Florida
'Stop issuing every single permit,' advocates say. Will Florida protect its fragile springs?
Overpumping for drinking, farming and bottled water is threatening the health of Florida’s freshwater springs, advocates said this week, lamenting the state’s lack of progress in protecting these fragile resources.
A 2016 law signed by then-Gov. Rick Scott told the Department of Environmental Protection to develop and adopt rules that prevent groundwater withdrawals that are harmful to Florida springs.
Ryan Smart, executive director of the Florida Springs Council, the only statewide advocacy group for springs, said Wednesday that nothing has changed in the past eight years.
“DEP has us in this rulemaking merry-go-round, where they propose a draft rule, withdraw it, say, ‘Hey, we’re still working on it.’ Come back, propose it, withdraw it,” said Smart.
“And because of that, our springs get no protections, and we’ve seen probably billions and billions of gallons that never should have been pumped out of the aquifer if DEP had done their job.”
Florida’s springs are threated by pollution and nitrogen runoff that lead to algae growth and interfere with habitat for manatees, fish, turtles and otters. Another key danger is withdrawing too much water, which has been going on for years.
“Throughout the entire state, our spring flow is down 20-30% overall from just a few decades ago,” said Smart.
“You have to get a permit to pump over 100,000 gallons a day. You’d think that a permit would imply that some people could get denied. But no one is denied for harming our springs. Even when our springs are already suffering significant harm,” he added.
The Florida Springs Council also wants to cut the amount of water that existing permit-holders can pump.
“We put together a team of experts, lawyers and scientists, and we drafted a rule that complies with the law, and that rule is really based on the way that Florida got out of the Tampa Bay water wars,” said Smart.
The Tampa Bay water wars erupted decades ago as municipalities in the growing region developed inland wellfields that ended up draining wetlands. Conflicts over prices for water were also common, until the creation of Tampa Bay Water in 1998.
A key part of the resolution to the water wars was that groundwater pumping from 11 regional wellfields would be gradually reduced, and funding was allocated to develop alternative water supply projects.
“Today, the region is served by a combination of groundwater, river water and desalinated seawater, which has reduced wellfield withdrawals by nearly 50% since 1998,” according to Tampa Bay Water.
Smart said it’s long past time for environmental authorities to act to protect springs in a similar way.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We actually know what works. We know how to do it. It just requires the political will and the funding,” Smart said.
“There’s only one way to restore our springs, and that is to pump less water. And there’s only one way to get folks to pump less water, and that’s to reduce the amount of water they’re allowed to pump, and to stop issuing every single permit,” he added.
The DEP noted in its workshop materials that it is tasked with adopting “uniform rules for issuing permits that prevent groundwater withdrawals harmful to the water resources.”
It must also create “a uniform definition of the term ‘harmful to the water resources’ to provide water management districts with minimum standards necessary to be consistent with the overall water policy of the state for Outstanding Florida Springs.”
Any rule they decide upon is expected to affect consumptive use permitting in the Northwest Florida, Suwannee River, St. Johns River and Southwest Florida water management districts.
By holding off from issuing any rule, Smart said the DEP has also avoided any lawsuits.
“What we’re asking DEP to do is adopt a rule. At least have the decency to let folks go to court and fight over it. But the way they’re going now, our springs will be gone by the time DEP does their job,” Smart said.
The Florida Springs Council is holding a rally at noon before the start of a 1 p.m. meeting Thursday at the St. Johns River Water Management District Apopka Service Center, 2501 S. Binion Road, Apopka, FL 32703.
Copyright 2024 WUSF 89.7
Florida
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.
Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.
But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.
William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.
Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.
Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.
“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.
“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”
The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.
He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.
At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”
Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.
Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.
Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.
“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.
That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”
In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.
“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”
Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.
Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.
Florida
Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'
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.
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