The Florida Roundup - A.I. Data Centers and legislative updates, Francisco Menéndez and Fort Mose, and more

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about the push to build new large-scale data centers for artificial intelligence and how local communities in Florida are responding with WUSF’s Jessica Meszaros (00:00). Then, we checked in with Douglas Soule, ‘Your Florida’ state government reporter, about an effort to restrict the governor's use of the state’s emergency fund (14:42). Plus, we heard about a new film from Flagler College about the unique history of Francisco Menéndez and the free Black settlement Fort Mose (19:34). We also spoke about the state’s plan to create a museum dedicated to Black history in Florida (31:00). And later, a roundup of educational news from across the state (37:32) and the outlook ahead for Florida’s drought (45:08).

Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivera. It's what's keeping the stock market up, and it's also keeping many residents up late at night. The White House has called the rapid buildup of data centers for artificial intelligence a vital interest to national security. The White House and its allies in the tech industry are pushing to have as few regulations in building these data centers as possible.

But across Florida and other states, local communities are increasingly raising concern about these massive AI data centers, what they could mean for electric bills, the environment, water resources, and just plain, how will this make my community feel different? A proposal by Governor Ronda Santis to create an AI Bill of Rights in Florida has gained significant traction in the legislative session. If passed, it would not only give consumers more power about how AI is used in insurance and other decisions, it could place many decisions about AI data centers at the local level and not at the federal level. DeSantis says the effort is drawing bipartisan support. You know, from that, I think a lot of these communities are not supporting the construction in

their area when they go before these boards now because they're thinking like, okay, it's sucking a lot of resources, but is this really something that we need in our communities? It's something that's going to benefit the community. And by and large, you know, this is across party lines. I think people are saying no dice on that. The governors also argued against the use of state subsidies to build new data centers. You should not have to pay one dime more in utility costs, water, power, any of this stuff, because of this. These are some of the most wealthy companies in the history of humanity, they should not be able to offload costs onto people that are already strapped with high costs in other areas.

We want to know how do you feel about these large-scale data centers. Would you welcome one in your neighborhood? You can call us at 305-995-1800 or write to us at Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. We'll take your calls and emails a little later. Joining me now to talk about this is Jessica Mazzaros. She covers the environment at WUSF in Tampa. Jessica, thanks for coming on. Hey, Danny.

Hey, Jessica, so on a national and international level, we've been hearing about AI, AI, AI for the last couple years. And along with that hype is this building boom, these massive data centers popping up across the country to feed that beast and grow the industry. can you help situate us here in Florida to understand the landscape of what this looks like in the state right now? Yeah, so from what I know right now, there's been at least five of these, what they're called, hyperscale data centers that have been proposed that's in Palm Beach, Citrus, Martin, Polk, and St. Lucie counties.

But they're in various stages of approval at the local level. So I'd like to go through those if you don't mind real quick. And there's some numbers in here, so stay with me. So in Palm Beach, county commissioners there postponed a final vote to this coming April for a 1.8 million square foot data center near the Arden community. In Citrus, the planning commission there is going to decide on its recommendation for one data center covering 800 acres on March 5th. And then it's up to county commissioners for a final vote.

Also in April, Martin County, the Indian Town Village Council, is expected to vote on a facility, which would span over 2 million square feet by the end of this month. And then finally, in Pull County, the commissioners for the city of Fort Mead already approved a rezoning and tax break for a data center within 1,300 acres. And that's still waiting final approval. Interestinglyly enough, in St. Lucie County, the project known as Sentinel Grove Technology Park, would be on a 1,200-acre parcel with multiple buildings around 60 feet tall, but in October, the county zoning board voted against recommending the developer's proposal. It's really the first real pushback we've seen from local government in Florida.

You mentioned Palm Beach County and the postponed project there. That effort called Project Tango proposes a 200-acre AI data center near Loxahatchee in Wellington. Wilkins Brutus has reported on this for our partner station WLRN in Miami, and he spoke with Loxahatchie resident Corey Cantorman. No good comes of having an AI data center near you. Put them in the location of least impact to the environment and people. This location is not it. Canterman is among a group of residents who protested the project

with a petition that reached more than 7,900 signatures. So let's talk about the resources that it's. takes to build and run a data center. And that's on top of the land, the noise, the footprint that they take up. So one proposed AI data center that you recently reported on is in Fort Mead. And that could require up to five million gallons of water per day to operate. And that's prompted a lot of pushback from residents. Why all that water? Yeah. So as you mentioned, these data centers are massive. They use a lot of energy. Some need access to a gigawah of electricity, which can power hundreds of thousands of homes.

So they need access to that amount at any given moment to operate at full capacity, just to give you an idea. So that heats things up. The systems need to cool down. A lot of the existing data centers are using what's called an evaporative cooling water system. And that means that they're pulling large amounts of water either out of the ground or the surface waters like rivers or public drinking water supplies to cool their computing. And as you mentioned, the Fort Mead one, they're saying between 1 million to 5 million gallons of water per.

day. And Florida is obviously a water-rich state. We have a lot of water, but what are the long-term worries about that amount of water usage at any given time in perpetuity, essentially? Yeah, so right now, much of the state is in a drought. I mean, just driving around the Tampa area myself in my own neighborhood, I can see the water table is low. A Fort Meade resident was quoted by a TV news outlet. They're asking if their water is going to be shut off to accommodate this kind of development. So it really is on people. people's minds. I know over in Pennsylvania a proposed data center doesn't have any land secured yet, but it made a financial deal with a township there to tap into the public water and sewer

system. So it's really, we'll see what happens down the line. And are there other worries for environmental issues related to these data centers? Yeah, really it's the amount of electricity being used. Could it skyrocket already high bills? We know that, I mean, I've reported on in in Tampa at least, we had the highest electric bills in the state for June and second highest in the country. So it really is on people's minds. It really depends on how electric utilities decide to distribute cost, at least in Tampa. It's kind of controversial. They're accused of calculating the cost to put the burden more so on residents while lessening the burden on their commercial and industrial customers. So what does that mean if a data center comes around? A lawyer I

spoke to from Earth Justice, who's following this closely, said that communities across the country, are already facing high electricity bills and any increase is going to have a huge impact on their lives. But some of these data center proposals say that they are working with utilities to try to ensure they're capable of handling projects of this magnitude. Jessica, can the grid handle all this energy? Do we know that? Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think that is bringing a lot of panic across the country. I was reading article after article talking about the risks of blackouts, brownouts and outages. from Texas to Pennsylvania. I was just reading how the mid-Atlantic region's grid operator is struggling to secure enough

electricity to meet the demand of data centers in the coming years. So I think right now it's so new. There's a lot of anticipation and wait and see on how this is going to play out. And the White House recently announced that they are trying to come up with a framework for limiting the energy costs that are going to land on households. So it's not all criticism. There are many local lawmakers that are pitching residents on the fact, that bringing data centers could be really good for their communities. What kind of pitches are they

making to local residents to attract and, you know, quiet some of the criticism? Well, from what I hear and what I've read, some data centers are actually saying they're going to bring a lot of economic benefits to local communities in the form of high paying jobs and long-term tax revenue. But the lawyer that I spoke to from Earth Justice, she said that there's not actually any evidence of that as it stands right now in existing data centers and those communities. So what's next on this that you'll be paying attention to? Well, you know, Danny, after my story came out, I actually received an email from a resident in Fort Meade

whose 13-acre property along the Peace River is only a couple miles from the proposed site, and he has some concerns about how it's going to impact his quiet and healthy slice of nature out there. So I'll likely make a trip, you know, any excuse to get out into nature when I can, but get a report on what's at stake and speak to more residents on the ground about this. But the real interesting thing to watch will be how these local governments in Florida vote regarding these data centers. The Earth Justice Attorney says that they're actually the first line of defense against these facilities through really zoning and comprehensive plan amendments. But she says they're not really equipped to handle this since there isn't regulation around this pretty much new animal that is a hyper-scale data center. Jessica Mazzaros covers the environment at WUSF in Tampa.

Jessica, thanks for coming on. Thank you so much. And we want to open up the phone lines. We have Dan calling from West Palm Beach on this topic. Dan, thanks for calling. You're on the line. Yes, as the governor, who I did not vote for, finally said something that made sense. It's going to increase our power costs, electricity costs.

It's going to create a shortage of water also. One of the ways that these data centers are trying to cope with complaints from people about what's going to happen if they, build these things, is they're trying to bring their own power to the location by bringing their own generators, which is going to create another problem. It's going to create a lot of noise and also a lot of pollution. But most of these generators that they'll bring in to those locations make a lot of noise. Dan, Dan, can I ask you a question? Because you mentioned you're on board with Governor DeSantis on this one. Are you encouraged by, you know, it is pretty bipartisan skepticism on this topic right now. Are you encouraged by that? I am encouraged by that.

I see that Republicans and Democrats are coming together in a lot of topics, and this is one of them. It's about time that we became united like we were before 1980 when Reagan came in, and he started dividing us. Before, it didn't make any difference if your neighbor was a Republican or a Democrat. it was like playing sports. Once the race was over, the race was over, and we just went back to being who we were. Right. Well,

unfortunately... Thank you so much for your call, Dan. I really appreciate it. I want to move on to May calling from Orlando. May, thank you for calling. You're on the air. Hello, hello. Thanks for having me. We've been talking a lot about the environmental impacts,

and I also want to touch on some of the health impacts from these data centers. Dan mentioned earlier the issue with noise and these data centers we've seen already are giving off large amounts of infrasound as well, which is down below the human range of hearing. And even though we can't hear it, there's already scientific evidence that shows it has health impacts on people, including busyness, vertigo, nausea, and some people are in the country, have already been experiencing this.

And so I do think we need to start talking about data centers as more like an industrial production that needs to be zoned appropriately, and we cannot have people living next these. Thank you so much, May. I appreciate it. And we got an email from Jack who writes, quote, the focus on energy usage is misplaced in my opinion. With all the sunshine in the state, I imagine green energy will solve the energy conundrum, regardless of our current leaders' plans with green energy. My concern is more about water usage of these data centers. We already have water issues. Thanks everyone for contributing to this. We will absolutely be on it. It's on the agenda in the legislative session. So we are following this as it goes on.

Now, turning our attention to this current legislative session and what lawmakers got up to this week in Tallahassee, the Florida House has approved legislation that would rename the Palm Beach International Airport as President Donald J. Trump International Airport, an extremely rare measure for a sitting president. To become law, the Florida Senate would have to approve the measure. The Florida House has also passed legislation that would dramatically reduce property taxes, that is, if the Senate agrees to the plan and if voters approve the ballot measure in November. The measure would get rid of all homesteaded property taxes except for those funding schools. Bill sponsor Representative Monique Miller says savings is the point.

I believe that it can be done, and this is an important time to deliver the relief to Florida families that they say. badly need. But Democrats, like Representative Daryl Campbell, worry about cities and counties losing out on those taxes. In an affordability crisis, cutting property taxes sounds helpful, but in practice, it often does the opposite of what people intend. Property taxes fund local services people rely on every day. The Florida Senate has not come out with a tax reduction proposal yet and a special legislative session focused on property taxes could take place later this year. And a debate about how long a leash the governor's office should have on emergency spending took place this week, with Republicans in the Florida House threatening to ban

emergency spending on immigration purposes. That comes after the public has learned that over half a billion emergency dollars have been spent on immigration over three years. Members of both political parties said emergency funds should be used for natural disasters, not man-made emergencies like the ones declared on immigration. Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driscoll. When it comes to a man-made emergency, that's where things get subjective. That's where we wind up with detention centers that cost us over half a billion dollars and haven't received a dime in federal funding to reimburse it. Douglas Sol, your Florida government reporter has been following this in Tallahassee, and he joins us.

us now. Doug, thanks for coming on. Happy to be here. So, you know, there's been a lot of debate about cutting the governor's office off from some of these emergency funds that he's been used to do things like build and operate alligator Alcatraz. Where did those

debates land this week? Yeah, that was one of the hot topics in the Capitol. Earlier in the week, the Florida House has mentioned approved a measure that would have restricted that emergency fund usage to just natural disasters like hurricane.

The governor spoke out against that. Some of his allies like the Attorney General spoke out against that. And yesterday, the chamber approved a bill that adds man-made disasters like immigration to the list of allowable expenses in that governor's emergency fund. Now, it does, the health is adding more guardrail as compared to the Senate. So there's that in comparison, and those are differences. The two chambers are just going to have to figure out in the weeks come. And two questions.

What kind of guardrails and there is this question about federal reimbursements. Are the feds going to reimburse any of the over half a billion that have already been spent on immigration? On federal reimbursement, that's the million dollar question. I guess in this case, hundreds of millions of dollars. Half a billion dollar question. Hundreds of millions of dollars question. So there was some form of agreement between the state and the feds on reimbursements upwards to four and six years. hundred million dollars.

And Governor Rodentez, you know, when he talked about the spending for things like Alleged Alcatraz, he mentioned that it was going to be reimbursed by the federal government, but now federal lawyers are saying not so fast. They are signaling doubts on whether the full cost is going to be reimbursed or if any of the costs are going to be reimbursed. So that's something of Floridian leaders and Florida taxpayers are going to be keeping an eye on for sure. And in terms of the guardrails, as mentioned, I think I added man-made disasters like immigration back to the bill. I'm referring to the House, that is.

But they also are adding more legislative oversight. So the governor on this immigration issue has repeatedly extended an emergency declaration on immigration since the beginning of 2023. That has allowed him to use the emergency funds. The legislation wants to be able to have more oversight in this 40 every time the governor, recall is one of those emergency declarations. So it puts the legislature more involved in the distribution. A little bit more in the driver's seat, right? Douglas Sola is with Your Florida.

He's a government reporter out of Tallahassee. He's been following this. And thank you so much, Douglas, for joining. So happy to be here. And just a note about next week, we're taking this program, the Florida Roundup, to Orlando. We'll be broadcasting live on February 27th from Central Florida Public Media.

We'll have some special guests in live music and lunch, the most important thing. We would love to see you there too. We're going to be talking about public K through 12 education, space exploration, and the hidden Orlando, what the city has to offer outside of the theme parks. It's a live in-person Florida roundup next Friday, February 27th at Central Florida Public Media. You can't argue with the price because it's free 99. The space is limited, though, so please register at CFPublic.org slash Florida Roundup live. And we'll be back with more on a new dokey drama about a fascinating piece of the Florida history.

Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivera. The state of Florida has a very unique history when it comes to black history in the U.S. And much of that complex and layered history comes from the fact that, for much of its colonial history, Florida was dominated by the Spanish. And inside Spanish Florida, slavery of Africans based on race was not the same as in the British colonies. In fact, Spanish officials authorized the first free black settlement in North America in the 1730s, decades before the American Revolution.

The first free black settlement was called Fort Mosey, and it sits just north of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. The prospect of a free and armed black population living in Spanish, Florida, became a beacon of hope for enslaved people in Georgia and the Carolinas, and a constant source of conflict for British colonial officials, and later slaveholding states and slave owners in the American South. A new film produced by Flagler College in St. Augustine explores this fascinating history. The film is titled A Book of Freedom, The Confessions of Francisco Menendez, and it's showing next Monday at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. I recently spoke with director Jim Gilmore and actor Zeus Xavier Scott about the film. First of all, thank you both for coming on. Absolutely.

So Jim, we'll start with you. A lot of people are familiar with the Underground Railroad and the fact that it ran north. But this story that you're telling is about the precursor to the Underground Railroad that ran south into Florida. And this story takes place as England was fighting Spain for the conquest of Florida, decades before the American Revolution, nearly 100 years before Florida was admitted to the Union as a 27th state. Why was it important to tell this story before the quote-unquote American? Americans even came onto the scene. Well, I think this story is so important because most of us in this country know nothing about it. I was raised with the whole notion of the Underground Railroad and the heroes that worked to

escape to the north. And so I just assumed that was always the way that the narrative unfolded. And so when I moved down to St. Augustine and wandered into this place called Fort Mosey, which is not very far from downtown, it's not heavily. marked, there's a small sign, and I'm there and I'm looking around and kind of reading the signs and things and going, oh my God, you know, where was this in any part of the American experience that I had ever heard? And so when I was brought down to help launch the new cinematic arts program at Flygler, and they asked me, what story would I like to tell? I did sort of had this

in the back of my mind, and I had some colleagues that also knew of this story, and I said, I think it'd be really interesting to do a docu drama around the idea of Fort Mose. And then from there, it really focused more onto the story of one person, Francisco Menendez, as this sort of heroic figure of Florida history that nobody ever knows. And so this film is a blend of documentary and live action historical reenactments, a docudrama, as you said. Can you talk a little bit about the historical record that does exist that underpins this really remarkable story of the historical figure who was Francisco Menendez? So the Spanish kept great records and through their whole time here in St. Augustine. And a lot of those records still exist. We found his petition to the King of Spain

after the Battle of Bloody Mosei when Fort Mosei was destroyed. And he's essentially begging for funds to allow them to rebuild and restore their community. We found the British Court of Law records of his prosecution when he was recaptured by the British sailors. And of course, there was less preserved for black Americans and certainly even less for black women Americans at the time. But we did have these fragments. And that's what the students used as we kind of tried to figure out how to tell this story. And Zeus, I want to bring you into this conversation. Of course, in this film, you play the character of Francisco Menendez, born in Gambia, West

Africa, speaker of Portuguese and Arabic, who was captured, shipped to the Carolinas as a slave, escaped south of freedom in Spanish, Florida, and became this really early defender of liberty in the black community. And that's just the beginning of the story. Can you tell us a little bit about what you learned, looking at the world through his eyes? That's a great question. Everything that Francisco did, he did with intention and with compassion for not only himself,

but for the people around him. And I think just being in some of those situations he was in, at least in terms of simulating them, you could just feel the courage that it would take to, you know, continue to be at bat. And in the film, you know, it's part of the title of the film, Menendez confesses to a father about committing acts of violence in defense of his own people. And it's obvious he's tormented by some of that violence, but at the same time the viewers left wondering, yes, it was violent, but to what end was that violence?

Zeus, what do you hope that audiences take away from your performance as you wrestle with those ideas? Well, there's a monologue that he has where he says, I feel like my spirit has been at war my entire life. and it's one thing to be physically in war, you know, to be fighting someone or something. It's another thing for, like, you to have an internal conflict. You know, when everyone around you was doing one thing

and you're doing something else and there's all these opinions, I think Francisco and his story is just true that he followed his heart and everything that he did. And I think that's why he was able to be such a passionate person. And I would hope that people watching it just see that, you know, any conflict that he has with the world, the people, anything that he's interacting with in the film, it's not out of a vindict of nature. It's genuinely him following his heart and doing what he believes is right. And Jim, you're the director of this project, sort of, because the credit for the director simply reads

students of the cinematic art program at Flagler College. And that speaks to the process of filmmaking for this really unique project. Can you tell us a little bit about how this film came to be? I'm the project director in the sense that I led the courses that contributed to the script that contributed to all the production, that contributed to the editing, all of those kinds of things. And I was there on set to kind of showcase to the students the role of a director to teach. But I want to make sure the students get credit for the collaborative nature of this vision. We were really debating and challenged and forced to think about how do we tell the students. How do we give a person like Francisco Menendez the agency that he deserves? Because here's a man who refused to be enslaved.

No matter what happened to him, he found a way to freedom. And that's such an incredible story given the time frame. And it's such an incredible story. It's so incredible that we just don't know anything about it. We know the story of Harriet Tubman. Why don't we know the story of Francisco Menendez, who is this colonial hero? You know, a lot of the reason for that is racism. It's not a story that America wanted to tell.

And I think the students really learned, and I'm so proud of them, that it's important for us to find a way to tell these stories. And I'm proud of Flagler College embraced the story of slavery at a time when a lot of people are running from these narratives. And, you know, one of the most remarkable things about the film is Florida is a character in its own right in the film. and the unique historical position that Florida occupies. You know, Florida is at once this dynamic contested place.

On the one hand, it's an early setting of freedom. Spain offered freedom to slaves from the Caroliners or Georgia that crossed the border, as long as they were Catholic and they agreed to fight for Spain. But then Florida is also this site of raids across the border from the British to recapture slaves. The British take over. they re-enslave people. Americans later did the same when it came under the U.S. occupation and then later statehood. Do you think there's an appetite for learning to wrestle with this messy but very unique Florida history, Jim? Is there an appetite? That's a great question. I mean, I think we're,

I think we always struggle with deciding what what is important, what is really, what is relevant to our histories. And I think Florida in particular, because of the influence of the Spanish and the British and the Seminole Nation, right, there's like all of these histories that merge together. And, you know, St. Augustine is so built around the big fort, the Castillo de San Marcos, right, the one that everybody comes to, that they tended to frame history just through that, through the Spanish eyes of that fort. And yet, you know, if you just move out two miles, now you sort of see you've got the story of the indigenous people

living with the free black slaves at Fort Mose. So Florida is so much more of a melting pot than I think it likes to recognize sometimes. So I'm hopeful that Florida will embrace that more. But I do think these are challenging times for telling stories that are a little bit outside the mainstream of some narratives. And Zeus, I want to ask you in terms of your research into playing the character of Francisco

Menendez, did you go to the historical Fort Mosei to just look at it, breathe in the air as part of your process of embodying that historical character? Well, I will say we were lucky enough to actually use Fort Mose for a small portion of our film. A lot of my information for Francisco Bolls. Menendez came from our script and what I was able to get between myself and Jim. I got to learn so much about Francisco and how he knew four languages, you know, and, you know, all these different times. He escaped slavery, the Battle of Bloody Mosei.

The history is deeply rooted there at Fort Mosei to where you can see it. And then when you go to the events, the tour guys and all of the reenactors, they are, like, rich with all of the stories. So it's hard not to learn something, just stepping onto that landscape. and walking around. Jim Gilmore and Zeus, Xavier, Scott of the film of Book of Freedom, The Confessions of Francisco Menendez. The film is playing Monday, February 23rd at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Jim and Zeus, thank you so much for your time. You're so welcome. Absolutely. Thanks for having us. I'm Danny Rivera, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. The decision has officially been made that St. Augustine will host the Florida Museum of Black History. The legislature's now finalizing plans for how the museum will be built,

funded, and managed, but it does look like it will be built in the coming years. Regina Gail Phillips was on the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force that helped choose St. Augustine as the host city for the future museum. She's the executive director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in St. Augustine, and she joins us now to discuss St. Augustine's little-known black history and what the future might hold for the new state museum. Thanks for coming on. Oh, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to share our stories.

So there were several cities that put their hat in the ring to potentially host the Florida Museum of Black History, including Opa Laca, Eatonville, Panama City, Sarasota, and others. What was it that put St. Augustine and St. John's County over the top? I think the fact that a lot of the presentations that we were given started with history of St. Augustine and St. John's County. So the first free black settlement in, you know, what is now America here in St. John's County, the passage of the civil rights bill from 1964, a lot of what happened in St. Augustine in the summer of 64 led to the passage of that. And of course, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent a lot of time in St. Augustine. He was arrested there. How important is it, do you think, to have a central official Florida Museum of Black History, when we, We do have a wide proliferation of museums and organizations across the state from everything from the Black Police Precinct here in Miami in the African American Research Library and Culture Center in Fort Lauderdale to the Woods and African American Museum in St. Petersburg, the Center for History and Culture and Art in Appalachicola. I could go on.

What do you think will make this new museum stand out? I think if it's done right, it will bring in stories from different parts of Florida. into a central hub. Similar to what we've done here in Lincolnville, we tell stories from all over St. John's County, and people come here and they can see those stories. Then they can go out to the individual sites within the county and see some of the locations

that we talk about. So it should be comprehensive in that way that it tells a story that will weave together the history of the state of Florida in a way that will make people want to visit those other locations. That's what we had in mind from the task force. So in the state law that started the process for creating this museum, it explicitly says that, quote, the contributions of residents at Fort Mosei will be included in the museum, and the same for teaching of slavery and segregation

in Florida. And I do want to specify that because in the current climate, some people might wonder what kind of narratives will be allowed to be a part of this official history for a Florida museum. I do have some concerns. You know, we, we, we do this on a smaller scale, obviously. And the biggest form of census here is at this point funding. So if something doesn't get funded, you know, it's hard to hire a curator to help you to develop that story or to do the research or to put together the exhibit, you know, to have the printing and equipment that you need. to showcase that story. How would you like to see the proposed state museum

address all the complexities of Black Life in Florida from colonial times to the present day? So I think you have to go back to the pre-colonial times. People came to Florida for various reasons. So you have some people who came to Florida in bondage and you have some people who came to Florida who were not in bondage. You have people who came here pre-colonial times.

It's very difficult to tell all the stories of Florida because there's so many in it and so many areas that are so different. You know, it's not going to be easy, but I think it'll be a lot of fun to tell all those stories. And what message do you want Florida residents and visitors to take away about black history through this museum that's in the works right now?

Well, I think the story, the same as I want them to take away here, is that our history does not begin and end with chattel slavery. I think that there's a lot of our history that people don't know. They don't understand. There are a lot of great people who were captured and brought here, who had lives before they were forced in the slavery. You have people who came here and overcame great obstacles just to survive the middle passage to get here. And then you have people who lived through it, survived it, and became great inventors and educators.

And so it's just, I think, the excellence of people who will have a resilience to survive in spite of all of the things that people have tried to dump on the black Black race and, you know, racism construct that is, you know, basically not even real, but that they have tried to say, you know, if you're black, then you are inferior in some way. I hope the museum can show with lots of pride, all those stories of accomplishment and the stories of struggle and how people survive that struggle. And I think if we can do that, then we'll have a great museum. Regina Gail Phillips is the executive director of the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center in St. Augustine and a former member of the Florida Museum of Black History Task Force. Regina Gail, thanks so much for coming on.

Thank you. You're welcome. Still to come, a Roundup of Education News across the state. We'll be right back. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's one trillion dollar asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Danny Rivera. First up, some educational news from across the state. Language in a bill that would have allowed public school districts to buy curriculum

developed by the Florida Department of Education has been amended. The move comes after education advocates raised concerns with the bill. From our partner Central Florida Public Media, education reporter Danielle Pryor explains. Under an earlier version of a 40-pocket, Page Education Bill in the Florida Senate, districts would have been allowed to use curriculum developed by or in conjunction with the Florida Department of Education. Education advocates pushed back, arguing the language could allow the state to write its own version of Texas's controversial

Blue Bonnet curriculum, which uses the Bible to teach math and language arts. As a result of these concerns, Florida State Republican Senator Corey Simon says, that information has been pulled out of the bill, So that is no longer a part. And I think that caused some consternation in the first committee stop. With this change, textbook publishers will remain the primary authors of curriculum in the state. The wide-ranging education bill is now in the Rules Committee. In Orlando, I'm Danielle Pryor. A plan to transfer the USF Sarasota Manate campus to neighboring new college was approved by a House subcommittee this week.

As Kerry Sheridan reports for our partner WUSF, that's despite many questions. questions about how it would work. Orlando Representative Anna Eskimani pointed out that the state's own Doge report found New College is the most financially inefficient university in Florida's system. So why should we move an asset from USF over to New College when they're financially not doing well? She also asked how New College would manage $53 million in debt, which comes with the transfer. The bill sponsor, Representative Demi Boussada of Miami, responded. No, I don't have concerns, and all of our universities, our public universities are subsidized by the state of Florida. She says the House bill transfers $22 million from USF to new college, so there would be no new burden on taxpayers.

Representative Rishon Young of Orlando asked what would happen to the students at USF Sarasota Manatee. They have told us that they're worried about this, about the course of action, about their support services, about whether their degree path stays intact. In an email sent shortly after the House subcommittee approved the bill, USF board chair Will Weatherford warned of the consequences of taking money away from USF. He says that would threaten USF's ability to protect its people because it would be used to pay for current Sarasota Manatee students to finish their degrees on their home campus. The Senate's proposed budget, released Friday,

does not mention a takeover of the USF campus. To move forward, both the House and Senate must. degree. I'm Carrie Sheridan in Sarasota. Meanwhile, the new president of USF has pledged to protect students and faculty if lawmakers decide to transfer the Sarasota Manatee campus to new college. At a faculty Senate meeting this week, Moez-Lumayim also echoed the statements of other USF leaders, saying the deal may be in the hands of the legislature. I'm going to do every single thing I can to take care of our students, our faculty, and our staff. As for me, the top priority.

LeMayum says he plans to meet with faculty and students at the Sarasota Manate campus in the coming days. And on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus, students protested an event being held this week by immigration and customs enforcement recruiters. A state-mandated 287G agreement with ICE gives university police the ability to detain students. FGCU students have previously stepped out of class to protest the school's cooperation with ICE.

Kate Cronin with our partner WGCU covered that event. FGCU students took a break from classes to voice their concerns against the university's cooperation with immigration and customs enforcement. The protest was organized by Borders to Bridges, a student-led organization that is raising awareness for migrant struggles. Freshman Sol Reyes is against the university's partnership with the federal agency. We have students feel uncomfortable with that ICE agreement because we're here to study. We're here to, you know, all of us have equal access to education, and we shouldn't be threatened or feel like we shouldn't have that access anymore. Students shared worries for their family, their friends, and their neighbors.

Under the 287G agreement, campus police can detain and assist with the deportation of their own students. For some, like freshman Desani Acevedo, it was their first time protesting, but not the last. My only issue is transportation, but I'm so grateful that they're having one here and close by, and I'm on campus to be able to attend to it. The protest brought out mixed emotions from attendees. Some students agreed with the university's policy and support ICE activity in the community, while others raise concerns about being able to trust police and feel safe on FGCU campus. I'm Kate Cronin.

Florida's largest teachers union is distancing itself from state. student walkouts in opposition of immigration crackdowns. Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar says the union would never promote or condone students leaving school early or missing class time. The F.EA has not and will not organize or encourage any effort in which students walk out of class for a protest. Any suggestion otherwise is untrue

and likely nothing more than an attempt to turn legislators against the hardworking teachers and staff of our great state. Spar's comments come after Florida Commissioner of Education Stasi Kamutsas called the union out for allegedly promoting walkouts at a press conference. Spar says those comments were made by an activist with no connections to the union. I'm Danny Rivera, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Now we're going to focus on water-related issues.

We recently spoke about new state rules instituted that allow for reclaimed water, a recycled wastewater, to be treated and distributed for drinking. The Volusia County Council on Tuesday voted down proposals to block its own utility from the practice, known as potable reuse. Central Florida Public Media's environment reporter Molly Dureg tells us more. Studies show recycled water treated for drinking is safe to drink, but that doesn't mean everyone loves the idea. As Florida's water demands keep rising along with its population, the state says local governments will need to increasingly rely on alternative water supply strategies, like potable reuse, to meet the demand. But Volusia County Vice Chair Troy Kent

said Tuesday he's not convinced there are water supply challenges to worry about. You're not going to like this many of you, but there's no water problem where we are. There's no water shortage issue that I'm convinced of at all. The U.S. drought monitor currently shows all of Florida is under some kind of drought. County resident Gary Singleton says he doesn't want to drink recycled water, but that's beside the point. He says what the county really needs is a more nuanced discussion about how to manage its water supply. Eliminating an alternative source that nobody wants is easy. Doing the right things to manage our most precious resource requires courage. Council members ultimately voted three to four against two proposals to ban potable reuse.

In Volusia County, I'm Molly Durig. And as you just heard, much of the state continued to experience a severe drought this week. As of Thursday, 35 counties had burn bans in place, including Palm Beach, Brevard, Hillsborough, and Alachua. Megan Barowski is a senior meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Megan, how much of the state is still experiencing a drought? All right, so the drought monitor is released once a week each week on Thursday, but it contains data that runs from Tuesday to Tuesday.

So this week's drought monitor does contain. the rainfall that fell over the northern half of Florida during the President's Day weekend. But even with that update, the entirety of Florida is still classified as under one of the drought categories. We've got moderate to severe drought over the far western panhandle, extreme drought over the central and eastern panhandle and north Florida. Counties near I-4 are either under moderate or severe drought, with the exception of just a little pocket near Cape Canaveral, which is in the lightest category known as abnormally dry. South of I-4 into South Florida are under a severe or extreme drought. But really, the fact of the matter is that all of Florida's landmass is classified

under one of these dry or drought categories. Some areas, of course, are worse than others. Looks like the hardest test right now are the pinhandle, North Florida, and also the latitude of Lake Okachovia are the worst hit. And there's another cold front coming in. When can we expect temperatures to dip and how low will they dip? Actually, temperatures right now are above average and we might actually chase a few record afternoon highs both today and tomorrow. But But on Sunday, that's all going to change. A front will approach and move on through. By Monday morning,

lows should drop to the 30s over the Panhandle and North Florida. They'll drop to the 40s over Central Florida and Interior South Florida. And the immediate coastline of South Florida should drop to the mid-50s. Even colder for us on Tuesday morning. Loos in the low 30s and upper 20s for the Panhandle of North Florida, the 30s for Central Florida and the 40s over South Florida. Will the winter weather impact the drought? Yeah, so unfortunately we're not expecting too much in the way of rain accumulations from the front.

weekend. And that's really been the case from the past cold fronts this winter is that they've not produced a whole lot of rain. That's one of the reasons why we've seen this drought rapidly intensify. Most of us from this weekend's front will see trace rainfall, but in the panhandle, we could see anywhere between a quarter and a half an inch fall. But this won't close that rainfall deficit in the panhandle, but at least some rainfall will be better than nothing for that region and for the rest of Florida, just about a trace of accumulations. Thanks so much, Megan. for having me. It's great to be here. And finally on the roundup this week,

all this unusually cold weather recently means a drop in ocean temperatures, and that can pose a threat to marine life. Nearly 800 cold-stunned sea turtles have washed ashore throughout the state so far this year. Alan Foley is a wildlife biologist with the FWC. So when it drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, when it gets in the 40s,

then it gets to be too cold for turtles. they can tolerate it for a short period of time, say a day or so, but after that, they begin to succumb. The good news is there's help. If you see a stranded turtle on the beach, call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline immediately. Visit myfwc.com for that number. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say about 1,400 turtles were rescued last year. And that's our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media and.

Miami and WUSF in Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Denise Royal. WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Mayors. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Harvey Brassard, and Ernesto J. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Libos at Aaron Leibos.com. If you missed any of today's show, you can download it and pass programs on the NPR app. Thanks for calling and listening.

Stay warm, Florida. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at evergladesfoundation.org.