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Florida
Lawmakers seal lean budget deal, aim for June 16 final vote
‘Nobody wanted a government shutdown. Nobody wanted employees to be without a paycheck,’ one top lawmaker said.
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State lawmakers finally put the finishing touches on a drawn-out budget negotiation this year, agreeing to nearly $560 million in funding for projects and sealing deals on environmental and higher education funding.
The move sets up a vote on the 2025-26 budget – delayed for more than a month over a standoff between House and Senate leaders over tax cuts – for June 16. Florida’s constitution requires a 72-hour “cooling off” period once the budget is made public before legislators can vote on it.
A price tag for the total budget wasn’t available the afternoon of June 13, but House budget chief Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said it would be less than Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal of $115.6 billion. The current year’s budget is $118.6 billion.
“Choices have to be made, right? And we all come from different corners of this state with different experiences and different situations so that conversation took a little bit longer than expected,” McClure told reporters.
“Hopefully next year’s legislature and future legislatures will be the beneficiaries, where otherwise they would have been making equally if not more difficult decisions than we did this year,” he added.
The cuts include eliminating more than 1,000 vacant positions throughout the state government and setting aside $750 million per year into a key reserve fund.
Not every portion of the budget, though, will see cuts. State workers will receive an across-the-board raise of 2%, and teachers and law enforcement will receive targeted raises, as will judges, state attorneys and public defenders.
Lawmakers agree on over half-billion dollars’ worth of special projects
As part of the last-minute deals, lawmakers agreed to $560 million in special projects in what have come to be known as “sprinkle lists,” a nickname from the idea that lawmakers are “sprinkling” extra money across the state.
That includes $136.9 million to boost nursing home reimbursement rates, $23 million in operational funds for the Florida State Guard, $10 million for a cancer research fund supported by First Lady Casey DeSantis and $1.8 million for the Mary Brogan Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
Senate budget chief Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater, said with President Donald Trump and other top federal officials talking about phasing out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it was important to provide funding for the Florida State Guard to help state residents recover from future hurricanes.
“We heard yesterday from our friends in Washington after this hurricane season there may be no more FEMA. We may be on our own some day and that would not be the time to start thinking, ‘Should we plan ahead?’ ” Hooper said. “The State Guard’s an important part of making sure we have the resources.”
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, has said he wanted to cut expenses, concerned about a projected $7 billion shortfall in two years if current spending trends continued. But he clashed with Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, about how to do it.
Perez’s main priority was cutting the state sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, costing state coffers about $5 billion per year. Albritton initially refused to go along, concerned such a big cut would hamper the ability to fund vital programs for a growing state.
The dispute pushed the budget negotiations past the original May 2 end date for the regular session. Then a “framework” agreed to by Albritton and Perez to cut the sales tax to 5.75% was scuttled by DeSantis, who vowed to veto any tax cut plan that included an overall sales tax reduction. He was concerned such a move would crowd out his push for a property tax cut on the 2026 statewide ballot.
When House and Senate negotiators went back to the drawing board, another framework for a tax cut deal emerged, with $1.6 billion in cuts. Those details still need to be worked out, but Hooper and McClure said they’d meet again to hash out a deal on the tax bill.
Before the latest agreement, lawmakers knew they were pressed for time to pass a spending plan. The fiscal year ends June 30, and if a budget isn’t in place by then, parts of state government may need to shut down.
“We knew that we had to come here to get where we are today because, come July 1, nobody wanted a government shutdown. Nobody wanted employees to be without a paycheck,” Hooper said.
Lawmakers are poised to vote on the budget the evening of June 16. DeSantis, who has line-item veto authority, must still sign it into law by June 30. Given the fights with the Legislature, he could wield a heavy veto pen when he does.
This is a developing news story and will be updated. Check back later for more.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
Florida
Traffic stop goes viral after Florida deputy accuses driver missing right hand of holding phone
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Video of a traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral over an awkward exchange between the driver and a deputy who accused her of holding a phone while driving.
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“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone,” the deputy tells 36-year-old Kathleen “Katie” Thomas.
“Obviously not,” Thomas says while laughing and holding up her right arm, showing that she’s missing her right hand.
“So you wanna call this a day?” she asks.
“I don’t want to call this a day. You had a hand up, manipulating,” the deputy responds.
“You just said my right hand,” Thomas counters.
“Well, I thought I saw your right hand,” the deputy says.
“So you didn’t,” Thomas responds.
Thomas posted the bodycam footage on Instagram and TikTok where it gained millions of likes.
In the video, although she shows the deputy she doesn’t have a right hand, the deputy doubled down.
“I’m asking you now; did you or not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“You did not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks again.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“Hand to God,” Thomas says.
Court records show Thomas was given a $116 citation despite the presented evidence, but it was later dismissed at the request of the deputy involved.
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A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that “all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities.”
Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket’s engines.
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket last month.
This rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission as soon as June 4 to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s Leo internet service, which competes with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The 48 satellites were not aboard the rocket during the test. It was not immediately clear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained, or how long it might take to repair it.
Space Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is the only launch pad equipped to launch New Glenn rockets.
The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin’s and NASA’s moon base plans, and the explosion will likely be a setback. Next year, the New Glenn is supposed to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit.
In a social media post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote, “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
The New Glenn rocket had just been cleared on May 22 to return to flight after being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after an anomaly with the second stage during an April 19 launch.
In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it was aware that the rocket had “experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” adding that the “test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities.”
The FAA also noted that “there was no impact to air traffic” from the explosion.
Bezos wrote on X Thursday night, “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
Musk wrote: “Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.”
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Jon Sumrall’s assistants will make a combined $11.2 million in 2026, a significant investment for a program desperate to win more often.
Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner tops the list after signing a three-year, $6.6 million contract to leave Georgia Tech and join Sumrall in Gainesville. Faulker will get $2.1 million in 2026 – the first $2 million coordinator in school history – and has a $100,000 raise set for each of the next two years.
Only six college offensive coordinators were paid $2 million or more in 2025, according to CBS Sports. Fifteen defensive coordinators topped $2 million.
Florida defensive coordinator Brad White signed a three-year, $5.85 million deal that starts at $1.85 million and also includes a $100,000 raise in 2027 and 2028.
The Gators released the contracts Thursday in response to a public records request.
Sumrall signed a six-year, $44.7 million contract last year that averages $7.45 million annually. The Gators will dole out more than $20 million to Sumrall, his staff of 15 assistants and a front office led by new general manager Dave Caldwell.
Four of the assistants are scheduled to earn at least $1 million during their deals.
Defensive line coach Gerald Chapman and offensive line coach Phil Trautwine will join Faulker and White in the seven-figure club. Chapman, the lone holdover from former Florida coach Billy Napier’s staff, will make $950,000 this year and $1 million in 2027. Trautwine, meanwhile, starts at $750,000 and jumps to $1 million. Both signed two-year deals.
Their salaries show Sumrall’s commitment to rebuilding the team along both lines of scrimmage in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.
Napier’s 12-man coaching staff was paid a combined $7.5 million in 2025. The Gators posted three losing seasons in Napier’s four years.
The rest of Sumrall’s staff range between making $350,000 and $600,000 annually, all of them on two-year contracts.
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