Florida

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Florida Senate on Tuesday will take up the final reading of a resolution that could place restrictive spending measures into the state’s constitution.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Friday rejected, once and for all, $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project as the state Supreme Court unanimously refused to overturn his decision.

BRADENTON, Fla. — In an effort to convince Gov. Rick Scott that Florida’s high-speed rail project is viable and as risk-free to taxpayers as possible, mayors and prominent business groups said Thursday that a proposal is on the table that answers Scott’s concerns.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott told the Florida Supreme Court in a brief Wednesday that the decision to reject federal funds for high-speed rail rests with him and a petition to overturn his decision has come from “state senators whose policy preferences have not prevailed in the political process.”

BRADENTON, Fla. — The economy as well as oversight and contractual problems have delayed Orlando’s effort to build a $425 million state-of-the-art performing arts center.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Two Florida senators, a Republican and a Democrat, filed a 281-page petition Tuesday with the state Supreme Court seeking an emergency ruling to block Gov. Rick Scott from rejecting $2.4 billion of federal funds for high-speed rail.

WASHINGTON — States officials are eyeing $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail money that was allocated for Florida, but is now up for grabs after Gov. Rick Scott effectively ended the state’s project by rejecting the funding earlier this month.

After meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Friday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave the state another week to decide once and for all if it wants $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a high-speed rail network.

In an effort to reduce the size of Florida's government, Republican lawmakers want restrictive spending caps placed into the state's constitution.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Thursday told four local governments that he would not change his mind about accepting $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project.

The financially ailing Jackson Health System in South Florida could become the latest public nonprofit entity to be taken private despite an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry believed to be related to bond disclosure issues.

A statewide grand jury on public corruption said the "squandering of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for a mediocre product" saddled the Broward County School District with debt while leaving some areas of the county with overcrowded schools and others with vacancies.

WASHINGTON — Supporters of the Florida high-speed rail project are scrambling to come up with options to preserve it after Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion of federal funding last week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Wednesday rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding toward the state’s $2.6 billion high-speed rail project from Orlando to Tampa before reviewing the most recent ridership and revenue study.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A new study of pension and health care liabilities confronting Florida’s cities and counties found that those annual combined costs made up an average of 8.1% of the spending by the state’s 67 counties and 8.3% of spending by 50 cities.

Despite rising gas prices and fewer airlines seats due to consolidation, the central Florida home to the state’s mega-theme parks saw continued gains in the number of visitors in December to Orlando and surrounding Orange County.

Two Miami-Dade County elected officials facing recall petitions have now filed suits in an attempt to stop their recall elections.

BRADENTON, Fla. — As the Miami Dolphins continue to seek $225 million in public funding to upgrade their privately financed stadium, a Florida senator has filed a bill that would prohibit public funds from being spent on professional sports facilities without a local referendum.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott rolled out his first budget Monday, proposing to slash state government spending by more than $5 billion over two years, reduce corporate income and school property taxes by $2 billion, and spend significantly less in new bond financing.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $60 million of hospital revenue bonds that were issued by Lakeland, Fla., in 2002 for Lakeland Regional Health Systems.