News-Herald: School officials pushing for funds to rebuild after Hurricane Michael

Florida Watchdog: Five Florida state pre-emption bills secure committee endorsements

Times: Pasco County School District continues to fight for $890,000 the state wants back

Post($): Florida budget plans clear committees with big dollar differences

Sun-Sentinel: Florida Senate passes ban on ‘bundling’ amendments

Former Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick — in a bitter mayoral rematch race against Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli — got a big endorsement Wednesday when former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who served 1987 to 2005, gave her his support.
Graham — who was also Florida’s 38th governor from 1979 to 1987 — and his wife Adele were among the hosts of a reception for Slesnick on Wednesday along with Raul Mas Canosa and Ana Permuy-Mas, Frank and Maria Elena Gonzalez and Sergio and Maria Concepcion, who opened their Santa Maria Street home for the fundraiser.
Read related: Rematch! Jeannett Slesnick will jump into Gables mayor’s race
The bartender said there were at least 150 people there. That’s more than three times the number of people who RSVPed.
Concepcion, who is in real estate also, said some nice things about Slesnick being one of the first people he met in the Gables and how he now goes to her for market advice because nobody knows more about Gables real estate than Slesnick.
The election is less than two weeks away and people have already been voting. Of the 7,546 absentee ballots that have been sent, 1,931 received had been received as of Wednesday, representing a 25.59% turnout so far, according to Miami-Dade Elections spokeswoman Suzy Trutie.
Every single vote counts since Valdes-Fauli only won by 187 votes in 2017.
Meanwhile, Valdes-Fauli has the endorsement of former mayor Jim Cason and the current Coral Gables Commission — the same people who dragged their feet and stood by while the former city manager and her henchman from Hollywood made the police chief’s life a living hell and who rubber stamped most of the zoning variances to allow out-of-scale development that many voters believe has gone overboard. No surprise here.
What happened to Jeb? Former Gov. Jeb Bush had endorsed Valdes-Fauli in 2017, very early on in the election.
Ladra guesses Jeb is as disappointed in Valdes-Fauli two years later as the rest of the Gables is.

Read Full Story