Lawmakers are facing pressure this session to fund environmental projects at the behest of Governor Ron DeSantis. This comes as money is tight due to constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rules being considered by the FWC would eliminate commercial breeding and pet ownership of reptiles such as pythons, tegus, and green iguanas, in order to protect Florida’s environment and economy. The proposed rules will place these reptiles on the Prohibited species list, limiting possession to permitted facilities engaged in educational exhibition, research, or eradication or control activities.

The Florida Department of Education has decided that the annual standardized tests in math, science and English will go ahead this spring, and be held in-person only, leaving some parents concerned about how remote learners will manage that safely as coronavirus infections continue to mount.

Kelly Spezzano, a Polk County mother of three, says parents are still juggling the added stress of the pandemic, along with difficulties that children have faced in remote learning, and concerns about the health and well-being of their extended families.

Florida State University will hold in-person commencement ceremonies for its spring graduates.

President John Thrasher has announced that the university will hold 11 smaller commencement ceremonies at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center over the course of two weekends – April 17-18 & 23-24. Thrasher will serve as the featured speaker at each ceremony.

The release of a U.S. intelligence report finding that Saudi Arabia's crown prince had approved the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is prompting calls for penalties against the man next in line to the Saudi throne.

Dozens of students abducted from a school in northwest Nigeria last week have been rescued, the state government announced Saturday.

Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state said that 38 abductees, including several staff members, were rescued around 4 a.m. Bello met with the victims, all of whom were present at a press conference Saturday afternoon, except for one who was being treated at a local hospital for exhaustion.

A third COVID-19 vaccine is on the way, and this one requires only one shot for immunization.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Johnson & Johnson's vaccine for emergency use Saturday, a day after a panel of advisers to the agency voted unanimously (22-0) in its favor.

Calling it an "exceptional discovery," researchers at Pompeii have announced the uncovering of an intact ceremonial chariot from a villa near the famous archaeological site.

The announcement Saturday called the chariot "an extraordinary find" which "has no parallel in Italy thus far."

One day after the House advanced President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, Vice President Kamala Harris championed the proposed round of aid as much needed help for Black Americans, calling the pandemic an "accelerator" for "the fissures and the failures, the defects, the flaws in our system."