Tag: florida

Outrage After Florida Teachers Union Says Children Protesting ICE is ‘Required’

It is hard to see public education in America as anything more than indoctrination factories.  The latest efforts to push a far-left agenda are unfolding in anti-ICE rhetoric and demonstrations taking place at schools across the country, spurred on by teachers and administrators.

Now, remarks by Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance at a February 2026 press conference hosted by the Florida Education Association (FEA), Zander Moricz, Executive Director and Founder of the Social Equity and Education (SEE) Alliance, are making headlines.

Moricz suggests that children protesting ICE is ‘required.’

Moricz stated, “Florida students are confronted with videos of ICE rates, of families being torn apart, and of Americans being murdered for using their constitutional rights. They respond. They organize, they speak out, and they do what American students have always done in moments of injustice.”

“They stand together and demand safety for their peers, their families, and themselves. And that response, while framed by some politicians as radical, is rather than reasonable.”

“It’s rational, and in a moment it is required.”

“To any students being told that they do not have the right to speak out or walk out on their campus, I want to be clear. This is the United States of America. You do not shed your First Amendment rights when you step foot through the school.”

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Florida Marijuana Campaign Asks Supreme Court To Restore 71,000 Legalization Ballot Signatures State Officials Tossed

The attorney general of Florida and several business and anti-marijuana groups are telling the state Supreme Court to block a cannabis legalization initiative, calling it “fatally flawed” and unconstitutional as advocates work against the clock to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

In a series of briefs submitted to the court on Friday, Attorney General James Uthmeier (R), Drug Free America Foundation, Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Legal Foundation, Associated Industries of Florida and a former judge made similar arguments contesting the initiative from Smart and Safe Florida.

The parties generally contend that the proposal is written in a way that’s affirmatively misleading, runs counter to federal law prohibiting cannabis and violates the state’s single subject rule for ballot initiatives.

The attorney general called the measure “fatally flawed,” arguing that it “misleads voters in a way designed to garner greater approval, is flatly invalid under the federal Constitution, and violates the single-subject requirement. The Court should therefore strike the proposed amendment from the ballot.”

Each of those reasons alone, the brief said, “warrants removal from the ballot.”

The attorney general’s office last month asked the state Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the legalization initiative. The court accepted the request and set a schedule for state officials and the cannabis campaign to file briefs this month. Proponents of the measure have until January 12 to submit response briefs, then the opposition has until January 20 to reply.

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University of Florida to stop ‘gender-affirming care’ for students

Laser hair removal and cross-sex hormones will no longer be provided to gender-confused students at the University of Florida starting this summer.

The student health center previously provided these services to gender-confused students to help them look like the opposite sex. However, the clinic cited federal and state policies in announcing its decision to cease offering the procedures effective May 1, according to the Alligator.

State data for 2018 to 2022 shows “over 700 patients underwent hormone replacement therapy, 90 received prescriptions for puberty blockers and 41 underwent gender-affirming surgery,” the student newspaper reported. However, this is across all University of Florida health centers, not just the student clinic.

A state law placing limits on both minors and adults receiving the drugs and surgeries is currently pending in the courts. The Supreme Court also upheld the rights of states to regulate the procedures for minors last summer. These procedures can include removing healthy reproductive organs or taking drugs that can lead to permanent infertility.

The pro-LGBT organization Equality Florida did not respond to two emails and a phone call in the past three weeks from The College Fix, asking for comment on the decision.

However, a critic of transgender ideology praised the decision in emailed comments to The Fix.

“Obviously, it’s a refreshingly sane decision, though they obviously made it for the wrong reasons – because of the state laws forcing them,” MassResistance President Brian Camenker told The Fix.

“But even just affirming that mental illness instead of treating it is destructive,” he said. “The whole idea of gender affirming care is medical quackery and clear malpractice.”

Camenker said gender-confused adults should be treated like others with a mental illness and he suggested there are underlying problems when someone says they are transgender.

“People need help healing from whatever traumas are behind this problem, and be given a pathway toward normalcy,” he said. “It should never involve the barbaric practice of hormones, puberty blockers, or medical procedures.”

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Cause of Death Revealed for Doctor Found Dead and Naked in Miami Dollar Tree Freezer

The cause of death for the woman who was found dead and naked inside a walk-in freezer in a Miami Dollar Tree store last year was revealed this week.

As previously reported, a female doctor was found dead in a Dollar Tree freezer in Miami in December.

32-year-old Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez was found deceased and naked inside the store’s walk-in freezer in Little Havana.

Sanchez reportedly entered the Dollar Tree the night before she was found. She made no purchases and was found in an area designated for employees only.

At the time, authorities said no foul play was suspected.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Sanchez died of environmental hypothermia, with ethanol use (alcohol) being a contributory cause.

“According to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death for 32-year-old Helen Massiell Garay Sanchez was environmental hypothermia, with ethanol use being a contributory cause,” NBC Miami reported.

“Her toxicology report showed that her ethanol levels were 0.112%. Ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages,” the outlet reported.

A medical expert said Sanchez may have taken her clothes off after she became confused and disoriented as the hypothermia set in.

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Florida spent $4 million in opiate settlement to defeat marijuana legalization

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration spent $4 million in cash from a national opiate crisis settlement to defeat a 2024 adult-use marijuana legalization initiative.

DeSantis officials never told the statewide advisory board – set up to determine how to spend that money – that it would go toward an anti-cannabis political campaign, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Sunday.

In all, Florida spent $35 million on television ads and other campaign efforts to defeat Amendment 3, an adult-use legalization constitutional amendment that also had an endorsement from Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, the Sentinel reported.

The measure had 56% voter support but needed 60% to pass.

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Florida Officials Miss Counting 54,000+ Signatures for Cannabis Legalization Petition

Florida election officials appear to have short-changed an adult-use cannabis legalization campaign by more than 54,000 valid signatures.

Local election officials from roughly half of Florida’s 67 counties validated more signatures for Smart & Safe Florida’s initiative petition than what state officials gave those counties credit for, according to a Cannabis Business Times analysis of Florida’s county supervisors of elections’ websites.

The state-versus-county discrepancies for valid signature tallies come after Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s office announced Feb. 1 that Smart & Safe Florida’s proposed constitutional amendment to allow those 21 and older to access cannabis failed to meet the signature requirements for placement on the 2026 General Election ballot.

According to the Florida Division of Elections’ website, Smart & Safe Florida filed 783,592 valid signatures ahead of the Feb. 1 deadline, coming 96,470 signatures short of the 880,062 needed to qualify for the ballot.

However, with the extra 54,000-plus signatures reported by local election officials and another 70,646 disqualified signatures being contested in court, Smart & Safe Florida could overcome that shortfall (more on the lawsuit below).

Smart & Safe Florida organizers challenged the state’s valid signature tally on Feb. 1, with a campaign spokesperson telling Florida Politics that the Division of Elections’ website doesn’t match what the 67 county supervisors of elections verified at the local level.

“We believe the declaration by the secretary of state is premature, as the final and complete county-by-county totals for validated petitions are not yet reported,” the spokesperson said. “We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot.”

The 67 county supervisors of elections’ websites now show that local officials validated more than 833,000 signatures and deemed roughly 900,000 invalid, meaning they reviewed more than 1.7 million signatures from Smart & Safe Florida.

At the time of Byrd’s Feb. 1 declaration that the campaign failed, some county supervisors of elections had yet to post signature tallies from their final week’s reporting periods.

Under Florida Statute Section 100.371(15), Byrd is responsible for “the purely ministerial duty of calculating the total number of verified signatures,” based on valid counts from the 67 supervisors of elections, Leon County Judge Jonathan E. Sjostrom ruled last month.

This prompted CBT’s 67-county analysis.

Nearly 48,000 of the 54,000 valid signatures from county websites that were not reflected in the state’s tally came from five counties: Broward, Seminole, Pinellas, Polk and Alachua.

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Florida Lawmakers Approve Bill To Punish Medical Marijuana Patients For Having Open Containers Of Cannabis In Cars

Citing statistics showing that impaired drivers contribute to more than 30 percent of fatalities on Florida roads, Jacksonville Republican Rep. Dean Black introduced legislation Thursday that would ban medical marijuana patients from possessing open containers of cannabis.

The prohibition would apply if they were driving or a passenger in a vehicle, with the penalty being the loss of their medical marijuana card after committing a third such violation.

The bill (HB 1003) would work the same way Florida law does now in banning driving with open containers of alcohol, Rep. Black told members of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Thursday.

“We are trying to make sure that we establish—like we did with alcohol—a taboo. It’s wrong. It has to stop,” he said.

Black cited an Ohio study published last fall showing that, over six years, 40% of drivers who died in motor vehicle collisions had tested positive for THC in their system—and said he had plenty of anecdotal evidence that this is also happening in Florida.

“I was in Tallahassee and watched two people who were in front of me at a light on Monroe Street, and they were passing a bong between the windows of their car,” he said, eliciting laughs from some lawmakers. “It’s ridiculous. It’s killing people.”

Among the concerns opponents expressed is that the bill says that a county or municipality “may” adopt an ordinance that imposes more stringent restrictions than simply the removal of one’s medical marijuana card.

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Florida plans to become first state to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates

Florida plans to become the first state to eliminate vaccine mandates, a longtime cornerstone of public health policy for keeping schoolchildren and adults safe from infectious diseases.

State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who announced the decision Wednesday, cast current requirements in schools and elsewhere as “immoral” intrusions on people’s rights that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.

“People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions,” Ladapo, who has frequently clashed with the medical establishment, said at a news conference in Valrico. “They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.”

Florida’s move, a significant departure from decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases, especially among schoolchildren, is a notable embrace of the Trump administration’s agenda led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist.

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Hillsborough Sheriff: Teen linked to extremist group threatened mass shooting, held child pornography

An investigation into a 14-year-old boy planning to conduct a mass shooting revealed his connection to a separate child pornography investigation, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said they received a tip that the teenager had access to weapons and was planning a mass shooting at a church near his Wimauma home.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Chad Chronister explained the teen discussed his plan for the shooting in an online chatroom designated for “violent extremists.” He described it as a neo-Nazi, satanic group called “Temple of Love.”

“This case is a dangerous intersection between individuals that engage in online activity and the real-life threat that it poses,” he said.

Through investigative means, detectives discovered the 14-year-old was possibly connected to an active HCSO child pornography investigation. 

After conducting a search warrant at his home, officials reported finding multiple firearms, ammunition and electronic devices with child sexual abuse material on them. 

The sheriff said the child pornographic material found was 14 pieces of “extremely graphic” images of people inflicting violence on infants and toddlers.

“Images too graphic to discuss because it would keep you up at night,” he said.

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A City Fined Her Over $100,000 for Parking on Her Own Grass. The Florida Supreme Court Won’t Hear Her Case.

What price should someone pay for three minor code violations?

For Sandy Martinez of Lantana, Florida, the answer is: over $165,000, plus interest, a sum so high that selling her house would be insufficient to pay off the debt, according to her complaint filed against the city in 2021. The Florida Supreme Court effectively closed the door on the case in December when it declined her appeal and left in place a decision that ruled the fines were not “excessive.” But Martinez’s little-known story is a microcosm of the broader debate over what, exactly, transgresses the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on fines that are unconstitutionally severe, especially as local governments are known to rely on such penalties to raise revenue.

Whether there is a disconnect between common sense and the law is open to interpretation. The bulk of her debt—over $100,000—comes from a parking job.

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