Will fiscal impact statements help businesses hold local government accountable?

In 1973, the Florida Legislature enacted the Municipal Home Rules Power Act, giving cities and counties the power to enact their own laws — unless state law overrides them.  This legislative override, or “preemption”, is either the trampling upon local rights – or – a bulwark against a patchwork of parochial laws, depending on who…

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Government

Lawmakers grapple with the cost of our obsession with privacy

The annual assault on Florida’s popular open government laws continues this legislative session. Even as the public clamors for greater transparency and access to their elected officials and government, our own Representative, Cyndi Stevenson, has added to the problem by introducing a bill that would hide voter registration records from media and members of the…

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Government

Legislature considering a proposal to broaden the use of bed tax funds

Counties across Florida collectively bring in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in hotel bed tax revenue — but the uses for that money are limited.  Historic City News has reported when controversial organizations have used pressure locally to influence who the recipients of that money will be in St Johns County and what…

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Government

FDOT Northeast Florida Road and Lane Closures Weekly Report

Florida Department of Transportation Community Outreach Specialist Allen Nelson has updated Historic City News with the weekly lane closure report containing information regarding ongoing construction projects and traffic impacts for the coming week.  Our readers and subscribers will be updated every Friday by 5:00 p.m., with some unavoidable exceptions and state holidays.

Community

Troopers bring a safe end to the three-county chase of suspected kidnapper

Florida Highway Patrol Troop G Public Affairs Officer, Master Sergeant Dylan L Bryan, reported to Historic City News that, following a three-county long pursuit by law enforcement officers, Benjamin Cody Dirkhising, a 30-year-old resident of 11976 Arbor Lake Drive in Jacksonville, is in custody and being held in the St Johns County detention center without…

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Public Safety

Editorial: Former Mayor Shaver visits the town with an eye toward the future

Historic City News founder Michael Gold was invited to meet with former St Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver this week on a visit mixed with business and pleasure.  The now-retired Shaver, like many Florida retirees, finds that although her life with her two children and granddaughter is abundant, with hobbies including photography and appearances as a…

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Editorials