Florida Center for Government Accountability

Months after the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a law that shields parts of searches, state university system officials added an additional layer of secrecy that requires nondisclosure agreements.

Open government advocates are ringing alarms about plans that could make it harder to learn what Florida's public officials are doing and to speak against them.

The case has focused, at least in part, on requests by an open-government group for phone or text logs that could provide information about communications by DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier.

Even projecting hateful messages onto a private building might not lead to an arrest, legal experts say.

The Florida Center for Government Accountability claims the Florida Department of Transportation and a state contractor did not comply with public records requests.

In backing a Leon County judge, the appeals court panel said the department had not demonstrated that the decision “would result in irreparable harm.”

Marshall Goodman left both USF Polytechnic and Collier County amid financial questions.