DeSantis is obsessed with remaking education according to his authoritarian tendencies, doing his damnedest to wreck K-12 with his army of book-banning harpies in “Moms for Liberty” and his Scared Karens legislation, and forbidding honest discussion of slavery and racism so as to never make white kids feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.”
Florida
Politicians Love To Cite Crime Data. It’s Often Wrong.
When Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign in May, he proudly told the nation that Florida’s crime rate in 2021 had reached a 50-year low. But really, DeSantis couldn’t say for sure. That’s because fewer than 1 in 10 law enforcement agencies in his state had reported their crime statistics to the FBI.
The Big Reveal
Riding Brightline: The Great, the Brash and the Ugly
Earlier this month FlaglerLive Editor Pierre Tristam and his son took a 24-hour round-trip from Orlando to Miami aboard Brightline’s new high-speed line, discovering what may be–what ought to be–the future of rail travel in Florida with all its pleasures, possibilities and limitations. Here’s the story of the trip and a review of the travel experience.
DeSantis Appealing to U.S. Supreme Court a Ruling Blocking Ban on Drag Shows
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court in a fight about a ruling that blocked statewide a new law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. The state’s attorneys want the Supreme Court to approve a partial stay of a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued to block the law.
Almost 1000,000 Customers Migrate from State Insurer Citizens to Private Carriers
Citizens had 1.325 million policies as of Friday, down from 1.412 million policies two weeks earlier, according to Citizens data. The drop came as five private insurers assumed 99,773 Citizens policies in mid-October as part of a state effort, known as “depopulation,” to shift homeowners into the private market.
Rent Hikes May Finally Moderate Thanks to Historic Housing Construction Boom
An unprecedented surge in the nationwide construction of new housing — mostly apartments — may finally be making a dent in fast-rising rents that have been making life harder for tenants. More than 1.65 million housing units were under construction last year, the highest annual number since federal record-keeping started in 1969. Florida added 233,000 new housing units since mid-2022.
Richard Corcoran Will Be Paid $1.3 Million to Remake New College in DeSantis’s Image
New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran is set to earn up to $1.3 million per year in salary and benefits under a five-year contract approved Friday. Corcoran’s time as interim president of the college was part of sweeping changes to the school spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed a slate of conservative allies to the New College trustees board in January.
Florida’s Manatees Should Never Have Been Delisted from Endangered
Six years ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took Florida manatees down a notch on the endangered list, reclassifying them as merely “threatened.” Now, after nearly 2,000 have died over the past few years, the feds say they may put them back on the top of the list. Manatees had previously been on the endangered list longer than since the Endangered Species Act of 1973. They were an entry on the original list issued in 1967.
Drag Shows Can Go On in Florida: Court Rejects Ban
It’s OK to take in a drag show in Florida — a federal appeals court has upheld a block on enforcement of Florida’s anti-drag law against any entertainment venue in the state.
Florida’s Matt Gaetz: Jerkiness In a Class By Himself
As Sen. Lindsey Graham once remarked, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.” You could probably murder Matt Gaetz in the House chamber and receive a standing ovation.
In Lawsuit Settlement DeSantis Administration Will Stop Censoring Covid Death Counts and Vaccinations
The DeSantis administration has agreed to release years of previously suppressed data about Covid’s spread in Florida to settle a lawsuit filed by a former state House member, a government openness group, and news organizations. The Florida Department of Health will resume posting on its website details of vaccination counts, case counts, and deaths weekly by county, age group, gender, and race in the future.
In Florida, Surgeon General Normalizes Medical Quackery
In 2021, when Ron DeSantis brought the Quack Ladapo to Florida, it was like returning to a simpler, much stupider time, when docs prescribed drinking a little ground unicorn horn mixed with water as a cure for the plague. Or if you were fresh out of unicorns (or the virgins you need to catch them), you could always try chicken butt.
Ex-Volusia Council’s Heather Post Agrees to Pay $1,000 Fine Over Missed Financial Disclosure Filing
The Florida Commission on Ethics’s advocate, in a joint agreement with former Volusia County Council ember Heather post, is recommending that Post pay a $1,000 fine for failing to file her financial disclosure form for 2021 on time. The agreement also calls for Post to be publicly reprimanded and censured.
Judge Exonerates ‘Christian’ Teacher Who Refused to Refer to Trans Student by His Preferred Pronouns
An administrative law judge Monday backed a Miami-Dade County teacher who reportedly told a transgender student that, “I’m a Christian, and my God made no mistakes” while refusing to call the student by preferred pronouns.
Don Gaetz Wants Back in Florida Senate as His Son Disrupts U.S. House
Former state Senate President Don Gaetz is seeking a return to the Legislature as his son makes waves in Washington, D.C. Gaetz, a Niceville Republican who served in the Senate from 2006 to 2016, including as president during the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, said Monday he was filing paperwork to run next year in the Panhandle’s Senate District 1.
DeSantis Solution to Climate Change: Burn More Fossil Fuels
Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled to Texas last week to stand in front of a couple of noisy oil wells and a friendly crowd of oil field workers to issue a clarion call for coping with climate change by burning more fossil fuels. He pledged to make it easier for oil industry to drill and said he would replace references to “climate change” with “energy dominance.”
When Sisco Deen Reconnected Descendants to the Local Legacies of General Hernández, Bings and MalaCompra
The late Sisco Deen and his wife Gloria played a central role in exhuming history and reconnecting descendants and state historians with the local legacy of General Joseph Hernández, who owned a plantation residence in what became Bings Landing Park and was the first Hispanic in Congress.
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Florida Law Forcing Social Media to Carry Objectionable Content
The Texas and Florida legislatures passed the laws at the center of the disputes in 2021. The Florida law, known as S.B. 7072 or the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, prohibits social-media companies from banning political candidates and “journalistic enterprises.” The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of the controversial laws.
Remembering Lucy Morgan, Florida’s Most Feared Journalist
When Lucy Morgan started out, female reporters were usually confined to the food and style pages. She was the machete clearing the trail for many women in Florida, not the first pioneering newspaperwoman but surely the most significant. Causing trouble — for the powerful, at least — was her job, and she mentored generations of journalists.
Florida’s Policing of Public Restroom Gender Draws Federal Lawsuit from Trans and Nonbinary Group
A group of transgender and nonbinary people on Friday filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Florida law requiring people to use public restrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth, asking a judge to block enforcement before an upcoming march in Orlando.
Nancy Abudu, Former ACLU-Florida’s legal Director, Seated Friday at 11th Circuit Court of Appeals
Nancy Abudu, former legal director for the ACLU of Florida, will be installed as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Friday in Atlanta. In doing so, she will make history as the first Black woman to serve on that court, which has jurisdiction over all of Florida.
At Sisco Deen’s Memorial, Tales of When Jail Saved Him from Dissolution and a Jeep Shook Him Overboard
More than 130 people turned up at Cattleman’s Hall at the Flagler fairgrounds for the Quaker-style memorial and life celebration of Claude Sisco Deen, the veteran, archivist and self-made historian who exhumed much of Flagler County’s documented history and died at 83 on Aug. 31.
Betting Companies Ask Florida Supreme Court to Strike Down Part of State’s Deal with Seminole Tribe
After a federal appeals court ruled against them, two pari-mutuel companies on Tuesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to strike down part of a multibillion-dollar deal that would give the Seminole Tribe control over sports betting throughout the state. The challenge alleges the deal runs afoul of a 2018 constitutional amendment requiring voter approval of expansions of casino-style gambling.
No Plans Yet for Florida Health Departments to Offer New Covid Vaccine Even as It Rolls Out in Other States
As Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns on Covid-19 vaccine distrust, local health departments in other states have started doling out the updated shot. Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health has not made public any plans to follow suit.
DeSantis Will Debate Gavin Newsom in Georgia in November
After weeks of negotiations, a 90-minute debate between Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity will take place on the Fox News Channel on November 30 in Georgia. The specific location has not been announced yet.
College Football Reflects America As it Really Is: Indefensible In a Civilized World
It’s college football season in Florida and you know what that means: trash talking, martial metaphors, peculiar rituals involving animals, bizarre clothing in colors not found in nature, bad grammar, mansplaining, and racism. College football reinforces some of our least attractive stereotypes — those Black kids sure are fast! — and extreme gender roles, as well: huge dudes on the field knocking the living hell out of each other, while small (though quite athletic) women with incongruously large bows in their hair cheer them on.
Florida Icon and Pulitzer Prize Winner Lucy Morgan Dies at 82
Lucy Morgan, an icon in Florida politics and American journalism, has died. She was a Pulitzer Prize winner and chief of the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times capital bureau in Tallahassee for 20 years, retiring in 2006 and serving as senior correspondent until 2013.
UCF May Close Three Campuses
The state university system’s Board of Governors on Wednesday will consider proposals by the University of Central Florida to close three campuses no longer in use. The proposals involve the South Orlando Campus, the UCF Leesburg campus and the UCF Palm Bay campus.
A Mixed Bag in New Rankings of Florida’s Colleges and Universities as DeSantis Polarization Dims Luster
Florida universities, which have been in the center of national polarization for months, have seen a mixed bag in U.S. News & World Report college rankings, with both positive and negative views and some changes in the methodology. Florida has been bombarded by the anti-woke rhetoric and action of Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative politicians who are pushing higher education reforms and policies such as post-tenure reviews that have been blasted by faculty unions.
Crazy and Cruel Sell Well in Florida. So Scott Is Running Again.
In response to the NAACP, the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign warnings that travel to Florida could be hazardous to people of color, LGBTQ people, or people who just believe in decency and tolerance, Scott posted a huffy hunk of mansplaining on that X-thing that everyone still calls Twitter, warning “socialists and communists” and suchlike to stay out of Florida.
Florida Under DeSantis Is Ground Zero of Voter Disenfranchisement
DeSantis and the malleable Florida Legislature have cracked down on political protest, asylum seekers, the LGBTQ community, and women and trans men who might need abortions, among others. In elections litigation alone, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition sued the state in federal court in Miami alleging the state has erected barriers to felons hoping to regain their voting rights under 2018’s Amendment 4, which the organization sponsored.
Florida’s ‘Voucher’ System Adds 123,000 Students Attending Private School at Public Expense
Nearly 123,000 new students have received private-school vouchers after state lawmakers this year passed a major expansion of voucher programs, while a group that administers the programs says they will not bring an “exodus” from public schools as critics have predicted.
Florida Wants ‘Marsy’s Law,’ Designed for Crime Victims, to Prevent Death Penalty Appeals
Nearly five years after voters passed a constitutional amendment about victims’ rights, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office Monday urged the Florida Supreme Court to use the measure to make it harder for Death Row inmates to get stays of execution.
Paul Renner Signals Focus on Health Care with Creation of New House Committee
Signaling that health care could be a key issue during the 2024 legislative session, House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, announced Friday that he has created the House Select Committee on Health Innovation. The committee, which will be chaired by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, will “review issues relating to access and affordability in health care,” Renner said in a memo to House members.
Dead White Males Return: Behind Florida GOP’s Push for Christian-Leaning Classic Learning Test Instead of SAT
The new Classic Learning Test has been pushed by conservative politicians and religious activists as an alternative to the SAT and ACT, and will now be accepted as a measure of admission in Florida colleges and universities. Of the 12 private institutions in Florida that now accept the CLT, 11 are religiously affiliated.
Should You be Worried About Monster Hurricane Lee? Models and Emergency Chief Say No, But Erosion a Concern
For the last several days, Hurricane Lee, the most powerful storm of the season yet and a potential record-breaker, has been as if making a beeline for Florida, from the middle Atlantic. But models and Flagler County’s emergency management director say the hurricane in five days will make an abrupt turn north well before it comes near the Florida Peninsula. Still, the dangerous storm is expected to cause more erosion on an already weakened Flagler County shore, with hurricane season just beginning to peak.
A Uncomfortable Supreme Court Hears Abortion-Ban Case, with Privacy Protections on the Ropes
Five of the seven justices are appointees of the anti-abortion Gov. Ron DeSantis. A sixth, Charles Canady, is married to the legislator who co-sponsored the six-week ban on abortion. He did not recuse himself. If the court upholds a 15-week abortion ban, it would also mean that a six-week ban–more recently passed by the Legislature–would take effect 30 days after the ruling.
‘Fairness and Diversity’ Training for Judges? Florida Supreme Court Rules It Unnecessary.
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday kept in place a decision to delete part of a rule that allowed judges to take courses in “fairness and diversity” to meet continuing-education requirements. In a 5-1 order, the court said it had considered comments and determined that “no further amendments to the rule are warranted at this time.”
State Attorney Monique Worrell Fights Her Suspension by DeSantis at Supreme Court
Suspended Orlando-area State Attorney Monique Worrell on Wednesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision last month to oust her, saying he had no legal basis for the move. Worrell’s suspension came a little more than a year after DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren in a highly controversial move. Worrell and Warren are Democrats, while the governor is a Republican.
With K-12 Health Standards Mum on Abortion, Younger Floridians Seek More Influence Ahead of Court Case
The Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Sept. 8 on the abortion issues and could reverse the course the court set more than 30 years ago. Some young Floridians are turning to the future of reproductive freedom in Florida, as through Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group that launched a pro-abortion initiative to add a constitutional referendum on reproductive freedom to the November 2024 ballot.
Judge Rules Unconstitutional DeSantis Plan That Eliminated Black Representation
Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh ruled that a congressional redistricting plan pushed through the Legislature by Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the Florida Constitution and needs to be redrawn. The judge sided with voting-rights groups in a lawsuit focused on a North Florida district that in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson but was dramatically revamped during the 2022 redistricting process. White Republicans won all North Florida congressional districts in the November elections.
Channeling George Wallace, DeSantis Uses Education to Keep Blacks Down
Despite those idiotic “Build the Wall” campaign ads, he didn’t seem to be a Trump-style racist when he took office in 2019. There was hope he’d acknowledge our sad history and move us toward a more equitable society. But he didn’t. And he isn’t. Maybe the Napoleonically ambitious DeSantis decided white nationalism was his ticket to the Republican presidential nomination. His racism is less overt than Trump’s or George Wallace’s but almost as damaging.
Federal Judge Refuses to Block Florida Law Targeting Adult Transgender Care, But Individuals May Sue
A federal judge on Friday refused to block a new Florida law making it more difficult for transgender adults to access hormone therapy and surgeries. But U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said he could issue a narrowly tailored injunction to ensure care for individual plaintiffs if they provide detailed medical records.
Disney Narrows Lawsuit Against Florida, Focusing on Retaliation by DeSantis Administration
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts moved Friday to narrow a federal lawsuit that alleges state officials unconstitutionally retaliated against the company because of its opposition to a 2022 law that restricted instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Florida Seeks Wider Federal Disaster Declaration Than to Seven Counties Ahead of Biden Visit
DeSantis and state Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Friday they plan to ask the White House to include more counties in the disaster declaration signed Thursday by President Joe Biden. The declaration, in part, makes federal money available to help people in Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor counties.
Why Is the DeSantis Campaign Stalling? Americans Don’t Like Imperial Governors.
Why is Ron DeSantis’s campaign stalling? Current and former governors would say: Because he has become an imperial governor-– one who believes he is all-powerful and that all his decisions will be just applauded and never questioned or opposed.
Rural Counties Begin Recovery from Hurricane Idalia: ‘As Bad as It Is, It Still Ain’t as Bad as It Could Have Been’
Category 3 Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Taylor County’s Keaton Beach area, and county Sheriff Wayne Padgett said other hard-hit areas included downtown Perry and Steinhatchee, “a little fishing village on the coast down there,” which he said had the most storm surge. “As bad as it is, it still ain’t as bad as it could have been,” Padgett said.
Hurricane Idalia Makes Landfall as Cat-3 Hurricane; Local Impacts on Flagler Limited, Evacuations Rescinded
After Hurricane Idalia became an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, it made landfall as a Cat-3 in Florida’s Big Bend this morning. Effects on Flagler and Palm Coast are expected to be limited to rain and wind gusts as the storm’s track has shifted north.
DeSantis Wants Children to Be Ignorant, Intolerant and Narrow-Minded
In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, teachers are expected to present a version of the world in which “gender” is not to be spoken of, “gay” likewise, there’s no climate crisis — the weather’s always changing! — Shakespeare needs to be toned down, the human body is disgusting, slavery had an upside, America is the best country that ever was and ever will be, and books that challenge any of these self-evident truths must be banned.
White Supremacist Murders 3 Black People at Dollar General in Jacksonville, Before Shooting Himself
Sheriff T.K. Waters said two males and one female — all Black — were killed in the shootings, and the shooter killed himself. He had been armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun, with the rifle showing several swastikas. At the time of the news conference, the shooter’s name had not yet been identified, but Sheriff Waters said the man had authored manifestos that were provided to his parents, the media, and federal agents. The sheriff referenced the “disgusting ideology of hate.”