Gov. Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis used his line-item veto power to slash more than $131 million in proposed spending Friday as he signed a record $90.98 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Calling the package “fiscally responsible,” the freshman governor praised lawmakers for exceeding his request for spending on environmental projects and for a boost in per-student funding in public schools.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Thursday an initiative between the state and Sarasota-based Mote Marine Laboratory that includes $3 million a year for the next five years to research the causes and impacts of red tide.

The bill (SB 1552) creates the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative as a partnership between the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute and Mote Marine Laboratory.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced that Rebuild Florida will launch a workforce housing construction program statewide with $140 million. The Florida Keys will receive $35 million.

Also, state administrators said Monroe County by next week will receive $21 million in FEMA reimbursement for debris removal for Hurricane Irma cleanup. Irma swept through the Keys in September 2017. Debris removal cost the county $30 million.

DeSantis visited Marathon on Thursday to make the announcements. It was his second visit to the Keys in two months.

In his quest to get his old job back, Scott Israel spent hours jousting with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lawyer Wednesday in a series of combative exchanges highlighting two deadly mass shootings in Broward County that led to the former sheriff’s suspension.

Israel’s seven hours of testimony Wednesday concluded a two-day hearing before a Senate special master in an appeal filed by the veteran law enforcement official after DeSantis stripped him of the sheriff’s post shortly after the Republican governor took office in January.

Stripped of his uniform and badge, ousted Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for the first time made a direct appeal to a Senate special master Tuesday as he tries to get his job back after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him from office because of the mass shooting at a Parkland high school last year.

Saying that “we’re delivering on the promises that we made to the people of Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a fiercely debated bill that bans so-called “sanctuary cities” in the state.

On the third anniversary of the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 people dead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not mention the LGBTQ community in his initial proclamation commemorating the day.

A Hurricane Michael survivor and former White House staff member are among the applicants for the DeSantis administration’s new position of chief resilience officer.