All articles tagged with #ron desantis
Hurricane Isaias struck the Florida Panhandle as a Category 2 storm on Friday night, causing four deaths and leaving over 700,000 people without power across the Southeast. While the storm weakened to a post-tropical cyclone, it continues to threaten the region with heavy rainfall and flooding. Federal emergency declarations have been approved for Florida, Alabama, and Georgia to facilitate recovery efforts.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for William Thompson, a 74-year-old inmate scheduled for execution, citing concerns over his severe dementia. Thompson, convicted in 1976 for the torture murder of Sally Ivester, was spared just days before his scheduled lethal injection. This marks the first time DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant during his tenure, despite Florida’s record-breaking execution rate this year. Thompson remains on death row, but his case highlights growing scrutiny of executing cognitively impaired inmates.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for 74-year-old William Lee Thompson on Thursday, days before his scheduled lethal injection. This is the first time DeSantis has cancelled an execution in nearly eight years. The decision follows reports that Thompson suffers from severe dementia and heart failure, rendering him legally incompetent. While DeSantis did not provide a reason, the move coincides with heightened national scrutiny of capital punishment following the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. Thompson remains on death row, and a new warrant could be issued in the future. Meanwhile, the execution of James Robertson, scheduled for the same day, remains unchanged.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis withdrew the death warrant for 74-year-old William Lee Thompson, sparing him from a scheduled lethal injection. The decision follows reports of severe dementia and heart failure, occurring shortly after a botched execution in Tennessee heightened national scrutiny on capital punishment.
Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 storm, causing at least four deaths across Florida and Alabama. The storm left nearly 480,000 customers without power and prompted the U.S. Energy Department to authorize an emergency release of 4 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to mitigate supply disruptions.
Florida health officials held a contentious public hearing in Lake Mary to finalize the removal of four childhood vaccine requirements (Hib, pneumococcal, hepatitis B, and chickenpox) for school and daycare entry. While Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo defended the move as a protection of parental rights, medical professionals and data from Emory University warned that declining coverage could lead to significant disease outbreaks and economic costs. The decision, which bypasses the state legislature, faces opposition from doctors but support from 'medical freedom' advocates, with final comments due by October 19.
A Florida appeals court has ordered the complete expungement of a leaked grand jury report that alleged the DeSantis administration misappropriated $10 million from a Medicaid settlement for political use. The court ruled the report violated confidentiality laws and exceeded grand jury authority by condemning individuals without returning indictments. Governor Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier hailed the ruling as a total vindication, while Democrats criticized the decision as a cover-up. The ruling arrives one month before the November midterm elections, potentially impacting races for Uthmeier and other officials named in the report.
Ron McAndrew, 88, former warden of Florida State Prison, is actively opposing capital punishment after overseeing eight executions in the 1990s. He regrets his role, particularly the botched 1997 electrocution of Pedro Medina, and now assists death row inmates with appeals. McAndrew criticizes Florida’s aggressive execution pace under Gov. Ron DeSantis, which has outpaced the rest of the nation. Despite writing to DeSantis, he has received no response, as the state prepares for its 16th execution of 2026.
A documentary, First They Came For My College, chronicles Governor DeSantis’ conservative overhaul of New College of Florida—driven by a new Board of Trustees led by Richard Corcoran, the firing of the president, and a push to reshape the campus into a Hillsdale-like model. The film follows student and faculty struggles, protests, budget and PR shifts, and a culture clash on campus, framing the move as part of a wider national trend in higher-education reform.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and AG James Uthmeier press state-level AI guardrails, citing a former Anthropic researcher’s warning that AI could escape control; they’re pursuing legal tools and an OpenAI lawsuit while federal action stalls and a March legislative session looms, with political shifts complicating prospects.
At a Tampa Leadership Forum, Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed a heckler as being paid by George Soros, delivering a sharp retort—"this ain’t my first rodeo"—and urging better talent from protesters, while noting another disruption and railing against the effectiveness of screaming; a Soros-linked group later said they do not pay protesters.
At a Tampa GOP unity event, DeSantis promoted Byron Donalds and fellow Republicans, signaling they’ll carry forward his agenda—cracking down on illegal immigration and backing a major property-tax overhaul—while Donalds pledged to sign DeSantis-backed measures and advance AI rights and vaccine-related freedoms; Democrats, led by David Jolly, run on affordability and criticize a culture-war focus, signaling cautious party unity ahead of the November election.
A 74-year-old Florida inmate, Harold Gene Lucas, is scheduled for a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison after spending 50 years on death row for the 1976 murder of 16-year-old Jill Piper and wounding two friends. Lucas declined post-conviction appeals, and the case includes multiple death sentences and later resentencings. Florida has carried out more executions this year, with Gov. Ron DeSantis having signed warrants for two additional inmates in September. The article outlines Lucas’s conviction history and the broader context of Florida’s ongoing use of the death penalty.
A leaked grand jury report ties about $10 million moved from a health-care settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation and related political committees—including a DeSantis-backed group—to a campaign against a marijuana ballot measure, drawing Democratic attacks against Sen. Ashley Moody and AG James Uthmeier as Florida’s midterm races heat up; the report concludes there’s insufficient evidence for criminal charges and officials dispute the framing, while reactions from across the political spectrum shape the campaign landscape.
TPSI admitted to changing responses in a Florida GOP primary poll funded by James Fishback, leaning the results toward Fishback; FiftyPlusOne called it a clear violation of polling standards, adding to a wave of eroding trust in election analytics after recent fake polls in Los Angeles.