Florida News – Highlights from around the state – February 3rd
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- As we enter the 4th week of the legislative session, the first bills for Governor DeSantis to consider signing into law will likely make their way to his desk as they pass the full legislature. Two of the highest profile bills that will likely pass this week are bills raising the legal age for use of nicotine products from 18 to 21 (this recently became federal law) and parental consent for abortions for minors.
- Ballots are now in the mail, as Saturday was the deadline for election supervisors to mail out absentee ballots for military and overseas voters for Florida’s March 17th primary elections. Statewide about 75,000 ballots were mailed. Domestic ballots requested by mail will begin to be mailed on Thursday.
- A court ruling in Florida’s First District Court of Appeals is set to enable the automatic dispensing of beer and wine. Miami’s LaGalere was attempting to install them into convenience stores when a legal challenge stopped them from moving forward.
- Al Qaeda has claimed credit for December’s terror attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola. This announcement resulted from the personal effects of the Saudi attacker showing contact with Al Qaeda prior to the attack(dating as far back as 2015). This would mark the first time that Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden’s terror group, had successfully infiltrated US military operations. The terrorist was part of a now suspended program for Saudi’s to train with US Navy personal.