Jim Turner - News Service of Florida

Other tax breaks will take effect starting Friday on items including children’s diapers and Energy Star appliances.

Some face legal challenges, such as a bill that would prevent abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

More than three-dozen Florida lawmakers, including incoming Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, appeared headed back to Tallahassee without opposition as a deadline passed Friday for qualifying for the November elections.

They want to be prepared for when manatees make their winter return to areas depleted of sea grasses.

As the Visit Florida tourism marketing agency celebrated record first-quarter tourism numbers while meeting last week in Orlando, staff and board members also expressed concern that increasing cost of hotel rooms is slowly affecting occupancy rates.

The qualifying period ends at noon Friday when candidates for governor, three state Cabinet posts, a U.S. Senate seat, 28 congressional seats and all 160 legislative seats have to make sure their paperwork is submitted.

She will instead run for Congress in South Florida.

The funds were expected to be used toward building a spring training home for the Rays.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a record $109.9 billion budget for the fiscal year that will begin July 1, but vetoes included funds for a Pasco sports complex and an H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center facility in Pasco County.

It due in part to COVID-19 protocols being lifted, and residents choosing shelters over hotel stays as inflation has hit a four-decade high.