the Florida Center for Government Accountability and its publication, the Florida Trident, a limited right to intervene in court proceedings related to a secret grand jury presentment in the ongoing Hope Florida investigation.The ruling marks a significant step in the effort to bring transparency to a process that has so far unfolded almost entirely outside of public view.

A grand jury investigating the diversion of millions of dollars in public funds to the Hope Florida Foundation has produced a presentment that remains confidential while a legal challenge plays out, the Florida Trident has learned through official responses to public records requests.

Shortfall looms while county Tax Collector seeks 52% budget increase.