Sen. Rick Scott continued his crusade against Kanye West’s upcoming Tampa concerts with a fiery press conference at the Florida Holocaust Museum on Monday morning.
Florida
Former Florida mayor seeks return to city commission
His goals include making Stuart’s economy one based on tourism.
MARTIN COUNTY — Sensing chaos in the city, former Stuart Mayor Merritt Matheson has filed to run again for a seat on the City Commission.
So far, he has one opponent: Johnny Cealmov.
Matheson served as mayor from December 2021 to August 2022, when former Mayor Christopher Collins defeated him by a slim margin of 95 votes or 2.6% in the election that year. He began his service as a city commissioner in 2018.
“I’m running to bring back integrity, respectful, responsible leadership and stability to the city of Stuart,” Matheson said. “I’d like to stop the chaos that we’ve seen in the city.”
Collins, in his first term on the commission, quit as mayor April 30 to run for Martin County Commission. Stuart Vice Mayor Sean Reed automatically becomes mayor.
The chaos includes going through four city managers in six months and departures of high-level staff, such as the finance director, as well as other finance department staff, Matheson said.
The chaos also includes, he said, the unnecessary lawsuits the city has faced and others it lost, such as one with Polk Street Hotels. It includes, too, the severance paid to former City Manager Michael Mortell, who was fired without cause.
The city remains out of compliance with Senate Bill 180, a state law prohibiting changes to land development regulations between August 1, 2024, and October 1, 2027, because it’s still implementing the changes it made after August 1, 2024.
The state, Matheson said, has reacted to the chaos by taking away Stuart’s ability to govern itself — by enacting laws like SB 180 — which made changes to Stuart’s land development regulations null and void.
What prompted Matheson to run?
Nothing in particular prompted him to run for City Commission this time, he said. The chaos certainly played a part.
Collins’ push to use Martin County Forever funds to buy a historic school building was another reason, Matheson said. Martin County Forever funds are meant for improvements to water quality and to conserve environmentally sensitive land.
Stuart is getting about $2 million a year for 10 years from the Martin County Forever initiative that voters passed in 2024.
“The best way to manage growth in Martin County is grow our conservation land,” Matheson said. He helped lead the work to get the Martin County Forever initiative passed and he sits on the Martin County Environmental Lands Oversight Committee, which helps direct the use of those funds.
What he would like to accomplish
Calling himself a “slow-growth proponent,” Matheson said he follows the law and understands property rights, too, he said.
“The job of a commissioner, more often than not, is choosing the best of two bad outcomes,” Matheson said.
He would like to improve the city’s infrastructure, such as sidewalks, bike lanes and landscaping. And he wants to find solutions to ease traffic. He’s a proponent of other ways of getting around, which might include a water taxi, for example.
And he would like Stuart to become a tourism-based economy, rather than a growth-based economy, he said.
Keith Burbank is a watchdog reporter for TCPalm, usually covering Martin County. He can be reached at keith.burbank@tcpalm.com.
Joined by Holocaust survivors, Jewish leaders, fellow Sen. Ashley Moody, and former Republican governor turned Democratic St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Charlie Crist, Scott stood behind a lectern bearing the slogan “Don’t. Fund. Antisemitism.” He gestured to the boxcar on his right, which once transported humans to death camps during the Holocaust.
“Many suffocated in boxcars like these before they even made it,” Scott said. “It all started with questions like the one before us today: Are we going to tolerate this?”
Kanye West’s schedule in Florida
West, who now goes by Ye, has Raymond James Stadium concerts scheduled on June 26 and 28, prompting an outcry from the Tampa Jewish Federation and the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women. Last week, the Florida Holocaust Museum announced it would offer free admission that weekend.
On June 4, Scott wrote a scathing open letter to the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates Raymond James Stadium. He argued that taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to fund events for West, who sold swastika merchandise and posted a song titled “Heil Hitler” last year.
“People say, ‘Oh, it’s just a concert. Oh, the Tampa Bay Sports Authority is going to make some money, let people have their fun,’” he said. “Some of the worst sins in human history begin with the words, ‘I was just’: ‘I was just going to a concert with my friends,’ ‘I was just trying to make money,’ ‘I was just following orders.’ No, you can’t do that. None of us should be let off the hook for hatred and antisemitism.”
In a new statement following Monday’s press conference, the Tampa Sports Authority pushed back against Scott’s claims.
“We condemn antisemitism from any source. However, we also respect free speech rights guaranteed under the US Constitution, even when we disagree with that speech,” it said. “In addition, no taxpayer money is being used for staging the Ye concerts. To suggest otherwise is false.”
Ye has a long history of antisemitism
This spring, Ye published an apology for his antisemitism in the Wall Street Journal, attributing his behavior to his bipolar disorder and brain damage caused by a car accident. Despite this, his behavior prompted European officials to block him from entering the UK, effectively canceling some concerts there.
“Why is it that other countries can tell him no, and we don’t do that? We’ve accepted him,” said Toni Rinde, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who traveled from Clearwater to speak at the press conference. “Why? Why is this person being so hateful, trying to destroy people?”
Janet Hammer, a volunteer at the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast, spoke out against the concerts at last week’s Tampa City Council meeting and sent letters to her elected officials.
“There are people who have not been educated to understand what Nazis represent. He is glamorizing hatred,” she said. “We should have a ticket buyback program. Because to me, it’s not just the profit that’s going to be made. It’s how many individuals are going to be hearing this person, and who knows what the messaging is that he’s going to share?”
After the press conference, Hammer said she is still looking for ways to fight back against the concert.
“It’s like a done deal. That’s unacceptable in my eyes,” she said. “I left there asking, ’What more can I do?’”
🏆 Residential: The top home sale to hit records in South Florida was in Miami, where the 4,400-square-foot at 733 Belle Meade Boulevard changed hands for $9.2 million. The seller was an LLC tied to entrepreneur Andrew Sieja and his wife, philanthropist Jessica Sieja. The buyer was Joshua Keller. The waterfront property has five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. It last sold in 2021 for $8.3 million. It went on the market in January for $10 million. Miltiadis Kastanis with Compass had the listing, and Dan Hechtkopf, also with Compass, brought the buyer.
🏆 Commercial: The priciest commercial deal was in Hollywood, where the hotel known as the Rooftop Resort at 1215 North Ocean Drive sold for $6.9 million. Built in the 1970s, the property spans 16,500 square feet and has 34 rooms. The seller was an LLC tied to Pamela Riccio and the buyer was an LLC managed by Michael Delouya, Thierry Cohen and Daniel Benhamou. The Rotella Group had the listing.
📊 Residential: In Miami Beach, a 4,500-square-foot condo at 1011 West 48th Street sold for $8 million or roughly $1,800 per square foot. The seller was a company managed by Ansir Junaid, founder of the Junaid Group, which operates business across a range of industries from real estate to healthcare, and the buyer was an entity led by Robert Curran. The unit, which has four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, previously sold in 2023 for $8.3 million. Its most recent asking price was $9.5 million. One Sotheby’s International Realty’s Chelsea Werner had the listing, and Ximetta Mires with Global Luxury Realty represented the buyer.
By the Numbers: Number of underwater homes in the US reached 2M
The number of underwater homes in the U.S. is rapidly growing.
For the first time since 2021, the number of homes where loan balances sit at least 25 percent higher than a property’s estimated market value passed the 2 million mark. The figure represents a 15 percent year-over-year increase, according to a new report from real estate analytics firm Attom.
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SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA)—Around 22,000 juvenile snook will be released in Southwest Florida to advance Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s fisheries enhancement efforts in 2026.
According to Mote Marine Laboratory, for nearly three decades, Mote scientists have worked to develop, refine, and evaluate responsible marine stock enhancement strategies for snook and other native species.
“These releases reflect the continued growth and refinement of Mote’s fisheries enhancement capabilities,” said Dr. Ryan Schloesser, Manager of Mote’s Fisheries Ecology & Enhancement Program. “Our focus remains on producing healthy fish, releasing them strategically, and collecting the scientific data needed to better understand how stock enhancement can support resilient wild populations.”
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Credit: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium -
Credit: Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium
The releases in 2026 represent another step forward in Mote’s science-based efforts to support Florida’s recreational fisheries.
Mote Marine Laboratory strategically selects release locations based on environmental conditions and habitat characteristics that provide favorable conditions and structure essential for juvenile snook survival and growth.
According to Mote, the stock enhancement program is guided by research objectives that examine post-release survival, movement patterns, habitat use, and the overall contribution of stocked fish to wild populations.
Before the fish are released, they go through comprehensive health assessments to ensure they are well-suited for release.
According to Mote, in addition to physical tags, Mote scientists are working to utilize advanced genetic tagging techniques using known genetic profiles of parental broodstock.
Researchers can identify individual fish and trace their lineages from small tissue samples, such as fin clips, collected after release through genotyping.
“We have the genetic profiles of the parents and are developing the tools needed to match offspring recovered in the wild back to their source,” said Dr. Schloesser. “This approach will allow us to evaluate stocking success while minimizing handling and stress associated with traditional tagging methods.”
According to Mote, snook remains one of Florida’s most sought-after recreational sportfish, and they contribute significantly to Florida’s coastal economy.
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