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Yahoo
16 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Facing extinction, rare Florida swamp flower could get more protections
One of Florida's rarest and most beloved swamp dwellers, the ghost orchid, could soon see increased protections under the federal Endangered Species Act. Citing the flower's growing risk of extinction, officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced a proposal to list the ghost orchid as an endangered species. The decision is being hailed by experts as a lifeline for the phantom flower after decades of poaching, dwindling wetlands and habitat loss have cut its Florida population in half and plummeted its chances of survival. Federal wildlife experts say there are fewer than 1,000 ghost orchids remaining in the United States, and less than half of those are old enough to reproduce. Globally, the ghost orchid's population has dropped by an estimated 90% in recent decades. 'The ghost orchid is Florida's most famous flower, and it deserves a chance to live,' said Melissa Abdo, the Sun Coast regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association. A true child of the swamp, the ghost orchid clings high up on ancient cypress trees and pond apples, blooming in the hushed humidity of midsummer. Its white, dangling petals, seemingly aloft in midair, are the reason for its ghoulish name. A proposed increase in ghost orchid protections comes more than three years after a coalition of environmental advocacy groups, including the parks association, the Center for Biological Diversity and The Institute for Regional Conservation, petitioned the feds to add the ghost orchid to the list of endangered species. Jaclyn Lopez, director of the St. Petersburg-based Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetson University's College of Law, helped file the petition in 2022. An endangered species listing imposes civil and criminal penalties under federal law for anyone who removes the flower from federal or state public lands, according to Lopez. The decision also requires federal wildlife officials to chart a course for its recovery. 'Once finalized, (the Endangered Species Act) listing will ensure a future where wild Florida is enriched and adorned by this beauty,' Lopez told the Tampa Bay Times in a statement. The ghost orchid is found in a small sliver of Florida swamplands, including in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. Other conservation and tribal lands in Collier, Hendry and possibly Lee counties are also home to the orchid, according to the nonprofit environmental groups. Western Cuba also has a population of ghost orchids, where they're also considered critically threatened, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wildlife officials aren't listing a specific critical habitat boundary for the flower, because they said it could increase the risk of poaching. In 2023, state wildlife officials said they caught people attempting to steal a ghost orchid from public swamplands. The flower's lore, and the thievery it draws, also inspired journalist Susan Orlean's 1998 nonfiction bestseller, "The Orchid Thief." The listing proposal was formally published in the federal register Thursday, beginning a 60-day public comment period ending in early August. The coalition of nonprofits that filed the initial petition underscored the importance of federal wildlife staff as the Trump administration has deteriorated habitat protections and laid off employees with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including in Florida. 'This is welcome news for Florida's famously cryptic ghost orchids,' Elise Bennett, the Florida and Caribbean director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote in a statement to the Times. But 'with incessant attacks on landmark environmental laws meant to stop species from going extinct, we know our job here isn't done.' The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida's most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here.
Miami Herald
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Group that got $5M from Hope Florida spent it without board knowing, chairman says
One of the nonprofits that received millions from a Medicaid settlement steered through a Hope Florida charity by the DeSantis administration took in and spent the money without the knowledge of its Board of Directors, the group's chairman wrote Wednesday in a resignation letter. James Holton said publicly for the first time in his letter that the board he served on at Save Our Society from Drugs was unaware that its executive director was passing $5 million through the organization and into a political committee fighting against a campaign to legalize recreational marijuana. He said he learned about it in the media. Holton also revealed for the first time that the executive director, Amy Ronshausen, had been suspended, a fact corroborated by Ronshausen in her own whistle blower complaint over what she claims was retaliation. Holton's resignation letter and Ronshausen's May 7 complaint were obtained by the Herald/Times on Thursday. The St. Petersburg-based organization is now considering reinstating Ronshausen, according to Holton's resignation letter. Neither Holton nor Ronshausen immediately responded to a request for comment. Ronshausen, who wrote that she was suspended with pay from her job on April 22, has maintained that she was coerced into sharing information about the Hope Florida Foundation grant with a Republican lawmaker who has been investigating how $10 million from a larger settlement with a Medicaid contractor was funneled through the Foundation to two nonprofits. Those nonprofits, Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida's Future, then donated millions to Keep Florida Clean, the anti-marijuana political committee led by Gov. Ron DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. The lawmaker investigating the issue, Republican state Rep. Alex Andrade, has said he uncovered a 'conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud.' It's illegal to divert federal money like Medicaid. It's also against IRS rules for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit like the Foundation to spend a significant portion of its money on political causes, as is being alleged. DeSantis and Uthmeier, now Florida's attorney general, have dismissed Andrade's allegations as a smear campaign. On Wednesday, first lady Casey DeSantis, who spearheaded the Hope Florida program, said she has been undeterred by 'slanderous, false accusations.' Ronshausen has said that Andrade has mischaracterized their conversation about the organization's grant from the Hope Florida Foundation to exaggerate Uthmeier's involvement in the movement of the money. Andrade says Ronshausen's accusation is untrue. She also alleged in her complaint to Holton that her suspension as executive director was part of a retaliation campaign for activities that included her communication with Andrade and her objections to hiring outside attorneys that had worked for one of Florida's medical marijuana dispensaries. In his letter, Holton objected to bringing back Ronshausen and said he was resigning from the board after consulting with his lawyer. He said he appreciated the board wanting to reinstate Ronshausen to put the matter behind them and to 'avoid the need for litigation,' an apparent nod to Ronshausen's complaint. 'I also believe it is just not prudent or good governance to reinstate Amy prior to the completion of a full forensic audit by a third-party auditor and completion of any possible investigation by law enforcement and the Florida House of Representatives,' Holton wrote. He added: 'Such a premature reinstatement, in my opinion, could subject SOS, the Board and all Board members individually to additional scrutiny by various governmental bodies and may expose individual Board members to personal liability.' Holton is an attorney based in Tampa. He has been appointed by governors to several public boards, including by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Southwest Florida Water Management District in 2023. Andrade told the Herald/Times that it is significant that Holton revealed that Save Our Society from Drugs' board was unaware of its role passing the money from the Hope Florida Foundation to the political committee that fought the marijuana amendment. A Hope Florida Foundation board meeting in April revealed that its own board members didn't know where the $10 million that passed through their organization came from or whether it was public money. Andrade told the Herald/Times there was no board vote on either $5 million grant proposal from Save Our Society from Drugs or Secure Florida's Future, a nonprofit controlled by the Florida Chamber of Commerce. 'The fact that these grants were kept from the SOS board the same way they were kept from the Foundation board further implicates the individuals who knew what was going on,' Andrade said in a text message. 'Who on earth would hide a $5,000,000 grant from the Governor's office from their own board?'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Teams revealed for Winter Garden stadium proposal
Editor's note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal. A Winter Garden-based company wants to bring professional men's and women's soccer to Winter Garden through a 5,000-seat stadium campus. Tan Bahia, CEO of Federal Finance, told Orlando Business Journal the organization is in talks with the St. Petersburg-based United Soccer League to have a men's team that would start at the USL League 1 level, a women's USL team and an academy system for youth players. Advertisement Read: Orlando community working to prevent sexual and domestic violence The company signed a letter of intent with the city of Winter Garden to start negotiations for 70 acres at 1500 and 1700 E. Plant St., owned by Winter Garden Property LLC and Strates Properties Ltd. Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journal's website. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Miami Herald
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Florida House ending Hope Florida investigation after witnesses decline to testify
House lawmakers are ending their probe into Gov. Ron DeSantis' Hope Florida Foundation without hearing testimony from the organization's lawyer or leaders of two groups that got $5 million grants from the charity. Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican who has been spearheading the investigation, said Thursday that he believed Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and the charity's lawyer, Jeff Aaron, committed criminal acts when they moved $10 million from a Medicaid overbilling settlement to the foundation. The foundation gave the money to two other nonprofits, which then gave $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by Uthmeier. But Andrade said his committee wouldn't be the ones to prosecute them. The legislative session is scheduled to end next week. 'While I'm firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions,' Andrade told lawmakers Thursday. 'I believe our work on this topic in this capacity as a subcommittee will be concluded,' he added. The $10 million came from the state Medicaid contractor Centene as part of a $67 million legal settlement for overbilling for prescription drugs. State officials 'directed' the company in September to donate the money to the Hope Florida Foundation. Over the next three weeks, the foundation board held a secret meeting to award $5 million of it to a 501(c)(4) overseen by Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Wilson, and the board's chairperson awarded another $5 million to St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society from Drugs. The groups don't have to disclose their donors. Both those groups then sent nearly all the money to a political committee overseen by Uthmeier, who was then the governor's chief of staff. The committee was created to defeat Amendment 3, the failed ballot initiative that tried to legalize recreational marijuana. Text messages showed Uthmeier told the leader of Save Our Society from Drugs, Amy Ronshausen, to apply for the money. 'There's no question that these were Medicaid funds steered by the governor's chief of staff through secret and clandestine actions to his own political committee,' Andrade told lawmakers Thursday. Andrade said earlier this month that he was going to issue a subpoena to Uthmeier, but backed off the threat the next day. He still has numerous requests for records, including text messages and call logs, outstanding with DeSantis' agencies. 'The Governor's office WANTS this to become a spectacle to distract from the real issues,' Andrade said in a text message afterward. 'I know what I need to know as a legislator, and it's up to the FBI and DOJ (Department of Justice) to care about fighting public corruption.' He added that 'next session I'll be working on policy fixes to address the obvious public corruption exhibited by James Uthmeier.' Wilson and Ronshausen said they would testify before Thursday's committee, but both backed out minutes before it began, Andrade said. Aaron initially said he could attend a hearing Friday, but he, too, backed out. Each cited legal or confidentiality issues. Aaron wrote Andrade that not all Hope Florida Foundation board members had waived their attorney-client privilege. Wilson wrote Andrade that further 'inquiry' into his organization's involvement in using the money to fight the legalization of recreational marijuana 'would infringe bedrock associational rights, undermining the organization and chilling its constitutionally protected conduct.' Ronshausen wrote she wanted to 'preserve all privileges on behalf' of her organization, 'legally or otherwise.' 'Doing so is even more necessary now as, the one time I was asked to speak 'off the record' with a member of this Committee, I was assured it would remain confidential,' Ronshausen said in her 7:47 a.m. email to Andrade. Andrade told reporters after the committee that the parent organization of Save Our Society From Drugs — Drug Free America — 'feels misled by Jeff Aaron and James Uthmeier.' 'They've activated their insurance policy. They're concerned about liability. They're taking steps to rectify that, and they've already provided some documents in response to our request for documents,' Andrade said. Andrade could convene a special committee to compel Ronshausen and Wilson to testify, but he said the record already showed the $10 million was funneled to Uthmeier's political committee to fight Amendment 3. He spent several minutes Thursday reciting the timeline of the scandal. 'I gave a summary just now that's pretty succinct and backed up by facts,' Andrade said. 'I'll leave the rest of the investigation up to the FBI and Department of Justice.' Rep. Debra Tendrich, a Lake Worth Democrat who serves on the committee, said she had hoped to ask basic questions about the money, such as who told Wilson to request the $5 million. Tendrich, who runs her own nonprofit, noted the grant was never advertised, and she said she wondered why Wilson's organization wrote on its grant application that it would 'not voluntarily disclose' that it received the money. Both are highly unusual for nonprofits. She said taxpayers deserved to have answers about what was done with the money. 'Not showing up, it implicates them that they had some wrongdoing in this,' Tendrich said.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers end Hope Florida charity probe without hearing from key players
TALLAHASSEE — House lawmakers are ending their probe into Gov. Ron DeSantis' Hope Florida Foundation without hearing testimony from the organization's lawyer or leaders of two groups that got $5 million grants from the charity. Rep. Alex Andrade, the Pensacola Republican who has been spearheading the investigation, said Thursday that he believed Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and the charity's lawyer, Jeff Aaron, committed criminal acts when they moved $10 million from a Medicaid overbilling settlement to the foundation. The foundation gave the money to two other nonprofits, who then gave $8.5 million to be spent on political advertising, Andrade said. But Andrade said his committee wouldn't be the ones to prosecute them. The legislative session is scheduled to end next week. 'While I'm firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions,' Andrade told lawmakers Thursday. 'I believe our work on this topic in this capacity as a subcommittee will be concluded,' he added. The $10 million came from the state Medicaid contractor Centene as part of a $67 million legal settlement for overbilling for prescription drugs. State officials 'directed' the company in September to donate to the Hope Florida Foundation. Over the next three weeks, the foundation board held a secret meeting to award $5 million of it to a 501(c)(4) overseen by Florida Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Wilson, and the board's chairperson awarded another $5 million to St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society from Drugs. Both those groups then sent nearly all the money to a political committee overseen by Uthmeier, who was then the governor's chief of staff. Text messages showed Uthmeier told the leader of Save Our Society from Drugs, Amy Ronshausen, to apply for the money. 'There's no question that these were Medicaid funds steered by the governor's chief of staff through secret and clandestine actions to his own political committee,' Andrade told lawmakers Thursday. Andrade said earlier this month that he was going to issue a subpoena to Uthmeier, but backed off the threat the next day. He still has numerous requests for records, including text messages and call logs, outstanding with DeSantis' agencies. 'The Governor's office WANTS this to become a spectacle to distract from the real issues,' Andrade said in a text message afterward. 'I know what I need to know as a legislator, and it's up to the FBI and DOJ (Department of Justice) to care about fighting public corruption.' Wilson and Ronshausen were invited to testify before Thursday's committee, but both backed out minutes before it began, Andrade said. Aaron initially said he could attend a hearing Friday, but he, too, backed out. 'I will note to any member of the Florida Chamber of Commerce that it does appear from everything indicated by Mr. Wilson, they were complicit and had full knowledge of what they were doing in the misuse of these Medicaid funds,' Andrade said. 'I would be extremely concerned as the Florida Chamber of Commerce.' This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
