Fresh Take Florida

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Nancy Velardi has negotiated with Pinellas County Schools, one of the largest school districts across Florida, for 18 years, securing affordable health insurance for teachers and their families and working to increase salaries.  But in her last term as president of the Pinellas County Teacher Association, the …

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. – An effort in Florida’s Legislature to repair and preserve abandoned and historic cemeteries throughout the state – including lost Black burial grounds – is making strides among lawmakers this year after similar measures stalled in 2022. The legislation over abandoned and historic cemeteries would enact recommendations …

Jalen Kitna, the former backup quarterback for the University of Florida, would face years in prison and hundreds of dollars in fines and be required to register as a sex offender if he were convicted on the child pornography charges he is facing, according to a review of over 1,000 …

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Social media mavens may need to think twice before pulling out their iPhones, GoPros or other video equipment when they’re recording in breathtaking national parks like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon or the Everglades. The National Park Service is now requiring permits that could cost hundreds of dollars …

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In his first State of the State speech since his re-election, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday touted his policies as making Florida an attractive destination with a booming economy.  Widely expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination, the governor appeared to temper his firebrand style for …

For the first State of the State address of his second term on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis is kicking off the Florida legislative session in a much different position than he was four years ago.  When DeSantis took office in 2019, he had defeated his Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum by …

Watch above: WUFT reporter Elena Barrera produced this video report. OCALA, Fla. – What started out as a group project turned into one middle school student getting her science experiment a seat to the International Space Station, one of five such projects headed to space from schools across Florida. Collins …

Nick VanderWal was a retired cop in Florida who couldn’t let go of his unsolved cases even decades later – especially a 1992 rape by an armed burglar who tied up his victim and placed duct tape over her eyes during an attack so awful that judges later called it …

TAMPA, Fla. – Who was pretending to be Kelvin Johnson, for more than three decades? Even serving 25 years in a New York prison for murder under what prosecutors say was a stolen identity?  The mystery of the bizarre identity case that spanned the Eastern seaboard is a step closer …