Last Call — A prime-time read of what's going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

On Tuesday, the Florida Realtors ended its campaign to unravel recent changes to the affordable housing budget and will instead work with lawmakers to hammer out a solution.

The ballot initiative plan was widely panned by top Republican lawmakers and other elected officials. Their decision to scrap it was met with an equal and opposite reaction.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson issued a joint statement Wednesday praising the trade association for the armistice, and it appears there's no bad blood.

"The Florida Legislature and the Florida Realtors have a long, productive history of working together on pro-business, pro-family, pro-homeownership initiatives. In recent years, support of the Florida Realtors has been instrumental as we worked to increase funding for affordable housing developments and rental assistance programs, expand the tax credit for property owners who maintain affordable housing units, and permanently lower the business rent tax," Sprowls and Simpson wrote.

They also confirmed that the Legislature will work with Florida Realtors and other stakeholders "to focus on opportunities for health care workers, teachers, law enforcement officers and first responders to find affordable housing options within the communities they serve."

Florida Realtors President Cheryl Lambert had earlier said that working together with leadership "will help bring homeownership within reach of Floridians much faster" than if the group forged ahead with a ballot initiative.

The cooperative agreement was also praised by Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who issued a statement applauding truce and the forthcoming program prioritizing front-line workers.

"The Florida Realtors' commitment to making housing more affordable — especially for our heroic front-line workers — is remarkable. I have seen our first responders work tirelessly, whether it was in the building collapse at Surfside, or in response to hurricanes and natural disasters, or their continuous sacrifice to care for those suffering from the deadly COVID-19 virus," Patronis said.

"Our heroes deserve our support, especially during such trying times, and the dream of homeownership is something we should help them achieve. This is simply the right thing to do for those who do so much for us." 

Evening Reads

"The summer of hope ends in gloom" via Matthew Perrone and Dee-Ann Durbin of The Associated Press

"On 9/11, split-second decisions by employees at ICAP affected the rest of their lives" via Gregory Zuckerman of The Wall Street Journal

"The war on terror and the long death of liberal interventionism" via Zack Beauchamp of Vox

"Wildfire took these families' homes. Here's why they stay." via Aidan Gardiner of The New York Times

"Gov. Ron DeSantis loses again in lawsuit over his schools mask-mandate policy" via Michael Moline of the Florida Phoenix

"Fake job offers are showing up on LinkedIn, Indeed and other employment-search sites. And they are costing the victims a lot of money." via Heidi Mitchell of The Wall Street Journal

"How Wikipedia grew up with the war on terror" via Stephen Harrison of Slate

"Why the ACLU flip-flopped on vaccine mandates" via Russell Berman of The Atlantic

"How is the media still screwing up COVID-19 stories?" via Alex Shephard of The New Republic

"Better data on ivermectin is finally on its way" via Adam Rogers of WIRED

"How TikTok serves up sex and drug videos to minors" via Rob Barry, Georgia Wells, John West, Joanna Stern and Jason French of The Wall Street Journal

"The profound beauty of firefly tourism" via Leigh Ann Henion of The Washington Post

Quote of the Day

 

"If you look at my record, it's not someone who runs all over the place ruling against the Governor. What it is, I think, is a record of somebody who tries to figure out what the law is and rule in accordance to the law, because that's my job. I'm not a policymaker, and I think my actions prove that." — Judge John Cooper, rejecting the Governor's claim the school mask ruling was driven by politics.

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