David Simmons

TALLAHASSEE — Orlando Sen. Andy Gardiner on Thursday secured enough signed pledge cards to become the Florida Senate president for the 2015-16 term, ending a three-day attempted coup by two former supporters that had bitterly divided the caucus in...

  State Rep. Jason Brodeur came down hard on Seminole School Board members and Superintendent Bill Vogel last week in a letter he sent out to constituents.   Now school district officials are defending their actions in a letter from Vogel to Brodeur, ...

Two Seminole County Republicans are trying to jam a bizarre, targeted – and hypocritical — amendment into the state budget. The story broke today. (You can read it here: “Seminole County schools hit by state budget amendment.”) The...

TALLAHASSEE — Interest groups anxious to make decisions about where to play in legislative elections have been expecting multiple head-to-head match-ups when the Senate unveiled new districts Saturday. They're bound to be disappointed/relieved...

TALLAHASSEE — Sen. Jack Latvala, a St. Petersburg Republican who joined forces with Andy Gardiner during session to beat back a GOP palace coup in the Senate, has filed an amendment to the new Senate redistricting map that moves his former opponent'...

TALLAHASSEE — An attempt to adopt newly fashioned Senate district lines in response to a court order bogged down Tuesday as lawmakers clamored for political information on how the new lines would look and whether they provided enough protection...

Gee, it was almost like the Old Days, when legislators voted on personal conviction instead of straight party lines. Almost. The 20-20 tie this afternoon in the Florida Senate that at least for now killed the Parent Trigger bill saw local senators split,...

TALLAHASSEE — The debate over re-drawing the Florida Senate's political lines has come down to numbers, but not just racial breakdowns or election returns. The Senate Reapportionment Committee began its second day of debate Wednesday where it left...

UPDATES w/ Florida Democratic Party response By Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau Chief TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Senate voted 31-6 Thursday to pass its response to a high-court rebuke of its once-a-decade chore of redistricting, despite objections...

TALLAHASSEE – A House panel on Monday put its stamp of approval on a new-look Senate map that would appear to provide less advantage to Republicans and incumbents. The Florida Supreme Court had ordered lawmakers to come back into a 15-day “...

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate's legal team is shooting back at attacks on the chamber's latest attempt to re-draw its political districts, arguing the criticism from voting-rights groups and the Florida Democratic Party is an attempt to re-...

Gov. Rick Scott today named 15 members of a task force to study possible changes in the state's “stand your ground” law in the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin, the Miami teenager who was shot by Neighborhood Watch captain George...