Tag: florida

Florida GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Ban Public Marijuana Smoking As Campaign Works To Put Legalization On 2026 Ballot

A pro-legalization Florida lawmaker has filed a bill to amend state law to codify that the public use of marijuana is prohibited.

Rep. Alex Andrade (R)—who has voiced support for removing cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and earned an “A” grade from NORML—introduced the public smoking and vaping legislation on Thursday.

Under the proposal, state statute on the use of tobacco in public would be revised to incorporate cannabis, making it unlawful to smoke or vape in any public space.

A public space would be defined as place “to which the public has access, including, but not limited to, streets; sidewalks; highways; public parks; public beaches; and the common areas, both inside and outside, of schools, hospitals, government buildings, apartment buildings, office buildings, lodging establishments, restaurants, transportation facilities, and retail shops.”

The legislation specifies that the prohibition on public smoking “does not apply to the smoking of unfiltered cigars.”

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Florida Wins Court Battle on Law Limiting Homes, Land Purchases by Chinese Citizens

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Florida can restrict home and land purchases by Chinese citizens, dismissing claims that the 2023 law is discriminatory.

It comes after a court dismissed a challenge to a similar law in Texas that restricts the ownership of properties by Chinese individuals or entities.

The 2–1 ruling by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Florida to enforce SB 264, or the Interests of Foreign Countries Act, which bans individuals who are domiciled in China from buying property in the state unless they already owned all or part of a property before July 1, 2023.

The ruling could also encourage other states to adopt so-called alien land laws, which were once common but fell out of favor a century ago.

The court said the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the law’s purchasing restriction because they failed to show an imminent injury.

According to court documents, three of the individual plaintiffs are domiciled in Florida, and the fourth, who’s “at least arguably domiciled in China,” already has a home in Florida and has no plans to buy another. The last plaintiff, a real estate brokerage firm primarily serving Chinese and Chinese American clients, also failed to establish an imminent injury, circuit judges said.

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‘Most prolific pedophile priest.’ New suit resurfaces notorious Florida case

A new lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami has revived a notorious case involving a former Catholic priest convicted of a string of sex offenses more than a decade ago.

The most recent lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in June, is only the latest accusing the Catholic Church of failing to protect multiple underage boys from Neil Doherty, a serial sexual abuser who was employed by the archdiocese as a priest from 1969 until 2002, when he was removed.

“He is probably the most prolific pedophile priest in U.S. history. He sexually abused, we think, thousands of kids over the course of about 40 years,” said Daniel Ellis, senior lead attorney at Herman Law, the firm representing a victim identified only as John Doe 8 to protect his privacy.

According to the lawsuit, Doherty groomed and raped the victim around 1995, when he was around 16 years old. The alleged abuse happened multiple times in Doherty’s residence in the mid-1990s.

The lawsuit comes decades after the abuse took place and after Doherty was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in Florida prison in 2013.

At least four other civil lawsuits naming seven plaintiffs (John Doe 1-7) have been filed against the archdiocese in the past five years, naming Doherty as the primary abuser and seeking “compensatory damages” for the years of inflicted “emotional distress.” The more recent cases against Doherty appear to have been settled, though the law firm would not discuss details of those settlements.

In 2006, the Miami Herald reported that the church settled six civil suits, including two against Doherty, for $750,000.

In a statement to the Miami Herald, the archdiocese said it is “in the process of responding to a lawsuit involving allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by a former priest that occurred over twenty-nine years ago.”

“As always, the Catholic Church’s concerns are for the victims and a prevailing sense of justice and healing,” the statement said.

The archdiocese said that Doherty was “permanently removed from active ministry within the Archdiocese and the universal Catholic Church in April 2002,” and since the disgraced and defrocked priest has been named in multiple lawsuits.

“As is the Archdiocese’s practice, any allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest is immediately reported to the appropriate State Attorney’s Office in Monroe, Miami-Dade, or Broward County,” the statement said.

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Florida Man Arrested for Demanding Violence and Posting Death Threats Against ICE Agents on Liberal Social Media App BlueSky

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in Fort Myers, Florida, have arrested a deranged individual who spewed repeated death threats against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on social media.

Joseph Giancola, posting under the pseudonym “Cain Delon” on Bluesky, unleashed a barrage of violent rhetoric, including calls to “Shoot the ICE Nazis down like the rabid dogs they are,” “Just get a gun and shoot the ICE Nazis down,” and “Shoot those ice thugs dead.”

Giancola’s catfishing profile featured a fake image of a blonde, blue-eyed young man.

“They come near me, and I shoot to kill. Be warned,” Giancola wrote in another post.

These threats, made over several months, likened ICE officials to Nazis and urged others to arm themselves and kill.

According to a press release from DHS, “ICE officers are now facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults and an 8,000% increase in death threats against them.”

“For months, the Department of Homeland Security has warned politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement,” the press release continued.

“Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons, and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, America’s ICE and CBP agents are hardworking men and women who have families and are real people. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”

Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Giancola will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“This cowardly individual made repeated disgusting death threats against ICE law enforcement officers. He is now in federal custody and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin continued, “Our ICE law enforcement officers are now facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members. From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families. Threaten violence or death to our law enforcement? You’ll end up behind bars like this guy.”

Giancola is now in federal custody as HSI continues its crackdown on those endangering federal law enforcement.

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Florida Officials Are Revoking Medical Marijuana IDs From Patients And Caregivers With Drug Convictions Under Law Signed By DeSantis

Florida medical marijuana officials are actively revoking the registrations of patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal records.

The policy is part of broad budget legislation signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The provisions in question direct the state Department of Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest to—criminal drug charges.

The measure says a patient or caregiver will have their registration immediately suspended upon being charged with a covered state drug crime, and the suspension will remain in place until the criminal case reaches a final disposition. DOH officials have authority to reinstate the registration, revoke it entirely or extend the suspension if needed.

Bobbie Smith, director of the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU), told lawmakers on Wednesday that regulators are already banning people from the medical cannabis program under the new policy.

OMMU has “identified 20 individuals that meet the new requirement for revocation, and there’s roughly 140 that we’re still monitoring as they wait make their way through the criminal justice system,” she said at a hearing of the House Health Professions & Programs Subcommittee in comments first reported by Florida Politics.

Under the law, authorities are required to revoke a person’s registration if the patient or caregiver “was convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendre to, regardless of adjudication, a violation [of state drug law] if such violation was for trafficking in, the sale, manufacture, or delivery of, or possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver a controlled substance.”

The enacted version of the legislation focuses specifically on production and distribution. It does not contain an earlier restriction from prior versions that would have also revoked registrations for people who merely purchased illegal drugs, including more than 10 grams of marijuana for their own use.

It also clarifies that patients and caregivers have a process to request their registrations be reinstated. That involves submitting a new application “accompanied by a notarized attestation by the applicant that he or she has completed all the terms of incarceration, probation, community control, or supervision related to the offense.”

It’s not clear from the plain language of the revised bill whether it will impact only future criminal cases involving medical marijuana patients and caregivers or whether DOH would need to review the records of existing program registrants and revoke registrations of an untold number of Floridians with past drug convictions.

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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier Files Supreme Court Lawsuit Against Gavin Newsom and California Over “Sanctuary” Policies for Illegal Aliens

Florida is taking the fight straight to the top.

Attorney General James Uthmeier announced late Wednesday night that Florida has filed a landmark lawsuit against California in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that Governor Gavin Newsom’s “sanctuary” state policies are putting American lives at risk and violating the Constitution.

“Tonight, we filed a lawsuit against Gavin Newsom and California in the U.S. Supreme Court because their so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies for illegal aliens are harming states like Florida,” Uthmeier announced.

“California must pay for the carnage of their open border policies and unlawful CDL programs.”

The lawsuit comes after a deadly crash in Florida involving an illegal immigrant from India, identified as Harjinder Singh, who had obtained a commercial driver’s license (CDL) from California and later Washington State despite being unable to read road signs or speak English.

The crash killed three Haitian nationals living legally in the U.S. under temporary protected status.

It was revealed that Singh received a work permit from the Biden regime in June 2021 after the Trump administration denied him one in September 2020.

While he illegally crossed in 2018, it was Biden who gave him permission to live and work in the United States, and it was California that illegally granted him a driver’s license.

As Fox News’ Sean Hannity reminded viewers Wednesday night, the illegal driver “was only behind the wheel because California gives out regular driver’s licenses  even commercial ones to illegals.”

Once an illegal immigrant secures a standard license, upgrading to a CDL becomes easy, despite federal law requiring English proficiency and road safety knowledge.

In the wake of the tragedy, the Department of Transportation, under Sean Duffy, announced it will withhold $40 million in federal grant money from California for failing to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers.

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Grand Jury reportedly meeting this week in Hope Florida investigation

Florida’s Hope Florida program, once celebrated by the governor and First Lady as a compassionate outreach effort, is now under a grand jury’s microscope. Prosecutors in the capital are reportedly meeting this week to decide whether criminal charges are warranted in a growing scandal that’s shaken the state’s political establishment.

The proceedings are happening behind closed doors inside Leon County’s 2nd Judicial Circuit courthouse, where prosecutors are taking evidence in the Hope Florida investigation.

At issue: whether anyone broke the law after $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement moved through the Hope Florida Foundation to other nonprofits, and then to a political committee once controlled by now–Attorney General James Uthmeier. That committee later helped defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana.

State Attorney Jack Campbell, who is overseeing the process, declined to provide details.

“No, there’s no comment on that at all. Everything that the grand jury does is, in fact, confidential,” Campbell said when asked about the case last week.

Legal experts say the secrecy is standard procedure. Mario Gallucci of the Gallucci Law Firm is a former New York assistant district attorney and was a principal attorney in its major felony unit. He said these proceedings can take weeks to complete.

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DeSantis Admits Marijuana Legalization Is Popular With Florida Voters Even Though He Opposes It

The Republican governor of Florida is conceding that “more people probably agreed” with a marijuana legalization ballot initiative he helped defeat last year than sided with his prohibitionist viewpoint—but he argued that it was the “morally right” choice for him to intervene to prevent the sale of “dangerous stuff” in his state.

At an event hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute on Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) talked about his administration’s uphill work to dissuade voters from approving both the cannabis measure as well as a separate reproductive rights initiative during the November 2024. While both initiatives received majority support from voters, they failed to meet the state’s high 60 percent threshold required to enact constitutional amendments.

In the speech, DeSantis claimed that the marijuana proposal, Amendment 3, wouldn’t just have legalized cannabis but also made it a “constitutional right to possess and smoke it, including in public,” while giving one company in particular “a lot of benefits,” seemingly referring to the Smart and Safe Florida campaign’s largest financier Trulieve.

“Somehow you got people that are going to spend a lot of money to basically make us California through the back door with these initiatives and these amendments,” DeSantis said. “The marijuana people spent $150 million on this. The abortion people spent $130 million. So we had to contend with $280 million of spending on very misleading language—and, let’s just be honest, they were pushing issues in which probably more people agreed with them than agreed with me or agreed with us.”

“Marijuana was somewhat popular,” the governor said in comments first reported by Florida Politics. “I didn’t do it to be popular. I did it because it was the right thing to do. So we were having to deal with navigating all this.”

Despite raising money to finance ads opposing the cannabis measure, DeSantis said governors don’t officially “have a role in these amendments.” He faulted “special interest” parties and the state Supreme Court approval of the initiative language that he described as a “mistake.”

“I mean, most people that get elected in my positions like mine, all their advisors say, ‘stay away from this. There’s nothing for you to gain by getting involved in this. All you’re going to do is alienate supporters,’” he said. “And that may be true, but that also wouldn’t be the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be the morally right thing to do. So I was in a position. I had this platform as governor. I had a megaphone. There were things being proposed that would be harmful for my state.”

“In terms of the marijuana, I mean, you can’t function as a state if you smell marijuana everywhere—if these kids are doing it,” DeSantis said. “And this isn’t the marijuana they had in Woodstock. This is really, really dangerous stuff, so it would have been terrible for Florida.”

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Defamatory Newspaper Reporting Against Miami Couple Costs the City a $10M Sports Park Gifted To The Community

Leila and David Centner, from Miami, are in the middle of a legal battle that if won, will hold the mainstream and legacy media accountable for lies, defamation and leaving a city devoid of a true gift.

The Centners are entrepreneurs and philanthropists committed to creating lasting impact. Together, they have contributed millions to charitable initiatives locally and globally, with a strong focus on empowering underserved women and children through sustainable programs in education, housing and job training. Their philanthropic and business efforts are guided by a shared mission; to uplift communities and enhance lives. Today the Centners oversee a diverse portfolio of ventures across sectors including education, hospitality, technology, health and wellness, fitness and retreats.

In September of this year, the Centners filed a defamation lawsuit against The Miami Herald. Before 2020, the Centners had been a celebrated couple for their philanthropic and charitable efforts not only in Miami but abroad. In fact, they had been celebrated by the media as “Miami’s Most Philanthropic Power Couple.” So how did this lawsuit come to be, you might ask?

The Centners allege that The Miami Herald and several of their reporters intentionally misrepresented the facts of a proposed $10 Million donation to the City of Miami for a Sports Park that would benefit the residents and visitors of the city.

In 2018, shortly after Leila and David moved their family to Miami, they co-founded  Centner Academy, a school dedicated to the cultivation of emotional development and the overall well-being of the children. With seasoned teachers and an innovative curriculum that provides a strengths-based approach, the pre-school through high school students are also sent on a learning journey of the arts, mindfulness, entrepreneurship, languages, artificial intelligence, public speaking, and they also offer a robust STEM program.

Leila has been working as the CEO of the Academy, which opened its doors in 2019. Since its opening, the Academy has given out millions of dollars in scholarships and has received numerous awards and accolades as well as being globally recognized for its innovative curriculum.

The Academy had been reserving a neglected city park across the street for recreational sports events during the school year called Biscayne Park due to the proximity to the school. For decades the community had been concerned about the safety of the park, and the Centners also shared those concerns for potential risks to the students and others.

The Centners saw an opportunity to help by offering to revitalize the land into a $10M state-of-the-art recreational facility that would benefit the entire community. This would be a gift of love for David as he wanted to give back to the city that he was raised in, loved and shaped him to the man he is today.

In November of 2022, after addressing all concerns of the community and city commissioners, two agreements were drafted and signed to move forward with the project. The Donation Agreement made clear that the Centners sought to “donate” a “state of the art recreational facility worth no less than ten million dollars” in Biscayne Park, “for the benefit of the city, it’s residents and visitors.” While the License Agreement ensured that the Centner Academy could continue to reserve the park during school hours, the school’s use should be staggered resulting in continuous public access and use of unreserved program areas.

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Convicted Killer Who Was Released 13 YEARS EARLY After Murdering 6-Year-Old Boy ARRESTED Again in Florida Just One Week After Release

A man who murdered a 6-year-old boy was released from prison far ahead of schedule, only to be arrested again in Florida just one week after his release.

The convicted killer, Ronald Exantus, had been serving a 20-year sentence in Kentucky for the 2015 home invasion and slaying of 6-year-old Logan Tipton.

In that brutal and heartbreaking crime, Exantus forced entry into the family’s home, stabbed the child repeatedly while he slept, and also wounded other family members, WKYT reported.

The jury, however, found him not guilty by reason of insanity on the murder charge, and instead convicted him of assault and related charges.

Exantus was granted parole and released after serving only eight years, less than half of his original sentence.

WKYT reported that the Kentucky Department of Corrections overrode the parole board’s recommendation to keep him incarcerated.

The Tipton family was unsurprisingly outraged by both the release and the arrest. Logan’s mother called the decision “a slap in the face,” while his father declared that he would not rest if he ever encountered Exantus again.

Karoline Leavitt wrote on X, “I can confirm the White House is looking into this. It’s wholly unacceptable for a child killer to walk free after just several years in prison.”

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