On any given day, 1.9 million people are incarcerated in more than 6,000 federal, state and local facilities. Another 3.7 million remain under what scholars call “correctional control” through probation or parole supervision. That means one out of every 60 Americans is entangled in the system — one of the highest rates globally. Yet despite its vast reach, the criminal justice system often fails at its most basic goal: preventing people from being rearrested, reconvicted or reincarcerated.
Rights & Liberties
Attorney General Flouts Federal Judge’s Order Suspending Florida Immigration Law, and May Face Sanctions
Attorney General James Uthmeier could face contempt sanctions over a letter he sent to Florida law enforcement agencies labeling as illegitimate a court order suspending a state immigration law that led to the arrest of a U.S. citizen. In an order issued late Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams wrote that Uthmeier will have to prove that he shouldn’t face legal consequences over his greenlighting of arrests under the law, which she had temporarily blocked as likely unconstitutional.
Florida Will Use Tax Dollars to Sue Its Own Public Schools on Behalf of Parents
Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office is “putting our money where our mouth is” in announcing a state-funded legal team dedicated to enforcing parents-rights laws. Addressing a crowd of fourth graders at Jacksonville Classical Academy Tuesday, Uthmeier said his office is “making sure that we’re walking the walk and setting examples” in enforcing laws related to gender transition, library materials, school surveys, and other topics that have dominated legislative, judicial, and executive conversations in recent years.
Florida House Votes to Scrap Work Limits for Older Teens But Ban STI Treatment Without Parental Consent
Although older teens could work unlimited hours, they wouldn’t be able to get treatment for sexually transmitted infections on their own under two bills the Florida House approved Friday. House lawmakers voted on party lines both to require parental consent for health care providers to treat minors with STIs and to let 16- and 17-year-olds work full-time hours during the school year without their parents’ permission.
Brendan Depa Appeal: Court Abused Its Discretion By Imposing State Prison Instead of Juvenile Sanctions
The long-expected appeal in the case of Brendan Depa argues that Circuit Judge Terence Perkins abused the court’s discretion last summer when he imposed a five-year, adult prison sentence and 15 years of probation rather than what would have amounted to two years in a juvenile prison. Depa, who will be 20 in August, was a 17-year-old Matanzas High School special education student when he attacked then-teacher aide Joan Naydich after he got angry for being disciplined over the use of a Nintendo game. Surveillance video of the attack circulated around the globe, turbocharging the case’s visibility.
No Plea Offers in Jermaine Williams’s Death-Penalty Trial for Murder of His Wife, Yolonda Williams, in Bunnell
The death penalty case against Jermaine Williams, the 52-year-old Bunnell resident accused of stabbing his 50-year-old wife Yolonda Williams in the couple’s South Pine Street driveway last August, will not be tried until fall or perhaps next year, Assistant State Attorney Jason Lewis told the court today. The defense told the court that numerous depositions have been conducted, and numerous depositions still remain. The prosecution and the defense have not discussed a plea. That remains a possibility, though anything less than life in prison is unlikely.
How ‘Doge’ Is Eliminating Government Accountability
Mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services are continuing as the agency makes good on its intention, announced on March 27, 2025, to shrink its workforce by 20,000 people. Among workers dismissed in early April were several teams responsible for fulfilling requests for access to previously unreleased government data, information and records under a federal law known as the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments on Ending Birthright Citizenship
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday it will hear oral arguments next month over President Donald Trump’s efforts to restructure birthright citizenship, though the justices won’t decide on the merits of the case just yet.
Florida to Immigrants: Get Lost
DeSantis has savaged lawmakers for not doing enough to support President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to detain and deport as many as 20 million undocumented immigrants. He has worked assiduously to engineer Florida’s reactionary version of “how many ways can we screw over immigrants?”
Natalia Aleksiun Delivers Holocaust Lecture on Hidden Survivors of Nazi Occupation at Stetson
Historian and Holocaust Studies scholar Natalia Aleksiun delivers the Stetson University 2025 Holocaust Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, April 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Stetson Room, located inside the Carlton Student Union building on Stetson’s DeLand campus.
Flagler County Library Director Braces for Possible Cuts After Trump Order to End Library Support Agency
Assistant Flagler County Administrator Holly Albanese is preparing the county’s public library system, its Board of Trustees and local officials for possible local consequences of an executive order that seeks to end the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, a mainstay of library and museum funding across the country. Cuts may be as little as $20,000, which the library system can easily absorb, or could be much larger if grants already awarded are called back.
Florida Bill to Prevent Anonymous Complaints Against Cops Divides Law Enforcement
A bill that would withdraw citizens’ ability to lodge anonymous complaints against law enforcement officers sparked sharp disagreement between department leaders and rank-and-file officers. The bill (HB 317), sponsored by Miami-Dade Republican Tom Fabricio, is supported by groups representing law enforcement officers, such as the Fraternal Order of Police. Two of the most powerful lobbyist organizations in Tallahassee — the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association — are firmly opposed.
American Rendition: Rümeysa Öztürk’s Journey From Ph.D. Scholar to Trump Target Languishing in Louisiana Cell
30-year-old Turkish national Rümeysa Öztürk is a former Fulbright scholar in a doctoral program at Tufts University. Here’s how, though charged with no crime, she ended up in a crowded cell in Louisiana, part of a sprawling, opaque apparatus designed to deport the maximum number of people with minimum accountability. Her lawyers describe it as the story of a Trump-era rendition, a callback to the post-9/11 practice of grabbing Muslim individuals off the street and taking them to locations known for harsh conditions and shoddy oversight.
Why Is the President Undermining Libraries and Museums?
A few weeks ago, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), adding to a growing list of illegal efforts to bypass Congress and abolish entire government agencies. All staff at the agency were placed on administrative leave on March 31. IMLS is an independent federal agency that provides crucial financial support to America’s 125,000 public, school, academic, and special libraries and museums nationwide.
Michael Tanzi, 48, Is Killed by Lethal Injection for Murder of Janet Acosta, 49, in 2000
Michael Tanzi was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison, almost 25 years after he kidnapped a woman on her lunch break in Miami and murdered her in Monroe County.
U.S. Rep. Wilson Seeks to Visit Miami Immigrant Detention Center Amid Reports of Mistreatment
Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson wants to examine conditions at a Miami immigrant detention center, saying she’s concerned about reports of people sleeping on concrete floors. Wilson, who represents part of Miami-Dade County, sent a letter Monday to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem requesting her help in arranging a congressional visit this month to the Krome North Service Processing Center.
Federal Judge Halts Florida’s New Law Targeting Migrants, Citing Overreach
Miami-based Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-page decision granting a request for a temporary restraining order against the law, which the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved in February. The law created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida.
In Flagler, Voters Cast Half a Million Ballots in 8 years; 5 Were Non-Citizens. Where’s the ‘Fraud’?
An executive order requires that all votes be counted by the end of Election Day. It also requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The order relies on a lie: that fraud is corrupting American elections. Let’s not look far and take Flagler County’s recent elections to test the claim.
Judge Orders Return of Maryland Man Wrongly Deported to El Salvador Prison
A federal judge in Maryland Friday ordered the Trump administration to return a national from El Salvador by April 7 who was erroneously deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite an order blocking such removal. Vice President J.D. Vance wrote on social media, without evidence, that Abrego Garcia was a convicted member of the MS-13 gang and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt this week echoed Vance.
Florida House Approves Draconian Restrictions on Citizen-Led Constitutional Amendments
The Republican controlled Florida House of Representatives has passed a measure that will make it prohibitively harder for a citizen-led constitutional amendment to get on the ballot. The vote was 76-31. Its passage comes just five months after two constitutional amendments that would have respectively enshrined abortion rights and legalized recreational cannabis for adults narrowly fell short of passage.
Flagler Beach Quietly Signs On to Agreement with ICE, Deputizing Local Cops for Immigration Enforcement
Without discussion or mention of the agreement, the Flagler Beach City Commission last Thursday signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to deputize some of its police officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
Florida Agency Wants Emergency Management to House Migrants Awaiting Deportation
The executive director of the new State Board of Immigration Enforcement is pushing for the Florida Division of Emergency Management to house and transport immigrants awaiting deportation.
Our Silent Genocide of Transgender People
The United States in general and Florida in particular are enacting laws that literally erase the existence of an entire class of human beings. Trump signed an order declaring that transgender people don’t exist. Florida is about to adopt a law that would let government employees dehumanize their transgender colleagues by refusing to refer to them by their preferred pronouns. It is a new kind of genocide: bloodless, to be sure, but no less obliterating.
Florida Senate Committee Approves Ignoring Preferred Pronouns in State and Local Government
A measure (SB 440) prohibits requiring any employee to refer to another person using that person’s preferred pronouns if such pronouns don’t correspond to that person’s sex at birth. Job applications in public workplaces may only ask an applicant whether they are male or female and may not provide a nonbinary option.
Is Mike Waltz Out of His Depth? Ex-Flagler Congressman May Have Violated Espionage Act with Leak
Mike Waltz, the former congressman representing Flagler County and the 6th Congressional District, whom Donald Trump tapped as his national security adviser, is at the center of the gravest scandal facing an administration embroiled in controversies since its first day, 64 days ago. Waltz may have violated provisions of the Espionage Act that control national defense information.
Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Florida Law Restricting Minors on Social Media
Senior U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee dismissed a challenge against the state’s law barring Floridians younger than 14 from using social media apps with addictive features filed by industry organizations NetChoice and Computer & Communications Industry Association representing companies including Google, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Lawless Persecution of Mahmoud Khalil Is a Threat to Free Speech Everywhere
Without a warrant or charges, plainclothes Department of Homeland Security agents forced their way into Columbia University’s student housing and detained Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil, who had demonstrated against the Israeli genocide in Gaza. They then shipped him to an immigration jail in Louisiana, impeding his access to attorneys and visits from family. Khalil is a lawful U.S. permanent resident who hasn’t been charged with any crime. Khalil’s fate — and the larger battle over the First Amendment — concerns all of us.
Edward James Is Killed by Lethal Injection for Murders of Betty Dick and her Granddaughter, Toni Neuner in 1993
More than three decades after he murdered a Seminole County woman and her 8-year-old granddaughter, Edward James was put to death by lethal injection Thursday night at Florida State Prison. James, 63, was pronounced dead at 8:15 p.m. and became the second person executed in Florida this year. Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected attempts by James’ attorney to halt the execution.
Anti-DEI Rules Are Gutting Educators’ Free Speech Rights
The Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion have continued in the form of a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education to educational institutions – from preschools through colleges and universities.. The directive the letter infringes on free speech, misunderstands the law and undermines education.
Florida Attorney General Threatens Removal of City Council Members Who Blocked Cooperation with ICE
Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening three Fort Myers city council members with removal from office after they refused Monday to deputize police officers to participate in immigration enforcement. Uthmeier, who became the attorney general a month ago, warned the council that Gov. Ron DeSantis could remove them from office if they didn’t allow the city police to question people about their immigration status and detain those subject to deportation.
Florida Lawmakers Are About to Roll Back Rural Protections in Favor Of Developers. Don’t Let Them.
The Florida Legislature is once again trying to push through legislation that would take away the rights of area citizens and local government to have any voice in the management of rural and agricultural lands. It is crucial that citizens contact their legislative members and demand that these egregious measures be stopped immediately.
The Sun Is Setting on Government Transparency in Florida
Florida, the “Sunshine State,” once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States. Legislators have passed more than 1,100 exemptions to the Florida Sunshine Law, and growing.
Florida Law Banning Kids off Some Social Media Prevails as Judge Refuses to Block It
A federal judge has rejected a request to block a 2024 Florida law aimed at keeping children off some social-media platforms, ruling that industry groups did not show they had legal standing to challenge the measure.
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Florida Ban on Under-21s Buying Long Guns
A U.S. appeals court has once again upheld Florida’s 2018 law barring people under age 21 from buying long guns, rejecting a challenge by the National Rifle Association. But Florida’s attorney general says that if the case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, his office won’t defend it.
Florida Bill Would Ban Migrant Children Fleeing Abuse Elsewhere From Seeking Residency in Florida
A bill advancing in the Florida Senate would make it harder for children without legal status who are fleeing abuse in their home countries to become permanent residents. That’s because they could lose the assistance of immigration attorneys and advocates, who say that SB 1626 would stop them from applying for immigration relief on behalf of such children.
In Startling Stand-Your-Ground Ruling, Judge Nichols Dismisses Charges Against Man Accused in Violent Attack at Circle K
In a stand your ground ruling that startled law enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office, Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols on Monday dismisses felony charges against 23-year-old Hunter Detherow, who was facing five to 20 years in prison for a fight at the Palm Harbor Circle K a year ago that left one man with four broken ribs and another with stab wounds, a collapsed lung and a black eye. Detherow, a former Marine, was not injured. The two men were twice his age, though one of them was nearly twice his weight.
University of Chicago’s Tony Banout, Freedom of Expression Expert, Speaks at Stetson March 26
As academic freedom and freedom of expression become flashpoints on college campuses nationwide, Stetson University will host a national expert March 26 to speak about the importance of free inquiry and expression. Tony Banout, Executive Director of the University of Chicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, will give a talk entitled “Why is Wrongheaded, Immoral, and Offensive Speech Protected on Campus and Constitutionally?”
Lawmakers’ Circus Returns to Tallahassee
The circus is coming to town. Y’all might know it as the regular session of the Florida Legislature. Don’t even begin to think this year can’t possibly be worse than last year, when lawmakers passed a dumpster full of bills to make Florida worse.
Flagler Beach Officers Under Investigation as Wrongful Charge of Man Outside Funky Pelican Is Quickly Dropped and City Bristles
Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney has requested an internal affairs investigation of the two officers who arrested a man on a trespassing charge simply for holding a sign outside the Funky Pelican restaurant at the pier, and City Manager Dale Martin has ordered that all city employees receive training in respecting citizen’s rights. The arrest caught public attention and provoked outrage. The State Attorney’s office on Thursday dropped the felony charge of armed trespassing against Gray. The city expects a lawsuit.
GOP Lawmakers Seek Draconian Obstacles on Citizens’ Ballot Initiatives
After fierce — and expensive — political battles last year about abortion rights and recreational marijuana, Florida lawmakers Thursday began moving forward with a proposal that would place additional restrictions on the ballot-initiative process.
State of the Monarch
If there are any limits to a president’s power, it wasn’t evident from Donald Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. When the Constitution was written, many people – from those who drafted the document to those who read it – believed that endowing the president with such powers was dangerous. The danger is here.
Republican Wants to Repeal Law Keeping Public Off Some Beaches
A Panhandle Republican has filed legislation to repeal a controversial 2018 state law that has limited public access to local beaches in the area and prohibited local governments from adopting ordinances to protect customary use. The term “customary use” refers to a general right of the public at large to possess and use certain dry sand areas for recreational purposes. Flagler County has one such ordinance in effect.
Man Holding ‘God Bless Homeless Vets’ Sign on Public Sidewalk Outside Funky Pelican Arrested on Armed Trespassing Charge
Jeffrey Marcus Gray, a 55-year-old resident of Forest Court in St. Augustine, was arrested on a felony charge of armed trespassing Sunday morning after he refused to leave the immediate vicinity of the Funky Pelican, the restaurant at the Flagler Beach pier. The pier is public property, as is the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The restaurant itself leases its space from city government in Flagler Beach. But individuals may be trespassed from public sidewalks or parks or other public property, if not without raising potential legal issues.
Federal Judge Clears Way for Publishers’ Lawsuit Against Florida and Volusia Boards of Education Over Banned Books
With major publishing companies and authors arguing a 2023 state law violates First Amendment rights, a federal judge Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit against members of the State Board of Education over the removal of school library books. U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza, appointed by President Obama, rejected a state motion to dismiss the case, which also names as defendants members of the Orange County and Volusia County school boards.
Florida Lawmakers Look to End Ban on Compensating Wrongfully Imprisoned If They Have Prior Felonies
Florida is the only state with a wrongful incarceration compensation program that excludes people with prior felonies, a restriction that makes the vast majority of exonerees in the state ineligible for payments. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 91 people in Florida have been exonerated since 1989. Five of those exonerees have received compensation.
Flagler Jail Would Make 100 Beds Available to ICE as Staly Joins Florida Sheriffs Ramping Up Immigration Enforcement
All of the state’s 67 counties have entered agreements with federal immigration authorities to detain undocumented immigrant criminals in jails, the Florida Sheriffs Association announced on Monday as the state rushes to assist President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly is working on an agreement with ICE to make 100 beds at the Flagler County jail available for ICE detentions of up to 72 hours per inmate, in exchange for $125 a day per inmate.
No, You May Not Discipline a Teacher for Personal Facebook Posts, Court Rules
A Florida appeals court Friday sided with a now-retired Duval County math teacher who argued his speech rights were violated when he was disciplined for personal Facebook posts. A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal overturned a decision by the Duval County School Board to suspend Thomas Caggiano without pay for three days and to issue a reprimand.
GOP Lawmaker Wants Working Caps and Mandatory Breaks for Minors Ended
Republican Sen. Jay Collins of Hillsborough County has filed a bill allowing employers to schedule minors to work at any time and for more than 30 hours per week.
DeSantis Signs 3 More Collusion Agreements with ICE
DeSantis on Wednesday signed three additional memos with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deputizing state agents to interrogate people about their immigration status and detain them if they lack proper documentation.
Who Do You Think You Are? Here’s Why You Should See ‘The Niceties’ at CRT
“The Niceties,” which opens tonight at City Repertory Theatre, is familiar to our ideologically poisoned times, raising questions about whether there is such a thing as objective truth. It subverts assumptions about American and Black history, generational divides, and power. It will make you angry only if you’re not honest with yourself as it also subverts your own assumptions about who you think you are.