Florida
Homeland Security director's plans to close FEMA spark debate among Florida leaders
TAMPA, Fla. – Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem’s recent comment that she plans to close FEMA sparked debate on Wednesday among Florida leaders.
The backstory:
During a televised cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump a day earlier, Noem told the president, “We’re going to eliminate FEMA,” without going into detail about how that would happen. The statement, however, is in line with President Trump’s executive order in January calling for a “full-scale review” of FEMA.
READ: Florida bill would restrict artificial intelligence use by insurance companies when denying claims
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t comment on Wednesday on Noem’s comments, but last month said he would support closing down the agency.
“You’ve got folks with Milton and Helene who are still battling FEMA,” DeSantis said at the time, adding he wants to see disaster funding provided to states in the form of block grants ahead of a major storm. “Cut the bureaucracy of FEMA out entirely and that money will go further than it currently does at greater amounts going through FEMA’s bureaucracy.”
By the numbers:
Ninety-three percent of counties in the U.S. have had FEMA disasters declared since 2011, and Florida has received $8.5 billion.
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The other side:
Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who reprsents Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, said FEMA should be reformed, but she believes a full-scale closure is short-sighted and would leave communities unprepared and under-staffed to recover from storms.
“Congressional District 14, which is Tampa and St. Pete had more requests for emergency FEMA aid than any other district in the country over the past couple of years,” Castor said. “There is no way for local counties or the state of Florida to be able to surge in that kind of relief and expertise. You have to have a flexible national disaster response agency that can go to the areas of disaster, whether it’s wildfires or floods, tornadoes or hurricanes. So this one, it scares me.”
Amy Chester, the director of the non-profit Rebuild by Design, has dealt with FEMA a lot over the years and said transferring its responsibilities entirely to the states would be a complex process.
“We are able to show that 90% of counties across the US and 99.5% of congressional districts have experienced a major disaster declaration for a weather event from 2011 to 2024,” Chester said. “It would be incredibly complex to solely rely on a state to respond. There is so much depth of knowledge that needs to be built, and that’s not going to be built overnight. It’s not going to be built in a year, and we’d be lucky if it was built in ten years.”
MORE: Florida lawmakers could remove child labor protections for many teens
Chester believes it’ll be more difficult for states unaccustomed to natural disasters to take on recovery responsibilities.
“I think is going to be very different from a place like Iowa that has a smaller government than a place like Florida or New York or California,” she said. “What we really need is to be shifting our resources pre-disaster and our funding pre-disaster so communities aren’t suffering in the first place.”
The Source: The information in this story contains statements made by Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem and Governor Ron DeSantis. It also includes interviews with U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Rebuild by Design Director Amy Chester.
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Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
Kearse awoke at 6:30 a.m. He declined a last meal and has remained compliant throughout the day, corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said during a news conference. Kearse met with a spiritual adviser during the day but had no other visitors.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. 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 highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kearse’s final appeals Tuesday afternoon without comment.
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, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
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