Here's a local and state news update from Florida Today and WFIT. I'm Evan Niemczyk.
Tampa Bay is home to Florida's only elected Democratic Socialist: Richie Floyd of the St. Petersburg City Council.
Ashley Hermann hopes to become one of the next.
She's the only Democrat running to unseat Republican state representative Danny Alvarez
in a eastern stretch of Hillsborough County.
"I am a first-generation college graduate and fifth-generation Floridian. and have seen Republican leadership strip everything beautiful and give it over to wealthy developers and insurance shareholders."
Hermann's running on a pro-labor union and universal healthcare platform, and she wants to rein in over-development and data center
construction.
She earned the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America's Tampa chapter.
Co-chair Manny Ramirez believes misinformation is preventing voters from understanding Democratic Socialism's potential.
"We want workers at the forefront. Right now, it's the billionaire class that runs things, that funds most of our politicians."
Brevard County officials are assessing the potential budget impacts of Amendment 3, which could eliminate most homestead property taxes. WFIT’s Terri Wright explains.
"Brevard County Manager Jim Liesenfelt is warning of widespread budget cuts if Amendment 3 passes in November. He says law enforcement and fire rescue could be affected despite protections for core services, while libraries could close branches, parks could face cuts and new fees, and services such as county boat ramps could also be impacted. The warning comes after a Leon County judge ordered the amendment's ballot title and summary rewritten. Officials say the proposal does not guarantee funding for core services."
If voters use Google to search for information about a particular Republican House candidate right now – they are not getting the full story. WLRN’s Danny Rivero has more on a complex scheme to suppress information about candidate Michael Carbonara.
"Michael Carbonara is running as a Republican candidate in Florida’s 22nd congressional district. And as WLRN has reported, Carbonara – has deep ties to the data center industry – he’s embroiled in a lawsuit in rural Michigan – after he helped build a data center across the street from an elementary school.
But if you Google Carbonara – articles on this will not show up. WLRN has found there’s been a targeted campaign to scrub any articles critical of Carbonara from Google search results. Someone is filing fraudulent copyright violation claims to Google – and in response, Google is removing the search results from the eyes of would-be voters.
"That’s terrifying"
Corey Silverstein is a first amendment attorney based in Michigan… he says whoever is making the fraudulent complaints are violating federal law.
"This is absolute censorship, because this is information that, you know, that the, that the press has certainly a right to publish. It's protected under the First Amendment."
The primary election takes place on August 18th.
I’m Danny Rivero in Miami."
Google nor the Carbonara campaign responded to requests for comment on this story
For these stories and more, visit FloridaToday.com and WFIT.org. I'm Evan Niemczyk