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

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

Florida Supreme Court upholds death sentences by nonunanimous juries

December 18, 2025

Florida’s Supreme Court has upheld a state law allowing nonunanimous juries to sentence people to death. The decision cements Florida’s status of having the lowest bar in the country for death sentences, at a time when the state is driving a national increase in executions. The state Supreme Court affirmed a 2023 law that ended a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing. Florida law allows capital punishment with a jury recommendation of at least 8-4 in favor of execution.

Jamie Schanbaum, whose legs and fingers were amputated after she contracted meningitis as a college student, testifies in support of vaccine mandates at a public hearing held by the Florida Department of Health on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Panama City Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida plows ahead with push to roll back certain vaccine mandates for schoolchildren

December 12, 2025

Florida officials are plowing ahead with a proposal to roll back certain vaccine mandates for the state’s schoolchildren. That is after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the state to become the first in the nation to eliminate all school vaccination requirements. The Florida Department of Health held a public hearing on the policy change in Panama City Beach on Friday. Activists and parents opposed to the mandates heralded the importance of individual freedom. Doctors recalled the children who died of infectious diseases before the advent of vaccines. For generations, the shots have been a cornerstone of public health policy.

FILE - A sign for the Capital City Country Club is seen, Oct. 22, 2025 in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Kate Payne, File)

Florida’s capital city approves plan to sell golf course built on slaves’ graves, despite outcry

December 11, 2025

Local officials in Florida’s capital city have voted to sell a city-owned golf course built on top of the graves of enslaved people to a once-segregated country club. The Tallahassee City Commission voted 3 to 2 to approve the deal Wednesday, despite vocal opposition from local residents and historians. The deal has reopened painful wounds from Tallahassee’s segregated past. Local activists have questioned the city’s yearslong delay in building a commemorative site to protect the unmarked graves. Others questioned the $1.255 million price tag for the 178-acre golf course, given its development potential.

Opponents of mid-decade efforts to redraw congressional voting districts gather to protest in the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla., Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Kate Payne)

Florida starts redistricting talks in a growing battle for House control in 2026 elections

December 3, 2025

Florida is poised to join the wave of states debating how they might reshape congressional voting districts, as political parties grapple for an edge in next year’s midterm elections. President Donald Trump is urging states to redraw maps in the hopes of bucking the historical trends of the president’s party losing seats in midterms. His allies are wagering his adopted home state could yield three to five new Republican seats. But Florida also represents a challenge, due to the infighting between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state GOP leaders — and language in the state Constitution that bars redrawing maps to favor or disfavor a political party.

FILE - Mifepristone tablets are seen at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ames, Iowa, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Florida is suing Planned Parenthood over the safety of abortion drugs. Here’s what to know

November 7, 2025

Florida’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, claiming the organization is “misrepresenting the safety” of abortion pills. It is the latest legal challenge aimed at abortion pills, which are the most common way to end a pregnancy in the U.S. Abortion opponents have increasingly targeted the pills in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. In a complaint filed in a state court in Santa Rosa County on Thursday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier claimed Planned Parenthood is “making false claims about the safety of abortion drugs.” Here’s what to know.

Florida to reopen bay nationally known for its oysters

November 5, 2025

North Florida’s Apalachicola Bay will soon reopen for wild oyster harvesting. It is a move that supporters hope will breathe life into one of the state’s last historic working waterfronts. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the plan Wednesday to reopen the bay for a limited oyster season beginning Jan. 1, 2026. The move comes five years after the waters that had been nationally known for the sweet, plump shellfish were closed because of dwindling populations.

Donna Adelson listens to statements made on her behalf by family friends during her sentencing for her role in the murder of Dan Markel, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP, Pool, File)

South Florida matriarch sentenced to life in prison for hired killing of her ex-son-in-law

October 13, 2025

The matriarch of a wealthy South Florida family who was convicted in the hired killing of her former son-in-law has been sentenced to life in prison. Last month, a jury convicted Donna Adelson for her role in the 2014 murder-for-hire of Daniel Markel. A prominent Florida State University law professor, Markel was locked in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Adelson’s daughter. In an emotional statement to the court on Monday, Adelson maintained her innocence. She has pledged to appeal.

University of South Florida names sole finalist for president amid closed-door selection process

September 30, 2025

Another Florida university has announced a sole finalist in the search for its next president. The search committee for the University of South Florida in Tampa named longtime academic Moez Limayem as the only contender for the post on Tuesday. Unlike other candidates nominated to lead Florida’s public universities in recent months, Limayem has not served as a Republican elected official. He is currently the president of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Limayem previously served as the dean of USF’s college of business for a decade. It’s not publicly known who else applied, because the selection of university presidents largely happens behind closed doors in Florida.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is proposing that President Donald Trump's presidential library be built in a parking lot that is currently used by Miami-Dade College staff and faculty and is adjacent to the Freedom Tower, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Florida officials gift prime Miami real estate for Trump’s presidential library

September 30, 2025

Florida officials have agreed to set aside nearly three acres of prime real estate in downtown Miami for the future presidential library of President Donald Trump. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the members of the Florida Cabinet approved the move Tuesday. The Miami-Dade County property appraiser values this property now slated for Trump’s post-administration archives at more than $66 million. It’s in an iconic area, next to the historic Freedom Tower along a palm tree-lined stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, overlooking the bay. The land had been owned by Miami Dade College and used as a parking lot for employees.

FILE - Trailers sit parked in lines as work progresses on a migrant detention center at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, file)

Florida officials announce more than 6,000 immigration arrests

September 26, 2025

Over the last five months, Florida law enforcement officials have arrested more than 6,000 people suspected of being in the country illegally, a U.S. Border Patrol official announced Friday. The announcement comes as the state continues its aggressive approach to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Florida’s total is in comparison to the more than 5,000 arrests carried out over a three-month period in the Los Angeles area, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference Aug. 12, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Major charter school network expanding to Miami after lobbying for pro-charter state law

September 25, 2025

A charter school network backed by a billionaire hedge fund manager announced Thursday that it is expanding in Miami. That is after they successfully lobbied Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature to pass a new state law easing restrictions on the privately run schools and freeing up more state subsidies for the operators. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement in Miami Thursday alongside Success Academy Charter Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz and Citadel investment firm founder Ken Griffin. The new state law they lobbied for clears the way for charter schools to move into underenrolled public schools. One public education advocate called it a “corporate takeover.”

FILE - People walk past a "vote" sign on the first day of early voting in the general election in Miami, on Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

Campaign delays push to expand Medicaid in Florida until 2028, citing new state law

September 25, 2025

A campaign to expand Medicaid in Florida is delaying its push to get the issue on the ballot until 2028. In a statement Thursday, the group Florida Decides Healthcare cited a new state law restricting the process to get constitutional amendments before voters. The group had been working to get the measure on the 2026 ballot, while challenging the law in a federal court. That case is set to go to trial next January. Representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FILE - Donna Adelson, who is charged in the 2014 murder-for-hire of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, listens to potential jurors answer questions during the first day of jury selection Aug. 19, 2025 in Tallahassee, Fla. (Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat via AP, Pool, File)

South Florida matriarch convicted in murder-for-hire killing of her ex-son-in-law seeks a new trial

September 17, 2025

The matriarch of a South Florida family who was convicted in the hired killing of her former son-in-law is asking a judge for a new trial. Attorneys for Donna Adelson argued that alleged juror misconduct and errors by the court should warrant another hearing of the case. Adelson faces life in prison for the 2014 murder of Florida State University law professor Daniel Markel in Tallahassee. Earlier this month, jurors returned guilty verdicts in Adelson’s weekslong trial on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation.

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conference Aug. 12, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Appeals court finds Florida’s open carry ban unconstitutional

September 10, 2025

Florida residents could be a step closer to being able to openly carry guns in public. A state appeals court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a state law banning the open carry of firearms. The First District Court of Appeal found the ban incompatible with the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The case stemmed from the July 2022 arrest of a man in the Florida Panhandle. Stanley McDaniels was arrested at a major intersection in downtown Pensacola while carrying a visible, holstered pistol and a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis applauded the court ruling in a post on X.

FILE - William McNeil Jr., third from right, looks on while his attorney Ben Crump, center, speaks during a press conference Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)

Black student dragged from his car and beaten by Florida officers files federal lawsuit

September 10, 2025

A Black student who was dragged from his car by Florida law enforcement officers during a traffic stop in Jacksonville has filed a lawsuit. A video showing officers punching and dragging William McNeil from his car during a stop in February went viral online this summer and sparked nationwide outrage. The lawsuit filed in federal court on Wednesday says deputies with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office violated McNeil’s civil rights when they pulled him from his car and beat him. An investigation by local prosecutors found the conduct of Officer D. Bowers did not constitute a crime.

Students without legal status are dropping out or delaying college as states revoke tuition breaks

September 2, 2025

Across the country, tens of thousands of college students without legal status are losing access to in-state tuition as part of an immigration crackdown carried out by President Donald Trump and his allies. In Florida, state lawmakers revoked a 2014 law that let residents who are in the country illegally qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. A Texas law gave college students without legal residency access to in-state tuition for decades before a federal judge blocked it. The Justice Department has been suing states to end tuition breaks, starting with Texas in June, followed by Kentucky, Minnesota and Oklahoma.

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.

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.