Connect with us

Florida

Florida arts groups left in the lurch by DeSantis veto of state funding for theaters and museums

Published

on

Florida arts groups left in the lurch by DeSantis veto of state funding for theaters and museums


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Coral Gables Art Cinema will be short more than $100,000 this year. About $150,000 has suddenly disappeared from the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s budget. The Miami New Drama also has an unexpected $150,000 budget hole.

Across Florida, arts groups are scrambling after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis unexpectedly vetoed $32 million in arts funding on June 12, eliminating all state grants for those organizations in a move that advocates say will devastate arts and culture in the Sunshine State.

“What baffles me is that Florida has been trying to attract business from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and what message are we sending if we cut funding to our cultural organizations?” said Michel Hausmann, artistic director and co-founder of the Miami New Drama in Miami Beach. “Are you going to attract people to a state where arts and culture aren’t valued? They are the lifeline of a city.”

Arts leaders across the state say it’s the first time they recall a Florida governor eliminating all grant funding for arts and culture, and it comes as arts organizations that survived COVID-19 pandemic closures are still recovering with smaller attendance and revenues.

Advertisement

For the more than 600 arts groups and facilities that were up for state grants, DeSantis’ veto was a surprise because the Legislature had approved arts funding, though what lawmakers approved was less than half of what was initially recommended by the state Division of Arts and Culture. Florida arts organizations had planned their budgets accordingly.

When asked at a news conference on Thursday why he vetoed arts funding in the state’s $116.5 billion budget, DeSantis said some of the money was slotted for programming that many taxpayers would find objectionable because of its sexual nature or for other reasons.

“When I see money being spent that way, I have to be the one to stand up for taxpayers and say, ‘You know what, that is an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars,’” DeSantis said. “I think the Legislature needs to reevaluate how that’s being done.”

Most arts groups are still assessing the impact, but some may have to cut programming or staff.

“We are appealing to the community to help cover part of the budget deficit and we are exploring other funding opportunities in the private sector,” said Brenda Moe, executive director of Coral Gables Art Cinema. “We must get creative to plug this hole.”

Advertisement

The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra will trim expenses, look for a way to increase revenue and hope county and city officials fill some of the gap, said Karina Bharne, the symphony’s executive director.

State grants made up 10% of the Coral Gables Art Cinema’s budget, more than 3% of the Miami New Drama’s budget and around 2% of the Orlando Philharmonic’s budget.

PEN America, the free-speech nonprofit, likened the arts funding cuts to legislative priorities pushed by the DeSantis administration, such as laws limiting what can be said in classrooms about sexual orientation and gender identity and prohibiting the teaching of an academic framework outlining the ways systemic racism is part of American society.

”DeSantis is taking his war on culture to a new level,” said Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America’s Florida office. “This decision will not only devastate the arts but add to his legacy of censorship and disregard for art, literature, and knowledge.”

State grants are important to Florida arts groups not only because of their monetary size but because they can be used for salaries, rent, insurance and utilities. Often, private donors make gifts with strings attached for certain programs or performances. Ticket sales cover as little as a third of some arts groups’ budgets.

Advertisement

“It hurts us dramatically in our ability to pay rent and pay salaries,” said Robert Kesten, executive director of the Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale, which had been expecting $42,300 from the state this year.

To overcome shortfalls, arts groups may have to explore alternative fundraising strategies, such as tapping new Florida residents who haven’t donated before, or collaborate with each other by sharing staff, spaces, costumes or sets, said Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of United Arts of Central Florida in Orlando.

Florida’s arts and cultural industry generates $5.7 billion in economic activity a year, including $2.9 billion by nonprofit arts and culture organizations, and supports more than 91,000 full-time jobs, according to a study from Americans for the Arts in collaboration with the state Division of Arts and Culture and Citizens for Florida Arts Inc.

“We make a huge impact on the quality of life. We make the state more appealing, and we don’t cost money,” Hausmann said. “There’s no justification for this cut unless it’s trying to make a political statement. It’s not an economic one.”

___

Advertisement

Associated Press reporters Cody Jackson in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform X: @MikeSchneiderAP.



Source link

Advertisement

Florida

Florida woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day

Published

on

Florida woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day


Authorities in Florida are accusing a 51-year-old woman of shooting and killing two ex-husbands on the same day this week.

Susan Erica Avalon was arrested on Thursday on charges of second degree homicide in Manatee County, where her first ex-husband lived, according to Sheriff Rick Wells.

Police in Tampa, where Avalon’s second ex-husband lived, said detectives are working with the State Attorney’s Office to determine “what charges, if any, are applicable in the case.”

It all started on Wednesday afternoon when the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office received a call to respond to a shooting in the Heritage Harbor neighborhood, according to Wells. When deputies arrived, they saw a 54-year-old man with two gunshot wounds.

Advertisement

He was shot in the abdomen, Wells said in a press conference Thursday. “The victim at the time is still alert and is speaking to us.”

When deputies asked him who could have done this, the man responded, “possibly my ex-wife,” Wells said.

The man’s 15-year-old daughter was at the home and heard the shots, according to Wells. When she looked out the window, the teen spotted someone wearing a gray sweatshirt and a mask getting into a silver Honda Odyssey and driving off.”

“I want you to understand how traumatized she is,” Wells said of the 15-year-old, who is also Avalon’s daughter.

The 54-year-old man was taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries Wednesday night, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. Before dying, the man told authorities he was shot upon answering the door to his home.

Advertisement

Authorities believe Avalon showed up at the victim’s home posing as a food delivery driver, Wells said.

Court records from the Manatee County Clerk’s Office show Avalon and the 54-year-old man had been divorced for nearly a decade and had long been dealing with issues of child custody as well as child support disputes.

On Wednesday, investigators later located Avalon in her home in Citrus County, where they saw her wiping the silver Honda Odyssey vehicle with cleaning rags and bleach, Wells said.

When investigators told her they are there to speak to her about her ex-husband, she responded, “which one?” Wells said.

Investigators then began digging into Avalon’s second ex-husband, who lived in Tampa. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office requested the help of the Tampa Police Department to check on the man and found he had been shot and killed in his home.

Advertisement

In a news release Thursday, the Tampa police said they believe the incident is related to “an ongoing homicide investigation being conducted by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.”

“Investigators are working to determine a motive, but it’s believed the shooter and victim are known to one another,” the news release reads.

Authorities believe Avalon first went to Tampa to kill her second ex-husband before heading to Manatee County and shooting her first ex-husband, the 54-year-old man, Wells said.

Avalon was arrested on Thursday by sheriff’s deputies in Citrus County, where she lives, on an out-of-county warrant, jail records show.

NBC News could not find an attorney listed for Avalon as of Saturday.

Advertisement

Wells said his office’s ongoing investigation is focused on finding the murder weapon and searching Avalon’s vehicle for evidence.

“That’s our goal right now,” he said.



Source link

Continue Reading

Florida

Florida divorcee, 48, accused of gunning down both of her ex-husbands in same-day fatal shootings

Published

on

Florida divorcee, 48, accused of gunning down both of her ex-husbands in same-day fatal shootings


A crazed Florida divorcee was thrown behind bars after allegedly gunning down both of her ex-husbands in separate broad-daylight shootings on the same day, police said.

Susan Avalon, 48, was cuffed Wednesday and slapped with murder charges after blasting one ex-hubby with bullets in Tampa, then traveling more than 50 miles to Manatee County to fatally shoot the other later that day around 3 p.m., according to Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells.

Investigators said Avalon was embroiled in bitter custody battles with her former spouses, which they believe may have sparked the cold-blooded killings.

Susan Avalon, 48, was cuffed Wednesday and slapped with second-degree homicide. Manatee County Sheriffâs Office

“It doesn’t get anymore brazen than this,” Wells told reporters at a press conference Thursday.

Advertisement

“We believe this was premeditated. She knew what she was doing, it was planned and she came here to kill her ex-husband.”

Police said the alleged murderess targeted her first husband — a 54-year-old man she divorced roughly 11 years ago — at his Manatee County home around 2:55 p.m., luring him to open his front door with stolen food from a Panera Bread before shooting him twice.

The unidentified man was rushed to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to his injuries later that day.

Surveillance footage captured Avalon walking into the nearby bread eatery and swiping food from the delivery pickup shelf without paying before heading to her ex-husband’s home, authorities said.

Investigators said Avalon was embroiled in bitter custody battles with her former spouses, which they believe may have sparked the cold-blooded killings. Manatee Sheriff/YouTube

Her live-in boyfriend allegedly told police she had recently tracked down her ex-hubby’s address.

Advertisement

The ex’s reportedly had ongoing custody disputes and about $4,000 in unpaid child support, with Avalon facing a looming deadline to pay $200 or lose her driver’s license.

Investigators tracked her silver Honda Odyssey back to her Citrus County home after the shooting and found her scrubbing the minivan with bleach and rags. But when asked by police about her ex-husband, she chillingly replied, “Which one?”

“We only know of one,” Wells said.

“We start to dig into this second ex-husband that we know nothing about, and we find she was married again after the marriage to our victim, and that this ex-husband lives in Tampa.”

Wells said he is working with prosecutors to have that charge upgraded to first-degree murder and the death penalty. Manatee Sheriff/YouTube

Wells said investigators alerted Tampa authorities, who conducted a welfare check at the second husband’s Frierson Avenue home and found him dead inside with multiple gunshot wounds. The back door was also damaged, suggesting forced entry, he added.

Advertisement

Officials have not disclosed the second victim’s name or age, but believe Avalon allegedly killed him first.

The alleged killer, who was previously arrested on child abuse charges in Virginia in 2004, was charged with second-degree homicide in Manatee County. Wells said he is working with prosecutors to have that charge upgraded to first-degree murder and the death penalty.

Avalon, who reportedly has five children between both slain ex-husband’s, also faced two other child abuse cases in Tampa and Pasco County that were later dropped.

She has not yet been charged in the Tampa shooting as police continue their investigation.

Avalon is currently being held at Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Florida

Pope names pro-immigrant pastor bishop of Florida diocese where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago is located

Published

on

Pope names pro-immigrant pastor bishop of Florida diocese where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago is located


Pope Leo XIV on Friday named the Rev. Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, currently pastor of a predominantly Hispanic church in the Queens borough of New York City, as bishop of Palm Beach, Florida.

The diocese is home to the Mar-a-Lago estate of President Donald Trump, whose get-tough immigration policies have drawn objections from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Rodriguez has been a staunch advocate for migrants, which make up most of his 17,000 congregants at the Our Lady of Sorrows church — the largest parish in the Diocese of Brooklyn, which also oversees churches in Queens.

“I never, never, never expected anything even close to this,” Rodriguez told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday from Palm Beach, where he was visiting a homeless shelter.

Advertisement

“I’m even a little bit scared. But I trust in God’s assistance,” he said. “One thing I can tell you is that this diocese is a diocese of hard-working priests and hard-working people, and I’m here to help.”

The Diocese of Palm Beach comprises about 260,000 Catholics and 54 parishes and missions. On its website, the diocese said that Rodriguez will be ordained and installed at a future date during a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola.

A Dominican native

Rodriguez was born in the Dominican Republic and ordained to the priesthood in 2004, in the capital, Santo Domingo. He led the Our Lady of Sorrows parish in the mostly Latino Corona neighborhood of Queens when more than 100 of its parishioners died from COVID-19.

Earlier this year, Rodriguez joined numerous faith leaders across the U.S. expressing their concern about how the immigration crackdown launched by Trump’s administration had sown fear within their migrant-friendly congregations.

In his new assignment, he will lead the diocese where Mar-a-Lago — Trump’s vast south Florida estate — is located. Trump has called the resort the “Center of the Universe.”

Advertisement

“The president is doing really good things, not only for the United States, but for the world. But when it comes to the migrant, the immigration policy, we want to help,” Rodriguez said. “We want to assist the president as a church because we believe that we can do better … than the way we’re doing this right now.”

Some church leaders have condemned Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying it targets parishioners without a criminal record who are now too scared to leave home to attend Mass, buy food or seek medical care.

At many immigrant parishes, U.S.-born children have parents in the country illegally. Some of these parents have signed caregiver affidavits, which designate a legal guardian, in hopes their children stay out of foster care in case they are detained.

“When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, we shouldn’t be enforcing them by focusing on deporting 5-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 9-year-old kids, people that have never committed any crime. So, we’re here to help. We’re willing to help, and God willing, we will,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he’s in line with the Catholic Church, which staunchly defends the rights of migrants, even as it acknowledges the rights of nations to control their borders.

Advertisement

“The Church’s position about this important and urgent matter has been made crystal clear by the bishops of the United States,” he said.

Immigration a challenging issue for Catholic bishops

The Vatican announced Rodríguez’s appointment the day after it shared that Pope Leo had accepted the resignation of conservative Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan who led the New York archdiocese and also had ties to Trump, including praying at his inauguration earlier this year and being appointed to his Religious Liberty Commission.

On some issues, such as greater inclusion for LGBTQ+ people, U.S. bishops are divided. But on immigration, even conservative Catholic leaders stand on the side of migrants.

During their general assembly earlier this year, U.S. bishops issued a rare “special message” criticizing the Trump administration’s mass deportation of migrants and their “vilification” in the current migration debate. It also lamented the fear and anxiety immigration raids have sown in communities, and the denial of pastoral care to migrants in detention centers.

U.S. Catholic bishops shuttered their longstanding refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration halted federal funding for resettlement aid.

Advertisement

Rodriguez said the church will always be ready to defend the dignity of poor people and migrants, who over generations, “have contributed to the growth of the United States.”

“Migrants are not to be demonized … Good migrant people that are here to work hard for their families — they share many of our core values,” he said. “They’re to be not to be rejected and treated harshly but instead, they’re to be treated respectfully and with dignity. So, that’s the idea, and Pope Leo is backing us up in this.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending