New St. Pete clay business looks to break the mold at Florida State Fair
Businesses like St. Pete Ceramics say the Florida State Fair is a great opportunity to introduce their talents and services to thousands of new people.
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Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
New St. Pete clay business looks to break the mold at Florida State Fair
Businesses like St. Pete Ceramics say the Florida State Fair is a great opportunity to introduce their talents and services to thousands of new people.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
DeSantis backs Trump's plans for FEMA, DOGE efforts
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Gov. Ron DeSantis made a stop in Tampa Thursday to help kick off the Florida State Fair, and while there, he attended the annual governor's luncheon. That's where he spoke about two issues that have recently gotten national attention. The governor announced his support for President Donald Trump looking to remove FEMA as a middleman after a disaster. Senate confirms Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to lead powerful White House budget office 'You've got folks with Milton and Helene who are still battling FEMA,' DeSantis said. We'd be able to administer this so much quicker.' As of Wednesday, so far, FEMA has approved more than $620 million in individual assistance for Floridians after Hurricane Milton. And more than $680 million after Hurricane Helene. The idea was initially proposed by President Trump while he was visiting Western North Carolina last month. 'I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away. And we pay directly, we pay a percentage to the state. The state should fix this,' Trump said. Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet, from Colorado, interpreted those remarks as getting rid of the agency, which would need congressional approval. Democrats are also concerned that some states may not be able to manage disasters on their own. 'I mean, if there's one reason we're one nation under God, it's to deal with disasters,' Bennet said. 'So no, we shouldn't get rid of it.' Tampa Bay lawmaker pushes bold legislation to protect homeownership from corporations The governor said that's not President Trump's intent. He said FEMA could give a lump sum to a state, like Florida, and allow leaders to manage the operational and financial aspects of a disaster. 'If a disaster comes, you can take whatever that amount is typically, send 80% of that block grant to the state, cut the bureaucracy of FEMA out entirely and that money will go further than it does at greater amounts than it does going through FEMA's bureaucracy,' DeSantis said. The governor also agreed that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, should cut spending at federal agencies and slash regulations. 'The DOGE is kind of the first real significant intrusion into the bureaucrat's aura of invincibility,' DeSantis said. 'What Elon is doing is really good. I think it's great to be able to see a lot of the corruption being rooted out.'Republicans have welcomed DOGE working to shut down the government's main humanitarian aid agency, reduce the federal workforce through buyouts, and even end subscriptions to certain media outlets. DeSantis blames congress, including members of his own party, for failing to keep an eye on federal agencies and reduce spending. 'You look at the last 15 years, Republicans have controlled the U.S. House of Representatives more than Democrats have controlled the House of Representatives and that's where the power of the purse is,' DeSantis State Rep. Lindsay Cross, who represents taxpayers in St. Petersburg, questions who has oversight of DOGE. 'It's just causing so much uncertainty and chaos,' Cross said. Rep. Cross fears the department may slash too much money and too many regulations that may hurt businesses and non-profits. 'It's easy to think of these things that we just have this big federal government, and we need to cut all this fat. But a lot of this money goes to private industries to help support those missions,' Cross said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
DeSantis praises Musk's DOGE team for piercing federal agencies‘ ‘aura of invincibility'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking at the Florida State Fair in Tampa on Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) While a new poll indicates a growing percentage of Republicans aren't pleased by all of Elon Musk's moves to take down certain federal agencies through his 'Department of Government Efficiency' (DOGE), Ron DeSantis is not one of them. The Florida governor said Thursday that he thinks it's 'great' what the tech billionaire has accomplished with his DOGE team since they began looking at reducing government spending over the past three weeks. Despite its name, the operation is not a federal department and runs outside of normal government channels. Speaking during the opening day Governor's Day Luncheon at the Florida State Fair in Tampa, DeSantis specifically praised Musk for exposing what he described as spending excesses at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was established by Democratic President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to coordinate U.S. foreign aid. 'They'll talk a big game about what they are accomplishing but, really, I mean, it's almost like a corrupt scheme to political supporters and trying to promote an ideological agenda,' DeSantis said. 'They're doing a good job of exposing really, really deep corruption into how the federal administrative apparatus actually operates.' Musk's focus on USAID has exposed some examples of government spending he has characterized as dubious, but its supporters say the agency has also provided financial aid to countries around the world for decades to combat human trafficking and diseases, and has funded equipment, medicine, and staffing in countries battling pandemics and disease outbreaks. 'They're even funneling it to favorable media outlets to be able to presumably get good coverage,' DeSantis added, a reference to published reports cited by Trump that the agency had paid more than $8 million to Politico. But that's not accurate, according to The Dispatch. They report that only two payments were made by USAID to the publication in the past year, and that was for subscriptions to E&E, an environmental report published by Politico. The report also says that various other government agencies have purchased subscriptions to Politico publications going back to 2016. DeSantis went on to blast Congress for amassing trillions in debt, adding that it's been Republicans who have been in control of the House of Representatives longer than Democrats have over the past 15 years. He said that while it 'great to be able to see a lot of the corruption be rooted out,' it is ultimately up to lawmakers in D.C. to do a better job of protecting taxpayer dollars and 'defunding corrupt agencies in the first place.' 'DOGE is kind of the first real significant intrusion into the bureaucrat's aura of invincibility that somehow they can't be touched, and you're seeing the apple cart be upended, and so that's a great sign,' he said. Meanwhile, the percentage of Republicans who want Musk to have 'a lot' of influence in the Trump administration has fallen to 26%, according to a The Economist/YouGov poll released this week, down from 47% in a poll taken in November. The survey also shows that 43% of GOP respondents want Musk to have 'a little' influence, while 17% want him to have 'none at all.' Overall, only 13% of surveyed Americans want Musk to have 'a lot' of influence on the Trump administration, while 25% say want 'a little' and 46% want 'none at all.' That's substantially down from November, when 34% of surveyed Americans wanted Musk to have 'a lot' of influence, 22% wanted him to have 'a little,' and 30% said, 'None at all.' DeSantis was introduced at the lunch warmly by Agriculture Commission Wilton Simpson, who called him 'dedicated public servant, a family man, and someone who has worked tirelessly to make Florida the best state in the nation.' That was a remarkable different tone than what the two Republicans engaged in last week, after the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature passed an illegal immigration bill that transferred state power regarding immigration issues from DeSantis to Simpson's office — a scenario the governor described as 'the fox guarding the hen house.' (Among other interests, Simpson operates an egg farm.) The prompted Simpson to declare that 'I'm not the one who opposed and ran against President Trump.' After the lunch, the Phoenix caught up with Simpson and asked him if it would be a deal-breaker for the Legislature to amend their bill and transfer immigration issues back to the governor as is the case currently. 'The reality is that I have great confidence in the legislative process,' Simpson told the Phoenix on Thursday. 'I served 10 years in it and then as Senate President. The Legislature is negotiating this bill with the governor, not me. And so, I have great confidence that the Legislature will work this out properly.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
