On tonight’s program: The 1st day of the 2025 Florida Legislative Session included lots of hopeful people advocating for various legislative outcomes; Governor Ron DeSantis kept the tone upbeat during his next-to-last State of the State address; Legislative Democrats find themselves in familiar – and lamentable – territory as Republican supermajorities prepare to work their will at the capitol; And property insurance and budgeting are two of the major issues on the House and Senate calendars.

Who are these people and why are they saying these things? In advance of next week’s start of the Florida lawmaking session, we’ll help you figure out what’s going on; Whatever lawmakers do, the governor usually has the last word. Sometimes well in advance; As a citizen, how do you let lawmakers know what you want? We’ll tell you how to go about that; You’ll get a quick primer on how the committee process works; Florida dreamers could find an affordable path to higher education blocked as a result of one bill already filed in the legislature; And we remember Geraldine Thompson, the Orlando lawmaker for whom the preservation of history was a sacred duty.

On tonight’s program: One lawmakers wants to let students carry guns on college and university campuses; A committee of lawmakers is reviewing the 950 million dollars in projects Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed last year; Florida’s insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, is raising its rates. And for some, it could be a good thing; We’ll hear about an effort to support Everglades restoration and flood planning. One lawmaker calls it a “great opportunity”; A Florida State University professor talks AI in education. It turns out it’s about a lot more than worrying about whether students are teaching on tests; And we’ll hear from a former first lady of Florida A & M University about helping to pave the way for future students.

On tonight’s program: A special legislative session on immigration also seems to signal a lessening of power for Governor Ron DeSantis; An attorney weighs in on Florida’s efforts to reform immigration policy; Florida lawmakers may again try to pass a bill restricting the kinds of flags that can be flown over government buildings or public schools; Artificial intelligence could be an effective way of detecting illicit firearms. Republicans aren’t happy with that, but some public safety proponents believe it’s a good thing; Florida’s agencies that help kids provide lots of services. But being a place where the children spend the night isn’t supposed to be one of them; The desperate search for something – anything – to halt the spread of citrus greening disease in Florida’s shrinking citrus groves may have turned up a solution. The problem is, that solution could take years to have a positive impact; And a civil rights champion in the Florida Legislature has died.

On tonight’s program: Governor DeSantis rolls out his proposed spending plan. But it includes a lot fewer state government workers than what’s now employed; Pro-gun folks have been pushing Florida lawmakers for years to approve open carry of firearms. Is this the year their efforts finally bear fruit?; Concern abounds over the move by Elon Musk and his team to access sensitive federal government information. Especially since it seems President Trump doesn’t seem to mind; Churches have religious freedom. But when it comes to shielding undocumented immigrants from the law, the government is arguing that’s going too far; Meanwhile, a dedicated organization stands ready to help immigrants caught up in deportation sweeps; In advance of the Florida legislative session, some lawmakers are already looking to improve services for children who have autism; And we get a jump on preparations for what could be yet another busy hurricane season.

Experts say a standoff between Governor Ron DeSantis and the legislature on proposed immigration legislation could be about political ambition; Undocumented immigrants in Florida are worried about what the fight between the governor and the legislature could mean for their futures; Florida’s agriculture commissioner shares his experience with addressing illegal immigration; We’ll hear local reaction to a proposal from President Donald Trump that Could do away with FEMA; The federal government appears to be taking a page from Governor Ron DeSantis’ book as the Department of education says complaints about book bans are unfounded; And we’ll hear about a new approach to tackling Red Tide

Police in Waterbury, Conn., allege the man's stepmother locked him in his room with limited food and water for over 20 years, until he started a fire using hand sanitizer, printer paper and a lighter.

The president is planning to give remarks on "restoring law and order," according to the White House. Trump has vowed to end "weaponization" of the DOJ after having been investigated himself.

Thousands of probationary federal employees fired by the Trump administration must be offered job reinstatement, a judge in San Francisco has ruled, because they were terminated unlawfully.

Some towns paid the U.S. Census Bureau to produce new local population counts to try to get more funding. But Trump's hiring freeze derailed their special census plans — and could hurt the 2030 count.

Homeland Security deputy secretary Troy Edgar offered few details on the Trump administration's legal reasoning to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

President Trump revoked a 1965 executive order that required federal contractors to take steps to comply with nondiscrimination laws. Some fear women and people of color will lose opportunities.

World waits for Moscow response to ceasefire offer the U.S. brokered with Ukraine, EPA announces dozens of regulations it plans to target, Iran rebuffs Trump hopes on starting nuclear talks.

The Trump administration plans to reconsider about two dozen environmental rules, in what the Environmental Protection Agency calls the "most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history."

A new part of an ocean plant cell has been discovered that might revolutionize farming one day. The structure can take nitrogen and convert it into the ingredient that helps all organisms grow.

Iran's supreme leader rebuffed President Trump's hopes to start talks over Iran's nuclear program.

Are we more prepared to detect the start of a possible pandemic than we were in 2020? Some things have gotten better, and some worse.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with the co-authors of "You Must Take Part in Revolution," a new dystopian graphic novel set in the year 2035 with the U.S. and China at war.

Many people say their seasonal allergies are hitting earlier and harder. We talk with a professor who studied how climate change has affected plant biology for over 30 years.

A Vermont company with operations in Utah says it can have electric air taxis ready for service in time for the 2034 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Pending federal regulations will be a big factor.

Louisiana has hit a roadblock in its plan to resume executions after a 15-year pause. At issue is the method -- death by nitrogen gas -- an which has been used only a handful of times in Alabama and puts one religious group in particular on edge.

A SpaceX capsule will launch from Florida to the International Space Station. The capsule will bring home Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who spent several months longer than planned on the ISS.

DJ D-Nice wanted to bring people together during the pandemic. In 2020, Club Quarantine was born, attracting hundreds of thousands of music lovers. DJ D-Nice reflects on that moment five years later and what's happened since then

The good news? The Commerce Department says personal income and consumption were up in June. Bad news is savings didn’t rise with ’em. In fact, high interest rates and high prices have battered the personal savings rate down to an almost two-year low, leaving many households without a financial security cushion. In this episode, we’ll also get into why national manufacturing growth depends on where you are, and Boston is incentivizing office to residential real estate conversions.

New gross domestic product data just came in — GDP grew a healthy 2.8% annually in the second quarter, better than predicted. Meanwhile, consumers are focused on buying essentials and credit card debt is growing. In this episode, we’ll examine why GDP is strong while many everyday people feel squeezed for cash. Plus: New real estate broker fee rules take effect next month and the number of Americans who predict they’ll retire young is up.

The last time Congress raised the federal minimum wage, it went up 70 cents — from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. That was in 2009. Today, we’ll get into why there hasn’t been a successful push to boost it since then and who suffers as a result. Plus, officials in China promise major tax reform, apartment vacancies in Sun Belt cities rise and the Federal Reserve keeps an eye on GDP estimates.

“Act your wage,” “coffee badging,” “ghost jobs” — the internet is always vomiting up new workplace phrases. You may even use some of them to describe the bizarre job market of the past few years. So when popular work slang shifts from silly — “lazy girl jobs” — to grim — “quiet cutting” — are there hints about where the labor market is headed? Also in this episode: Tech firms ditch user counts, car sales motor on despite high costs and educators get educated about jobs at the Port of Baltimore.

In the face of major news, some say the bond market can signal what comes next economically. But so far, bond yields don’t seem to be reacting to Biden’s dropping out of the presidential race. In this episode, what the crystal ball of the economy does care about in regard to elections. Plus, business investments outpace GDP gains, Nvidia employees cash in on the chipmaker’s hockey stick-shaped earnings growth and Friday’s CrowdStrike crash reveals a common cybersecurity weakness.