Good morning and welcome to Monday.
Floridians continue to grapple with the assassination of conservative activist CHARLIE KIRK, the founder and CEO of Turning Point USA who was close to President DONALD TRUMP and his inner circle.
Several Sunshine State communities, as well as Florida universities with Turning Point chapters that train young people for advocacy, held vigils over the weekend to mourn the 31-year-old father and husband killed in Utah last week.
But Florida universities and schools also found themselves disciplining educators over comments about Kirk. Some social media posts have been dismissive or even celebratory of Kirk’s murder. In other cases, people have appeared to suggest Kirk brought violence upon himself with the things he said, posts that have raised fierce objections. (Some things shared were false and later were recanted.)
Demands for speech accountability are growing. One of the most heated instances is happening in Palmetto Bay, a suburb of Miami. Elected officials from both parties have called on councilman STEVE CODY to resign over a social media post, and gathered at City Hall on Friday to make the push publicly.
Cody shared Kirk’s quote about how it was “worth to have a cost of — unfortunately — some gun deaths every single year” to preserve the Second Amendment and other rights. “Charlie Kirk is a fitting sacrifice to our Lords Smith & Wesson,” Cody wrote alongside the post, referring to the firearms manufacturer. “Hallowed be their names.”
Cody told Playbook he woke up the next morning realizing his post was “incredibly stupid.” By then, his words had already been screenshotted and shared. He deleted his post and issued an apology, and has since taken down his Facebook page. But he said he won’t resign because he was elected to serve until 2028.
Cody said he was concerned about how others in Florida had lost their jobs over what they’ve said. “Mr. Kirk has been proffered as a champion of free speech,” he said. “So I wonder how he would feel, especially given some of the things he has said over the years. I’m not trying to excuse what I did. What I said was wrong. I don’t want people to think I condone violence of any kind. But I don’t think that the government should be in a position of trying to punish people for speech.”
Fellow elected officials, including Palmetto Bay Mayor KARYN CUNNINGHAM, counter public servants should be held to a higher standard. Cody’s particular remarks, she said, had “crossed the line.”
“When you have a public role — whether taking care of children or overseeing the policy and day-to-day activities that you are entrusted with — you need to lead by example,” said Cunningham, who is a registered no-party affiliated voter, retired first-grade teacher and former union activist.
She will publicly call on Cody to resign during a Wednesday meeting and ask officials to censure him. But they don’t have the power to kick him out of office.
“It’s not like ‘Survivor.’ We can’t vote anybody off the island,” she said. But she added she thinks it’s important to mark her disapproval. She also spoke with Cody directly multiple times.
Cody has the backing of Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair LAURA KELLEY. She said on “This Week in South Florida” she didn’t condone his comments but argued he took “ownership and accountability” and said the options were to give him grace or resort to “cancel culture, which I’m opposed to.” But state Attorney General JAMES UTHMEIER is among those who have called on Cody to resign “immediately,” and the governor’s office confirmed Gov. RON DESANTIS is aware of the incident.
It builds on state officials saying last week that they’d hold any Florida teachers accountable who celebrate Kirk’s death, as POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury reported. So far, at least one teacher in Clay County has been suspended, and reports emerged over the weekend of numerous others facing investigation.
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FEARS OVER VACCINE MANDATE ROLLBACK — Top Sunshine State officials, including Florida’s surgeon general, want to banish state vaccine mandates. But medical experts and those at higher risk fear his high-profile rebuke of conventional medicine could lead people to make up their minds before they ever set foot in a doctor’s office or pharmacy.
Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, long a skeptic of vaccines broadly used for decades, said earlier this month that Florida would make the push during an event with Gov. Ron DeSantis, a signal of the state’s strong alignment with the MAHA movement and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
And the moves made in Florida, a state that has provided scores of personnel to the Trump administration and plenty of policy ideas, matter nationwide. Ladapo’s announcement serves as one of the boldest steps yet by any state to pull back on vaccine requirements and could be an early indicator of the impacts of Kennedy and MAHA’s policy ideas.
— Arek Sarkissian
LONG-RANGE OUTLOOK — The state House’s budget chief warned Friday that Florida legislators may soon need to take additional steps — possibly including spending cuts and an overhaul of state employee health insurance — to avoid looming budget shortfalls.
State Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Dover) made the comments after a legislative panel signed off on a new three-year Florida financial outlook that shows the state could have shortfalls by 2028 and beyond.
“We’ve got to keep chipping away at this,” said McClure, who promised the House would “dig deeper” during the upcoming session to look at ways to trim the budget.
— Gary Fineout
REGULATIONS CHALLENGE TAKES SHAPE — More than a dozen cities and counties are lining up to challenge recent state law changes that critics say bar local governments from adopting more restrictive land use regulations and development codes following hurricanes.
Lawyer Jamie Cole of the Weiss Serota Helfman Cole and Bierman law firm this week said 17 local governments have agreed to join a lawsuit challenging a law regarding emergencies that was filed after the 2024 hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
The measure barred local governments from adopting more restrictive regulations following the 2024 hurricanes and others in the future. The environmental group 1000 Friends of Florida said the legislation is too broad, creating confusion for local governments.
— Bruce Ritchie
FPL RATE CASE — A Public Service Commission hearing officer on Friday rejected Public Counsel Walt Trierweiler’s alternative settlement proposal in Florida Power & Light Co.’s $2.5-billion rate hike request.
PSC Chair Mike La Rosa, the rate case hearing officer, wrote in an order that the alternative proposal, backed by energy justice groups but opposed by FPL, is not an actual proposed settlement because it won’t resolve the case. He said the proposal “essentially is a position paper,” echoing the utility’s objection to approving the proposal or even calling it a “settlement” offer.
— Bruce Ritchie
NO ENFORCEMENT AGAINST OPEN CARRY — The Florida Sheriffs Association has told members not to arrest anyone openly carrying firearms after the 1st District Court of Appeal said the ban was unconstitutional, reports James Call of USA Today Network — Florida.
LOOMING PRICE HIKES ON HEALTH INSURANCE — “Health insurance rates will increase sharply for the 4 million-plus Floridians who rely on so-called Obamacare plans or small employer health insurance coverage in the coming weeks, according to data released by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation,” reports Christine Sexton of the Florida Phoenix.
“The OIR reported late last month that, beginning Jan. 1, 2026, Florida health plans had been approved for double-digit increases in monthly premiums people pay for the individual policies sold on the federal health insurance exchange (healthcare.gov). Florida leads the nation in the number of people enrolled in the exchange.”
— “In the midst of Florida’s insurance crisis, what recourse do residents have?” by Amy Green of Inside Climate News.
14TH EXECUTION THIS YEAR — “DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of murdering two women in 1996 in Hillsborough County and dumping them in a pond,” reports Jim Saunders of News Service of Florida.
“Samuel Smithers, 72, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection Oct. 14 at Florida State Prison for the murders of Denise Roach and Christy Cowan at a secluded property where he worked as a caretaker, according to documents posted Friday on the Florida Supreme Court website.”
— “Should a ‘Florida Springs National Park’ be created? Environmental advocates are torn,” by the Orlando Sentinel’s Natalia Jaramillo.
— “Florida Democrat fears DOGE could strike support for LGBTQ programs,” reports Mitch Perry of the Florida Phoenix.
— “Rubio leads charge in Trump’s new war in Latin America,” by Edward Wong and Michael Crowley of The New York Times.
— “Freedom Tower to reopen after two years and a multi-million dollar restoration,” by Michelle F. Solomon of the Miami Herald.
KEEPING AN EYE ON — “An area of thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean could be something to watch closely by Sept. 21 … A storm in the eastern Atlantic would end what has been days of silence in the Atlantic, despite it being the typical peak of hurricane season. An area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms could gradually develop into a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said on Sept. 14,” reports Dinah Voyles Pulver of USA Today.
VIOLENT TIMES — “Sitting in a Fort Pierce courtroom, Ryan Routh cuts a solitary figure. But historians and security experts say the act of political violence he is accused of attempting, seeking to assassinate the once and current U.S. president a year ago, is far from an isolated incident,” reports Antonio Fins of the Palm Beach Post.
— “Redistricting push from DeSantis and Trump creates uncertainty for Florida congressional candidates,” reports Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
— SAMANTHA RAMLALL is the new development director for Suncoast Searchlight, the nonprofit investigative newsroom that reports on Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Ramlall previously worked as associate vice president of major gifts for the nonprofit Children’s Home Society of Florida.
— “Florida woman fights off alligator to save her puppy,” by Johnny Diaz of The New York Times.
BIRTHDAY: The Fiorentino Group’s Cody McCloud … Brewster Bevis, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida … (was Sunday) Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
