Florida

‘Not a daycare:’ 12 arrested during student protests at 2 Florida universities

Published

3 weeks ago

April 29, 2024

‘Not a daycare:’ 12 arrested during student protests at 2 Florida universities

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Protestors at the University of Florida and University of South Florida were arrested on Monday, according to university officials.

UF officials said that nine people were arrested by the university’s police department and the Florida Highway Patrol.

According to the university, charges included failure to obey a lawful command, resisting without violence to trespass after warning. One was allegedly charged with battery after spitting on an officer.

In a release, UF spokesman Steve Orlando announced the arrests, saying that the university had provided ample warnings last week regarding “prohibited activities.”

“This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences. For many days, we have patiently told protesters — many of whom are outside agitators — that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly. And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university. For days UPD patiently and consistently reiterated the rules. Today, individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply.”
UF spokesman Steve Orlando

During its previous warning, UF stated that the following items and activities were prohibited on campus while demonstrating:

Amplified Sound	Demonstrations Inside Buildings	Littering	Sleeping
Unmanned signs	Blocking entrances/exits	Building of structures	Camping, including tents
Disruptions	Threats	Violence	Weapons

Students found violating these rules could face a three-year suspension, and employees doing so could face termination, UF officials said.

Meanwhile, three people were arrested during a pro-Palestine protest at USF’s campus, according to CBS affiliate WTSP.

WTSP reports USF staff tried to move the protest ahead of time. USF officials provided the following statement:

“The University of South Florida values the right to free speech and protecting the constitutional right for individuals and groups on campus to express themselves. This includes peaceful protests and demonstrations that occur regularly on USF’s three campuses without incident and are part of the public discourse of a university. However, the expression of free speech must remain peaceful and not violate the law or USF policies. The university has been clear that violence, threats, harassment and disruptions will not be tolerated.
At 12 p.m. on Monday, April 29, a student organization, the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), attempted to hold a protest outside of the library on the USF Tampa campus. The group was placed on interim suspension last week after causing a disruption on campus. Suspended student organizations are not permitted to host events and activities, which the group was made aware of several times prior to today’s protest, including another reminder this morning.
When the student organization attempted to hold a protest anyway, university staff informed them that they were not authorized to continue.”
USF spokesperson

When the students were asked to leave the library, they moved to the other side of the street, with dozens of protestors chanting “ceasefire now” at MLK Plaza, according to WTSP.

While opposing groups reportedly showed up to the protest holding Israeli flags — sparking tension between protestors — no information was provided on who was arrested or whether any students face expulsion.

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Florida Gators coach Billy Napier’s first remarks on Elijhah Badger transfer

Published

3 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Florida Gators coach Billy Napier’s first remarks on Elijhah Badger transfer

TAMPA — Florida Gators coach Billy Napier upgraded his receiver room late last week with the commitment of Arizona State transfer Elijhah Badger.

With the paperwork official, Napier could finally comment on Badger’s addition Monday night during a stop on his Gators Caravan tour at The Westshore Grand.

Napier’s scouting report: “He’s got good catch radius. He’s tough, got some special teams value, returner value, and then I think a good run-after-catch player.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Badger showed that with the Sun Devils. Over his final two seasons there, he caught 135 passes for 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns. Napier, a former Arizona State assistant, could use some of his familiarity with that program to vet (and ultimately get) one of the top receivers in the spring transfer portal window.

Badger was a top-200 high school recruit in California and a four-star transfer prospect. His recent addition helped lift Florida to the nation’s No. 5 transfer portal class.

Badger also provides a veteran presence to a room that is still relatively young.

“It gives us time to grow up some of the young players in the room and will certainly give (quarterback Graham) Mertz an additional weapon for his final year,” Napier said.

The Gators open Napier’s third season Aug. 31 against Miami.

We’ll have more on from Napier’s stop in Tampa later.

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Analysis | Arizona and Florida could send a big message on abortion rights

Published

10 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Analysis | Arizona and Florida could send a big message on abortion rights

The abortion rights position has won on the ballot in 7 out of 7 states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in mid-2022 — even in red-leaning ones such as Kansas, Kentucky, Montana and Ohio.

And new polling suggests that in 2024, abortion rights measures could do even better than they did in those first seven states, as voters in states with severe GOP led-abortion bans weigh in.

The polling, from CBS News and YouGov, shows striking margins in Arizona and Florida for enshrining abortion rights into those states’ constitutions. That position leads 65 percent to 21 percent in Arizona and 60 percent to 20 percent in Florida. Previous polling in Florida also showed voters favoring the abortion rights amendment by wide margins — by 21 points in one poll and by 30 points in another.

Florida’s measure will be on the ballot; Arizona’s is still a work in progress, but organizers say they have more than enough signatures to get it there. Other states will feature such measures, but Arizona and Florida are the big ones.

The newest polling shows not only that voters overwhelmingly favor the amendments, but even Republicans lean in favor of them — 43-38 in Arizona and 43-34 in Florida.

That 60 percent overall number in Florida is notable because that’s the threshold for passage in the state — a higher bar than the one for most states.

It’s also notable because it suggests the potential for an even more resounding affirmation of abortion rights.

While abortion rights positions have won plenty of votes from Republican-leaning voters, they have done so to varying degrees. A good way to look at this is how they have performed relative to the 2020 presidential vote.

The best relative performance for an abortion rights amendment thus far? The most recent one. In Ohio last year, it over-performed Biden’s 2020 vote share by 11.6 points. Biden got 45 percent in 2020, but the abortion rights amendment got 57 percent.

The average overperformance across the four states: eight points.

The new Arizona and Florida polls already show support for the amendments outpacing Biden’s 2020 share in those states by 16 points and 12 points, respectively — even with a fair number of undecided voters.

There have been states where the abortion rights position over-performed Biden by more than it did in the four states above: Kansas, Kentucky and Montana. But importantly, those states weren’t voting directly on enshrining abortion rights.

Montana’s measure was narrowly about infants born after failed abortions. Kansas’s and Kentucky’s measures asked voters to affirmatively state that the state constitution didn’t protect abortion rights. In those last two states, the measures over-performed Biden by 17 and 16 points, respectively — the biggest overperformances to date.

And that could be instructive.

These were situations in which voters were effectively being asked not to add a right, but to foreclose one.

Indeed, what could set Arizona and Florida apart from the four states that have previously voted to enshrine abortion rights is how much those rights have been curtailed in those states.

The Florida Supreme Court last month greenlit the state’s six-week abortion ban, which even former president Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from. Then the Arizona Supreme Court last month revived a harsh 1864 law that banned nearly all abortions — even in the cases of rape and incest — and made providing one punishable by two to five years in prison. (This set off a panic in GOP circles which eventually led to the law’s repeal. A 15-week ban remains in place.)

This has set up a situation in which voters could effectively view the abortion rights amendments as referendums on the harsh GOP-backed laws and an opportunity to register their discontent. The same YouGov poll, for instance, shows 72 percent of Arizona voters approve of overturning the 1864 law.

Or, at the very least, the stakes of allowing their representatives to restrict abortion rights could be more real to them than to voters in California, Michigan, Vermont and Ohio, where similar laws weren’t in play.

It’s that dynamic that makes these potentially resounding votes in Florida and Arizona particularly important for the future of abortion rights in America.

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Florida ranks in list’s top 10 states for most adults living with their parents. Here’s why

Published

17 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Florida ranks in list’s top 10 states for most adults living with their parents. Here’s why

In 2020, the Pew Research Center conducted a study that found more than 50% of young adults in the U.S. were living with their parents for the first time since the Great Depression.

And that trend hasn’t slowed down, according to a newer study.

Ahead of the mid-May Mother’s Day rush, trucking industry website Truckinfo.com analyzed data from the US Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve to find how many young adults would only have to step out of their bedroom to wish their mother a happy Mother’s Day.

The study revealed that the number of young adults who live with their parents has continued to increase. And Florida ranked in the top 10 states where the most young adults are still living at home.

Here’s where Florida ranked on this list and why.

What percentage of 25-34 year-olds live with parents?

“Both men and women between the ages of 25 and 34 are twice as likely to live with their parents than in 1967,” the study said.

“While there was a steady increase until the early 2010s, the figure has grown significantly in recent years.”

According to the study, around 32.1% of adults between the ages of 25 and 34 live at home with their parents. Florida’s state average is a little higher, at 34.8%, ranking the Sunshine State tenth in Truckinginfo.com’s list of states where the most young adults still live with their parents.

Which state has the largest percentage of adults still living with their parents?

New Jersey emerged as the state with the largest percentage of young adults living at home. California placed in second and Connecticut in third. Florida ranked at the bottom, in 10th place.

“Compared to the national average, adult children in coastal cities and the south are much more likely to live with their parents,” the study said.

“Conversely, states in the Midwest and Mountain West are more likely to live with their spouses than the rest of the country”

Here are the rankings, with the percentage of adults between 25 and 34 living with their parents in each state:

New Jersey, 43.3%
California, 38.6%
Connecticut, 38.6%
New Hampshire, 37.4%
New York, 37.0%
Delaware, 36.9%
Maryland, 36.1%
Rhode Island, 35.9%
Mississippi, 35.8%
Florida, 34.8%

The study also found that high housing costs have the biggest influence on why so many young adults are living at home for longer.

“Even for men gainfully employed, many struggle to afford a home. Since 1984, the home-price-to-income ratio in the U.S. has nearly doubled,” the study said. “Meaning homes are twice as expensive today than in 1984.”

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