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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is pushing his state’s university system to look into former University of Florida (UF) President Ben Sasse’s expenses in the wake of reporting from a student newspaper on the subject. “We take the stewardship of state funds very seriously and have already been in discussions with leadership at the university and with the Board of Governors to look into the matter,” Bryan Griffin, a communications director for DeSantis, said in an emailed statement sent Thursday to The Hill. The Florida Board of Governors “oversees the operation and management of the Florida public university system’s twelve...

In his 17-month stint as UF president, Ben Sasse more than tripled his office’s spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies. Sasse ballooned spending under the president’s office to $17.3 million in his first year in office — up from $5.6 million in former UF President Kent Fuchs’ last year, according to publicly available. Citing his wife’s recent epilepsy diagnosis, Sasse abruptly resigned from his post in July — leaving the future of his UF inner circle unclear. The university did not respond to questions about whether his political appointees...

Stunning new figures show how Florida has gone from being a 'purple' state with a roughly-even split between Republicans and Democrats to a deep red GOP enclave. Florida was once considered the ultimate toss-up state, with Barack Obama winning it twice and the state having Democrat governors and members of the US Senate. But it has become a GOP stronghold since Republican Governor Ron DeSantis won his gubernatorial election in 2022.

Last year the Republican-controlled state government in Florida passed legislation requiring its public universities to do what are called “post-tenure reviews” on all their tenured professors every five years, as part of an effort to eliminate what Governor Ron DeSantis called “deadweight” and “unproductive tenured faculty.” The bill not only limited the ability of professors to protest termination decisions, it was also aimed at eliminating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs across the board. At the University of Florida the first round of tenure review has now produced some startling numbers, literally proving DeSantis’ claims. The report said that, out of...

Under the leadership of Common Core czar David Coleman, the College Board has been creating or rewriting Advanced Placement (AP) courses to reflect a leftist worldview. AP courses such as U.S. History and European History now push a decidedly left-of-center narrative that conflicts with traditional scholarship and introduces a de facto national curriculum for the advanced students who populate AP classes. But some states are beginning to challenge the woke-ification of AP. The latest AP controversy centers on the radical new AP African-American Studies (APAAS) course, recently piloted nationally and now rolled out in its final form. But some state...

A Christian family camping in Florida was the target of false reports of child abuse, and now Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the accusers will be investigated. JD and Britney Lott, two military veterans from Texas, and their eight kids were camping and posting to their social media following of more than 600,000 when they were contacted by Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF). The family explained the situation in a two–part Instagram series and included screenshots of the messages they received. Their story began just a few weeks after Britney gave birth to their eighth daughter, Florida’s Voice...

The decision by Florida governor Ron DeSantis in 2023 to oust the radicals controlling the state’s tiny liberal-arts college, New College of Florida, has elicited frenzied reactions from the global Left. The effort by a democratically elected government to bring political balance, educational excellence, and fiscal sanity to a failed public institution of 800 students is seen as nothing less than a collegiate March on Rome. The reaction has rather proven the point: The leftist control of higher education has become so totalitarian that even the slightest hint of deviance is viewed as a mortal threat to the revolutionary project....

More people have condemned the violence former President Donald Trump faced on Saturday after surviving an assassination attempt, expressing their relief that he is OK. Musician Kid Rock, a known supporter of the former president, posted a video on X warning his followers, “You f*** with Trump, you f*** with me.” The musician has also shared a GoFundMe fundraiser on his social media, which has raised over $1.9 million to support the victims of the shooting. *** Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has expressed his sorrow for the victims, and has also expressed his gratitude for Trump’s safety, writing on X...

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has given the public some clarity on his veto last week of $32 million in arts and culture grants from next year’s state budget. According to a story published in the Tampa Bay Times, DeSantis said the cause was Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival, which he characterized as being overtly “sexual” and therefore an inappropriate recipient of state funds. While it’s unclear if the Orlando festival was slated to receive any money from the grants, the state of Florida awards money for cultural projects based on a ranked list. The Fringe Festival was ranked toward...

Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed the Sunshine State won’t abide by potential bureaucratic restrictions on Second Amendment rights after the U.S. surgeon general declared firearm violence a “public health crisis.” The Biden administration’s surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, said guns “[pose] a serious threat to the health and well-being of our country.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ webpage for the advisory does not list any new legal action taken on restrictions, but DeSantis warned that similar advisories were issued at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – preceding lockdowns and other government mandates. “During COVID, unelected bureaucrats used...

Hodgetwins @hodgetwins Ron DeSantis knew about the raid on Trump and told Merrick Garland "Thanks for the heads up" (Garland to topple Trump. Cyberspace Command reportedly has text messages in which Garland writes, "We're coming," and DeSantis responds, "Thanks for the heads up," timestamped three hours before the FBI swarm illegally and unprecedentedly violated the home of a President of the United States.)

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he supported mass deportation of illegal immigrants because the numbers call for something dramatic. Host Kristen Welker said, “If reelected, Donald Trump said he is willing to put migrant detention camps and to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, and it would be the largest deportation plan in American history. Do you support that plan?” Rubio said, “Eleven million, that was the number ten years ago. We’re talking upwards of 25 to 30 million.” He continued, “The answer to your question is yes. We cannot absorb 25,...

The Biden administration last month announced a revamping of Title IX rules ostensibly intended to protect transgender college students. The move was met with condemnation and lawsuits challenging the new rules.Now, White House officials are in the hot seat, being forced to explain and defend this decision. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently gave testimony before the Senate. Sen. Burgess Owens (R-UT) grilled Cardona, asking him whether he would allow his daughter to be forced to deal with biological men in women’s space. Naturally, the secretary had trouble answering.President Joe Biden’s administration released a finalized rule in April that extends Title...

Call it pinko talent development, but we can still learn from it When Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Texas governor Greg Abbot proposed legislation making particular radical tactics crimes — many of them felonies — carrying mandatory jail time, much commentary, positive and negative, focused on DeSantis’ proposal (previously made by other jurisdictions) that a driver fleeing from safety from a mob should not be liable for injury or death caused by hitting someone with his car. That proposal was especially popular with those who, beyond supporting the right to physical safety and self-defense, fantasize about breaking radical Lefty movements...

Both Trump and DeSantis spoke on friendly terms, according to the Post’s sources, and DeSantis agreed to help the 45th President. Trump’s team is hopeful such assistance will include the Florida governor helping raise money for the campaign, which is lagging behind Biden in fundraising. The meeting will also produce renewed speculation that Trump is looking at tapping DeSantis as his running mate. Trump previously suggested that the Florida governor was on the list of people he was considering. This seems like a long shot considering a good number of Trump’s staff still despise Ron DeSantis. After initial calm, DeSantis...

The Sunshine State is now welcoming chaplains into public schools, but Satanists need not apply. On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a bill into law allowing chaplains to volunteer to offer counseling at public and charter schools. However, the Catholic governor warned that Satanists would not be accepted into the program, as some Christian and conservative groups had feared. “Now some have said if you do a school chaplain program that somehow you’re going to have Satanists running around in all our schools,” DeSantis said in a press conference. “We’re not playing those games in Florida. That...

In a YouGov survey of 1,795 adult citizens conducted between Apr. 6 and Apr. 9, Iger is at -9 net, with 15% viewing him favorably and 24% unfavorably. Meanwhile, DeSantis is better known, but at least for some respondents, familiarity breeds contempt. The second-term Republican stands at -13 net; 34% view him favorably, with 47% regarding him unfavorably. DeSantis is in negative territory with most age, gender and racial cohorts, with only respondents 65 years of age and older regarding him favorably, albeit by a slender 48% to 44% spread.

A voter registration advantage of one million is “within reach” in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said, following reports that Republicans are nearing 900,000 more registered voters in the Sunshine State than Democrats. “Prior to 2021, FL never had more registered Republicans than Democrats,” DeSantis said. “Now, a million voter R registration advantage is within reach.” “Hillsborough (Tampa) is about to flip from D to R, which will mean every county in the Tampa Bay market has a R advantage in this previously ‘swing’ region of the state,” the governor continued, detailing the significance of this shift: Prior to 2021,...

Ron DeSantis isn’t committing to running for President again in 2028. At least not publicly. The Governor told Fox News Channel viewers that he didn’t “have any plans for the future” when asked about a future run by Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. The comments are interesting in light of those being his first public remarks since a reported conclave with donors and supporters in South Florida,

By KIMBERLY LEONARD 04/06/2024 09:38 PM EDT HOLLYWOOD, Florida — Ron DeSantis is making nice with his most loyal donors and, at least over the weekend, ignored Donald Trump. During a retreat in South Florida for the governor’s donors that featured golf, cigars and spa time, and little mention of the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, DeSantis thanked and wooed the people who most avidly supported his presidential run. Part of the weekend was also to brainstorm how he could keep Florida front and center in the conservative movement with more than 2 and a half years left as governor. Robert...