Gina Jordan

The number of charter schools operating in the United States has surpassed 6,000 for the first time, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Charters are now serving a record 2.3 million students based on estimates from the current school year. But a pro-choice non-profit says Florida school districts are preventing more charters from opening.

As states start phasing in Common Core standards in public school classrooms, no Common Core textbooks have been written yet, and new assessments are still being developed.

So, teachers are creating their own lesson plans as they begin to implement the standards.

They’re not doing it alone.

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia are working toward full implementation of Common Core standards.

But there's a split in the way states will measure what students have learned. Two different testing systems are on the table.

One test will average a series of test results to determine a student’s score. The other is a single, adaptive test which tailors questions based on a student’s past answers.

The tests are being designed now for use by 2014-15.

Florida is in the process of transitioning to common core standards in public schools.

The first full year of implementation is scheduled for 2014-15.

45 states and Washington, D.C. have agreed to adopt common core standards.

The standards will measure whether students across the country are reaching certain benchmarks in English, Math and Language Arts.

The proposal to build mega-casinos in South Florida never made it to a final vote in the last session of the Florida Legislature. Now it looks like the issue may not be coming up again for at least another year.

Senate President Don Gaetz is setting up a new committee to examine Florida gambling which he says is both over- and under-regulated. But Gaetz is considered an opponent of gambling and he's in no hurry to pass a casino gambling bill.

The redesign of Florida license plates is on hold.

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles wants new license plates that are easier for toll booth cameras and red light cameras to read.

But the agency withdrew its request for approval by the Florida Cabinet Tuesday.

The DMV is tweaking the plan in part because of concerns by county  tax collectors that private companies will be hired to issue the new plates.

Gov. Rick Scott wants the State Board of Education to change its plan to set passing scores based on a student’s race. But he isn’t saying what the board should do to alter the plan.

Every child should be performing on grade level in subjects like math and reading, Scott says. “I mean, I learn differently than other people learn, but I do know that all children can learn,” Scott says, “and we should expect we should have high standards for everybody.”

Gov. Rick Scott is trying to appease educators.

They didn’t like it when he chopped $1.3 billion in education funding from the state budget.

They liked it even less when he called for an expansion of charter schools and other alternatives to traditional public schools.

So, while most people are focused on the November ballot, USF Political Scientist Seth McKee says Scott appears to be ramping up his 2014 reelection campaign by extending an olive branch to teachers.

At the urging of the Obama campaign, Florida voters are showing up at elections offices around the state to fill out absentee ballots.

This comes on the heels of elections supervisors in Broward and Palm Beach counties advising voters to get absentee ballots and mail them.

The reason: long ballots and possibly long waits.

Immigration and agriculture go hand in hand.

That's what community and business leaders in Tallahassee recently heard from Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

He said immigration reform is vital to the health of the state’s agriculture industry. 

Putnam told the Economic Club of Florida he is concerned the U.S. is losing business to developing countries that have different standards for hiring farm workers.

A civil lawsuit filed by former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer against two state lawmakers can proceed.

A judge in Tallahassee on Monday refused to toss out the suit against Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Sen. John Thrasher. Greer is suing them as well as the state Republican party over severance pay he says they promised him.

The state is investigating a Virginia-based company for possible voter registration fraud in Florida.

Strategic Allied Consulting was hired by the Republican Party of Florida to register voters ahead of the November election.

The Florida Division of Elections is concerned about a series of suspicious registration forms submitted by Strategic Allied.

Eleven people accused in the fatal beating of Florida A&M University (FAMU) drum major Robert Champion are scheduled to go on trial this Monday.

They’re facing felony charges of hazing resulting in death.

All are connected to FAMU’s famed Marching 100 band, which has been suspended indefinitely.

The hazing happened after a football game in Orlando last November.

Utility companies in Florida are allowed to charge customers for power plants that may never be built.

It’s allowed under a law passed in 2006, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy wants the law overturned.

A legal challenge is now before the Florida Supreme Court.

The effort to shrink the number of homes insured by the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance is accelerating into high gear.

The Office of Insurance Regulation approved the company’s rate hike request this week.

At the same time, more than 200,000 Citizens customers are being contacted by private insurance companies that want their business.

Even as events were cancelled because of the weather, Florida’s delegates to the Republican National Convention managed to stay busy Monday.

The Florida delegation started the party Sunday night with a convention kickoff at Tropicana Field. Then, buses brought them back to their hotel for another reception.

Steve Zieman from Gulf Breeze in the Panhandle drank a beer and smiled after getting an update on Isaac. He almost didn’t make it.

“I had to decide whether or not the storm was really going to go on that course,” Zieman said. “But I wanted to support America.”

Juan Galvez is going into 4th grade. His parents are from Bolivia and Guatemala, and they only speak Spanish.

When it comes to homework, Juan is usually on his own.

“My mom helps me a little because she knows the math,” says Juan. “But with reading, I’m good. I do it by myself.”

The murder of Trayvon Martin turned a spotlight on Florida's law that authorizes the use of deadly force in self-defense. The law has been widely cited as the reason why shooter George Zimmerman has not been arrested.

Marion Hammer helped craft the law. She’s the powerful lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Florida. She’s also a grandmother who stands all of 4-feet-11-inches tall.

“Thank you very much and I apologize that this has happened,” Governor Rick Scott told William Dillon as he signed a bill giving Dillon more than a million dollars.

Dillon spent 27 years in prison for a murder in Brevard County. He was set free in 2008 after DNA testing showed he wasn’t the killer.

It took more than three and a half years for the Legislature to pass a bill compensating Dillon.

Florida’s no-fault insurance requirement is set to undergo major changes this legislative session.

Right now, Florida drivers are required to have $10,000 worth of personal injury protection, or PIP, for payout in a crash regardless of who is at fault.

But fraudsters have taken advantage of this system, and auto insurance rates are skyrocketing.

Florida is one of the most expensive states for car insurance, according to the Insurance Information Institute. A fender bender can cost an insurance company tens of thousands of dollars.