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Senate to consider bill increasing parental rights

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On Monday afternoon, the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee will hold a hearing to discuss Senate Bill 1438, introduced by Sen. Erin Grall. This bill requires app stores and operating systems to obtain parental consent before minors can download apps on their devices.

SB 1438 mirrors House Majority Leader Tyler SiroisHouse Bill 931, which was introduced last month and is awaiting its own committee hearing. The bill analysis indicates that these identical bills will “enhance online protections for minors” by requiring app stores to offer features for parental management of a minor’s app and device usage.

Florida follows numerous states nationwide that have introduced similar legislation to provide parents with more comprehensive tools to monitor and approve every app their child downloads, not just social media applications.

Utah became the first state to pass such legislation in February. The Utah bill is awaiting the Governor’s signature. It has already been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, who is expected to reintroduce his own federal bill requiring age verification and parental consent at the app store level in the coming days.

Tiffany Justice, Co-Founder of Moms for Liberty and Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, praised Lee’s efforts, stating, “Utah legislators know that parents belong in the driver’s seat when it comes to their kids and access to technology. Congratulations to Utah parents for being respected! Let’s get this federal legislation moving!”

U.S. Rep. Mike Haridopolos supported the proposal to hold app stores accountable and provide parents with greater tools because the “influence that that phone has is powerful.”

“Why wouldn’t we had just like you have ratings on movies and the same things to be held online, because you cannot even go down to all different paths and online?” Haridopolos said. “And even when you had your blockers on, kids are creative, and they’re finding ways around it. And so it’s something we have to look at because the influence that that phone has is powerful.”

Both Apple and Google have recently updated their child safety measures to preempt legislation requiring app stores to offer better tools to developers and parental consent mechanisms. However, legislators have deemed these efforts insufficient.

Earlier this year, the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) released a paper advocating for app store age verification and parental consent.

“Age verification at the app store and operating system levels has several advantages: Compliance burden limited to a small number of highly resourced firms; Centralization avoids fragmentation across hundreds of thousands of apps; More likely to survive constitutional scrutiny,” posted Evan Swarztrauber, Senior Fellow at FAI.

Other states considering similar legislation include Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, West Virginia, and more.


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James Uthmeier says Andrew and Tristan Tate keep digging themselves ‘deeper into a hole’

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The investigation continues.

Attorney General James Uthmeier says Andrew and Tristan Tate are continuing to push their luck amid a probe into potentially illegal activities launched when they came to Florida a few weeks ago.

During an appearance on “The Dana Show,” Uthmeier condemned the brothers’ “weakness and sickness,” and suggested that a case against them continues to build.

“Every time these guys open their mouths, it gets them deeper in a hole,” the Gov. Ron DeSantis-appointed legal officer said.

“If we can show that they committed crimes on Florida soil, then we will continue to pursue them, you know, at all costs.”

Uthmeier said the two are “charged with horrific things around the world” and “go public and they make jokes about being with girls that are 15 or 16.”

“They make jokes about not knowing the age of consent in Florida, in the United States. When you have victims coming forward, when you have public admissions, when you have criminal investigations around the world, there are clearly reasons why we, as a state, have a duty to investigate and protect our citizenry. And we will continue to do that,” Uthmeier promised.

“When it comes to human trafficking and preying upon, you know, our women and girls that are not at the age of majority, we will stop at nothing to protect them.”

While the Tates have been accused of human trafficking in Romania and face civil action for sexual abuse from four women in Britain, they have not been convicted there or anywhere else, despite a wide array of sordid soundbites and lurid anecdotes about them.

Andrew Tate continues to bait Florida into arresting him, and recently trolled First Lady Casey DeSantis by suggesting that she won’t be elected Governor if the state lets him run free.


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Rick Scott likes Byron Donalds over Casey DeSantis for Governor

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‘I’m going to do everything I can to be helpful to him. I think he’ll be a phenomenal Governor.’

The most recent former Governor is ready for change in the Governor’s Mansion.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott says he prefers U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds over First Lady Casey DeSantis in the 2026 Governor’s race.

Scott is closely aligned with President Donald Trump and has had a distant relationship with current Gov. Ron DeSantis. New comments from Scott are the latest indication that the First Lady may be the underdog if she runs in the Republican Primary next August.

“Byron’s a friend. He’s my Congressman,” Scott told radio host Brian Kilmeade Monday when asked if he would endorse Donalds. “I’m going to do everything I can to be helpful to him. I think he’ll be a phenomenal Governor. I think he’s going to win. I’m glad that Trump endorsed him.”

Asked about Casey DeSantis entering the race, Scott reiterated that “Byron Donalds is going to win.”

Scott said Donalds has a “track record,” that he “works his butt off,” and that he “believes in the right things.”

Scott offered yet another reminder of who Trump backs, meanwhile, describing the President’s endorsement as “golden in this state.”

The dynamic between Scott and the current Governor has been rough since DeSantis’ inauguration. The two have squabbled about issues ranging from the state’s unemployment website to the need to return unspent COVID stimulus money to the federal government, and they have not visibly cooperated on much of anything in the last six-plus years.

Gov. DeSantis has yet to respond to Scott backing Donalds, but when the Senator endorsed Trump over him in the 2024 Republican Primary, DeSantis accused Scott of trying to “short-circuit” voters.


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Florida unemployment rate in January shows first increase in months

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Florida’s jobless rate increased for the first time in about a half year to start 2025.

FloridaCommerce released the January figures showing that the unemployment rate came in at 3.5%. That’s the first increase in about a half year.

The rate held steady at 3.4% for the back half of 2024. Prior to that, the rate remained at 3.3% for most of early last year.

There were 390,000 people out of work in January in Florida out of a total labor force of 11,188,000 people in the state. That total labor force figure is the highest number Florida has ever seen.

“Florida continues to prove that leadership and conservative fiscal policies drive success,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis. “We will keep the momentum going by insisting on reducing government spending, continuing to eliminate bureaucracy, and finding more tax reductions for Floridians.”

While Florida’s jobless rate increased in January, it still remains lower than the national rate, which is 4%. The Sunshine State has maintained a lower jobless figure than the national number for 51 straight months.

Miami-Dade County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state for January at 2.4%, slightly down from December’s 2.5%. But compared to a year ago, January’s unemployment rate saw a 0.5-percentage-point increase from last year.

Sumter County had the highest unemployment rate in the state in January at 6.9%.

Among major metropolitan areas in Florida, Fort Myers and Pensacola shared the dubious distinction of having 4% unemployment rates in January, the highest among large metro areas. Both were increases month-to-month and compared to January 2024.

Jacksonville and Tampa each had a 3.8% unemployment rate in January. Both were increases from a year ago, and each had an increase from the December unemployment rate.

Palm Beach County registered a 3.7% jobless figure in January. That figure was also up for the month and the year-over-year comparison.

The Orlando area also had an increase in the jobless figure, coming in at 3.6%. As was the same with other major metro areas, that figure was an increase for the month and the year.


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