Florida
Heat alerts expand across Florida as dangerous temperatures return
The Sunshine State closed out the first month of meteorological summer with a mixed-bag of temperatures, as daily thunderstorm activity helped to keep some communities cooler while others reported one of their hottest Junes on record.
The contrasting observations across the state highlights just how localized Florida’s weather can be, with the sometimes cooler than average temperatures occurring just miles away from heat islands.
Clermont, in Central Florida, recorded its warmest June when compared to typical values, finishing about 4 degrees above average for the month. Meanwhile, Pensacola was the coolest major metro area across the state, ending the month approximately 2 degrees below average.
Cooler than average temperatures were largely found along the Panhandle, while Central and South Florida were home to the heat.
Regions that experienced frequent afternoon showers and thunderstorms generally recorded temperatures closer to seasonal averages, while locations that missed out on the rainfall often experienced temperatures that were well above average.
As a whole, warmer readings outweighed the cooler ones during the first month of meteorological summer, allowing the Sunshine State to experience one of its tenth warmest Junes on record.
The arrival of July has done little to change the pattern, with temperatures expected to get even warmer during the next few weeks.
Forecast models show another extended period of above-average temperatures developing this week as a ridge of high pressure builds across the Sunshine State.
The warmer conditions are expected along and north of the Interstate 4 corridor, where afternoon high temperatures are expected to climb into at least the upper 90s.
When combined with the humidity, the heat index could reach between 104 and 110 degrees through most of the state through the remaining days of the workweek and into the weekend.
The heat indices mean that NOAA’s HeatRisk will reach the Major category in many areas with some neighborhoods potentially reaching the Extreme category.
Residents and visitors spending time outdoors are encouraged to drink plenty of water, take frequent breaks in the air conditioning and avoid strenuous activity during the hottest parts of the day.
Forecast guidance suggests that some ridging will remain in place through at least the middle of next week, leading to several days of above normal heat.
Due to the abundance of seeking air, widespread shower and thunderstorm activity will be hard to come by.
Whether the current pattern persists through the remainder of the month remains uncertain, but the final week of July is climatologically the warmest period of the year, when average afternoon highs reach at least the low to mid-90s.
Florida
US appeals court strikes down key part of Florida law restricting campus race and gender discussions
A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education.
In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment.
It accused the state of “puppeteering”: making the educators their mouthpieces by controlling what they can say or teach.
“Because the government pays the professors’ salaries, Florida says, their speech is the state’s speech,” Britt Grant, a Donald Trump-appointed judge who wrote the majority opinion, said. “Emphatically no.
“Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry – classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.”
It added: “The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the first amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.”
The ruling removes a flagship element of DeSantis’s second-term agenda aimed at perceived leftwing ideology on Florida’s state-run higher education campuses. Passed in 2022, the Stop Woke Act, formally branded the Individual Freedom Act, restricted how race and gender could be taught in schools and colleges, and discussed in the workplace.
Tuesday’s decision mirrors the same appeals court’s 2024 ruling blocking the workplace provision of the law on the grounds that the state was attempting, unconstitutionally, to recharacterize protected free speech as conduct it could ban.
It reinforces a district court’s November 2022 injunction against implementation of the law at Florida’s colleges and universities – and represents a considerable victory for civil rights and free speech advocacy groups that launched the legal action.
The lawsuit’s named plaintfill – LeRoy Pernell, a professor at Florida A&M University’s college of law – welcomed the ruling.
“We are thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted,” he said in a statement.
Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives at the Legal Defense Fund, said the Stop Woke Act was an “egregious” effort by the DeSantis administration to try to force the public higher education system in Florida to adopt the viewpoints of those in power.
“It is no coincidence that this state law aimed to censor the perspectives of Black people and LGBTQ+ people, the very same people who are currently under attack,” Lee said.
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“With this decision, the federal appeals court has made clear that Florida cannot actively erase their history of discrimination or their lived experiences without running afoul of our constitution.”
Carrie McNamara, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, also hailed the ruling as a victory for free speech.
“By upholding the district court’s ruling, the 11th circuit ensured that our system of higher education is guided by the principle of free speech, not government censorship,” she said.
“Our classrooms are meant to be rooms of curiosity, creativity, and learning. When we stifle this kind of critical thinking, we risk losing our education system as we know it.”
There was no immediate reaction to the ruling from the DeSantis administration or Florida’s unelected attorney general, James Uthmeier, the governor’s former chief of staff elevated by DeSantis in February 2025.
Florida
Miami ranks among top U.S. cities for debt collection calls as Florida places near top, study finds
Miami residents are among the Americans most likely to receive debt collection calls, according to a new study examining Federal Trade Commission complaint data.
The NumberBarn analysis ranked Miami fourth among the nation’s largest metro areas for debt collection complaints after adjusting for population. Florida also ranked fourth among all states for debt collection complaints per capita.
Nationwide, consumers filed more than 471,000 debt collection complaints with the FTC in 2025, more than twice the total reported a year earlier. Nearly 47% of those complaints described collectors as abusive, threatening or harassing.
Researchers caution that not every complaint involves a legitimate debt collector. Many consumers reported they believed the debt was inaccurate or that the calls were part of a scam.
Florida ranked behind Georgia, Texas and Louisiana for debt collection complaints per capita, underscoring the growing number of Floridians reporting issues with collection calls.
Among major metropolitan areas, Atlanta ranked first, followed by Dallas and Houston, with Miami placing fourth nationally. Miami also ranked among the five metro areas with the highest overall volume of complaints filed during 2025.
Researchers say the sharp increase in complaints may reflect rising household debt, more aggressive collection activity and greater public awareness of the FTC’s complaint system.
The study found Americans between ages 30 and 39 filed the largest number of complaints last year, followed by those ages 40 to 49 and 20 to 29, groups often managing mortgages, credit card balances, student loans and other major financial obligations.
Tips for consumers
Experts recommend taking several steps if you receive repeated debt collection calls:
- Ask the collector to provide written verification of the debt.
- Never give out sensitive financial information until you’ve confirmed the caller is legitimate.
- Learn your protections under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
- Report abusive or suspicious calls to the FTC.
- Consider using call-blocking features available through your phone carrier or a trusted app.
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