Florida’s Big Business Lobby Brags About Killing Effort to Charge Fewer Petty Criminals With Felonies

Florida charges way too many people with felony theft for a simple reason: Under state law, anytime someone steals something worth at least $300, it qualifies as “grand theft.” That threshold is among the lowest in America. Florida has not raised that amount since 1986 despite the fact that the U.S. dollar has undergone inflation in those 32 years and other states have raised their limits to as much as $2,500 to qualify as a felony.

Marco Rubio Makes Baffling Video With YouTube Star Jake Paul

To understand YouTube star Jake Paul, look no further than the video “Failed Icy Hot Bath Challenge,” which has been viewed more than 19 million times. In the clip, Paul fills a bathtub with Icy Hot ointment, pulls on swim trunks, lowers himself into the vat of ooze, and screams. It turns out you are definitely not supposed to bathe in Icy Hot…

Five Awful Ideas Pitched to Fix Miami’s Affordable-Housing Crisis

The nation’s affordable-housing woes are, at their root, a problem of allocating resources. The richest nation in the history of the world absolutely has enough supplies and space to ensure that every person or family has a usable, affordable home. But that’s not the world we live in: Instead, poor people…

Donna Shalala Won’t Discuss Working for Lennar During Housing Bust, Profiting Off Health-Care Work

Here’s a sentence that perfectly explains the state of Democratic politics in 2018: Former Clinton Foundation chief Donna Shalala, who helped lead a major homebuilder during the 2008 housing crash and also made $5 million after sitting on the board of a massive, for-profit health insurance company, is poised to steamroll a crowded field of Democratic competitors in a race for the U.S. House.

Florida Had Another Awful Year of Pedestrian Deaths in 2017

Florida, as a state, is so poorly planned and designed that simply walking around city streets is legitimately dangerous. Cars clip pedestrians all the time — every year, the state has ranked either first or near the top when it comes to the number of people run over by cars.

Democrat Bill Nelson Wants to Deregulate Banks That Have Given Him Big Money

The U.S. Senate seems close to rolling back many of the banking protections adopted after the 2008 financial crisis. A bill derisively nicknamed the “Bank Lobbyist Act”  would roll back consumer-protection and monitoring rules for some of the biggest banks in America and even make it easier for banks to hide racist mortgage-lending discrimination.

Florida Passes Minimal Gun-Safety Measures, but Scott’s Gun Record Still Sucks

In National Rifle Association-dominated Florida, the extremely modest gun-control measures Florida’s legislators just passed apparently count as revolutionary. The state Legislature recently voted to send a bill to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk that raises the minimum gun-buying age from 18 to 21 and institutes a three-day waiting period for gun purchases. The bill, HB 7026…

Gun Violence Costs Florida $5 Billion a Year, Gun Control Group Says

Asking why this country makes it extremely easy for deranged teens to by military-style rifles clearly doesn’t persuade politicians to enact basic gun control laws after yet another mass killing. Florida lawmakers, in particular, aren’t really moved by appeals to their hearts, morals, or consciences, and it’s debatable whether some or…

Union-Busting Florida Education Bill Passes Thanks to State Democrats

Every public school teacher in West Virginia is on strike. This fact has, rightfully, brought cheers from a certain sector of the progressive left. But some of the nation’s more center-leaning pundits have found odd ways to scold the demonstrators. MSNBC host and full-time Twitter troll Joy Ann Reid opined that the striking workers apparently deserve their situation for not voting enough Democrats into office.

Carvalho Suddenly Turns Down Job Running NYC Schools to Stay in Miami

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvahlo will, improbably, remain in his job for the foreseeable future. After flying to New York City for multiple dinners with Mayor Bill de Blasio, being offered a prestigious job running America’s largest public school system, and even being formally welcomed into the post yesterday, Carvalho did a 180 this afternoon.

Family Says Hialeah Police Won’t Turn Over Info on Cop Crash That Killed Teacher

On Tuesday, January 2, Miami Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) teacher Orestes Amador Jr. turned his black Volkswagen Passat left on Hialeah Drive just after 7 p.m. Seconds later, a police cruiser plowed into him at the intersection of East Fifth Avenue. The crash was so violent the police car flew into a neighboring ice-cream shop, and witnesses said the boom shook the entire block.