Free Republic

While blue-state politicians are busy hosting climate summits, renaming highways and explaining why your electric bill doubled, Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing something increasingly rare in American politics: governing like an adult with a calculator. This week, DeSantis rolled out a pair of measures aimed squarely at one of the next great political fights in America — hyperscale AI data centers gobbling up electricity, water and land while ordinary residents get stuck with the bill. And unlike the performative governing out of California or New York, Florida’s approach is brutally simple: protect taxpayers first. “This bill I think is the...

Months after allowing customers to openly carry guns, Publix has changed its open carry firearm policy at all Florida stores. Publix changes its open carry firearm policy in Florida stores, permitting only law enforcement officers to openly carry guns while shopping. Photo by Nicole Lopez-AlvarPublix, the Florida-born grocer with locations across Miami-Dade and Broward counties, appears to have quietly reversed its open-carry policy. No announcement, no press release. Just a new stance rolling out Tuesday through customer service reps and its own chatbot. The news arrives one day after Publix dropped to fourth on America’s most trusted grocer ranking, behind...

Chris Toukonen apparently has a drug problem. He's also a teacher at Lely High School in Naples, Florida. Toukonen, 44, has a shiny new set of felony drug charges to add to his résumé, along with possession of narcotic paraphernalia. According to reports, administrators got wind of suspected drug use while Toukonen was alone in the classroom. They then searched his backpack, found cocaine and fentanyl, and called the Collier County Sheriff's Office. Deputies showed up, investigated, and hauled him off to jail. No other drugs were found in his classroom or his vehicle on campus. Look at those pinpoint...

AVE MARIA, Fla. — A Southwest Florida woman thought a burglar was breaking into her home. It was much more terrifying -- two angry alligators were brawling outside in a battle that spilled onto her screened-in porch. Kayla Burress told WINK that she heard a noise outside of her home in Ave Maria that was getting louder by the minute. When she looked outside, the two large reptiles were fighting violently. The alligators slammed into the porch’s screen, ripping through it and leaving shredded mesh and twisted metal in their wake, the television station reported. “I thought somebody was breaking...

John Andrew Spillman, 33, is a Uniformed Division officer with the federal agency, and had just provided security to President Donald Trump at the weekend PGA tour at Trump’s golf course in Doral, Florida. He was arrested shortly after midnight Monday for allegedly masturbating naked on the sixth floor of the DoubleTree hotel near Miami International Airport. “Police allegedly caught him literally with his pants down in the act, according to the arresting affidavit,” reported Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics, as deputies with the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Officer responded.

Florida man, 19, killed, cut up, abandoned body in suitcase, police say Lucas Sander Jones, 19, was charged with the murder of a registered sex offender, Colie Lee Daniel. Investigators said evidence and witness statements show Jones cut up Daniel's body and put his body parts in a suitcase. Jones' girlfriend told police he told her not to say anything. PALM BAY, Fla. - Parts of a registered sex offender's body were found in a suitcase abandoned in an undeveloped area of Palm Bay, known as "The Compound." Medical examiners identified the body as Colie Lee Daniel, who was reported...

Eric Trump@EricTrumpFor the first time, I am extremely proud to share the OFFICIAL logo for the Donald J. Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida. There is no person more deserving of this incredible honor than @realDonaldTrump! Congratulations Dad!Looking forward to seeing flights landing at “DJT” very very soon! Looking forward to seeing flights landing at “DJT” very very soon! May 5, 2026

Florida detectives are pursuing a group of teenagers whose late-night joyride across a local golf course left the pristine landscape scarred by deep tire tracks and thousands of dollars in property damage. It happened around 7:17 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, at the Weston Hills Golf Course, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO). Deputies responding to reports of suspicious activity arrived to find evidence of significant damage to the course’s greens. A witness at the scene told deputies that several juveniles had been riding motorized bikes and a golf cart across the course. The scale of the disruption was...

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A United States Secret Service employee has been arrested in Florida for allegedly exposing himself.John Andrew Spillman, 33, was taken into custody Monday morning and booked into the Miami-Dade jail on a charge of indecent exposure.According to WSVN, in a statement, the Chief of the Secret Service emphasized that Spillman's actions are "unacceptable" and go against the professionalism and integrity expected from their personnel.

Border Patrol agents working in Tampa, Florida, have arrested their 1,000th child sex offender in just four months. The 1,000th arrest was of a Trinidadian man convicted of five felony child sex offenses in Hillsborough County with a lengthy criminal record. They’re working out of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Miami Sector’s Tampa Station, one of the oldest Border Patrol stations in the country. The Tampa Station first opened in 1925 to respond to large smuggling rings entering Florida using Cuban fishing boats. It is the only station on Florida’s west coast. Its area of responsibility covers 12 counties...

Map seeks to maximize GOP House seats ahead of midterms ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s new congressional map is now official. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on X.com that he signed the redistricting bill lawmakers passed last week with a simple post showing the map, with the words “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered.” A few hours later, the first lawsuit was announced. The new map redraws a number of districts, particularly in Central Florida, the Tampa area, and South Florida. DeSantis pushed for the mid-decade redistricting for a few reasons. 1. He said the influx of new residents after the 2020 Census necessitated...

Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace named several lawmakers Monday who she claims used a congressional “slush fund” to cover up alleged sex scandals. Mace said she uncovered 1,000 pages of documents detailing how certain lawmakers allegedly evaded consequences for sexual scandals, according to a Monday post on X. Mace originally subpoenaed the House Oversight Committee in March in light of a string of sexual scandals that resulted in two resignations from Congress. (RELATED: REPORT: Two GOP Lawmakers Go Head-To-Head In Push To Expel One Another) Notably, Mace said that these documents are only from the last 22 years, claiming...

President Trump on Friday addressed seniors at The Villages in Florida and touted his second-term achievements that have made life more affordable for those in their golden years. “I’m much, much younger than the people in this room, but I feel I can relate to you anyway,” the 79-year-old president joked at the world’s largest retirement community, before rattling off policy after policy his administration has pushed to benefit seniors. Trump lauded the “largest tax refunds of all time” received by American seniors this year thanks to his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. **SNIP** The president then tore into former...

Florida students deserve high-quality education, and great teachers deserve recognition and competitive pay. But time and again partisan school unions have shown that they do not act in the best interests of the teachers they purport to represent, let alone the best interests of students. Today, I was proud to sign legislation to hold unions accountable and to reward the educators who go above and beyond to inspire students across Florida.

Friday is May Day, the day radical leftists come out and scream about the evils of capitalism. Yet it's always a funny thing when they do that; Why are they still living here, rather than fleeing to a Communist country, if they hate capitalism so much? Of course, they don't because they're hoping to push our country further left. Now, you had a conglomeration of them out in D.C. for all the current causes: May Day, anti-Iran military action, and anti-ICE. While they were in for a day of chanting the same things robotically, President Donald Trump was off to...

Florida deputies arrested 266 people in a six-day undercover sting targeting alleged human traffickers, child predators and illegal immigrants. Sheriff Grady Judd announced the results of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office’s (PCSO) six-day operation “Polk Around and Find Out” during a Friday press conference. He announced 247 arrests connected to human trafficking. Officials previously said there were 19 more apprehensions connected to child sexual predators. Of the 247 trafficking-related apprehensions, 34 are in the U.S. illegally and 22 were receiving public benefits totaling more than $15,000 per month, according to the PCSO, FOX 13 reported, citing the PCSO. Those taken...

🚨 LMFAO!! Gov. Ron DeSantis just mocked the CRAP out of Hakeem Jeffries, doing an impression of Temu Obama's failed threats to block Florida redistricting "We gon' do MAXIMUM WARFARE against Republicans! Florida Republicans, you F around, you gonna find out!" 😭 "He's like, oh, if you do the redistricting, we're going to take out all your members, we're going to do all this stuff. And what I said was, go ahead, MAKE MY DAY." "You don't think we're going to, you want to come down here and spend money in Florida, roll the dice and take your chances." "But...

This teacher is no longer teaching in Florida. Her despicable comments about assassinating the President of the United States are automatically disqualifying. We will see to it that she is never entrusted with students again.

Florida Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon temporarily disrupted final passage of a Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed redistricting bill by shouting in a bullhorn during the vote.

A Florida substitute teacher who called herself a “million-dollar prostitute” was fired after she twerked and allegedly grabbed a student in a classroom meltdown. Angela Faith Jourdan was arrested on Monday when she was accused of acting erratically at Lake Minneola High School in Minneola, Fla. The district said her employment was terminated the same day as the incident. “Good afternoon. We are aware of the arrest. Parents have been notified. The substitute teacher was hired 2/4/2025, and employment was terminated today,” the district said in a statement to News 6. Jourdan is accused of making explicit remarks to students,...