A Florida judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the planned transfer of prime downtown Miami land for President Donald Trump’s future presidential library.

The move by Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz came after a Miami activist alleged that officials at a local college violated Florida’s open government law when they gifted the sizable plot of real estate to the state, which then voted to transfer it to the foundation for the planned library.

“This is not an easy decision,” Mavel said Tuesday when explaining her ruling from the bench, finding that the college didn’t give the public reasonable notice ahead of the vote last month.

“This is not a case, at least for this court, rooted in politics,” she added.

The nearly 3-acre (1.2-hectare) property is a developer’s dream and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. One real estate expert wagered that the parcel — one of the last undeveloped lots on an iconic stretch of palm tree-lined Biscayne Boulevard — could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.

Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local Black history, filed a lawsuit this month in a Miami-Dade County court against the Board of Trustees for Miami Dade College, a state-run school that owned the property. He alleged that the board violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting on Sept. 23, when it voted to give up the land.

An agenda released ahead of the meeting simply stated the board would consider conveying property to a state fund overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet, but provided no details on which piece of property was being considered or why. Unlike every other meeting the board has held this year, the 8 a.m. meeting on Sept. 23 was not livestreamed.

A week later, DeSantis and other top GOP officials voted to transfer the land again, effectively putting the property under the control of the Trump family when they deeded it to the foundation for Trump’s library. That foundation is led by three trustees: Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, and the president’s attorney James Kiley.

Jesus Suarez, an attorney for the college, argued that MDC did what was required under the law and questioned Dunn’s political motivations for filing the case.

“There is no requirement under Florida law that there be specificity on notice, because those trustees can come into that room and talk to each other about whatever they wish,” Suarez said.

Attorneys for Dunn maintain that no one who wasn’t already in on the deal could have known what the board would do.

“The people have a right to know what they’re going to decide to do when the transaction is so significant, so unusual and deprives the students and the college of this land,” said plaintiff’s attorney Richard Brodsky, speaking with The Associated Press prior to the judge’s decision.

Javier Ley-Soto, general counsel for Miami Dade College, testified that it is still in the process of finalizing the land transfer. Delays caused by an injunction could cost the college up to $300,000, he estimated.

“There is no requirement under Florida law that there be specificity on notice, because those trustees can come into that room and talk to each other about whatever they wish,” Suarez said.

Attorneys for Dunn maintain that no one who wasn’t already in on the deal could have known what the board would do.

“The people have a right to know what they’re going to decide to do when the transaction is so significant, so unusual and deprives the students and the college of this land,” said plaintiff’s attorney Richard Brodsky, speaking with The Associated Press prior to the judge’s decision.

Javier Ley-Soto, general counsel for Miami Dade College, testified that it is still in the process of finalizing the land transfer. Delays caused by an injunction could cost the college up to $300,000, he estimated.

Single-game tickets for the 2025-26 Florida men’s basketball season are now on sale.
 
Fans can purchase tickets at FloridaGators.com, by calling the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683, or in person at Gate 2 on the west side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
 
Arena Pass
Although traditional season tickets that include Booster contributions are sold out, Arena Passes for the 2025-26 season are still available. For $450, fans will receive tickets to all 15 home games with no Booster contribution required. The Arena Pass offers a different seating location for each game, giving fans a fresh experience every time inside the O’Dome. Seat assignments are randomly generated each game week, and fans can link accounts for the entire season or purchase single-game guest passes to sit with friends.
 
All Gators Weekend Pack
The All Gators Weekend Pack is now available, which includes the Florida men’s basketball game against Merrimack on Friday, November 21, and the Florida football game against Tennessee on Saturday, November 22, for only $149 plus taxes/fees.
 
All fans attending the Merrimack men’s basketball game will receive a 2025 NCAA National Championship replica ring, presented by Meldon Law.
 
Season Tickets
Traditional season tickets are officially SOLD OUT for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
 
 

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday evening.

Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is set to receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It would be Florida’s 14th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for executions in a single year.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, followed by Texas with five.

Smithers was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1999.

According to court records, Smithers met Christy Cowan and Denise Roach on different dates in May 1996 at a Tampa motel to pay them for sex. At the time, he was doing landscape maintenance on a 27-acre (11-hectare) property that included three ponds in rural Plant City, Florida.

On May 28, 1996, the property owner — who had met Smithers in church where he was a Baptist deacon — stopped by to find Smithers cleaning an axe in the carport, which he claimed to be using to trim tree limbs. The property owner noticed a pool of blood in the carport, and Smithers told her that someone must have come by and killed a small animal, according to court records.

The woman contacted law enforcement, and a sheriff’s deputy met her later that day at the property. The blood had been cleaned up, but the deputy noticed drag marks leading to one of the ponds, according to court records. That’s where authorities found the bodies of Cowan and Roach. Both women had been severely beaten, strangled and left in the pond to die.

The Florida Supreme Court denied an appeal from Smithers last week. His attorneys had argued that his age should make him ineligible for execution under the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Although Smithers would be one of the oldest people ever executed in Florida, the justices ruled that the elderly are not categorically exempt from the death penalty.

An appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court was still pending.

A total of 35 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and at least eight other people are scheduled to be put to death during the remainder of 2025.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled for Florida’s 15th execution on Oct. 28. He was convicted of raping and killing his neighbor, whose body was found by a fisherman near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1998.

Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, is set for Florida’s 16th execution on Nov. 13. He was convicted of raping and killing a 6-year-old girl after abducting her from her central Florida home in 1979.

Florida executions are carried out using a three-drug injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.