SUMMARY: President-Elect Donald Trump announced new appointments to his administration, naming U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. Trump praised Gabbard for her service and bipartisan appeal, while emphasizing Gaetz’s role in fighting corruption and restoring integrity to the Department of Justice. Trump’s cabinet also includes Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Lee Zeldin as head of the EPA, and Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Other appointees include Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary and Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, among several others. Democrats plan to challenge Trump’s picks.

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SUMMARY: A Tax Foundation report ranked Florida fourth in tax competitiveness, highlighting its lack of a personal income tax as a key advantage. Florida scored first for individual taxes, 14th for sales taxes, 16th for corporate taxes, and 21st for property taxes. The state has a competitive 5.5% corporate income tax and a 4% sales tax, with an average combined local tax of 7%. Critiques included the limited first-year expensing of machinery and a low personal property exemption of $25,000. Despite methodological changes in the report, Florida maintained its ranking since 2020, leading the Southeast region.

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SUMMARY: In the third quarter of 2024, Florida welcomed 34.6 million visitors, marking a 1.7% increase over the previous record, despite hurricanes Debby and Helene. This follows strong tourism growth in the first two quarters, totaling 109.7 million visitors so far this year. Last year, over 140 million people visited, with 92.1% being domestic tourists. International traffic also rose by 1.8%. Florida’s tourism is supported by priorities like public safety and freedom. Notably, 38.1% of visitors traveled by air, with Orlando and Miami seeing the highest numbers of enplanements.

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