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Lawrence Mower - Tallahassee Correspondent
Lawrence Mower

Tallahassee Correspondent

How did I end up in Florida’s capital city? I’m a Las Vegas native (yes, they do exist), and that’s where I got my journalism chops, working the night cops beat for my hometown paper. I covered enough celebrity arrests and police shootings there to make it to the investigative team at The Palm Beach Post, where I wrote about bizarre lottery winners and even weirder elections. I like stories and ideas that challenge what we think we know about the world. Got one? Let me know. Just don’t screen your calls from a 702 area code. Chances are it’s not a vacation offer — it’s just your friendly Capitol journalist.

  1. Here’s why Florida’s home insurance hotline is only open 3 hours a day
    Mar. 29• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Aerial photos on March 1, 2023, show damage to homes still remain in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian.
  2. Florida court clerks slammed by cases just before new lawsuit rules approved
    Mar. 27• News
    Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 837 on Friday, a law aimed at decreasing the number of frivolous lawsuits involving insurance and personal injury claims. In anticipation of the approval, litigants flooded local clerks of court with new civil claims in the days leading up to the approval.
  3. Florida has an affordable housing crisis. Will new legislation fix it?
    Mar. 24• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Blue Sky Communities and elected officials celebrate the groundbreaking of SkyWay Lofts, which was slated to have 65 apartments for low-income families, on Sept. 16, 2020.
  5. DeSantis’ State Guard vision: planes, boats, police powers
    Mar. 24• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed a nearly $100 million budget for the Florida State Guard.
  6. Sweeping legal reforms passed by Florida Legislature, dividing Republicans
    Mar. 23• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    “People believe they’ve won the jackpot with the litigation lottery,” said Sen. Travis Hutson, R-Elkton, the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill. “We have a problem in Florida. Help me fix it.”
  7. DeSantis administration scrubs ‘equity’ from state health priorities
    Mar. 23• News
    Joseph Ladapo speaks during a news conference at the Don Soffer Clinical Research Center at the University of Miami on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
  8. Why two Parkland parents spoke out against Florida lawmakers’ tort reform bill
    Mar. 17• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Court deputies exit vans that transported jurors to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Aug. 4, 2022, to view the crime scene where the 2018 shootings took place.
  9. Trump blasts DeSantis for insurance company ‘bailout’ legislation
    Mar. 16• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter during a meeting with newly elected governors in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Dec. 13, 2018, in Washington. From left, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., Governor-elect Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Trump.
  10. Florida lawmaker wants to crack down on slow left-lane drivers
    Mar. 16• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    A proposed Florida law would make it easier for police to ticket drivers for coasting in the left lane.
  11. Florida lawmakers want to help insurance companies by limiting lawsuits
    Mar. 14• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Gary Miracle of Rockledge told lawmakers he was treated at a hospital for flu-like symptoms. He fell into septic shock and into a coma and left the hospital a quadruple amputee. Miracle sued, reaching a settlement. If he’d been uninsured, the Medicaid rate wouldn’t have been able to pay for the prosthetic legs he uses today, he said.
  12. DeSantis’ sway over Florida Legislature unprecedented ahead of 2024 bid
    Mar. 5• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Then-Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, applauds Gov. Ron DeSantis as he waves at lawmakers and guests in the House chamber at the Capitol in Tallahassee following his State of the State address in March 2021.
  13. Was the solution to Florida’s insurance crisis found 15 years ago?
    Mar. 2• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Aerial view of mobile homes are seen piled together after being swept off of their lots by Hurricane Ian on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, in Ft. Myers Beach.
  14. DeSantis blames Orlando prosecutor after shootings. But it’s not simple.
    Mar. 1• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    State Attorney Monique H. Worrell holds a news conference on Jan. 28, 2022. Worrell and her office have come under fire from Gov. Ron DeSantis for not doing more in previous cases involving the suspect in the Orlando shootings last week that killed a child, a journalist and a woman.
  15. Don’t change voting laws ahead of 2024, election officials tell Florida leaders
    Feb. 21• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    In this Oct. 26, 2020, file photo, an election worker sorts vote-by-mail ballots at the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections in Doral.
  16. Florida lawmakers move to give DeSantis control over school athletics board
    Feb. 16• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    A banner for the FHSAA 2022 girls' basketball state championship in Lakeland.
  17. Takeaways from Florida’s fix-it special legislative session
    Feb. 10• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando, questions Rep. Fred Hawkins, R-St. Cloud about his House Bill 9B, which would change Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District, on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
  18. Florida lawmakers pass bill to boost DeSantis’ voter fraud cases
    Feb. 10• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 18, 2022, when he announced voter fraud arrests across the state.
  19. DeSantis’ Reedy Creek bill passes committee, with tax benefits intact
    Feb. 8• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    The entrance to Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District administration building is seen Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Lake Buena Vista. A new bill released in early February 2023 would put the entertainment giant’s district firmly in the control of Florida’s governor and legislative leaders.
  20. Disney’s Reedy Creek to be renamed, get DeSantis-picked board
    Feb. 6• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    The sign outside the Reedy Creek Improvement District administrative office building is seen on April 23, 2022, at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista.
  21. Florida legislators to tweak laws to help DeSantis’ voter fraud cases
    Feb. 3• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Gov. Ron DeSantis held a splashy news conference in August to announce the arrests of about 20 people who allegedly voted while ineligible in 2020.
  22. DeSantis says he will call special session on Disney’s Reedy Creek, other issues
    Feb. 2• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    The Reedy Creek Improvement District Administration Building in Lake Buena Vista is seen in 2022.
  23. DeSantis proposes nearly $115 billion state budget, a record
    Feb. 1• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Gov. Ron DeSantis has released his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
  24. Andrew Warren ruling: A deep dive into what the judge was thinking
    Jan. 21• The Buzz on Florida Politics
    Former State Attorney Andrew Warren prepares to speak during a news conference Friday, Jan. 20, 2023 in Tampa. U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle ruled that DeSantis violated the state constitution when he suspended Warren but stopped short of returning Warren to office.