Florida News That Impacts You – April 21st, 2023
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida. Gas prices continued lower through the weekend.
- Recent movers in the state legislative session included the Interscholastic Extracurricular Activities bill. The legislature passed the bill which would allow charter school and Florida Virtual School students the opportunity to participate in sports with private schools which choose to participate. It now advances to Governor DeSantis’ desk where he’s expected to sign. Speaking of Governor DeSantis...
- The governor signed the Death Penalty bill into law. The new law changes the threshold for the death penalty from a unanimous jury decision to a two-thirds majority. The legislation was crafted in response to a single juror preventing a death penalty judgement in the case of Stoneman Douglas attacker Nikolas Cruz last year.
- One high-profile bill which won’t become law is the Defamation and Related Actions bill. The proposed legislation would have made it easier to pursue legal recourse against journalists and media figures reporting news – however the senate chose to not consider the bill as was scheduled, effectively killing it for this session.
- Yesterday’s rude awaking for many, the 4:45am EAS test which was transmitted across Florida’s Emergency Management footprint on mobile devices, was an error as the test was supposed to be for TV only. The Florida Division of Emergency Management issued an apology stating the company responsible for the error would be replaced by the state.
- Gas prices were flat yesterday. Statewide the average price for regular unleaded remains $3.72 per gallon – 15 cents higher than a week ago. In Palm Beach County the average price rose a penny and is now $3.88 per gallon, which is the highest price in the state.