Free Republic

Florida, schmorida. After enjoying a pandemic-era boom where many a weary northerner packed up and moved to the Sunshine State, the bloom is off the citrus tree, new research suggests. In 2024, apparently, it’s all about the Carolinas — their coast, their mountains, their more temperate climate and — most importantly — their affordable cost of living, say the moving pros at PODS, who’ve analyzed heaps of customer data to identify the latest trends. If true, that shows a considerable reversal in just one year. In 2023, Florida practically owned the list of most moved-to cities, with six in the...

The Florida supreme court on Thursday upheld Governor Ron DeSantis’s decision last year to suspend progressive state attorney Monique Worrell, who claims she was unjustly fired for political reasons. The court’s justices voted 6-1 to keep the suspended attorney out of a job. Worrell, who is running for office in November to regain her Orlando-area position, argued that the DeSantis’s justification for suspending her was too vague and that the decision infringed on her prosecutorial discretion. Most members of the court, five of whom were appointed by DeSantis, disagreed. DeSantis suspended Worrell last August through an executive order on grounds...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville tire shop had a Nazi flag flying outside a busy highway, Wednesday afternoon. The Nazi symbol was being displayed alongside the American and Palestinian flags at the 904 x 4 on Philips Hwy in Spring Park. Mixed signals over Nazi flag Drag to Resize Video LOCAL ‘It’s a symbol of true hatred:’ Jacksonville tire shop flies Nazi flag in Spring Park NOW PLAYING ABOVE Mixed signals over Nazi flag By Annette Gutierrez, Action News Jax June 05, 2024 at 9:58 pm EDT JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville tire shop had a Nazi flag flying outside...

A Spirit Airlines passenger managed to track down her stolen luggage after it vanished when she arrived at a Florida airport — using one of the stolen items to aid in her desperate search. Paola Garcia had been waiting for her small pink hardshell luggage, containing several Apple products like her personal MacBook and two Apple Watches, at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s carousel after returning home to the Sunshine State, Local 10 reported. The exact timing of the incident remains unclear, but Garcia’s desperation to find her stolen property led her to the apparent culprit’s house even before local...

Florida residents with oppressive and obsessive HOAs, your day of freedom may be at hand. Homeowner associations (HOAs) were created to maintain standards, uniformity and a sense of community while collecting dues to pay for common areas, services and general neighborhood improvements. But they also tend to attract people with strong opinions about what their neighbors can do. It seems that everyone who has lived in an HOA has a horror story about petty or arbitrary fines that keep increasing, harassment, inflexible and overly restrictive rules regarding the appearance of homes and lawns, the lack of budget transparency, or just...

ORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (WOIO) - We’re learning more about the woman charged with fatally stabbing a three-year-old boy outside a Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted on Monday. According to public records, Bionca Ellis, 32, of Cleveland has not had an extensive criminal history. “There is nothing that shows that she has any violent tendencies,” said North Olmsted Detective Sergeant Matthew Beck. On Tuesday, Ellis was charged with the aggravated murder of Julian Wood. Investigators say Ellis stabbed the boy and his mother with a kitchen knife in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted....

Even those who dislike the former President see a case of legal and political malpractice.How dare Mitt Romney. And Sens. Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell. The anti-Trump press corps is dismayed that Republicans of all stripes, even those who aren’t fond of Donald Trump, have criticized the Manhattan prosecution and guilty verdict. The media coverage after the verdict has followed the usual Trump-era pattern. Democrats pursue some anti-Trump operation—impeachment, a Russia collusion probe, a prosecution. The press then descends as one to chide Republicans, with the unsubtle implication that they must be unethical sellouts if they oppose what Democrats are...

Four years after a protest over the murder of George Floyd, attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the City of Fort Lauderdale and Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The lawsuit alleges the civil rights of protesters were violated when police, without warning, dispersed tear gas into the crowd...

Multiple groups protested the arrest of a 16-year-old outside the Lakeland Police Headquarters.... ...Activists from Black Lives Matter Restoration, Inc., the Poor & Minority Justice Association, and The Lion Of Judah Armed Force said 16-year-old Jahmal Hudson Jr...

Former President Donald Trump hasn't lost his voting rights in Florida. Rights are not removed in Florida where they haven't yet been stripped in the convicting jurisdiction. That said, given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair. The bottom line is that Donald Trump’s vote this November will be one of millions that demonstrate Florida is now a solid Republican state!

A Florida grand jury released its second interim report last week on its investigation into potential “wrongdoing” by Covid shot manufacturers and entities who promoted them. Requested by Gov. Ron DeSantis and authorized by the Florida Supreme Court in December 2022, the grand jury was tasked with determining whether “pharmaceutical manufacturers (and their executive officers) and other medical associations or organizations” participated in “criminal activity or wrongdoing” concerning “their involvement in the development, approval or marketing of COVID-19 vaccines.” The jury released its first interim report in February, in which members confirmed the accuracy of many claims health “experts” and...

As Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed school choice initiatives, leading to a spike in charter and private school enrollments, public schools are shutting down. Across the state, public school enrollment is declining. Duval County Public School District, the sixth-largest school district in Florida and 20th largest in the country, is now considering campus closures due to dramatic dips in their enrollment. Broward County Public Schools, Florida’s second largest school district, has evaluated plans to close up to 42 campuses over the next few years. Miami-Dade county has also experienced a substantial decline in enrollment rates. Of the roughly...

A video of an incident that happened on Monday at a Lakeland apartment complex is going viral... ...officers responded to Caroline Apartments on Griffin Road on Sunday at 5:52 p.m. ...Jahmal Hudson, was not willing to provide me with a valid apartment number within the complex. ...The officer said he gave Hudson several orders to exit the property, or he would be arrested. According to police, Hudson ignored the verbal command and “stuck his hand” in the officer’s face while saying, “I don’t have to talk to you.” “I decided at this time to take Hudson into custody for trespassing....

Video making the rounds on local social media pages shows what appears to be a person hitting a dog in its face aggressively multiple times while on a leash outside of a South Dade home. But a woman who says she’s the mother of the person seen in the video says there’s more than meets the eye.

There’s a large region of the right-wing media ecosystem that is littered with those always-disappointing carbon-snake fireworks. Touch one of them with a spark and it springs to life, pushing out an unbroken chain of detritus. Eventually it dies out, leaving a mess, but there are other sparks and other snakes still to be lit. On Tuesday, filings from Donald Trump’s federal indictment served as a spark. The mess that followed was unusual only in its hyperbole: because the FBI included documentation about how to handle contingencies in its August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, including limiting the use of firearms,...

Pixar Animation Studios is laying off about 14% of its workforce, or around 175 employees. The cuts are part of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s overarching mandate to focus on the quality of its content, not the quantity. Pixar will refocus on theatrical releases and move away from short-form series for Disney+. ... Pixar will lay off about 175 employees, or around 14% of the studio’s workforce ... Layoffs hit other Disney businesses last year, but Pixar’s cuts were delayed because of production schedules ... Iger, who returned to the mantle of CEO in late 2022, has been working to reverse...

ATF agents cut off the electricity to Bryan Malinowski's Little Rock home before executing their search warrant March 19. None of the agents wore body cameras, and they covered Malinowski's doorbell camera with tape to hide their actions. Fifty-seven seconds after kicking down the front door, Malinowski was fatally shot in the head. His wife, Maer Malinowski, was pulled out of her home wearing only bedclothes and forced into the back of a squad car, where she was held against her will for four hours in 34-degree weather, despite her frequent pleas to check on her dying husband. "If that...

The growing Chinese 'gate crashers' trend is sparking espionage concerns The FBI and Department of Defense have reportedly tracked more than 100 incidents of Chinese nationals posing as tourists to attempt to breach U.S. military bases and other federal sites. Those responsible, dubbed "gate crashers," range from Chinese nationals detected crossing into a U.S. missile range in New Mexico, to scuba divers caught swimming in murky waters near a U.S. government rocket launch site in Florida, several U.S. officials recently told The Wall Street Journal. The growing trend represents a potential espionage threat, as authorities believe the Chinese government in...

Might the former President pick the wrong Florida man for his ticket? Florida’s senior Senator may not offer former President Donald Trump as big a boost as some other potential running mates might … including the current Governor of Florida. That’s the takeaway from the new Harvard-Harris Poll, which finds voters want Gov. Ron DeSantis and not Marco Rubio on the ticket. DeSantis leads a host of potential picks with 12% top-choice support among the electorate, including 23% of Republicans, 7% of no-party voters, and 4% of Democrats. Rubio has 4% support but just 3% among Republicans, 4% among no-party...

President Donald Trump thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting him during a donor event hosted by the governor, raising over $3 million to benefit Trump’s 2024 campaign, Florida’s Voice has learned. The former president called into the Fort Lauderdale event and thanked DeSantis and the couple dozen supporters for their investment into his campaign efforts. The funding is going to Right For America, a super political action committee, a source familiar with the event told Florida’s Voice. A super PAC is technically separate from the campaign, and the organization supports Trump’s bid for presidency this year. Trump emphasized during a...