An environmental assessment report has revealed more details about the proposed passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando, including the preferred locations and layout for the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach stations.
The Florida representative designated to become the next House Speaker in 2014 lost his bid for reelection. It's been more than 20 years since a designated House Speaker lost an election.
It was an incredibly close contest between Lake Mary Representative Chris Dorworth and Democratic challenger Mike Clelland, it required a re-count.
Seminole County is performing a final, manual recount today.
Dorworth has been accused by critics of extravagant political spending and conflicts of interest. And he's struggled with personal problems, from home foreclosure to legal debt and a bitter divorce.
Dorworth was part of a class of lawmakers elected in 2008 and term-limited out in 2016. The Republicans in his class selected Dorworth to serve as Speaker during their final two years in office.
Now they've done some behind the scenes scrambling to replace him.
Mary Ellen Klas in the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau says Merritt Island Representative Steve Crisafulli is the likely winner.
"The way he lines up support is he gets pledge cards or he gets phone calls alleging pledges from the members of his class," she said. "And once he gets the majority of them, he can declare he's been named the speaker-designate for that group."
The designation won't be formalized until legislators are in Tallahassee for committee work later this month.
