By Christine Sexton|Senior Reporter
“What we’re starting to hear this summer … is that the escalation and costs associated with kids with autism or other related issues is starting to slow down some and soften a little bit. — Amy Baker, staff coordinator for the Office of Economic and Demographic Research
Autism awareness bracelet worn by an audience member at the Aug. 31, 2026, ABA task force meeting in Tallahassee. (Photo by Christine Sexton/Florida Phoenix)
Members of the state’s applied behavior analysis task force gather Monday in Tallahassee for their third meeting and will consider testimony from a managed care panel that includes representatives from Simply Healthcare, Sunshine Health, and Humana Healthy Horizons. Thomas Frazier, national board chair at Autism Speaks, also will address the panel. But just how big of a budget worry is the delivery of ABA services in Florida?
Forty days before the 2026 midterm elections Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that state agents have arrested 20 people for voter fraud. Center for Election Innovation and Research Executive Director David Becker is troubled at the timing of the arrests.
Second Judicial Circuit Judge J. Layne Smith lamented during a hearing last year that he’d he’d like to tell his deputy “to pull his gun and shoot” a trio of attorneys in a Wakulla County lawsuit. Now he has to appear before the Florida Supreme Court for a public reprimand.
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