Deeper Dive with Dara Kam

Four years ago, Deeper Dive with Dara Kam started as a way to slow down the news cycle just enough for frank conversations about what's happening inside the Florida Capitol and around the Sunshine State. This week's episode does that one more time — and then some. For the final Deeper Dive from the News Service, I sat with a group of reporters for a roundtable recorded right in the Rotunda — the p...

With the 2026 legislative session underway, Dara joined Senate President Ben Albritton in the Capitol for a peek into what lawmakers might deliver over the next 60 days. President Albritton gave Dara an update on plans to slash property taxes, close financial gaps in the state's universal voucher system and address Floridians' affordability concerns. Tune in to hear the latest on the relationships...

Happy New Year, Divas! Capitol reporters Forrest Saunders (EW Scripps) and Jason Delgado (Spectrum News) are back with Dara in the Speakeasy to prep you for the 2026 legislative session. Dara and the guys spill the tea on pre-session chaos and power plays already in motion, and dive into a looming showdown over property taxes. Will the friction between Gov. Ron DeSantis and House Speaker Daniel Pe...

Divas! Has a looooong wait for a prior authorization ever held you up on your health care journey? We feel your pain! In this week's Deeper Dive, Florida Hospital Association President and CEO Mary Mayhew joins Dara in the Speakeasy to dig into the most pressing challenges patients and providers are facing in the state's evolving health care system. Mary breaks it all down for Dara and the divas i...

In this week's timely episode of Deeper Dive, we're cutting through the noise to examine the rapid rise of AI data centers. Three experts — Buddy Rizer, Executive Director of Loudon County Economic Development; Dr. David Gattie, Associate Professor of Engineering at the University of Georgia; and Kevin Doyle, Florida Executive Director, Consumer Energy Alliance — join Dara in the Speakeasy this we...

Capitol reporters Forrest Saunders (EW Scripps) and Jason Delgado (Spectrum News) are back with Dara in the Speakeasy to break down the biggest headlines from Tallahassee. This week, the trio focus on Florida legislators' ongoing attempts to tackle skyrocketing property taxes for homeowners, the early maneuvering and political dynamics shaping the upcoming Florida governor's race, and the latest o...

In the electrifying weeks of the 2000 presidential election recount, one voice cut through the chaos: Craig Waters, the Florida Supreme Court's public information officer. The final half of our two-part episode commemorating the 25th anniversary of the recount goes behind the scenes of one of the most intense legal and political dramas in U.S. history. Craig shares insights into the unprecedented...

It's been 25 years since hanging chads, butterfly ballots and dozens of lawsuits thrust Florida into the international spotlight, with the presidency of the country hanging in the balance. In the first of a two-part series, Dara sits down with two key players who were at the epicenter of Florida's Bush v. Gore battle: Craig Waters, who was the Florida Supreme Court's public information officer, an...

Olivia Keller, a fierce champion for people with disabilities, joins Dara this week for an in-depth discussion about her journey to the state Capitol and beyond! Olivia, a public policy manager for a national nonprofit, gives Dara the down-low on the Americans with Disabilities Act and discusses some of her biggest advocacy accomplishments, as well as challenges. Parking near the entrance to a bui...

U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis joins Dara on Deeper Dive this week (from his mamma's living room) in the duo's first visit since his election to Congress this spring. Jimmy gives the Divas an update on the government shutdown and the partisan stalemate in D.C. over health care. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? The congressman also offers some suggestions about the hottest topic in Tally: prope...

Divas! In keeping with the spooky Halloween season, Deeper Dive has some fun with history with Storied Paths Owner/Tour Guide Stephanie Chandler. Drinking, dueling and other tales of derring-do — Stephanie delivered it all in her visit with Dara this week. Stephanie shares anecdotes about political shenanigans in the years before and after statehood, and dispels a myth about how Tallahassee became...

Florida is among the GOP-led states that could aid President Donald Trump in his quest to boost the number of Republicans in Congress. Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, joins Dara in the Speakeasy to delve into the implications of a rare mid-decade effort to redraw congressional maps. Amy and Dara dig into the complex world of reapportionment, partisan gerrymandering and its i...

Former House Speaker Paul Renner joins Dara this week in the Speakeasy to break down his bid to be Florida's next governor. Speaker Renner tells Divas (and the rest of the Sunshine State!) why he's the best candidate to replace Gov. Ron DeSantis in next year's gubernatorial race, saying he's "delivered on results" for Floridians and has the "steady leadership experience" to lead the state. Candida...

The dynamic duo is back! Capitol reporters Jason Delgado of Spectrum News and E.W. Scripps' Forrest Saunders are back in The Speakeasy with Dara to round up this week's news. The trio parse Gov. Ron DeSantis' flex about a potential special session on property taxes -- smack dab in the middle of the GOP primary season? Government shutdown, immigration, presidential library? We've got ya covered, di...

Divas, it's a show you've all been waiting for! Peter Schorsch, the president of Extensive Enterprises Media, and NBC News National Political Reporter Matt Dixon bring their double act to the Speakeasy this week for a rollicking episode. Peter, the man behind the "Florida Politics" website and the daily must-read "Sunburn," prognosticates about next year's mid-term elections (spoiler alert: he has...

Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Jolly visited Dara in the Speakeasy this week as he travels throughout the state in the run-up to next year's election! Join Deeper Dive to hear David reveal how Charlie Kirk's assassination prompted him to assess whether he wanted to remain in the race for governor. David, a former Republican congressman who spent the past eight years as a political consul...

Dave Aronberg's book tour brought him to the Speakeasy this week, where he visited with Dara to discuss the recently released "Fighting the Florida Shuffle." The former Palm Beach County state attorney gives the inside scoop on corruption in the drug treatment industry and offers some congressional tweaks to boost patient protection. AND ... Deeper Dive zags into true crime this week with Dave! Th...

Craig Fugate earned his chops in Florida as the state's Division of Emergency Management Director before heading to D.C. to take over as the administrator of FEMA. The disaster prep & recovery guru joins Dara this week as we mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to share how the state helped Mississippi respond to a massive storm surge and widespread destruction in 2005. Craig, who develo...

Attorney General James Uthmeier hasn't slowed down since joining the Florida Cabinet in February. AG Uthmeier joined Dara this week for an in-depth discussion about immigration, his drive to protect the state's kids, and so much more. The AG tells the Divas how he is transitioning from Gov. Ron DeSantis' right-hand-man to Florida's top legal eagle. As one of the state's youngest attorney generals...

In this week's episode, Archbishop Thomas Wenski joins Dara to discuss state and federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. The Archbishop recently hopped on his Harley-Davidson to lead members of the Archdiocese of Miami's "Knights on Bikes" to a remote immigrant-detention center in the Everglades. Find out what happened after the "Biker Bishop" and his posse prayed the rosary outside...

We're back in Part 2 with outtakes from this year's Florida Media Conference. This week, Dara chats with Politifact Editor-in-Chief Katie Sanders, and Michael Kelly, owner/publisher of The Herald-Advocate. Katie talks about the Truth-o-Meter and tells Dara how she and her team decide which claims to fact-check in their pursuit of keeping 'em honest online and IRL. Michael wowed Divas last year wit...

Divas! Dara took Deeper Dive on the road to the 2025 Florida Media Conference for a special two-part episode to hear from editors and publishers about the state-of-the-state in journalism. In the first segment in this week's episode, Sergio Bustos, WLRN's Vice President for News, discusses how state and federal funding cuts are affecting public radio & TV stations around Florida. Sergio tells Dara...

Leon County Superintendent of Schools Rocky Hanna joined Dara to pull back the curtain on the "bullseye" on public schools in the Sunshine State. Rocky delves into the impact the state's universal voucher program is having on the K-12 system and its students. The superintendent, who's spent nearly four decades working for Leon schools, says "there's just not enough money to properly fund two paral...

Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie K. Brown has forgotten more about Jeffrey Epstein than most of us will ever know. The author of "Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story" joins Dara this week as MAGA world explodes over the Epstein "list." Super sleuth Julie says the list doesn't exist and that's just a sample of the insights she shares on this week's Deeper Dive. Did Epstein tak...

As executive director of Friends of the Everglades, Eve Samples is following in the footsteps of one of the state's most revered conservationists - Marjory Stoneman Douglas - in more ways than one. The onetime journo joins Dara in this week's Deeper Dive to delve into a lawsuit challenging an immigrant detention center in the Everglades. Dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the facili...