KATE PAYNE/Report for America, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2013, file photo, oysters are displayed in Apalachicola, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File)

Florida wildlife officials consider reopening bay nationally known for its oysters

August 14, 2025

Florida wildlife officials have given preliminary approval to a plan to reopen Apalachicola Bay for oyster harvesting, five years after the waters were closed due to dwindling shellfish populations. The bay along what’s known as Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” historically produced 90% of the state’s oysters and 10% of the nation’s. Upstream water demands, predation and overharvesting helped trigger the five-year closure of the fishery in 2020. State regulators say populations have now recovered enough to allow a limited reopening for commercial and recreational harvesting. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is expected to reopen the next oyster season on January 1st.

FILE - Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speaks during a meeting between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state cabinet at the Florida capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Some Florida officers are continuing to charge people under halted immigration law

August 11, 2025

Some law enforcement officers are continuing to charge people under a Florida law that bans people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state, even though a federal judge has halted enforcement of the law while it’s challenged in court. Two more people were arrested and charged under the law in July, according to a report Florida’s attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge’s ruling. The state attorney’s office dismissed the illegal entry charges against the men, according to the court filing.

FILE - A sign marks the entrance to Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, a site used by the Florida National Guard, near Starke, Fla., July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/David Fischer, File)

Florida prepares to build a second immigration detention center to join ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

August 5, 2025

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is apparently preparing to build a second immigration detention center, awarding at least one contract for what’s labeled in state records as the “North Detention Facility.” The site would add to the capacity at the state’s first detention facility, built at an isolated airfield in the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Florida plans to build a second detention center a Florida National Guard training center called Camp Blanding. DeSantis has said the state is waiting for federal officials to ramp up deportations from the South Florida facility before building out the second site outside of Jacksonville.

FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, File)

DeSantis set a Florida record for executions. It’s driving a national increase

August 1, 2025

Under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has executed more people so far this year than any other state, setting a new state record. Across the country, more people have been executed in the first seven months of this year than in all of 2024. Florida’s increase is putting the country on track to surpass 2015’s total of 28 executions. Little is publicly known about how the governor decides whose death warrant to sign and when. DeSantis has said he takes capital cases “very seriously” and that for some crimes, “the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty.”

President Donald Trump is greeted by Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., as he arrives at "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Emails show DeSantis administration blindsided county officials with plans for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

July 17, 2025

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration left many local officials in the dark about the immigration detention center that rose from an isolated airstrip in the Everglades. That’s according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. DeSantis relied on an executive order to seize the land, hire contractors and bypass laws and regulations. The emails show that local officials in southwest Florida were still trying to chase down a rumor about the sprawling “Alligator Alcatraz” facility planned for their county while state officials were already on the ground and sending vendors through the gates to coordinate construction. The detention center was designed to house thousands of migrants and went up in a matter of days.

Public defender Peter Mills and prosecutor Jack Campbell appear before Second Judicial Circuit Judge Lance Neff during a case management conference in Tallahassee, Fla. on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 in the case of Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State University student accused of carrying out a mass shooting on campus. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP, Pool)

Florida State student accused in a mass shooting is set to go to trial in November

July 16, 2025

The trial for the Florida State University student accused of killing two people and wounding six others in a mass shooting on campus in April is set to go to trial this November. A judge in a Tallahassee courthouse on Wednesday set jury selection in the case of 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner to begin the week of Nov. 3. Ikner’s public defender said he needs more time to delve into the case, which involves extensive video surveillance footage and witness testimony. The prosecution indicated it would be ready for the November trial. Ikner faces two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP)

Not just ‘Alligator Alcatraz’: DeSantis floats building another immigration detention center

June 25, 2025

Florida officials are pursuing plans to build a second detention center to house immigrants, as part of the state’s aggressive push to support the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he’s considering standing up a facility at a Florida National Guard training center known as Camp Blanding, about 30 miles southwest of Jacksonville. That location would be in addition to the site under construction at a remote airstrip in the Everglades that state officials have dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Democrats and activists have condemned the plan in South Florida as a callous, politically motivated spectacle.

FILE - This April 23, 2019 file photo shows the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, file)

Florida lawmakers pass charter school expansion on last day of session

June 17, 2025

On the 105th day of what was supposed to be a 60-day legislative session, Florida lawmakers passed a bill to allow charter schools to “co-locate” inside traditional public schools. It’s the latest move by the Republican-controlled legislature to expand school choice in a state that has long been a national model for conservative education policy. The measure expands the “schools of hope” program, which lawmakers created to encourage charter schools to open in areas where traditional public schools have been failing for years.

In lawsuit over teen’s death, judge rejects arguments that AI chatbots have free speech rights

May 21, 2025

A federal judge in Florida has rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI have been seeking to dismiss the case, which alleges that the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself. In an order issued Wednesday, U.S. Senior District Judge Anne Conway is allowing the case to go forward, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence.

KATE PAYNE/Report for America.