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Punishing Disney, DeSantis Signals a Lasting G.O.P. Brawl With Business

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Punishing Disney, DeSantis Signals a Lasting G.O.P. Brawl With Business

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday revoked Disney’s particular tax privileges in Florida, culminating a unprecedented conflict between one of many Republican Occasion’s main figures and a strong firm with deep historic ties in his state.

The transfer, which reverses a 55-year association permitting the corporate to self-govern its theme park advanced, got here after a weekslong battle with Disney that grew to become an emblem of the nation’s broader cultural fights over training, sexuality and id.

The Florida standoff largely centered on an training legislation not too long ago signed by Mr. DeSantis. That legislation, referred to as the “Parental Rights in Schooling” measure — or, to its critics, “Don’t Say Homosexual” — prohibits classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender id in some elementary faculty grades. After inner calls for to talk out, Disney, Florida’s largest non-public employer, had criticized the measure and paused political donations.

“I’m simply not snug having that sort of agenda get particular therapy in my state,” Mr. DeSantis stated on Friday, denouncing how Disney had responded to the training laws in addition to movies circulated within the conservative media that confirmed workers on the firm discussing issues of sexuality. A consultant for Disney declined to remark.

Broadly seen as retaliation, Mr. DeSantis’s transfer illustrated simply how drastically the G.O.P. has remodeled from the times when its leaders usually moved in lock step with the nation’s largest companies. The episode additionally confirmed how main corporations have felt rising strain to take a stand on heated political points.

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During the last decade or so, and particularly after former President Donald J. Trump’s ascent, main Republicans have more and more seen political profit in criticizing company America.

“Republicans who for a very long time have had an in depth and heat relationship with U.S. companies have began to be extra selective about these relationships,” stated former Consultant Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican, including that the occasion’s lawmakers weren’t “afraid to confront even some common manufacturers that earlier than would have been unthinkable.”

He went on, “Whereas earlier than it could have been unimaginable {that a} politician, particularly a Florida politician, would confront Mickey Mouse, now there’s truly vital political incentive to take action.”

Mr. DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential contender, has been on the forefront of nationwide battles over curriculums, school rooms and sports activities groups, points which have galvanized many conservative voters.

Democrats and advocacy organizations have been sharply essential of conservative efforts on these matters, and a handful of Republican lawmakers across the nation have questioned whether or not the flurry of legislative exercise on these topics is geared toward real-world issues.

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L.G.B.T.Q. leaders and a few training officers have forcefully criticized the training legislation that set off the dispute in Florida, saying that it’s already having a chilling impact on academics and will do the identical for younger college students who’ve relied on faculties as a protected place to speak about private points.

“Governor DeSantis is wielding the facility of the state to punish companies merely for not falling according to his brutal and discriminatory assaults,” stated Joni Madison, the interim president of the Human Rights Marketing campaign, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group. “Each step of this whole ordeal in Florida has been nothing greater than a shameful try to out-Trump Trump by means of concern, hate and lies.”

However for Republican politicians, the choice to tackle a significant firm over the problem is much less prone to backfire with at this time’s conservative base than in an earlier period when business-minded moderates had much more affect within the occasion.

“That is, in my opinion, a low-risk engagement right here in opposition to an organization that’s perceived by many Republican base voters to be aggressively pursuing or selling a coverage agenda,” Mr. Curbelo stated.

That shift, evident with the rise of the Tea Occasion throughout the Obama administration, plainly intensified amid the political realignment of the Trump period, as Republicans more and more grew to become the occasion of white working-class voters whereas some big-business and tech leaders — and lots of of their workers — moved left.

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On the invoice signing on Friday, the place Mr. DeSantis additionally authorized measures together with the so-called Cease W.O.Okay.E. Act, which restricts how race is mentioned in faculties and companies, the governor blasted not solely Disney but in addition Google and Coca-Cola for what he forged as variety measures that have been overly ideological.

On the point out of Disney, the Florida crowd booed.

Patricia Mazzei contributed reporting.

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Education

Four Fraternity Members Charged After a Pledge Is Set on Fire

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Four Fraternity Members Charged After a Pledge Is Set on Fire

Four fraternity members at San Diego State University are facing felony charges after a pledge was set on fire during a skit at a party last year, leaving him hospitalized for weeks with third-degree burns, prosecutors said Monday.

The fire happened on Feb. 17, 2024, when the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity held a large party at its house, despite being on probation, court documents show. While under probation, the fraternity was required to “demonstrate exemplary compliance with university policies,” according to the college’s guidelines.

Instead, prosecutors said, the fraternity members planned a skit during which a pledge would be set on fire.

After drinking alcohol in the presence of the fraternity president, Caden Cooper, 22, the three younger men — Christopher Serrano, 20, and Lars Larsen, 19, both pledges, and Lucas Cowling, 20 — then performed the skit, prosecutors said.

Mr. Larsen was set on fire and wounded, prosecutors said, forcing him to spend weeks in the hospital for treatment of third-degree burns covering 16 percent of his body, mostly on his legs.

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The charges against Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cowling and Mr. Serrano include recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury; conspiracy to commit an act injurious to the public; and violating the social host ordinance. If convicted of all the charges, they would face a sentence of probation up to seven years, two months in prison.

Mr. Larsen himself was charged. The San Diego County District Attorney’s office said that he, as well as Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cowling, also tried to lie to investigators in the case, deleted evidence on social media, and told other fraternity members to destroy evidence and not speak to anyone about what happened at the party.

All four men have pleaded not guilty.

Lawyers representing Mr. Cooper and Mr. Cowling did not immediately respond to messages requesting comment on Tuesday. Contact information for lawyers for Mr. Serrano and Mr. Larsen was not immediately available.

The four students were released on Monday, but the court ordered them not to participate in any fraternity parties, not to participate in any recruitment events for the fraternity, and to obey all laws, including those related to alcohol consumption.

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The university said Tuesday that it would begin its own administrative investigation into the conduct of the students and the fraternity, now that the police investigation was complete.

After it confirmed the details, the dean of students office immediately put the Phi Kappa Psi chapter on interim suspension, which remains in effect, college officials confirmed on Tuesday.

Additional action was taken, but the office said it could not reveal specifics because of student privacy laws.

“The university prioritizes the health and safety of our campus community,” college officials said in a statement, “and has high expectations for how all members of the university community, including students, behave in the interest of individual and community safety and well-being.”

At least half a dozen fraternities at San Diego State University have been put on probation in the last two years, officials said.

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Video: Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect

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Video: Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect

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Several Killed in Wisconsin School Shooting, Including Juvenile Suspect

The police responded to a shooting at a private Christian school in Madison, Wis., on Monday.

Around 10:57 a.m., our officers were responding to a call of an active shooter at the Abundant Life Christian School here in Madison. When officers arrived, they found multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Officers located a juvenile who they believe was responsible for this deceased in the building. I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas. Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don’t just go away.

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Video: Biden Apologizes for U.S. Mistreatment of Native American Children

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Video: Biden Apologizes for U.S. Mistreatment of Native American Children

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Biden Apologizes for U.S. Mistreatment of Native American Children

President Biden offered a formal apology on Friday on behalf of the U.S. government for the abuse of Native American children from the early 1800s to the late 1960s.

The Federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened until today. I formally apologize. It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make. I know no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy. But today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.

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