Latest news with #SuncoastSearchlight
Miami Herald
20-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
How budget cuts could harm Florida's fishing economy, threaten red tide research
Sweeping cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could imperil Florida's multibillion-dollar fishing industry and coastal economy, industry leaders and scientists warn — a dire prospect for a region built on tourism, seafood and the health of its waters. Beyond running the national weather monitoring and alert systems — its most visible role — NOAA also works to prevent overfishing, monitor the coastal environment and support local ocean research. For Florida's Gulf Coast, that means researching red tide, addressing habitat loss and restoring overfished species. Since 2020 alone, NOAA has supported these efforts with more than $35 million in grants and contracts for Suncoast governments and nonprofits, including Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota. But after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, more than 2,000 employees have left NOAA as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency makes its way through the agency, sources with knowledge of the matter told Suncoast Searchlight. More from Suncoast Searchlight: Sign up for the weekly newsletter Steep funding cuts soon could follow. The White House this month recommended slashing NOAA's budget by more than $1.5 billion, with a special focus on 'climate-dominated research, data and grant programs.' And a leaked memo outlines a host of goals to further reduce the agency's work: It seeks to halve the budget for NOAA's National Ocean Service line office, which oversees coastal conservation; close its Oceanic and Atmospheric Research line office, which conducts research on climate, oceans, the Great Lakes and weather systems; and strip 30% of the budget for its National Marine Fisheries Service. The memo also recommends Congress terminate funding for grants focused on species recovery, habitat conservation and restoration — potentially causing ripple effects for local governments and the nonprofit sector in the Suncoast. In an email, a spokesperson for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service wrote that the agency 'remains dedicated to its mission' and declined to comment on personnel and management-related concerns. 'What makes Florida special?' said Scott Hickman, a Galveston, Texas-based charter captain and the founder of the Charter Fisherman's Association. 'Do you think people want to go to Florida and spend millions of dollars on condos and houses and boats and because they want dirty water, and ugly beaches, and no fish in the water, and no live corals, and no sea grass beds?' Hickman told Suncoast Searchight. 'That's why people go to Florida, right? For the wild beauty.' Fishers fear NOAA cuts will upend sustainable catch limits Established under the U.S. Department of Commerce by President Richard Nixon in 1970, NOAA was tasked from its inception with managing the country's fisheries to ensure a sustained seafood supply. Over time, Congress expanded its mission — charging the agency with protecting endangered marine species, extending its reach 200 miles offshore and setting up regional councils to work with NOAA to cap catches based on scientific research. Building on that foundation, the agency has worked to replenish depleted fish populations, rebuilding at least 50 overfished stocks and rolling out recovery plans for species like red snapper. Last year, NOAA reported the number of overfished stocks had dropped to historic lows. At the same time, the popular game fish cubera snapper was officially removed from the overfished list in the Gulf of Mexico, recognized federally as Gulf of America by Trump's executive order. In Florida, where commercial and recreational fishing supported $24.6 billion in economic activity in 2022 alone — a figure that includes fishermen's sales as well as related retail, restaurant and supply chain impacts — the stakes are high. 'By collecting data and making sound management decisions, we have made huge headway toward ending overfishing,' said Janet Coit, who served as director of the National Marine Fisheries Service from 2021 until January 2025, in an interview with Suncoast Searchlight. 'The biggest tragedy here would be if we hollow out or undercut the system upon which these sustainably managed fisheries rest.' Leaders in the Gulf Coast fishing industry told Suncoast Searchlight their businesses depend on NOAA's research. 'Fishermen are very reliant on NOAA for a lot of things,' said Eric Brazer, the deputy director of Gulf of America Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, a commercial fishing trade group. 'They provide some necessary structure and some necessary regulations that strike that balance between having a profitable fishing business and leaving enough fish in the ocean for the future.' Without complete data, the management councils established by the federal government to regulate fisheries may set more conservative quotas, cutting into fishers' bottom line. 'Bad data, or no data, or gaps in the data,' Brazer said, 'means disruption for commercial fishermen down the road.' Like any regulated industry, fishing is rife with tension between profit-driven operators and the agencies that oversee them. In recent years, that friction has also centered on data. While commercial fishers must report their hauls down to the pound, NOAA surveys fishers to estimate recreational catches — a method that drew criticism after a 2023 internal review suggested the agency may have overcounted. NOAA has since pledged improvements, but mistrust persists. 'People worry about them not being able to get the proper data and stuff like that,' said Dustin Lambert, a Sarasota charter captain. 'Nobody knows where the f— these numbers are coming from.' Dramatic reductions in staff at the science centers that produce NOAA's research could 'further the divide' between fishers and federal regulators, said Jim Green, a third-generation fisherman and president of the Destin Charter Boat Association who last year was appointed to NOAA's Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee as an advocate for for-hire fishers. Green was interested in improving data collection for charter fishing operators. But the committee's work was abruptly terminated when, on Feb. 28 – just a month after Trump's inauguration – the new administration disbanded it. 'To put us in a further place of peril while we're trying to figure that out,' Green said, 'I think that it could have been thought out a little better. From red tide to dead zones, NOAA research protects Florida's coastlines NOAA's role in protecting marine life extends beyond tracking fish populations. The agency also monitors environmental threats like rising ocean temperatures and algal blooms – phenomena that directly impact the fishing and tourism industries. When a particularly severe outbreak of red tide hit the coastal waters of Southwest Florida in 2018, more than 2,400 tons of dead marine life washed ashore, according to a 2020 report produced by the Science & Environment Council. The algal bloom killed one in 12 manatees on the state's west coast. Asthma cases jumped in Sarasota and Pinellas counties by as much as 16%. And the region's tourism industry lost an estimated $1.27 billion dollars. The toll on the fishing industry was profound: Commercial fish catches reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission dropped by 11% across the Sarasota and Tampa Bay areas from 2017, with Manatee County fishers reporting a 25% drop. NOAA researchers have sought to understand and mitigate those impacts. In 2022, scientists with the agency's Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the University of Miami linked the proliferation of red tide with suppressed oxygen levels in the ocean which produce 'dead zones' that trigger the migration and mass death of marine species. To track algal blooms, including red tide, NOAA maintains a monitoring system using satellite imagery. Ana Vaz, a fish biologist terminated amid mass civil service firing in March, was involved in early planning at NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami on a project to predict red tide risks using probabilistic modeling and machine learning — a tool she believes could be feasible. 'This has a lot of implications for our Florida coastal community,' Vaz said. 'It's something we were starting to work towards, because (red tide) is very difficult to predict.' The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, which houses the agency's red tide satellite monitoring program, could be on the chopping block, too: In the leaked memo, the White House proposed eliminating that office entirely. That worries business owners like Karen Bell of AP Bell and Star Fish Company in Cortez. 'I know there's a lot of waste in government, I've seen it, but to go in there just machete-like, or what was the one guy waving around, a chainsaw? That's not how you do it,' Bell said. 'Who does things like that without a process, without a review, and consideration of who are you impacting and how are you impacting them? Because it's people's lives. And I just don't mean the government side, the employees; I mean the fishermen too.' Local shoreline, coral and aquaculture projects rely on NOAA funding That ripple effect Bell described — where federal decisions are felt beyond D.C. — is especially true along Florida's coast, where NOAA dollars fuel local efforts to protect coastal communities and the environment. The agency has directed more than $35 million in grants and contracts to governments, nonprofits, and private companies in Sarasota and Manatee counties since 2020. The funds have supported a wide range of projects, from shoreline restoration and coral reef rehabilitation to aquaculture research and red tide tracking. In 2023, Sarasota County received $15 million to restore shoreline and floodplain habitat — work aimed at reducing flood risks and mitigating the effects of sea level rise. A year later, Manatee County secured $5 million for similar efforts. Both projects fall under NOAA's broader goal of helping coastal communities adapt to a changing climate. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, headquartered in Sarasota, has been the region's largest recent recipient of NOAA support, receiving nearly $13 million in the past six years to fund a variety of initiatives, including breeding climate-resilient coral, tracking harmful algal blooms and developing new tools to detect marine mammal strandings. On its website, the organization notes that Florida's Coral Reef is 'struggling to survive amid growing environmental pressures,' with just 2% of the state's coral cover alive today. By breeding native reef species that have demonstrated resilience to adverse conditions, Mote scientists are working to restore them. Mote did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. But the lab's NOAA-funded work has positioned it as a central player in Florida's marine science landscape, particularly as red tide blooms and coral loss intensify in the Gulf. Other local entities also have benefited. The Gulf Shellfish Institute, based in Manatee County, received $2.5 million for research into sustainable shellfish aquaculture. Nearby, Two Docks Shellfish LLC was awarded more than $260,000 to support efforts to improve shellfish restoration and water quality in local bays. Even in inland DeSoto County, NOAA procured a contract in 2018 worth more than $30,000 for equipment repairs by a local company that produces life rafts. While small by comparison, the investment reflects the wide-ranging economic impacts of NOAA's work. Drafted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the White House plan to cut funding for NOAA reflects sections of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation policy wishlist developed by OMB director Russell Vought. The nearly 900-page missive refers to NOAA as a 'colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry' and calls for the agency to be 'broken up and downsized.' During a May trip to D.C., Brazer and a national coalition of fishers sought to impart a very different message about NOAA to congressional aides and agency staff, stressing the importance of the agency's researchers in maintaining healthy fisheries. In a press release issued just weeks earlier, Brazer's organization had praised Trump's executive order calling for improved data collection on the fishing industry and combatting illegal and unreported fishing in federal waters. Those goals seemed at odds with the administration's plan to defund NOAA. 'We were there talking about maintaining the council system and the permitting process, data collection programs, monitoring programs, weather and forecasting [which are] absolutely critical to running a business on the ocean,' said Brazer. 'In order to implement the President's vision, we need to maintain core services for NOAA.' This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NOAA cuts could harm Southwest Florida fishing economy, threaten red tide research
Sweeping cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could imperil Florida's multibillion-dollar fishing industry and coastal economy, industry leaders and scientists warn — a dire prospect for a region built on tourism, seafood and the health of its waters. Beyond running the national weather monitoring and alert systems — its most visible role — NOAA also works to prevent overfishing, monitor the coastal environment and support local ocean research. For Florida's Gulf Coast, that means researching red tide, addressing habitat loss and restoring overfished species. Since 2020 alone, NOAA has supported these efforts with more than $35 million in grants and contracts for Suncoast governments and nonprofits, including Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota. But after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, more than 2,000 employees have left NOAA as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency makes its way through the agency, sources with knowledge of the matter told Suncoast Searchlight. More from Suncoast Searchlight: Sign up for the weekly newsletter Steep funding cuts soon could follow. The White House this month recommended slashing NOAA's budget by more than $1.5 billion, with a special focus on 'climate-dominated research, data and grant programs.' And a leaked memo outlines a host of goals to further reduce the agency's work: It seeks to halve the budget for NOAA's National Ocean Service line office, which oversees coastal conservation; close its Oceanic and Atmospheric Research line office, which conducts research on climate, oceans, the Great Lakes and weather systems; and strip 30% of the budget for its National Marine Fisheries Service. The memo also recommends Congress terminate funding for grants focused on species recovery, habitat conservation and restoration — potentially causing ripple effects for local governments and the nonprofit sector in the Suncoast. In an email, a spokesperson for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service wrote that the agency 'remains dedicated to its mission' and declined to comment on personnel and management-related concerns. 'What makes Florida special?' said Scott Hickman, a Galveston, Texas-based charter captain and the founder of the Charter Fisherman's Association. 'Do you think people want to go to Florida and spend millions of dollars on condos and houses and boats and because they want dirty water, and ugly beaches, and no fish in the water, and no live corals, and no sea grass beds?' Hickman told Suncoast Searchight. 'That's why people go to Florida, right? For the wild beauty.' Established under the U.S. Department of Commerce by President Richard Nixon in 1970, NOAA was tasked from its inception with managing the country's fisheries to ensure a sustained seafood supply. Over time, Congress expanded its mission — charging the agency with protecting endangered marine species, extending its reach 200 miles offshore and setting up regional councils to work with NOAA to cap catches based on scientific research. Building on that foundation, the agency has worked to replenish depleted fish populations, rebuilding at least 50 overfished stocks and rolling out recovery plans for species like red snapper. Last year, NOAA reported the number of overfished stocks had dropped to historic lows. At the same time, the popular game fish cubera snapper was officially removed from the overfished list in the Gulf of Mexico, recognized federally as Gulf of America by Trump's executive order. In Florida, where commercial and recreational fishing supported $24.6 billion in economic activity in 2022 alone — a figure that includes fishermen's sales as well as related retail, restaurant and supply chain impacts — the stakes are high. 'By collecting data and making sound management decisions, we have made huge headway toward ending overfishing,' said Janet Coit, who served as director of the National Marine Fisheries Service from 2021 until January 2025, in an interview with Suncoast Searchlight. 'The biggest tragedy here would be if we hollow out or undercut the system upon which these sustainably managed fisheries rest.' Leaders in the Gulf Coast fishing industry told Suncoast Searchlight their businesses depend on NOAA's research. 'Fishermen are very reliant on NOAA for a lot of things,' said Eric Brazer, the deputy director of Gulf of America Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance, a commercial fishing trade group. 'They provide some necessary structure and some necessary regulations that strike that balance between having a profitable fishing business and leaving enough fish in the ocean for the future.' Without complete data, the management councils established by the federal government to regulate fisheries may set more conservative quotas, cutting into fishers' bottom line. 'Bad data, or no data, or gaps in the data,' Brazer said, 'means disruption for commercial fishermen down the road.' Like any regulated industry, fishing is rife with tension between profit-driven operators and the agencies that oversee them. In recent years, that friction has also centered on data. While commercial fishers must report their hauls down to the pound, NOAA surveys fishers to estimate recreational catches — a method that drew criticism after a 2023 internal review suggested the agency may have overcounted. NOAA has since pledged improvements, but mistrust persists. 'People worry about them not being able to get the proper data and stuff like that,' said Dustin Lambert, a Sarasota charter captain. 'Nobody knows where the f— these numbers are coming from.' Dramatic reductions in staff at the science centers that produce NOAA's research could 'further the divide' between fishers and federal regulators, said Jim Green, a third-generation fisherman and president of the Destin Charter Boat Association who last year was appointed to NOAA's Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee as an advocate for for-hire fishers. Green was interested in improving data collection for charter fishing operators. But the committee's work was abruptly terminated when, on Feb. 28 – just a month after Trump's inauguration – the new administration disbanded it. 'To put us in a further place of peril while we're trying to figure that out,' Green said, 'I think that it could have been thought out a little better. NOAA's role in protecting marine life extends beyond tracking fish populations. The agency also monitors environmental threats like rising ocean temperatures and algal blooms – phenomena that directly impact the fishing and tourism industries. When a particularly severe outbreak of red tide hit the coastal waters of Southwest Florida in 2018, more than 2,400 tons of dead marine life washed ashore, according to a 2020 report produced by the Science & Environment Council. The algal bloom killed one in 12 manatees on the state's west coast. Asthma cases jumped in Sarasota and Pinellas counties by as much as 16%. And the region's tourism industry lost an estimated $1.27 billion dollars. The toll on the fishing industry was profound: Commercial fish catches reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission dropped by 11% across the Sarasota and Tampa Bay areas from 2017, with Manatee County fishers reporting a 25% drop. NOAA researchers have sought to understand and mitigate those impacts. In 2022, scientists with the agency's Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the University of Miami linked the proliferation of red tide with suppressed oxygen levels in the ocean which produce 'dead zones' that trigger the migration and mass death of marine species. To track algal blooms, including red tide, NOAA maintains a monitoring system using satellite imagery. Ana Vaz, a fish biologist terminated amid mass civil service firing in March, was involved in early planning at NOAA's Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami on a project to predict red tide risks using probabilistic modeling and machine learning — a tool she believes could be feasible. 'This has a lot of implications for our Florida coastal community,' Vaz said. 'It's something we were starting to work towards, because (red tide) is very difficult to predict.' The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, which houses the agency's red tide satellite monitoring program, could be on the chopping block, too: In the leaked memo, the White House proposed eliminating that office entirely. That worries business owners like Karen Bell of AP Bell and Star Fish Company in Cortez. 'I know there's a lot of waste in government, I've seen it, but to go in there just machete-like, or what was the one guy waving around, a chainsaw? That's not how you do it,' Bell said. 'Who does things like that without a process, without a review, and consideration of who are you impacting and how are you impacting them? Because it's people's lives. And I just don't mean the government side, the employees; I mean the fishermen too.' That ripple effect Bell described — where federal decisions are felt beyond D.C. — is especially true along Florida's coast, where NOAA dollars fuel local efforts to protect coastal communities and the environment. The agency has directed more than $35 million in grants and contracts to governments, nonprofits, and private companies in Sarasota and Manatee counties since 2020. The funds have supported a wide range of projects, from shoreline restoration and coral reef rehabilitation to aquaculture research and red tide tracking. In 2023, Sarasota County received $15 million to restore shoreline and floodplain habitat — work aimed at reducing flood risks and mitigating the effects of sea level rise. A year later, Manatee County secured $5 million for similar efforts. Both projects fall under NOAA's broader goal of helping coastal communities adapt to a changing climate. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, headquartered in Sarasota, has been the region's largest recent recipient of NOAA support, receiving nearly $13 million in the past six years to fund a variety of initiatives, including breeding climate-resilient coral, tracking harmful algal blooms and developing new tools to detect marine mammal strandings. On its website, the organization notes that Florida's Coral Reef is 'struggling to survive amid growing environmental pressures,' with just 2% of the state's coral cover alive today. By breeding native reef species that have demonstrated resilience to adverse conditions, Mote scientists are working to restore them. Mote did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. But the lab's NOAA-funded work has positioned it as a central player in Florida's marine science landscape, particularly as red tide blooms and coral loss intensify in the Gulf. Other local entities also have benefited. The Gulf Shellfish Institute, based in Manatee County, received $2.5 million for research into sustainable shellfish aquaculture. Nearby, Two Docks Shellfish LLC was awarded more than $260,000 to support efforts to improve shellfish restoration and water quality in local bays. Even in inland DeSoto County, NOAA procured a contract in 2018 worth more than $30,000 for equipment repairs by a local company that produces life rafts. While small by comparison, the investment reflects the wide-ranging economic impacts of NOAA's work. Drafted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the White House plan to cut funding for NOAA reflects sections of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation policy wishlist developed by OMB director Russell Vought. The nearly 900-page missive refers to NOAA as a 'colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry' and calls for the agency to be 'broken up and downsized.' During a May trip to D.C., Brazer and a national coalition of fishers sought to impart a very different message about NOAA to congressional aides and agency staff, stressing the importance of the agency's researchers in maintaining healthy fisheries. In a press release issued just weeks earlier, Brazer's organization had praised Trump's executive order calling for improved data collection on the fishing industry and combatting illegal and unreported fishing in federal waters. Those goals seemed at odds with the administration's plan to defund NOAA. 'We were there talking about maintaining the council system and the permitting process, data collection programs, monitoring programs, weather and forecasting [which are] absolutely critical to running a business on the ocean,' said Brazer. 'In order to implement the President's vision, we need to maintain core services for NOAA.' This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at
Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Florida officials warn: Buyer, beware as real estate developer districts spread
As more new special development districts break ground across Florida's Suncoast, area officials warn they could mean higher tax bills and traffic congestion for those buying into these communities. From state lawmakers to county commissioners and national reform leaders, stakeholders reacting to a recent Suncoast Searchlight investigation into the potential dangers of these independent government districts called the reporting revealing. Most cited 'buyer, beware' and said they themselves would never choose to live in these districts, pointing to the investigation's findings of escalating fees and a lack of say over who serves on the governing boards. Officials echoed the sentiment that many homeowners in these communities don't understand what they're getting into and are then left with few options to fight back when decisions turn contentious. But they stopped short of promising any major overhauls to slow the pace of new development districts coming to the region. More from Suncoast Searchlight: Sign up for the weekly newsletter 'I didn't realize the size and scope of how much community development districts have become prevalent in Florida, especially on the West Coast, right here in my own county,' Sarasota County Commissioner Tom Knight said. 'Is there a concern for me? Sure. If we have communities that may not be able to sustain themselves and may be sitting empty, that's always a concern.' A recent Suncoast Searchlight investigation found that despite a series of defaults during the Great Recession, more of these development districts are popping up across the Suncoast than ever before. The developers behind these new governments often float multimillion-dollar public bonds to finance infrastructure, then dictate terms on how future residents will pay it back — while saving costs to the developer's bottom line. Read the full report: Developers gained government status, then got bonds to build big During the past five years alone, local districts bonded out $2.9 billion in public bond money to fund neighborhood improvements from Parrish south to North Port. But unlike a traditional local municipality, residents of these districts go years with no say over who represents them. More than 90% of the districts established within the past decade remain under the control of a real estate developer rather than those who live there, according to the investigation. 'I think when they were created, the intent was pure, but everything gets exploited,' Knight said. 'Now, they're like a runaway option for developers.' Following publication, Suncoast Searchlight's Power and Profit investigation circulated through neighborhood Facebook groups in areas like Parrish, where homeowners were surprised to learn of the proliferation, cited frustrations with their own development districts and questioned how they can fight back. Patrick Johansen, founder of the volunteer-based HOA Reform Leaders National Group, said the story further underscores the need for more controls to rein the bond spending and decision-making powers of special development districts in Florida. He added that residents should be 'extremely' concerned about the rise of these districts. 'This is a very easy system to abuse,' Johansen said. 'These districts can very quickly become little dictatorships. The developers never let go.' These special districts, including the more commonly known community development districts, operate like homeowners associations on steroids. Each must be established through a local city or county ordinance or a specific state law designating their authority. Johansen's group has put together proposed legislation that would restore certain powers to homeowners in these communities, but state lawmakers remain resistant to pursue any changes. Johansen said that's because the powerful lobbyists who represent real estate developers, third-party district property managers and CDD attorneys continue to push back. The only option now for homeowner recourse, he said, is costly legal battles. Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, conceded that he would never want to live in one of these districts himself. But he also does not believe the state legislature or local government bodies have approved too many new districts in recent years, pointing to the apparent demand from buyers willing to pay extra for nicer neighborhoods. More than one-third of the active development districts across the Suncoast were formed within the past five years, state records show. 'Special districts have their purpose,' Gruters said. 'The question is do buyers want to live there or not. You have to be careful, and go in with your eyes wide open.' He said the rising fees and bond spending at these special districts cut against the low taxes he strives for at the state level, and insisted that once these boards transition away from developers, homeowners who want to keep community spending down should elect fiscal conservatives. 'The problem when you join one of these groups (or buy into the community), is that it's like a local government,' Gruters said. 'You have to be comfortable with what they decide. You have to question what you're walking into.' State Rep. Danny Nix Jr., R-Port Charlotte, sponsored legislation this year that would alter when residents can get control of the board on the West Villages Stewardship District, spurring pushback from many homeowners who live there. Nix did not return calls to his district and capitol offices seeking comment for this story. A $2.8 billion water fight: How a century-long irrigation deal pit homeowners against their special improvement district We must 'get this done and stop the opportunities where they have to go through litigation,' Nix previously told a legislative committee referring to the homeowners' legal fight against the developer. 'That's never good for the community. We want them to have an opportunity to heal.' CDDs and other developer districts in Florida date back to the early 1980s, when counties were more financially constrained and couldn't afford the infrastructure themselves. Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique said these districts can still be 'an effective tool' for isolating infrastructure spending to just the neighborhoods benefiting, so a homeowner in Bradenton is not subsidizing a road behind a gated subdivision in Palmetto. But he agrees the districts have allowed new residential development to proliferate, especially in areas like Parrish where infrastructure has historically lagged behind. And he worries about the strain on countywide roads and stormwater systems. 'It essentially deflects the cost of infrastructure,' Siddique said. Previous County Commissions 'did not want to fund a lot of this infrastructure out there … they just deflected to CDDs. But it's not paying for the collector roads or other county roads it affects. It's only paying for roads nobody outside these gated communities will use.' This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New College fires Chinese professor under controversial Florida ‘countries of concern' law
A New College of Florida professor was abruptly fired this month under a controversial state law that limits public universities from employing people from so-called 'countries of concern,' including China, Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela. Kevin Wang, a Chinese academic who is seeking asylum and authorized to work in the United States, had been teaching Chinese language and culture classes at the small liberal arts college in Sarasota for nearly two years when, on March 12, the school terminated his contract, citing a university regulation based on that law, known as SB 846. His letter of dismissal, which was reviewed by Suncoast Searchlight, stated that the school's decision to cancel his contract as an adjunct professor was 'not based on any misconduct and does not constitute a dismissal for cause or disciplinary action.' Instead, it claimed, Wang's immigration status – and, implicitly, his country of origin – made him ineligible for employment at New College. His sudden ouster has sparked outrage among his students and raises questions about academic freedom as Florida's crackdown on foreign influence plays out on campuses across the state. The school also has not shied from bringing far-right figures to campus, hosting President Donald Trump's 'border czar' Tom Homan for a roundtable talk that drew protests on March 20. It also marks the latest flashpoint at New College, a liberal arts school once known for its progressive student body that has become a high-profile ideological battleground after Gov. Ron DeSantis overhauled its leadership, installing political allies on the board of trustees and appointing former Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran as president. Since the takeover, the college has drawn national scrutiny for dismantling its diversity office, discarding books, and implementing a new athletics program – a dramatic shift in identity that continues to ripple through campus life. For Wang, his firing carried echoes of the political repression he fled in China, he told Suncoast Searchlight during an interview this week on campus. He also shared a letter that further elaborated his thoughts on the matter. 'Before coming to the United States in May 2022, I was a university professor in China,' Wang wrote in his letter for Suncoast Searchlight. 'I faced political repression from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for criticizing Xi Jinping and the CCP's domestic and foreign policies, resulting in the loss of my teaching position and my freedom to teach, research, and express myself in China. 'I never expected to face such a distressing experience after escaping persecution from the CCP in China, only to encounter a somewhat similar situation' at New College in the United States. Wang asked Suncoast Searchlight to refer to him by his English name only due to fear of reprisals from the Chinese government. The New College attorney who signed Wang's letter of dismissal did not respond to a request for comment. The Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Department of Education did not respond to a question about whether SB 846 applies to asylum-seekers from 'countries of concern.' The law, which went into effect on July 1, 2023 – three weeks before Wang was first offered a job at New College – states that schools 'may not accept any grant from or participate in any agreement with any college or university based in a foreign country of concern' without the express approval of the Board of Governors. It also restricts state colleges and universities from entering into partnerships with 'foreign principals' – meaning foreign government officials from those countries, but also '[a]ny person who is domiciled in a foreign country of concern and is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.' After SB 846 passed, the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees public colleges and universities in the state, followed up with its own guidance defining 'domicile' as 'a physical presence in a foreign country of concern with an intent to return thereto' and further defining 'intent' as being demonstrated by 'an absence of seeking citizenship in the United States.' Wang is the only asylum seeker identified by Suncoast Searchlight who has been targeted by the law. 'This is the first case I've heard of this,' said Helena Tetzeli, a Miami-based immigration lawyer. Tetzeli said that while Wang's firing may have been in compliance with SB 846, the Florida law itself could conflict with anti-discrimination provisions in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Whether Wang was fired improperly, Tetzeli said, 'really depends on whether or not this law [is] ultimately found to be unconstitutional.' The law was met with outrage across state public universities as students and faculty denounced the legislation as discriminatory. The University of Florida Student Senate passed a resolution in February 2024 condemning the measure for its impact on international graduate students who typically work as research or teaching assistants while pursuing their doctoral degrees. The resolution called these students 'integral to academic and scientific advancement.' A month later, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of a University of Florida professor and two Chinese students at Florida International University, arguing that SB 846 violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and contradicts federal employment and immigration laws. Plaintiffs in the suit compared Florida's law to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. during a period of widespread anti-Chinese racism. It is unclear how many other academics have been fired since the passage of SB 846 – or how the law, which limits the pool of applicants for research positions in the Florida school system, has impacted academic brain drain from the state. Zhengfei Guan, an agricultural economist and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, argued that the law's passage has made it harder for him to recruit and hire high-quality researchers and postdoctoral fellows. In a statement, Gisela Kusakawa, the executive director of Asian American Scholar Forum wrote that the law 'creates an hostile atmosphere that prospective students and faculty will want to avoid. In February, a federal magistrate judge recommended that U.S. District Court Judge Jose Martinez issue an injunction to temporarily suspend the law's enforcement. Martinez has not yet acted on this. Early on the morning of March 10, before New College's bayfront campus stirred to life with the bustle of students, Wang sent what seemed like a routine administrative email. He had not been receiving paychecks at all this semester, he wrote to his department chair. And he wondered when the situation would be resolved or if there was anything he could do to facilitate. He ended the email with a customary 'thank you' and 'have a nice week,' and hoped for a quick fix. But Wang's message set off a chain of internal correspondence that would end, just two days later, with his firing – and with no opportunity to say goodbye to his students, according to an interview with Wang and a trove of emails Suncoast Searchlight obtained through a public records request to the school. 'Oh, heavens! We will get this fixed,' replied Maribeth Clark, the chair of the Humanities Division, about an hour and a half later. Clark, apparently realizing what happened, sent an email to the provost, David Rohrbacher, apologizing for having forgotten to submit an employment agreement form for Wang at the start of the semester in January. 'We tried something different this year with an offer letter for adjuncts that covered the whole year,' she wrote. 'Then, in January, we realized that we needed to create EAFs for each semester. We just missed this one.' Just before noon, Wang received an email from Erin Fisher, associate vice president of Human Resources, Digital Learning and Dual Enrollment. 'In going through our records, a question came up on your file,' Fisher wrote. 'Do you have documentation of lawful permanent resident status? If so, please provide to us by close of business today.' Wang replied that afternoon that he had already submitted documentation of his work authorization. 'When I applied for this position, I only required valid work authorization in the U.S. My immigration status is currently being processed, but I am uncertain when it will be completed,' he wrote. 'I assure you that I am in the U.S. legally at this time.' Rohrbacher weighed in at noon the next day. 'I think this explains what happened,' Rohrbacher replied, writing that Wang 'was hired legally but when countries of concern was passed no one went back and checked again.' Another professor of Chinese Language and Culture who was made aware of the situation reached out to Rohrbacher via email the same day to express her concerns that Wang might be fired. 'We all know how disruptive it would be if he had to stop teaching in the middle of the semester. We should try our best to prevent that from happening, for the sake of the students' learning and well being,' wrote Jing Zhang, who also is New College's director of International Studies. Rohrbacher responded the next morning. 'Everyone wants Kevin to stay,' he wrote. 'The lawyers are trying to determine whether his reappointment violates the BOG 'countries of concern' rule and we'll have to see what they come up with.' Hours later, the college informed Wang his contract had been cancelled, effective immediately. 'Almost at the same time, they closed my NCF account,' Wang told Suncoast Searchlight. 'I cannot get into my email and cannot even say goodbye to my students.' Instead, he texted his students and sent them an email from his personal account notifying them that he had been dismissed. New College has scrambled to fill the teaching gap left by Wang's dismissal. But students in the Humanities Division were blindsided by his firing, according to emails obtained through the public records request and texts from Wang's students that Suncoast Searchlight reviewed. In an email to Rohrbacher requesting a meeting between Wang's students and New College administrators, Clark, the chair of the humanities department, wrote that the students had expressed a 'high level of anger' about Wang's removal. Wang, meanwhile, said he is preparing to leave Florida but that he will remain in the United States while pursuing his bid for asylum. Although he's upset about what happened, he said, he must now focus on what comes next. 'As an adjunct, I do not have much time or energy to delve deeply into this matter,' he wrote in his letter to Suncoast Searchlight, 'but I truly hope that such interference undermining academic freedom will not occur again in a place that claims to be a 'beacon of democracy.'' This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties. Learn more at
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Florida college fires Chinese professor under state's ‘countries of concern' law
The New College of Florida has fired a Chinese language professor under a state law that restricts Florida's public universities from hiring individuals they deem to be from 'countries of concern'. On Friday, Suncoast Searchlight reported the firing of Kevin Wang, a professor who has sought asylum in the US and is authorized to work in the country. According to the outlet, Wang had been teaching classes in Chinese language and culture for nearly two years when he was fired on 12 March. According to his dismissal letter, which Suncoast Searchlight reviewed, the New College of Florida's decision to terminate Wang's contract was 'not based on any misconduct and does not constitute a dismissal for cause or disciplinary action'. Instead, the college cited state law SB 846 which states that schools 'may not accept any grant from or participate in any agreement with any college or university based in a foreign country of concern' without the approval from the board of governors, Suncoast Searchlight reports. According to the law, the so-called 'countries of concern' include China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria. The law, which went into effect in July 2023, also prevents state universities from entering into partnerships with 'any person who is domiciled in a foreign country of concern and is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States'. Suncoast Searchlight reports that Wang, who was hired by the New College of Florida three weeks after the state law went into effect, said that before he came to the US in May 2022, he was a university professor in China. 'I faced political repression from the Chinese Communist Party for criticizing Xi Jinping and the CCP's domestic and foreign policies, resulting in the loss of my teaching position and my freedom to teach, research, and express myself in China,' Wang told the outlet. 'I never expected to face such a distressing experience after escaping persecution from the CCP in China, only to encounter a somewhat similar situation at New College in the United States,' he added. According to Wang, he is preparing to leave Florida but will remain in the US as he continues his pursuit of his asylum bid. 'As an adjunct, I do not have much time or energy to delve deeply into this matter …but I truly hope that such interference undermining academic freedom will not occur again in a place that claims to be a 'beacon of democracy',' Wang told Suncoast Searchlight. As part of Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis's culture wars against 'wokeness' across various institutions including universities, the New College of Florida – a historically liberal arts school – has in recent months hired ideologically aligned rightwing faculty and staff for various positions. In November, the university reinstated a course on 'wokeness' taught by Andrew Doyle, a British comedian and historian whose course described 'wokeness' as a 'kind of cult' with 'disciples … [who] have insinuated themselves into all of our major institutions'. Meanwhile, last September, the college hosted Steve Sailer, who has been described as a 'white supremacist', at a public event on how 'periods of heightened activism correlated with increased crime rates'.
