Latest news with #FloridaChannel
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DeSantis says he'll sign bill banning fluoride from public drinking water
Florida Channel screenshot of Gov. Ron DeSantis in Miami on May 6, 2025. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised legislation Tuesday (SB 700) that would make Florida the second state in the country to ban fluoride from its water supply. He hasn't actually signed the legislation yet but promised to while in Miami, just hours after the Miami-Dade County Commission voted to override Mayor Daniela Levine-Cava's veto of an ordinance banning fluoride in drinking water. 'It's forced medication when they're jamming fluoride into your water supply, and they did it because you have fluoride [and] 'it will help with dental.' And I'm not saying that's not true, but we have other ways where people can get access to fluoride,' DeSantis said. 'When you do this in the water supply, you're taking away a choice of someone who may not want to have overexposure to fluoride.' The bill itself never mentions the word 'fluoride.' Instead, it bans 'the use of any additive in a public water system which does not meet the definition of a water quality additive' as defined in statute. Joining DeSantis at the press conference were Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Dr. Joseph Ladapo, Florida's surgeon general, who issued a recommendation in November against community water fluoridation due to what he called the 'neuropsychiatric risk.' Since then, more than a dozen local governments in Florida have banned fluoride in their public water drinking systems. Ladapo compared health care professionals still opposed to removing fluoride from the drinking water supply to the comic strip character Linus with his blanket. 'We have doctors, dentists, public health leaders who are holding on to fluoridation like that blanket,' he said. 'I mean, it doesn't matter what the evidence shows, right? Whatever the studies show about potential harms to children and pregnant women and who knows about the rest of us. They're just holding on to it. That's okay when you're a kid, but we're grownups here. We're adults, we're responsible for the lives of other people who have to make good decisions.' The Florida Dental Association said that members were 'disappointed' in the decision to end what they said was one of the most 'effective, safe and affordable protections against tooth decay.' 'The Florida Dental Association strongly reinforces that fluoridation is a naturally occurring mineral, not a medication, that is already present in the water in many parts of the country, including Florida,' said Dr. Jeff Ottley, the president of the group. 'Water fluoridation has been researched for more than 80 years, and overwhelming, credible scientific evidence consistently indicates that fluoridation of community water supplies is safe and effective at preventing and repairing tooth decay.' The fluoride provision was just one part of the Florida farm bill pushed by the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Simpson said he looked forward to discussing the many other parts of the legislation that aids the agriculture community in the state but that 'today we announce that drinking water will hydrate, not medicate.' There are similar moves afoot on the national level. U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month to reconvene an independent panel of health experts to examine the role that fluoride plays in water sources and whether it is detrimental to public health. Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in drinking water in late March. That measure will go into effect on Wednesday. Also joining the governor was Miami-Dade Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia, sponsor of the recently passed bill (SB 56) on geoengineering and water modification activities. The measure would make unapproved cloud seeding and similar activities third-degree felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines up to $100,000. Again, DeSantis has yet to receive the bill but promised to sign it. 'We are sending a powerful message to the nation and the world that we prioritize our environment and the right of our citizens to clean, unmanipulated skies,' said Garcia. 'We are setting an example of responsible governance, demonstrating that we will not allow unchecked experimentation with our atmosphere.' During an earlier committee stop, Garcia acknowledged 'a lot of skepticism' about the proposal in light of conspiracy theories about 'chemtrails.' She said her intention was to 'try to separate fact from fiction and to start to create a methodology where people feel comfortable by confirming what it is that they're seeing, creating a system to log, track, investigate if necessary.' Marla Maples, former wife of President Donald Trump, testified in support of the proposal at its first committee hearing earlier this year and attended Tuesday's event. The bill prohibits the 'injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.' DeSantis said that while no such geoengineering is taking place in Florida, the law is needed because of climate change advocates who want to attempt to 'solve global warming by putting stuff into the atmosphere.' Similar proposals have been heard in other state legislatures this year, including in Arizona and Utah. Tennessee passed such a measure last year. Once they are signed by the governor, both bills would go into effect on July 1. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal appellate court OKs injunction on 2023 law banning children at drag shows
Rep. Randy Fine introduces HB 1423, the companion to SB 1438, while several drag queens sit behind him. Credit: Screenshot/Florida Channel A federal appellate court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of a 2023 Florida law designed to protect children from drag shows. Writing for a 2-1 majority, Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum upheld the statewide injunction, opining that laws that restrict free speech 'demand specificity' but that the underlying law was vague. 'Requiring clarity in speech regulations shields us from the whims of government censors. And the need for clarity is especially strong when the government takes the legally potent step of labeling speech 'obscene,' she wrote. 'An 'I know it when I see it' test would unconstitutionally empower those who would limit speech to arbitrarily enforce the law. But the First Amendment empowers speakers instead.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Hamburger Mary's was an Orlando restaurant and bar that hosted drag shows including 'family friendly' performances to which children were invited. Its parent company filed the underlying lawsuit against the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis from enforcing the law. The business closed its Orlando location in June and is seeking to reopen in Kissimmee. The 2023 law threatened fines, loss of operating licenses, and criminal penalties against any venues that expose any 'child' to 'lewd' performances, even if the child has parental consent. Hamburger Mary's argued it had to engage in self-censorship and consequently was losing business despite 15 years of trouble-free performances. Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat issued a lengthy dissenting opinion. 'In litigation generally, and in constitutional litigation most prominently, courts in the United States characteristically pause to ask: Is this conflict really necessary?' he wrote. 'Here, the Majority fails to ask this question and, by skipping it, puts the First Amendment on a collision course with core principles of federalism and judicial restraint. Because this conflict was entirely avoidable, I respectfully dissent.' Tjoflat took aim at the appellate court for its earlier ruling, in October 2023, upholding what he described as a 'sweeping injunction' that prevented 'yet another run-of-the-mill obscenity statute' from taking effect. 'On appeal of the injunction, we had two good options: we could apply ordinary tools of statutory construction to read the statute narrowly and avoid unnecessary constitutional conflict, or we could certify the unsettled state-law questions to the Florida Supreme Court, allowing the state's highest court to speak first,' he wrote. ' … Instead, the Majority chooses a third, unwarranted path: it reads the statute in the broadest possible way, maximizes constitutional conflict, and strikes the law down wholesale.' The state asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction while it appealed the underlying merits of Hamburger Mary's challenge. In a November 2023 6-3 ruling the Supreme Court refused, with justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissenting. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Florida Senate outraged over House dig at senator's mental health facility plan
Sen. Darryl Rouson . (Screenshot/Florida Channel) A Florida House amendment that killed plans for a substance abuse and mental health research center at the University of South Florida to be named after Tampa Bay Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson infuriated both Democratic and Republican senators Wednesday. Even Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier used the episode to launch another attack on the House. The legislation (SB 1620), which has passed both chambers in some form now, would make a raft of changes to Florida's Mental Health Act. The original bill included a Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Research at USF's Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute. The center would have conducted statewide behavioral health research, promote evidence-based practices, and improved workforce development. An amendment added by Pinellas County Republican Ed Hooper would have named the facility the 'Rouson Center,' after Rouson, who has battled drug and alcohol addiction in his past and had sponsored the measure in the Senate. However, an amendment sponsored by Broward County Democrat Christine Hunschofsky and passed by the House on Tuesday deleted the facility — Rouson's name and all. So when the bill came back to the Senate on Wednesday, Rouson told his colleagues that while he was disappointed about that development, they should still go ahead and pass the measure. 'The establishment of this center means a great deal to those who believe in advancing mental health care with evidence-based compassion,' Rouson told his colleagues. 'Unfortunately, the House didn't see it our way, and for me, it is more important that the work continue, that the work of the commission be honored.' He referred to the Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder. Some senators said that out of respect to Rouson they would still vote for the bill. But others insisted they would not. 'It's not right, it's not fair, it's not appropriate, and it really isn't acceptable,' Tampa Bay-area Republican Jim Boyd said. 'I promise you we will make this right.' 'I'm just glad that in a year-and-a-half we'll have another speaker who will hopefully support the naming of the program after you,' Naples GOP Sen. Kathleen Passidomo said, referring to House Speaker Daniel Perez. GOP Sens. Jay Collins and Blaise Ingoglia both called the House move 'a travesty.' 'I am angry beyond words,' said Ingoglia. 'It hurts. It hurts because I'm somebody in recovery,' said Democratic Sen. Rosalind Osgood, who said she would oppose the measure. The dispute took place just two days before the 60-day legislative session was scheduled to end, but, with the sides still divided on a budget and tax reductions, the session will have to be extended or the Legislature come back before the budget would take effect on July 1 Shortly after the vote, Gov. DeSantis, who has been battling the House for the past month on various issues, including taxes, weighed in, responding on X, 'The Florida House of Pettiness in all its glory…' 'Senator @darrylrouson is a class act,' added Attorney General James Uthmeier on X. The budget fight involves Perez's insistence on lowering the sales tax to the tune of around $5 billion. Senate President Ben Albritton is worried about what happens if a recession hits. According to the original legislation, the purpose of the center was to conduct 'rigorous and relevant research intended to develop knowledge and practice in prevention and intervention for substance abuse and mental health issues, to serve the people and economy in this state in reducing the gap between population needs and the availability of effective treatments and other interventions to improve the capacity of the state to have healthy, resilient communities prevailing over substance abuse, addiction, and mental health challenges.' The Senate opted to temporarily postpone action on the legislation. They have just two days to decide on whether they want to approve it. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amendment to compensation law for wrongfully incarcerated goes to DeSantis
Florida Channel screenshot of Tampa Bay Republican Rep. Traci Koster on the House floor on April 29, 2025. The Florida Legislature is sending Gov. Ron DeSantis a bill that would remove the barrier that has kept dozens of wrongfully incarcerated people from receiving the financial compensation that they were entitled to over the past two decades. That's because, after several unsuccessful attempts, the House on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure (SB 130) amending a 2008 state law that was designed to provide financial compensation for individuals wrongfully convicted of a crime. The measure previously passed unanimously in the Senate as well. That 2008 legislation called for eligible exonerees to receive $50,000 for each year they were wrongfully incarcerated, capped at $2 million. However, since its passage, only a handful of exonerees have actually received such compensation, due to a 'clean hands' provision barring compensation for people with earlier, unrelated, felonies — the only such restriction of its type in the country. 'Since almost 20 years ago enacting our wrongful incarceration compensation statute, we have 19 exonerees in our state who have lost over 306 years of their freedom, because we as the state of Florida put them in prison,' said Tampa Bay Republican Rep. Traci Koster, who has sponsored this same bill ever since she was elected to the House in 2020. Koster's bill (sponsored in the Senate by Northeast Florida Republican Jennifer Bradley) would remove that clean-hands provision. It would extend the filing deadline for those who have been exonerated from 90 days to two years, and allow a wrongfully incarcerated person both to bring a civil lawsuit and file for compensation under the 2008 law. However, a claimant would have to repay the state if he or she receives monetary awards both through a compensation claim and a civil lawsuit. In presenting the bill, Koster said she believes Florida had one of the strongest criminal justice systems 'in the world.' 'But just because we have one of the best systems in the world, doesn't mean it's perfect,' she added. 'And even the best sometimes don't get it right.' In making a moral case for the legislation, Volusia County Republican Webster Barnaby cited the case of Joseph in the Bible and former South African President Nelson Mandela as individuals wrongfully incarcerated. 'There are people are wrongfully incarcerated,' he said. 'And it's our job as legislators to be truthful for those poor victims, because that's what they are, victims, who were wrongfully incarcerated. It's important for us to see people as people.' 'I've been here seven years and I've watched people come trying to get compensation, and it's been a very, very difficult task,' said Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart. 'When we incarcerate somebody for 35 or 40 years of their life, there is no compensation that can compensate for the time that they have spent for being incarcerated.' Since 1989, 91 people in Florida have been exonerated or released from incarceration as a result of post-conviction DNA testing, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. That includes Robert DuBoise, who served 37 years on rape and murder charges but was exonerated in 2020 by the Conviction Review Unit of the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office after DNA evidence testing excluded him as the perpetrator. However, the clean-hands provision of state law precluded him from being eligible for compensation because of two nonviolent property felony crimes which resulted in probation when he was a teenager. He ended up suing the city of Tampa in federal court in 2021 and, ultimately, the city council approved a $14 million settlement for him in 2024. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House abruptly drops its Hope Florida investigation for the session
Florida Channel screenshot of Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking in St. Augustine on April 23, 2025. A high-profile inquiry by the Florida House into a charity associated with an initiative started by First Lady Casey DeSantis has abruptly come to an end, at least for now. The investigation concerned a $10 million 'donation' to the Hope Florida Foundation from health care giant Centene, but a top Republican said the chamber had learned enough to inform policy decisions the body needs to make during the regular legislative session. The decision came after a trio of people Andrade asked to appear before the committee on Thursday refused to show — which he attributed to fear, given the stakes. '$10 millions is a lot of money in the real world, right? If someone defrauded the state or a charity out of $10 million, they would go to prison,' he said. The Hope Florida Foundation is a direct-service organization that helps serve the Hope Florida program, which aims to remove people from Medicaid and food assistance by connecting them with 'navigators' in state agencies who work with faith-based communities and other private sector efforts to transition people to financial security. Andrade, chairman of the House Health Care Budget Committee, said the House did not intend to subpoena anyone or force delivery of requested information. 'Everyone and their mother knows what happened,' he told reporters. He criticized Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was chief of staff for Gov. Ron DeSantis at the time the foundation got the money that it subsequently sent to two political committees that then made substantial donations to a third committee battling a citizens' to legalize marijuana. Uthmeier controlled the third committee, Keep Florida Clean. The transactions were first reported by the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald. 'I'm a legislator making policy decisions, and I'm comfortable making the policy decisions based on the fact that James Uthmeier was involved, transferred this money illicitly, misled people and lied to people in the process, harmed several people in their jobs in the process, caused innumerable harm to several people, and that harm is not fully realized yet.' Another Hope Florida Foundation resignation Hope Florida Foundation meeting includes warning on tax status Don Gaetz: Senate won't confirm two of DeSantis's top health care secretaries Andrade had invited Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and chair of Secure Florida's Future; Amy Ronshausen, executive director of Save Our Society From Drugs; and Tallahassee attorney and Hope Florida Foundation legal counsel Jeff Aaron to appear at the meeting but none showed. Ten million dollars is a lot of money in the real world, right? If someone defrauded the state or a charity out of $10 million they would go to prison. – Rep. Alex Andrade The $10 million came from health care giant Centene in settlement of a legal dispute over overpayments of Medicaid pharmacy benefits. It was part of a larger $67 million settlement with the state in September 2024. Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris insisted that the $10 million wasn't taxpayer money, but rather a donation in addition to the settlement payment, and so have other DeSantis officials. Appearing at a press conference at a church in St. Augustine, DeSantis didn't comment on the dropped investigation. Instead, he and First Lady Casey DeSantis touted the Hope Florida program once again, asserting that it has helped more than 30,000 Floridians reduce or completely eliminate their reliance on public assistance. They asserted that the program would save taxpayers 'over $100 million a year.' They have provided no documentation proving that, however. Casey DeSantis spoke extensively about the work done by Hope Florida, including with the faith-based community. 'What we are doing is good,' she said. 'What we are doing is just. Sometimes you have to put on the full armor of God and you fight, because you know what you're doing is righteous.' Her only direct reference to the growing controversy was to say, 'No matter what is written, don't ever let politics get in the way of purpose.' When asked by a reporter to comment about whether the $10 million came from Medicaid dollars, the governor said that documents released earlier this week by the the Florida AHCA 'totally debunks the bogus media narratives that were out there.' 'Why are they doing narrative?' he asked he said of news organizations. 'They're not doing it because they really care about that,' he said. 'They're doing it to try to impugn Hope Florida. They're trying to smear this program. They don't like working with the faith based community.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
