Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) efforts to crack down on social media censorship are being challenged by two technology groups. According to Politico, the groups have filed a lawsuit against the governor's controversial bill aiming to expand censorship.

On Thursday, May 27, the lawsuit, filed in a Tallahassee federal court by NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, described Republican lawmakers anti-Big Tech bill as "an unconstitutional infringement on free speech." DeSantis, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, and several of the state's other officials were also named in the suit.

Florida's Office of the Inspector General on Friday told attorneys representing Rebekah Jones that she has officially qualified for whistleblower status, the Miami Herald reported Friday.

"Jones, who was responsible for building the COVID-19 data dashboard for the Florida Department of Health, was fired last year after raising concerns about 'misleading data' being presented to the public, according to the complaint, which was reviewed by the Miami Herald," the newspaper repored. "In the complaint, filed July 17, 2020, Jones alleged she was fired for 'opposition and resistance to instructions to falsify data in a government website.' She described being asked to bend data analysis to fit predetermined policy and delete data from public view after questions from the press — actions she claimed 'represent an immediate injury to the public health, safety, and welfare, including the possibility of death to members of the public.'"

Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz suggested Wednesday that he plans to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 if Donald Trump opts not to run —despite a pending investigation into whether Gaetz sex-trafficked a minor and had sex with a 17-year-old.

“I support Donald Trump for president. I've directly encouraged him to run and he gives me every indication he will," Gaetz reportedly told the New York Post in a text message. “If Trump doesn't run, I'm sure I could defeat whatever remains of Joe Biden by 2024."

The sex scandal swirling around Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) could soon put Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leaned heavily on the GOP lawmaker during his campaign, in a tough spot.

The pair met when both were serving in Congress, and the 39-year-old Gaetz used his father's connections as a longtime state senator to help the relatively inexperienced DeSantis navigate the Florida political landscape as he weighed a gubernatorial run, and he went on to play a major role in that campaign and the early days of the administration, reported Politico.

Florida's Republican-led government announced Monday that it will soon cut off a $300-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits, the 23rd GOP state to take such a step in recent weeks as the Biden Labor Department faces pressure to ensure the lifeline continues reaching jobless workers.

The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, estimates that four million people across the nation will be harmed by the Republican benefit cuts, which GOP leaders have falsely claimed are necessary to push people back into the labor force.

All over the United States — from Georgia to Arizona to Iowa to Texas — Republicans in state legislatures have been pushing voter suppression bills that are designed to make it harder to vote. And CNN has obtained a copy of a leaked video showing the role that "dark money" in the form of Heritage Action for America (the Heritage Foundation's sister organization) has played in crafting these bills, some of which have already been signed into law by Republican governors who include Georgia's Brian Kemp and Florida's Ron DeSantis.

In the leaked video aired by CNN and previously reported by Mother Jones, Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson can be seen bragging about the group's influence on those bills. Anderson, in the video, declares, "We're working with these state legislatures to make sure they have all of the information they need to draft the bills. In some cases, we actually draft them for them. Or, we have a sentinel, on our behalf, give them the model legislation so it has that grass roots, you known, from the bottom up, type of vibe."

Palm Beach County is bracing for possible Donald Trump indictments and arrests, said a Thursday report from Politico. Speaking to MSNBC, former senior prosecutor to Robert Mueller and FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann noted that Florida could protect Trump, but it isn't without consequences.

Nicolle Wallace explained that Trump's legal problems are stacking up, and the criminal investigations would require that he appear in court in another state. It made Wallace think of a cartoon she saw showing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) smuggling Trump out of Mar-a-Lago in an attempt to protect the former president. "If you can speak to what that means for Donald Trump. Does he have to stay in Florida and risk being arrested if he leaves the state?"

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing blowback for his continued efforts to spite the federal government and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the expense of his own state's economic lifeline: the cruise industry in South Florida.

At the beginning of April, DeSantis signed an executive order to place a ban on vaccine passports. Even as the Norwegian Cruise Line CEO threatens to pull their ships from the Port of Miami if DeSantis does not lift the recently-passed measure, he is still refusing to do so. Because of DeSantis' order, businesses and other entities cannot require residents to show proof of vaccination.

Law enforcement officials in Donald Trump's new hometown are preparing for the possibility of the former president getting indicted.

Officials in Palm Beach County, Florida, have taken part in planning sessions in case Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance secures an indictment against Trump while he's at his Mar-A-Lago residence -- and working out what might happen if Gov. Ron DeSantis invokes an obscure state law to protect his fellow Republican, two high-ranking county officials told Politico Playbook.