Andy Gardiner

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $368 million in lawmaker pet projects Monday and blocked a 3 percent tuition hike for Florida colleges and universities. The tuition increase passed earlier this month was a small piece of the overall $74.1...

On Sunday we graded Central Florida's state senators on their performance during this year's session of the Florida Legislature. Today we'll grade some from the House, based on their priorities and effectiveness in the 2013 session, which concluded...

Businesses would no longer receive state tax breaks simply because of perceived pollution on their properties if Gov. Rick Scott signs a bill approved by the Florida Legislature earlier this month. Last year, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Florida...

TALLAHASSEE — With the 60-day lawmaking session complete, Florida legislators are wasting no time getting back to what they do the other 10 months of the year: raising copious amounts of cash from wealthy donors and companies. And thanks to a...

The guests and topics in local public-affairs programming this weekend: Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and Sen. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, discuss the recent Florida Legislative Session on "Central Florida Spotlight." Greg Warmoth moderates the...

Cycling enthusiasts have long dreamed of having a paved trail through the center of Florida that would give riders a continuous path from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Now that vision may become reality. The budget the Legislature passed...

Florida lawmakers took on an ambitious education agenda in their session that ended Friday, voting to beef up school budgets, provide raises to teachers, revamp high-school graduation requirements and more. Here are some of the key items, most of...

TALLAHASSEE -- Backers of a sweeping sports stadium package were working furiously Friday to convince the Florida House to pass tax-breaks for the Miami Dolphins, Orlando soccer boosters, Daytona International Speedway and others. Central Florida Sens....

River wreckers? Central Florida's Econlockhatchee River has been designated an Outstanding Florida Water, making it "worthy of special protection" under state law. Do state lawmakers even care? A bill up for consideration in the Senate today...

TALLAHASSEE -- A showdown over expanding health-care to more than 1 million Floridians slowed the Legislature to a crawl for a second day Wednesday, with the fate of an elections reform, a sick-time fight, sports stadium tax breaks and other bills hanging...

TALLAHASSEE — A showdown over expanding health care to low-income Floridians slowed the Legislature to a crawl for a second day Wednesday, with the fate of an elections-reform package, sports-stadium tax breaks and other bills hanging in the...

TALLAHASSEE -- Sen. Andy Gardiner said Wednesday that a push to merge the tolling authorities of Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties may be dead for the year -- thanks to resistance from House Majority Leader Steve Precourt and a House slowdown...