Free Republic

Only a generation ago, Florida was the ultimate swing state, but turned reliably red in recent years to become a stronghold of conservatism. From here, Trump plotted his remarkable political comeback… Now, Florida finds itself facing something of a political retrenchment, as Trump’s power wanes on the national stage, and Republicans in the state reflect on a near-disaster... Trump loyalist Donalds, for example, will not enjoy the same fealty from the Republican-controlled legislature that the termed-out DeSantis did…Democrats made a net gain of 15 house seats in the state to strip the party’s supermajority. “It’s unlikely he’ll have the clout...

A woman is facing felony and misdemeanor charges after she allegedly posted about wanting to kick a pro-life display booth at Miami University, in Ohio. Key Takeaways: * Nineteen-year-old Alexandra Patterson was arrested and charged after she allegedly posted a threat against Miami University pro-life students to a social messaging app. * In the message, she suggested that either dining dollars would be available to anyone who would 'kirk' a pro-life student table or that she herself was willing to 'kirk' the table in exchange for dining dollars. * The post was a reference to the September 2025 assassination or...

🚢 After more than 19 months in Mobile, the historic SS United States is scheduled to begin its final voyage Monday, November 9, at 9 a.m., weather permitting. 🌊 The 990-foot ocean liner will be towed from Modern American Recycling Services Pier 4 on the Mobile River, through Mobile Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. The ship is expected to reach its destination Tuesday, approximately 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Sinking operations are scheduled to begin Thursday, November 12, at 10 a.m., creating what officials describe as the world's largest artificial reef. The U.S. Coast...

OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. -- The planned sinking of the historic SS United States off the Florida Panhandle is now facing an emergency federal court challenge. A preservation group is asking a judge to stop the ship from leaving Mobile next week, claiming toxic paint aboard the ship could contaminate Gulf waters and threaten marine life. The group argues federal regulators failed to adequately study those risks before approving the project. The historic ocean liner is scheduled to leave Mobile on Monday and be sunk in the Gulf, 23 miles southwest of Destin, next Thursday. The ship has been in Mobile...

Audio between an air traffic controller and a female pilot flying the Learjet 60 during a flight in May has resurfaced following Sunday’s tragic incident in Palm Beach County. A man and woman in the cockpit were scolded by air traffic controllers after they appeared to make unapproved altitude adjustments during turbulent conditions, according to audio obtained by the Daily Mail and the U.K. Sun. What happened with the Learjet 60 in May? The plane was flying near Newark, N.J., at the time when an air traffic controller asked the crew, “Why are you climbing?” The female pilot answered: “We’re...

A Florida Marine veteran was credited Thursday as a hero for fatally shooting a gunman who drove onto a Citibank Center campus and began hunting down workers in anger over a delinquent $2,500 credit card bill, officials said. During a press briefing detailing the tragedy, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister identified the security officer as John Fraley, who confronted 35-year-old Jacob Pearson inside the corporate setting just after he shot and killed a female Citibank employee. "He is an individual that's afforded an opportunity to carry a firearm because the ones who were either previous law enforcement or military and...

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations will shut down operations in Florida after a federal court rejected its request to reverse its designation as a terrorist group Wednesday night. The ruling came after the State of Florida designated the Muslim civil rights group as a terrorist organization under a new Florida law that gave the state the ability to pull funding from institutions. The designation took effect Thursday, forcing CAIR and CAIR-Florida to shut down operations in the state. CAIR announced Thursday plans to appeal the decision, calling the claims baseless and saying the new law violates...

That’s real cold-blooded. A fight between elderly roommates over ice cream in Florida got so heated, one of the men allegedly shot his two tenants to death, according to cops. “It’s a ridiculous situation,” Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken said at a press conference Thursday. Mark Robinson, 69, is accused of fatally shooting Charles Etheze, 69, and Michael Menkes, 78, at his home in Ocala on Oct. 28 — after things got frosty between the men, according to police. The feud first broke out when one of the roommates accused another of eating his ice cream, sparking a spat that...

Three people -- all accused of murders -- are scheduled to be executed in Indiana, Florida and Alabama. Indiana executed a man who admitted he killed his girlfriend's two children, the first of three executions scheduled across the U.S. on Thursday. Jeffrey Weisheit set fire to his girlfriend's house near Evansville, Indiana, in 2010, killing her two children, ages 8 and 5, CBS News reported. Florida and Alabama also have executions scheduled on Thursday. In Florida, Jess Guardado pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman, who had helped him get a job and housing, inside her Walton County home...

Outgoing Florida Governor and former 2024 presidential contender Ron DeSantis has taken a swipe at Donald Trump after the Republican defeat in the midterm elections. DeSantis called it 'close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country' and singled out the Democratic wins in the Texas governor and Senate races in what he called 'the crown jewel of Republican politics.' 'Let's just be clear, that is going to hurt, not just for the next two years, that's something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,' he said at a press conference in Tallahassee on...

Pieces of the tail of the Learjet that crashed in Florida have been found miles away from the crash site, which suggests that part of the aircraft broke off before it hit the ground, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Federal investigators found three pieces of the jet's left elevator between 1.3 and 3.8 miles from the impact site in Palm Beach County, Florida, NTSB member Thomas Champman said Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plane's elevator controls the aircraft's pitch up or down, and without it, an aircraft cannot recover from a nose dive. Chapman said that...

Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly in Florida’s gubernatorial election Tuesday, securing the governorship for the GOP and preserving the state’s pro-life policies. With more than 97 percent of the vote counted, Donalds led with roughly 50 percent to Jolly’s 48.7 percent, according to state tallies. Early returns had favored Jolly before Election Day ballots from Republican strongholds, particularly the Panhandle, narrowed and then reversed the margin. Donalds, who is pro-life and represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District, will succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis and become Florida’s first Black governor. His running mate, former state Sen. Bryan Avila,...

Despite a huge media campaign against the passing of this Amendment, it passed with 62% of the public approving. The Amendment will raise the Homestead Exemption from $50,000 now to $150,000 next year and $250,000 the following year and index to inflation after that. It will cap non-homestead property at 5% instead of the 10% now. Public education property taxes are unaffected by this amendment. It requires that police, fire and public safety services be funded first. Every other Statewide Race in Florida was extremely close; this Amendment was supported by voters across both political parties. What has happened here...

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody defeated Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon in Florida’s special U.S. Senate election Tuesday, Decision Desk HQ projected shortly after the final polls closed. With more than 90 percent of votes counted, Moody led with roughly 50.2 percent to Nixon’s 48.7 percent, a margin of about 115,000 votes, according to multiple tallies. Independent candidate Neil Gillespie received about 1 percent. The result keeps the seat in Republican hands through early 2029, the remainder of the term Marco Rubio vacated to become secretary of state. Moody, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2025 after serving two terms...

I almost feel bad for Angie Nixon. Sometime tonight, after the Panhandle brings it home, she’s going to find out that millions of Floridians don’t want her representing them in the United States Senate, and she’ll have to confront the possibility that the problem might actually be Angie Nixon. Just kidding. We all know that’s not happening. She’s already figured out who to blame. Florida is racist. The voters are racist. Apparently even the Democrat donors think so. Talking with Politico’s Dasha Burns last month, she complained that national Democrats were staying out of her race because “they think that...

Florida woman was arrested on a DUI charge after allegedly trying to pay for food with tampons at a Taco Bell drive-through, where an employee reported that she appeared intoxicated and confused. The encounter took an unusual turn when Roshelle Anderson, 37, struggled to explain where she was going, at one point telling police her mother lived "two stones" away. Boca Raton police arrived at the restaurant on West Palmetto Park Road around 9:08 p.m. on October 25 and saw Anderson get out of the driver's seat of her car.

You may be used to seeing police cars cruising through your neighborhood or helicopters flying overhead. But what if an officer could respond to an emergency in a small electric aircraft that looks like a giant drone? That idea is getting closer to reality in Florida. The Florida Polytechnic University Police Department in Lakeland has introduced a flying patrol vehicle that the university has nicknamed Astro. Jetson, the company behind the Jetson ONE personal flying machine, built the single-seat aircraft. According to the university, it’s the first U.S. law enforcement agency to add this type of piloted electric aircraft to...

LAKELAND, Fla. (WFOR) -- There were 17 Disney World and Universal Studios employees among 281 suspects arrested during a human trafficking and child sexual predators enforcement operation, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Friday. Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference Friday that the joint operation, which took place over seven days, focused on nabbing predators who prey upon and travel to meet children for unlawful sexual activity and human trafficking. He said 31 of the suspects traveled to the county to attempt to have sex with a child. Judd said during the press conference that 13 of the...

The harrowing final moments inside the Learjet 60 private jet that crashed to the ground in Florida on Sunday have been revealed in newly released cockpit audio. The plane was carrying nine people when it plummeted out of the sky in poor weather conditions, just eight miles from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, erupting into a colossal fire on impact near West Palm Beach. Air traffic control audio revealed the female pilot relaying pivotal information to an operator just seconds before it abruptly plunged thousands of feet in a minute. The controllers are describing 'moderate turbulence' before the pilot's tone swiftly...

Chilling audio captured the moments before a Learjet crashed into a huge fireball in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday. A Learjet that departed Austin, Texas, en route to the Bahamas plunged at a high rate of speed and nosedived into a mobile home part nine miles from Mar-a-Lago. The doomed plane erupted into a giant fireball and left a massive crater in the road. All nine people aboard the doomed aircraft are dead. The victims have not been identified. Here is the Learjet crashing on Palm Beach. Frame by frame https://t.co/nCoRIIDXGP — Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) November 1, 2026 The...