Florida

The Florida Legislature wants to expand the control over regulating plastics – Florida Phoenix

Published

2 years ago

January 16, 2024

The Florida Legislature wants to expand the control over regulating plastics – Florida Phoenix

More than 15 years ago, state lawmakers passed legislation to further control local governments from banning single-use plastics in Florida.

Now, members of the GOP-controlled Legislature and the Florida business establishment want to go further in removing municipalities and counties from regulating the use of so-called “auxiliary containers,” which would go beyond single-use or renewable plastics to include bags, cups, bottles or other packaging made of cloth, paper, plastic, cardboard, molded fiber, corrugated material, aluminum and glass.

The proposal (SB 1126) is sponsored by Fort Myers-based Republican Jonathan Martin, who introduced the measure before the Senate and Commerce Tourism Committee on Tuesday.

Plastic pollution has been linked to a variety of negative issues, including infertility and cancer in humans to severe injury and death in wildlife, according to a report from the National Defense Resources Council.

As of this month, 13 states now ban the use of plastic carryout bags statewide, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association. That same organization says that Florida is among 19 states that have placed limitations on regulating plastic carryout bags, either in state statute or in their constitution based on July 2023 data.

Environmentalists came before the committee on Tuesday to strongly oppose the bill, and asked if the state is ever going to do anything to address the concerns around plastics.

“Plastics have been linked to cancer, lung and liver damage to humans, yet the bill preempts not only local governments but also the state from doing anything about it,” said David Cullen with the Florida Sierra Club. “Trash affects all of our communities. It affects our state. It affects our marine environment on which much of our economy is based, and yet the bill says ‘do nothing.’ That can’t be the answer for Florida. Do nothing. That’s what the bill says.”

Holly Parker Curry with the Surfrider Foundation agreed with Cullen that the bill does nothing to regulate the use of such plastics.

“If there’s no appetite to take action on these single-use plastics statewide then return that power to local governments so that they can do it,” she told the committee.

In 2008, the Legislature directed the state’s Department of Environmental Protect to produce a report a “Retail Bags Report” regarding the need and efficacy of both statewide and local regulation of bags used by consumers from retail establishments. In January of 2022, the DEP produced an updated edition of that 2010 report.

That 2022 report showed that “a substantial majority of respondents support the need for regulation (as opposed to the voluntary efforts supported by “many people and retailers” described in the 2010 report) with the understanding that survey respondents may have a high interest in SUCP (single use carryout packaging) reuse, recycling, and reduction strategies.”

Under the bill sponsored by Sen. Martin, further studies would no longer be required by the DEP.

“We’re going to take away any opportunity that you could have to be able to lean in on reuse or improved recycling or better recovery of these materials that we’re using in these ‘auxiliary containers’ so it’s just going to make it more difficult for Floridians to move away from plastic and to really reduce waste that we were swimming in statewide,” says Emma Haydocy, the Florida policy manager with the Surfrider Foundation, told the Phoenix last week.

Martin emphasized that the bill does not legalize littering, and he said he’d be “happy” to work with the environmental organizations that spoke out against the bill to strengthen the current laws against littering and “perhaps even entering some mandatory minimum requirements for community service” of those found guilty of littering.

The measure was approved by the committee, 4-0.

One of those voting in support was Miami-Dade County Republican Ana Maria Rodriguez. She has introduced a proposal in this year’s session (SB 698) that would actually require the DEP to submit an updated retail bag report with conclusions and recommendations to provide the Legislature as well allow coastal communities to establish pilot programs to regulate single-use plastic products.

The House equivalent of Martin’s bill (HB 1641) is being sponsored by Pasco County Republican Brad Yeager.

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Florida

Florida basketball has failed to meet expectations early on

Published

10 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Florida basketball has failed to meet expectations early on

A 5-4 start to Florida basketball’s national title defense is not what anyone had in mind — much less, the Gator Nation — but here we are nine games deep into the 2025-26 schedule.

To be fair, three of those losses have come against programs currently ranked among the top five in both major polls and have been off to stellar starts. The Arizona Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils and UConn Huskies are nothing to sneeze at, and while the TCU Horned Frogs are not quite on their tier, all of these losses came either on the road (Duke) or on a neutral court (the other three).

Maybe Todd Golden should reconsider playing in all of these early-season special events in the future. But alas, that is a story for another season.

ESPN thinks Florida has failed to meet expectations

Obviously, with a dominating frontcourt roster returning in full, there was plenty to be optimistic about heading into the campaign. However, the departure of three guards to the NBA and a fourth to the transfer portal has proven to be a void too large to fill with their offseason acquisitions.

And that is the crux of ESPN’s Myron Medcalf’s observation that the Gators have simply not met the bar so far.

“Months after winning a national title with an elite set of guards, Florida’s Todd Golden rebooted his backcourt with former Arkansas star Boogie Fland and Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee,” he begins.

“It hasn’t worked out as planned. In Florida’s two-player lineups — an on-court metric at EvanMiya.com that captures how teams perform when specific players are paired together — the Fland-Lee combination ranked 26th within its own team,” Metcalf continues.

“And though Lee scored 19 points against UConn in Tuesday’s game at Madison Square Garden, that loss was another example of the Gators’ limitations when Lee and Fland (1-for-9 combined from 3 against the Huskies) aren’t equally elite on the same night.”

He has not liked what he has seen, and his conclusion is not necessarily unfair.

“Ultimately, Florida hasn’t looked like a defending champion thus far, despite Thomas Haugh (18.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.8 APG) playing like an All-American.”

How does the NET, BPI and KenPom view Florida basketball?

While Medcalf’s assessment comes fully equipped with dark clouds, the objective metrics paint a much more optimistic outlook for the team overall.

According to the NET rankings, Florida is just inside the top 25 at No. 24 — one spot ahead of the Miami Hurricanes, who they beat in Jacksonville back in November. The Gators are 1-3 in Quadrant 1 matchups, 1-1 in Quad 2, 1-0 in Quad 3 and 2-0 in Quad 4.

KenPom views the Orange and Blue even more bullishly, ranking Florida at No. 15 despite the weak record. Golden’s gang currently sits at No. 15 with a plus-26.55 adjusted net rating — up from plus-25.70 (17th) at the end of November, while the offense (120.4) moved up from 24th to 23rd in the nation, and the defense (93.8) has only dropped one place — from 10th to 11th — despite allowing 0.6 fewer points per 100 possessions.

The most optimistic metric for Florida comes from ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, which has the Gators at No. 9 despite a 1-3 stretch over the past two weeks. They have an 18.8 overall BPI, with the offense logging in at 8.5 (22nd) and defense earning a 10.3 (8th) rating recently.

ESPN projects Florida to go 21.0-10.0 overall and 12.2-5.8 in conference play.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

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Florida

Florida accuses Starbucks of discriminating against White workers

Published

23 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Florida accuses Starbucks of discriminating against White workers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Wednesday that his office is suing Starbucks over what he termed “race-based quotas.”

Uthmeier revealed the suit on social media, claiming that Starbucks used diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies to discriminate in hiring and advancement.

“Starbucks made DEI more than a slogan,” he said. “They turned it into a mandatory hiring and promotion system based on race.”

Starbucks used DEI to implement illegal race-based policies for hiring and advancement.
Using DEI as an excuse to hire, promote, or humiliate an employee based on race violates Florida’s civil rights law, and we just filed a lawsuit to hold Starbucks accountable. pic.twitter.com/e3pK0GguQ0
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— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) December 10, 2025

In a complaint, state officials listed out their evidence of the alleged discrimination, including the following situations:

A 2020 public report pushes to hire “people of color” in 40% of retail and distribution center jobs, and 30% of corporate positions by 2025.
A 2024 report talks about executive bonuses conditioned on certain DEI goals, including mentorship programs and retention rate quotas for “BIPOC” employees. Officials said this was swapped for “belonging” goals in 2025.
In the same report, shareholders asked Starbucks to create an audit to determine whether the company’s practices were discriminating against “‘non-diverse’ employees” amid concerns over the company’s emphasis on networking opportunities for people with “shared identities.”
Shareholders similarly expressed that membership in these so-called “Partner Networks” was often based on traits like race, sex and sexual orientation, with no networks for “non-diverse” groups.
A 2025 report discusses an ongoing goal to increase the number of “people of color” working in management positions and above by at least 1.5% by FY2026.

Because of these incidents, state officials argued that Starbucks’ policies deliberately discriminated against those from certain “disfavored” races — meaning White people and, up until last year, multiracial and Asian people.

This isn’t the first time that Starbucks has faced these sorts of claims, either. In 2023, a White Starbucks employee was awarded over $25 million after she claimed that her race was used as a factor in her firing.

[BELOW: Starbucks around the US close in 2019 for anti-bias training]

Now, state officials are saying they’ve heard from residents in the Sunshine State who reported their own experiences of racial discrimination.

“Florida residents have contacted the Attorney General and reported that (Starbucks) paid them and their white coworkers lower wages because of their race, refused to hire them or promote them because of their race, created a hostile work environment in which Florida residents felt humiliation, and were excluded from certain mentorship or networking programs because of their race,” the complaint reads.

As such, the Attorney General’s office is accusing Starbucks of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act.

[BELOW: Video shows good Samaritans stop man trying to carjack customers at Starbucks in Florida]

By extension, the Attorney General is pushing for injunctive relief, compensation, and $10,000 penalties for each instance of racial discrimination that the company may have committed against a Florida resident, which Uthmeier’s office estimates to be at least in the “tens of millions.”

Starbucks provided a statement to News 6 following news of the lawsuit, which reads as follows:

“We disagree. We are deeply committed to creating opportunity for every single one of our partners (employees). Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful. Our hiring practices are inclusive, fair and competitive, and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job, every time.”
Starbucks spokesperson

Meanwhile, you can read the full complaint below.

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Florida

Ball scores 19 points as No. 5 UConn beats No. 18 Florida 77-73 in Jimmy V Classic – WTOP News

Published

2 days ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

Ball scores 19 points as No. 5 UConn beats No. 18 Florida 77-73 in Jimmy V Classic – WTOP News

NEW YORK (AP) — Solo Ball scored 19 points and No. 5 UConn earned its fourth victory over a ranked…

NEW YORK (AP) — Solo Ball scored 19 points and No. 5 UConn earned its fourth victory over a ranked opponent already this season, beating No. 18 Florida 77-73 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.

Alex Karaban added 13 points and Tarris Reed Jr. had 12 points and five rebounds in his return from a lingering ankle injury that caused him to miss the previous two games. Malachi Smith handed out nine assists as the Huskies (9-1) shot 50%, including 59.3% in the first half while building a seven-point halftime lead.

Ball went 6 of 14 from the field and drained a trio of 3-pointers in a matchup of power programs that have combined to win the past three NCAA titles.

Xaivian Lee led the defending champion Gators (5-4) with 19 points but shot 5 of 14 and missed six of seven 3-point tries. Thomas Haugh added 18 and Alex Condon finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Florida shot 42.4% in a rematch of last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament game that ended UConn’s hopes for a third consecutive national championship.

The Huskies won their fifth straight game since a 71-67 home loss Nov. 19 to then-No. 4 Arizona, now the top-ranked team in the country. UConn also has wins over Top 25 opponents BYU, Illinois and Kansas.

The Huskies won for the 11th time in their past 13 games at Madison Square Garden.

The Gators held a 55-54 lead after a difficult layup by Haugh with 8:02 left, but Connecticut took the lead for good on the next possession on a jumper by Braylon Mullins. Karaban followed with a 3 after blocking Lee’s layup attempt.

Ball made a 3 and then a layup by Smith opened a 66-58 lead with 4:31 remaining.

Still, the Gators had a chance to tie it after Boogie Fland’s layup with 13 seconds to go and a turnover by UConn on the inbounds play. Florida was called for a five-second violation, however, and Ball hit a free throw to seal it.

Up next

Florida: Hosts George Washington on Saturday.

UConn: Hosts Texas on Friday in Hartford.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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