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Marijuana petition group calls Florida ruling ‘premature’

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Marijuana petition group calls Florida ruling ‘premature’



Smart and Safe Florida was looking to get an adult-use recreational marijuana amendment on the 2026 ballot.

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  • A petition group aiming to get recreational marijuana on Florida’s 2026 ballot says the state’s announcement of its failure is premature.
  • The group, Smart and Safe Florida, believes it will meet the signature requirement once all submitted petitions are counted.
  • Florida’s Secretary of State announced that the group failed to meet the nearly 881,000 verified signature threshold by the February 1 deadline.

A petition group pushing to get recreational marijuana on Florida’s 2026 November statewide ballot is saying the state’s announcement of its failure to gather enough signatures is “premature.”

Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced Feb. 1 that all 22 citizen-led proposed amendments to the state’s constitution failed to meet Florida law’s signature requirements.

Smart and Safe Florida, the group behind adult-use recreational pot, pushed back.

“We believe the declaration by the Secretary of State is premature, as the final and complete county by county totals for validated petitions are not yet reported,” a spokesperson for Smart and Safe Florida said. “We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe, when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot.”

The group needed to have met 880,062 signatures by Feb. 1, but the Florida Division of Elections website only listed 783,592 verified signatures. For months, the number was slowly trickling upward, since the group had more than 662,000 verified in November.

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The pot group faced several challenges while seeking to get its petition on the ballot, all stemming from a law the governor approved last year (HB 1205). It brought stricter penalties and deadlines for petition groups, and with it came increased costs to verify petitions by supervisors of elections, effectively making it more costly to gather signatures.

The law is currently being challenged in federal court by a number of petition groups, including Smart and Safe Florida, saying it restricts core political speech. A trial begins Feb. 9.

The law went into effect July 1; a federal judge agreed one provision restricting nonresidents and noncitizens from volunteering from gathering signatures would “impose a severe burden on political expression.”

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U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled that state officials couldn’t enforce that part, but a divided appeals court promptly upheld the law, disagreeing with arguments of free speech violations.

But that’s just one hurdle.

Smart and Safe Florida also was entangled in another lawsuit alleging that Byrd violated state-required procedures and was blocking the group’s ballot measure. They also filed against Byrd on a separate issue, accusing him of seeking to invalidate 200,000 petitions without legal basis, but a circuit judge sided with him.

The DeSantis administration had continually lambasted the marijuana proposal when it was on the ballot in the 2024 elections. He held events condemning the ballot measure and contended that Florida lawmakers wouldn’t be able to set guidelines on marijuana use after it passes.

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More recently, Florida’s attorney general escalated its fight against the recreational pot campaign, by accusing Smart and Safe Florida of submitting fraudulent petitions and failing to inform law enforcement. The group countered, saying they complied with state law and reported any suspicions to the Secretary of State’s office.

Attorney General James Uthmeier reacted tongue-in-cheek on social media shortly after Byrd’s announcement, posting a GIF that looked like the opening of a Looney Tunes cartoon, but instead saying, “You hate to see it!”

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat. 



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Louisville Defeats Florida State 88-65

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Louisville Defeats Florida State 88-65


The signature of this team is a balanced attack and that is exactly what the Cards used to wear down Florida State tonight. The end of the first quarter Louisville held a 19-12 lead but they subsequently took control of the game. Coach Walz said, “The first half I thought we defended extremely well. Offensively we weren’t as efficient. I thought we played a little too rushed.”

He was more pleased with the second half, “Especially in the 3rd quarter offensively we got things going. I thought we shared the ball extremely well. We had twenty-something assists [19] and 7 turnovers going into the fourth quarter which is really impressive. So overall I thought a really good performance for us but I’m quite aware that it’s going to get tougher.

Laura Ziegler seemed on pace to get a triple-double early but she finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Imari Berry, Skylar Jones, and Reyna Scott all came off the bench to score 11 points apiece. Grace Mbugua had 10 points and 4 rebounds. Elif Istanbulluoglu played limited minutes. Coach Walz said that she’s a little banged up so he wanted to rest her when he could.

Coach Walz praised Grace’s play. “She’s going to be a really, really good ball player for us… We’ve had some games where we can put her out there but not enough to where I can get her in to get her feet wet. Right now when she’s open and she has the ball she’s shooting it because I’m not sure she knows what else to do with it at this point. I think the game’s going really fast.” However he added, “Her upside is really high.”

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Louisville has a bye week before coming back to the Yum next Sunday to take on Virginia. The game is at noon and can be seen on The CW. It is the annual Pink Game.



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Severe Storms Roll Across The Southeast – Videos from The Weather Channel

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Severe Storms Roll Across The Southeast  – Videos from The Weather Channel




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Exclusive | Florida couple proves it’s never too late to find love — no matter the age

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Exclusive | Florida couple proves it’s never too late to find love — no matter the age


True love never gets old — especially for 102-year-old WWII vet Harold Terens and his 98-year-old bride, Jeanne Swerlin.

The lovebirds, who tied the knot in 2024 and still gush that they feel like teenagers together, had some Valentine’s Day advice for the lovelorn.

“Never give up.”

“It’s never too late to find love, especially a great love — look at us,” Swerlin, a New York native who lives in Florida, told The Post. “You have to be open — love will find you.”

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100-year-old American World War II veteran Harold Terens and his 96-year-old bride Jeanne Swerlin Terens arrive for their wedding ceremony in the Carentan-les-Marais Town Hall on June 8, 2024 in Carentan-les-Marais. Getty Images

Terens is among the last of the Greatest Generation, surviving a series of harrowing series of close calls during the war. After enlisting in 1942, he served as a radio repair technician in Great Britain attached to a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter squadron. 

He went on to repair planes on D-Day, returning from France to survive a secret mission that led to a robbery that left him naked in the desert of Tehran and fearing death until he was miraculously rescued by an American military police patrol.

The native New Yorker — who lost his first wife of 70 years in 2018 — declared he’s grateful “for every day I’m alive,” and swore he never looked at another woman until he met Swerlin.

The two were set up on a blind date in 2021 and the nonagenarian became instantly smitten.

Terens lost his first wife of 70 years in 2018. Getty Images

“It’s the greatest love I’ve ever known, by far,” said a vibrant Terens, who’s written a book, “Tomorrow Will be the Best Day of my Life.”

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Life was “beyond remarkable,” even before Terens met his plucky bride. 

“My whole life changed. It went in a totally different direction,” he said, adding in French, “I regret nothing.

“All the adjectives in the world can’t describe how I feel about her.”

The feeling is mutual.

The two were set up on a blind date in 2021. Getty Images

“He always tells me, ‘I don’t know how I ever lived without you,’” said the youthful-looking bride.

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The canoodling couple, who say they can’t keep their hands off each other, recalled their magical wedding day.

The extraordinary couple said they’ve never experienced so powerful a connection. 

“The day of our wedding is the greatest day I’ve ever experienced in 102 years of life,” Terens said of his June 2024 Normandy beach-area wedding that had thousands of well-wishers cheering them on.

The extraordinary couple said they’ve never experienced so powerful a connection. Getty Images

Terens, who plans to be bar mitzvahed this year, said finding life-changing love is about sticking to the basics.

“Remember why you fell in love with a person, and don’t try to change them,” said Terens, who still drives and meditates daily. 

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Yet there’s another secret ingredient to their passionate romance: 

“The best secret about a successful love affair and marriage is that we don’t live together,” quipped Terens, who maintains a home 30 minutes from his his sweetheart in south Florida, where they see each other about four days a week. “We live happily ever after.”  

As for Valentine’s Day, he surprised his wife with two dozen pink roses with a love letter attached.

“Every day is Valentine’s Day,” said Terens, who plans to make his sixth visit to Normandy to mark the 87th D-Day anniversary in June.

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