Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.

The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.

Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers back pay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.

Fish and Wildlife officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other workers also filed pending lawsuits over being fired over comments about Kirk’s assassination 

Brown was among a wave of workers in both the public and private sector who lost their jobs over comments about Kirk’s assassination on a Utah university campus. Lawsuits are pending over many of those firings.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.

Kirk’s supporters combed social media after the Sept. 10 shooting for posts they viewed as celebrating his death. Influencers like Laura Loomer pledged to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing, and the conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared the identities and workplaces of many who posted with its audience of millions.

Libs of TikTok posted about Brown, and she was fired the next day, according to her lawsuit. Brown said someone then alerted Libs of TikTok about her termination only about 10 minutes after it happened and before it was made public.

In a rare instance in Tennessee, a retired police officer was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post joking about Kirk’s assassination. Tennessee officials agreed Wednesday to pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the man, Larry Bushart. While behind bars, Bushart lost his postretirement job and missed the birth of his granddaughter before authorities eventually dropped a felony charge against him, he said in the lawsuit.

Before her termination, Brown worked for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years and studied shorebirds and seabirds on the panhandle, according to court documents.

Carrie McNamara, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, called Brown’s settlement deal “a hard-won vindication” that sends a message to Florida officials that they cannot punish speech they dislike.

“The First Amendment does not disappear when someone accepts a government job,” McNamara said.

Brown’s former supervisor at the agency, Habitat and Species Conservation Director Melissa Tucker, had claimed that Brown’s post generated hundreds of formal complaints and caused significant disruption. Discovery in the case later revealed that the agency only received about 50 complaints.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker imposed sanctions against Tucker last week for exaggerating the amount and then not correcting the record.

A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing of his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter is set to be executed Thursday evening.

Richard Knight, 47, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was sentenced to death after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in 2006 for the deaths of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old child, Hanessia Mullings.

This would be Florida’s seventh execution so far this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.

According to court records, Knight had been living in Coral Springs, near Fort Lauderdale, with his cousin, his cousin’s girlfriend and their daughter in June 2000. Knight and Stephens frequently argued about Knight living there. One evening while Knight’s cousin was at work, Stephens told Knight that he would need to move out the next morning. Knight became angry and stabbed Stephens multiple times and then attacked the young girl, officials said.

While being held at the Broward County Jail following his arrest, Knight confessed the killings to another inmate, who testified against Knight during his trial.

The Florida Supreme Court denied Knight’s appeals last Friday. The court rejected his claim of newly discovered evidence, pointing out that an unidentified fingerprint found on a knife at the murder scene was known about and addressed during Knight’s original trial. The court also rejected claims based on Florida’s execution protocols and warrant process.

A final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

An execution was scheduled for Thursday in Tennessee. And another execution is planned in Florida on June 2. Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, was convicted of fatally beating of his girlfriend’s infant daughter in 1996.

All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

A Florida man was arrested Monday after investigators uncovered suspected human remains buried at a Marion County property while investigating the disappearance of his father, according to authorities and an arrest affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said deputies began investigating the disappearance of 43-year-old Andres Bahamon-Prada on May 16, after a family member reported he had not been seen since May 7.

Authorities said Bahamon-Prada lived with his 25-year-old son, Andres Bahamon, at a home in Dunnellon.

During the investigation, detectives uncovered evidence suggesting foul play may have been involved in Bahamon-Prada’s disappearance, prompting authorities to investigate the case as a homicide.

TEXAS COUPLE ARRESTED AFTER BODY OF SPECIAL NEEDS SON, 26, DISCOVERED BURIED IN BACKYARD

According to the affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital, Bahamon initially told deputies he last saw his father on the evening of May 7, after Bahamon-Prada returned home and claimed someone unknown was coming to pick him up.

Detectives also noted Bahamon-Prada’s silver 2007 Infiniti M35 disappeared from the property several days later and remains missing.

The victim’s mother later told investigators she believed Bahamon killed his father after she encountered him near a local store, according to the affidavit. She told deputies the suspect said he believed the victim was dead and “in hell where he deserves to be” because he was “an evil person” and a “junkie.”

When deputies responded to the Dunnellon property on May 18, investigators reported finding shattered glass doors with what appeared to be a bullet hole, a shell casing near the porch, suspected bloodstains and freshly disturbed dirt in the backyard, according to the affidavit.

MAN UNCOVERS MISSING FATHER’S BONES BURIED BENEATH FAMILY HOME, UNLEASHING ‘A THOUSAND’ OTHER SECRETS

Authorities also learned Bahamon allegedly sent his mother, who lives in Germany, a photograph depicting a man appearing deceased near wooden steps at the property, investigators said. According to the affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital, the image appeared to show a man matching Bahamon-Prada’s description lying motionless beside the steps with a large red stain visible near his head and shirt.

Detectives later obtained a search warrant for the property and discovered what they described as a large rolled carpet buried beneath freshly disturbed dirt.

“Upon investigating and digging into that area of dirt, detectives encountered the odor of decomposition,” the affidavit states.

FLORIDA MAN ALLEGEDLY STUFFED HUMAN REMAINS IN TWO SUITCASES FOUND IN REMOTE ‘COMPOUND’

Authorities said detectives ultimately uncovered suspected human remains inside the carpet, though investigators are still working to positively identify the remains.

As the investigation progressed, detectives identified Bahamon as a person of interest in the case. He was arrested Monday and charged with tampering with evidence in the missing-person investigation.

Investigators wrote in the affidavit that they believe Bahamon concealed or removed the victim’s body in an attempt to impair the homicide investigation.

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Authorities are continuing to search for Bahamon-Prada’s missing silver 2007 Infiniti M35, which detectives believe may contain evidence connected to the case.

Anyone with information about the vehicle or the investigation is urged to contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at 352-732-9111.