• A potential federal government shutdown could delay November SNAP benefits for nearly 3 million Floridians.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has alerted states that funding will run out if the shutdown continues past Nov. 1.
• October benefits will still be issued, and any existing balance on EBT cards can still be used.

Nearly 3 million Floridians who rely on food stamps to provide or supplement their food budget may see their benefits for November delayed if the federal government shutdown continues past Nov. 1.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent a memo to state administrators of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, earlier this month, alerting them that funding is running out and they won’t receive disbursements for November if the shutdown persists. SNAP provides low-income families monthly benefits to afford healthy food.

That will affect the 42 million Americans currently receiving SNAP benefits, including 2.8 million in Florida, the state Department of Children and Families confirmed. The program is funded by the federal government but administered by each state.

“If the federal government shutdown continues into November, SNAP benefits for the month of November will not be issued until federal funding is restored,” an alert on Florida’s SNAP website says. “You may receive notices about your eligible benefit amount, but you will not receive any benefits deposited to your EBT card during this time.”

SNAP benefits for October will continue and DCF is still processing initial applications and renewals, DCF spokeswoman Anna Archambault confirmed in an email. Newly approved recipients may receive notification about November eligibility, but will not get benefits yet.

Here’s what to know.

What is SNAP, the former food stamp program?

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that provides assistance to low-income seniors, people with disabilities living on fixed incomes, and other individuals and families with low incomes to help them buy nutritious food.

It grew out of the nearly century-old national food stamp program and was renamed in the 2008 farm bill. SNAP is part of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Why aren’t SNAP benefits going out in November?

The federal program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Florida, SNAP is managed by the Florida Department of Children and Families Office of Economic Self-Sufficiency (ESS).

The federal government shutdown is affecting large areas of the federal government, including the Agriculture department. SNAP benefits were already obligated for October but further funding may be delayed.

How does SNAP work?

Once you are approved to receive SNAP benefits, you receive an Electronic Benefits Transfer Card (EBT), a physical, reloadable card like a debit card that can be used at participating retailers to buy approved items or to withdraw cash at specified locations.

Monthly benefits appear on the card’s balance. Sales tax cannot be charged on items you buy with an EBT card.

Can I still use the balance on my EBT card?

Yes, you still can use your existing SNAP benefits, which roll over every month if not used. You can check your EBT card’s balance at ebtEDGE.com or by calling 888-356-3281.

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Who is eligible to receive SNAP benefits in Florida?

SNAP eligibility is based on income, resources, and the size of your household. Eligibility rules are set at the federal level but individual states may change them. In Florida:

• You must be a Florida resident and a U.S. citizen or qualified noncitizen and be able to prove your identity. You must have a Social Security number or proof you have applied for one.
• Individuals aged 16 – 59 must meet General Work Requirements for SNAP unless exempt, such as being unable to work, caring for young children or incapacitated persons, or being a student. Additionally, adults aged 18 – 59, unless exempt, must work or participate in the SNAP Employment and Training Program (SNAP E&T).
• Most households must pass a gross income limit less than or equal to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Some household expenses such as shelter expenses, dependent care, medical expenses, child support paid, utility deductions, earned income deduction may be subtracted from the total monthly income in the food assistance budget.
• Households must report when their total monthly gross income exceeds 130% of the Federal Poverty Level for their household size and when work hours of able-bodied adults fall below 80 hours per month.  The household must report these changes within 10 days after the end of the month of the change.
• Most food assistance households may have assets such as vehicles, bank accounts, or property and still get help. Households with a disqualified member must meet an asset limit of $2,500 ($3,750 if the household contains an elderly or disabled member.

Requirements for SNAP benefits became more restrictive since the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 expanded the 80-hour-a-month work requirement for SNAP by increasing the age limit on able-bodied adults without dependents from 49 to 54. The Florida Department of Children and Families expanded its own definition to include adults up through 59 years old and increased the mandatory employment and training program (SNAP E&T) from 80 hours every month to 120.

Hunger in Florida: Inflation, SNAP cuts and rising cost of living create surge in hunger, food banks say

What can I buy with SNAP benefits in Florida?

Households can use food assistance benefits to buy breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, dairy, and plants and seeds to grow food for their household to eat.

Households cannot use food assistance benefits to buy nonfood items such as pet foods, soaps, paper products, household supplies, grooming items, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, vitamins, medicines, food to eat in the store, or hot foods.

Who is ineligible for Florida SNAP benefits?

Reasons for SNAP ineligibility include:

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• Conviction of drug trafficking
• Fleeing a felony warrant
• Breaking SNAP Program rules
• Noncitizens without a qualified status
• Students attending an institution of higher education at least half time, in some circumstances

Contributing: Gray Rohrer, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida Head Baseball Coach Kevin O’Sullivan will take a leave of absence from his coaching duties to address personal matters, effective immediately.

During O’Sullivan’s absence, Chuck Jeroloman will assume leadership of the baseball program on an interim basis.

“I appreciate the support of the University and athletic department, “said O’Sullivan. “I have some personal and family issues that need my full attention at this time.”

“Coach O’Sullivan has our full support as he takes the time he needs to focus on personal matters,” said Athletics Director Scott Stricklin. “We appreciate his openness in communicating this decision, and respect his need for privacy.”

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Asked if he recalled the first time beating his older brother in one-on-one, Isaiah Brown did not hesitate. 
 
“Very clearly,” he said. 
 
As for AJ Brown, two years Isaiah’s elder, not so much. 
 
“Controversial ending,” he said. 
 
Rewind to maybe a decade ago. Game point. Isaiah down 14-13. Next bucket wins. Isaiah tried using his bigger body to back his brother down, but AJ held firm. A drive to the left didn’t work. Drive right, same result. AJ walled up both times.
 
It was time to make things simple. 
 
“I just backed away and threw up a shot,” Isaiah said. “It went in and I ran into the house.”
 
The historic victory was announced to the rest of the family, as Isaiah made way to his bedroom, followed closely behind by a protesting AJ. The game, apparently, was not over. 
 
“We’re going to 21,” AJ said. 
 
Back out they went. 

The Browns’ basketball journeys – both together and individually – have been defined mostly by fierce competition that culminated with crowd-pleasing success. They won a two state championships together in high school. AJ became a mid-major standout at Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference. Isaiah, two years later, chose the high-major route, signed with Florida and celebrated a national championship as a freshman. 

 

Now, in 2025, their paths that began in an Orlando driveway have converged two hours north, where AJ and Isaiah are now teammates for the Gators and – it just so happens – battling one another for backup minutes at the small forward and shooting guard positions. 

 

And they’re totally cool with it. 

“For me, it’s basketball. The better player wins,” AJ said. “Whatever the coaches see as the best fit for the season, that’s what it’s going to be. I mean, we’re going to be competitive. We’re going to be at each other’s throats. But at the end of the day it’s the coaches’ decision.”

Also, at the end of the day, they’re brothers; the first sibling tandem, in fact, to team up for Florida men’s basketball since Dwayne and Travis Schintzius played half the infamous 1989-90 season together (before that, it was Joe and Pat Lawrence from 1984-87). 

 

“There is never going to be bad blood between AJ and me,” said Isaiah, who goes by “Zay” to his team. “It’s more like, if he plays, I’m glad. ‘Yeah, go for it.’ If I’m playing, he’s going to cheer for me.”

Coach Todd Golden, entering his fourth season at Florida and seventh as a head coach, has a system based on rotation of eight or nine players that gets squeezed as the season goes deeper. 
 
The Gators are stocked in the front court and that includes with junior Thomas Haugh, arguably the best sixth man in the country last season, locked in at the “3” spot after playing almost exclusively as a backup “4” the last two years. It is the backup role to Haugh – as well as the third shooting guard behind Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee and returning junior Urban Klavzar – where the Brown brothers are fighting for minutes in the rotation. 

Through the first month of fall practice, freshman CJ Ingram distinguished himself at the backup “3” and has played large chunks of practice on the blue (or front-line) squad during full-contact scrimmages. 
 
AJ and Isaiah, meanwhile, have been almost exclusively running with the white (or scout) team and looking to make their mark. There’s still time to do so. 
 
“They’ve both been up and down, but they’re competing and that’s all we ask,” said UF associate head coach Korey McCray, who tutors the guards and is quick to remind the reserves how three of the starter’s on last season’s 36-4 squad missed games due to injuries. “What it looks like today may not be what it looks like that tomorrow. You have to stay ready.”
 
The coaching staff, in turn, must have a hand in that. 
 
“You keep coaching them, keep encouraging them, but it has to come from themselves,” said Taurean Green, who oversees player development. “They’re both older players now. Zay is in his second year. AJ is a veteran college player. This is his fourth year. They know what to expect in college basketball. They’ve got to be able to bring it consistently. They know what it takes to play at a high level and what it takes to win.”

AJ is 21 with 62 career games and 731 points. Isaiah is 19, with just 19 games and 36 points on his short resume. The Browns were five years younger when they won the first of back-to-back Class 2A state championships at Orlando Christian Prep. AJ once scored 35 in game. Isaiah later topped that with 45. 
 
So, yeah, they know how to win, but they also have individual games that aren’t much alike. That’s fitting. They also don’t look much alike, despite both being 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds.
 
“You should see my twin sister,” AJ said. “She looks nothing like me.” 
 
Added Isaiah: “The best way to explain it is that he’s more Type A and I’m more Type B. I’m going to let it happen, he’s going to make it happen. Honestly, I think that’s the only way we’re different because we both love to laugh, listen to the same music and are strong in our faiths. We’re common in so many ways.”
 
But not basketball. 

Here’s how father Ronald Brown Jr. described his sons’ respective skill sets: “Finesse player versus a brute.” 

 

AJ is the former. At Ohio, he averaged 11.4 points over his three seasons, with a career-high of 28 in the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament game against Ball State as a freshman (earlier that season, AJ scored 14 points in an 82-48 loss to UF at Tampa). As a senior, he finished at 13.2 points a game on 47.1% from the floor, 38.8 from the 3-point line and 82.0% from the free-throw line. For context, his 139 makes from distance were 22 more than Walter Clayton Jr. banged last season for the Gators. At his best, he can stroke it. 

But while a run of double-digit scoring in 15 of 16 games in ’25, AJ suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against rival Miami-Ohio. Six weeks later, he watched on television as Florida defeated Houston for the NCAA title in San Antonio on April 7. 
 
“I was so happy for my brother. I felt like I was there,” he said. 
 
AJ went into the transfer portal and followed his younger sibling to UF. Less than a month into his Gainesville arrival, AJ underwent surgery to fix his shoulder, then spent almost the entire summer rehabbing before being cleared for full-contact work just before the start of official fall practice. The potential for a medical redshirt ’25-26 season is something he has not ruled out. Whatever happens, AJ’s return to being the hot-shooting Ohio Bobcat version of himself is progressing. 
 
“Honestly, the Lord has been good to our family,” Ronald Brown said. “AJ had other options and, truth be told, he really loved playing for Ohio. But the opportunity came up and it was something, as a family, we sat down and talked about. Even for AJ, as many years as he was at Ohio and how much he played, he understood that coming to Florida was like starting over again. Everything was going to be different. Everything was going to be harder. But playing with his brother was ultimately why he made the decision.”
 

Isaiah, a lefty with bounce, totaled 71 minutes as a collegiate rookie last season, with his most meaningful on-court time (six minutes) coming in a Southeastern Conference home game against Vanderbilt with Clayton sidelined by an ankle injury. He had nine points (with a pair of 3s) in seven minutes earlier in the season against Florida A&M and seven points and four rebounds in 10 minutes against North Florida. He is, by far, the better athlete of the two brothers, with the ability to draw on that athleticism to be physical when determined to do so. 
 
Even AJ admits as much.
 
“Not everybody can be blessed with a 40-inch vertical jump,” he said. 

Though he combined to play just three minutes in the Gators’ six NCAA Tournament games, the sight of Isaiah in tears and hugging best friend Micah Handlogten amid the post-game national final celebration at the Alamodome made clear what the season meant to him. 
 
“One of the things that he understands was that he might not have played on the court, but he was part of the program and helping guys get better each and every day,” Ronald Brown said. “A lot of people don’t understand or appreciate how much the day-to-day routine and practice matter.”
 
Fast forward to present day. 

The Browns play almost exclusively on the white team during scrimmages. In facing Haugh, Alex Condon, Reuben Chinyelu and friends, some days are tougher than others for the backups, which only means they need to increase their toughness. Play through. Compete. 
 
Two weekends ago, for example, the white defeated the blue in an O’Dome scrimmage, much to the delight of the coaches (and the irritation of the starters). The Browns, after a stretch of some struggles that week, were terrific that day. Isaiah, especially.
 
When at their best, according to Green: 
 
* On Isaiah: “A big, athletic, physical SEC body. He has a high motor. When he plays under control he is an effective player. Just needs to keep the game simple. Crash hard, throw his body around.”
 
* On AJ: “He needs to get his rhythm back and hunt shots. He’s a very good shooter. He’s got a slow and smooth release, but he’s a smart enough player to get it off and know he has to be aggressive on offense. It’s harder on the white team, but they’ve been practicing long enough to understand what they’re up against, who they’re up against and what they need to do.”
 
In other words, keep working, keep competing as if it was a driveway grudge match. 
 
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu Find his story archives here.