Regional

Suwannee Surprise set for April 16-17 at SOSMP

LIVE OAK — There is more music to be heard and experienced at The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.  Suwannee Live has announced that Suwannee Surprise will take place April 16-17 with Suwannee Surprise, a new music festival following the golf cart drive-in setup for social distancing.

Abducted children found safe in Branford

BRANFORD — Two children, reported abducted by their biological parents on Wednesday evening, were found safe in a nearby motel a day later. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office announced early Thursday afternoon that Lucy and Jaxon Evans were safely recovered from the Steamboat Inn in Branford.

SCSO finds chop shop

DOWLING PARK — Lending a hand in a stolen truck investigation, Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office investigators found numerous stolen vehicles. Or at least parts of them.

House, Senate eye records exemption for...themselves

TALLAHASSEE — The House and Senate are advancing proposals that would create a public-records exemption for information about lawmakers, including their home addresses and phone numbers, but opponents question how the measures would interact with a requirement that lawmakers live in their districts.

Legislative budgets differ on stimulus money

TALLAHASSEE — Florida House and Senate committees moved forward Wednesday with budget proposals that stand $2 billion apart and take different approaches to $10 billion in federal stimulus money headed to state government.

Woman killed in Live Oak hotel shooting

LIVE OAK — A Pennsylvania man was arrested after shooting and killing his girlfriend in a Live Oak hotel on Saturday.  According to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office, a handgun was fired during a verbal argument around 3 a.m.

Legal protections for farmers moving in House

TALLAHASSEE — A Senate-backed proposal to expand the state’s “Right to Farm” law continued to move Tuesday through the House over objections that it could block lawsuits about the potential health impacts of burning sugar cane.

DeSantis signs covid lawsuit protection bill into law

TALLAHASSEE — Florida businesses, governments and healthcare providers will be protected from coronavirus lawsuits if they made a good effort to follow guidelines to prevent the spread of covid-19 under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday.

DeSantis to forbid ‘vaccine passports’

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that he would issue an executive order forbidding local governments and businesses from requiring so-called “vaccine passports” to show proof that customers have been inoculated against the coronavirus.

Legislature targets anonymous tips in code enforcement cases

TALLAHASSEE — Anonymous tips would no longer be justification to begin code-enforcement investigations in many cases, under a proposal advancing in the House and already approved by the Senate.