The Florida Roundup - Countdown for condos, decisions await DeSantis, Florida’s illegal casinos and weekly news briefing

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we talked about the looming deadline for condo owners and associations to meet new regulations that were enacted following the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse. First, we heard from Sen. Jennifer Bradley (02:00) and then Tara Stone, CEO of Stone Building Solutions (11:19). Then, we spoke with Politico’s Gary Fineout about the slate of decisions that Gov. DeSantis may have to make following nominations from President-elect Donald Trump (19:37). Plus, we spoke with David Fleshler about the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s investigation into Florida’s illegal casinos (27:57). Later, we heard a collection of stories from around the state including a deadline for a federal assistance that helps feed children over the summer (37:36) and how recent back-to-back storms may help spread invasive species in the state (45:24). And finally, one South Florida mall trades in Jolly Old Saint Nicholas for “Fashion Santa” (47:07).

Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us this week. Roundup, I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us this week. Carrie O'Donnell lives in a condominium building that's more than 50 years old and is six stories tall, so her building is one of the thousands across the state that's required to get a structural inspection before the end of this year. We just got back the draft report. That was in late September. After the collapse of the Champlain Tower South condominium building in Surfside, Florida lawmakers passed a series of new regulations for condo buildings. One of those, the milestone inspection, requires most condo buildings in the state to get a visual structural inspection by December 31st.

The draft says that we are in very good shape. The second significant change for condo owners like O'Donnell is that associations have to start saving money to make regular maintenance repairs. For O'Donnell and her neighbors, they will have to come up with an extra $125 a month to build up their condominium reserves. We were really worried sick about this. Our situation is rare, I think. O'Donnell lives in a well-off neighborhood in Palm Beach, overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway. Condos in her building sell for at least two million dollars or more. But lots of Florida condo owners are not so well

off as the deadline approaches for new condo rules. Have you seen your monthly assessments go up? Are you looking to buy or sell an older condo? We want to hear from you now. 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800 or email radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Your calls and emails coming up. Republican Senator Jennifer Bradley is from North Central Florida and is a leading lawmaker on the condo reforms. Senator, thanks for joining us here on the Florida Roundup. Are the condominium reforms passed by the legislature over the past few years having unintended consequences as the deadlines approach? The intended consequence is to make sure that every Floridian lives in a safe building,

that they don't go to bed at night worried that their building is going to collapse, and that they have the financial health to be able to have the money available to make needed repairs so that there aren't decades of deferred maintenance that become extremely costly and ultimately result in more catastrophes. And yes, the bill will have that intended effect. You have heard anecdotal evidence, I'm sure, from condominium owners and condominium associations about the increase in monthly fees or special assessments. Were those part of the intended consequences, the foreseen consequences, when you and your lawmakers approved these reforms?

The vast majority of increases over the last several years has been insurance premiums. Insurance premiums for condo associations have doubled since 2022. And these systems exist together. If you are not able to keep your building in good physical health, you're not going to be insurable. The private market saw Surfside collapse. They witnessed the horror with everyone else, insurance companies and banks. And so if you don't make sure your building is repaired and that you have money available to make those repairs, it will be exceedingly difficult, regardless of what the legislature does, to be insurable or to get loans to make those needed repairs in your building. So ultimately, these bills will stabilize the condo market. There are growing pays.

The milestone inspection, the deadline is December 31st. What happens, Senator, if a condominium association that's supposed to receive this milestone inspection by the end of the year isn't able to get one? So we recognize that there is a large universe of condos that are going to need to be obtaining these milestone inspections and acting accordingly upon the findings. So the bill provides that if you are in contract with an engineering firm to get your milestone and you aren't able to have it completed in time because there aren't enough engineers to be able to do it or they're really backed up, you can satisfy the requirement by being under contract and making a good faith effort to get it done into next year. Who or what is the local enforcement agency that then is watching over this, that these inspections actually take place and the reports are disseminated? Yeah, it's your local building officials are in the loop because they are the ones that permit and certify the buildings. They will make sure that the phase one or, if necessary, the phase two portion of the milestone inspections and then the

resulting repairs are completed. Phase one is kind of a visual inspection. If there's an issue seeing the phase two goes a little deeper, literally perhaps into the building structure. And then there is another clock that starts if there are repairs that have to be done. Isn't that correct? Yeah, that's exactly correct. The phase one is just that. An architect or an engineer walks through the building and they know what they're looking for. They will examine stairwells, columns. And it's important to note that we've had more than two dozen associations have to be evacuated as a result of milestone inspections. So these are very important, necessary safety conditions

that the state is going to absolutely make sure that people are living in safe buildings. You had mentioned last week at kind of a town hall on these reforms that you were aware of 26 buildings that had been evacuated because of these. Any geographic concentration of where these buildings that have been evacuated are located? Well, you know, certainly South Florida is our, you know, the state's densest area of condos, and that's where we're seeing a lot of those issues. But there have been examples statewide. When I talk to engineers and architects who are doing these evaluations of the buildings, the question I asked is, are the deficiencies that

we're seeing the result of merely old building construction practices, or is it a result of deferred maintenance? And the answer is resoundingly, these buildings are in such poor condition because they simply haven't been maintained. Which speaks to the lack of financial reserves through the years, certainly. And we have seen a number of condominiums for sale in the state of Florida increase, particularly these vintage condominiums subject to these reforms and average prices falling. Does that trend concern you? the SERS and that we will be taking... Pardon the interruption. The SERS is the acronym for the Structural Integrity Reserve Study, which is looking at the finances of an association. That's exactly right. And to be clear, there are two separate pieces to the reforms. The first we just discussed, which is the milestone repairs. Those have to be done when a building reaches 30 years of age and every 10 years thereafter. The second

component is the Structural Integrity Reserve Study that we refer to as the SERS. And that is a reserve report. What the legislature did over the last several years is to say, you have to make sure that the money is in place to be able to replace those elements when those elements age out. For instance, your roof. And so this makes sure that condominiums and the associations are funded so that those structural elements can be maintained and repaired when necessary. And so we're seeing associations have to budget for catch if they have not made those budgetary allotments over the past many, many years. And we've seen the condominium market, the real estate market, kind of respond where there's lots of concern in the market. The inventories have gone up and the

prices have come down. Florida has always required funded reserves. This is nothing new. Florida law also used to let associations waive their reserves every year based on the vote of a very few number of owners in the building. And it is a reality shift to say that when you live in a condo, you have a responsibility for what you use for the building itself. So that is what is going to be required going forward. Florida House Republican Vicki Lopez told our program in July that she was telling people not to buy a condominium right now in Florida. Do you agree with that guidance? I think that when you're buying a condominium in Florida, I want to see

the milestone inspection. I want to see, I want to look under the hood. I want to see what the reserves are. What does the reserve study show? What will be the financial cost of maintaining that unit going forward? I certainly would ask a lot of questions. And the questions that I would ask are the questions that quite quite frankly, should have been being asked in the state of Florida for the last several decades. Senator, do the reforms need to be revisited during the next legislative session? And if so, what are the priorities to reopen this debate? This is a big issue in the state of Florida. It affects a lot of Floridians, and the legislature is committed to getting it right.

We're committed to making sure we have safe buildings, financially healthy buildings, and also a process in place that isn't going to displace owners. I chair the Regulated Industries Committee in the Senate, and I think you'll see over the first several weeks of session, we're going to continue those roundt tables so that all of my Senate colleagues can engage with these professionals. There'll be a full vetting. I think the SERS needs a much closer look to make sure that it's being executed

according to our intentions, which is just for certain items and not to include other things. We'll continue to look at the financing and continue to listen and see where we can maximize the benefit for homeowners who make these repairs to make sure they get credits on their insurance and other things that are driving up costs. Senator Jennifer Bradley, State Senator from North Central Florida,

thank you so much for your time. Thank you. 305-995-1800, 305-995-1800, taking your calls for the next few minutes. So if you are living in a condominium, you own or looking to sell or buy a condominium, your questions about these reforms now, 305-995-1800. Tara Stone is with us. She is the CEO at Stone Building Solutions. It's a building engineering firm based in St. Petersburg. Tara, welcome to the program. Good afternoon.

Senator Bradley asked an important question there. As someone who has had engineers looking at condominium buildings in many places in Florida, Tara, the structural problems that you are seeing and your folks are seeing result of bad construction or lack of maintenance. Well, it's always a series of unfortunate events. It's never just one thing, just like the Champaign Towers was not just one event. However, we will say resoundingly, we agree with Senator Bradley. What we are seeing is lack of maintenance. And that lack of maintenance isn't because that people don't necessarily want to do the repairs. It's always that there's not the

money in the bank to do repairs. Certainly, as she mentioned, Florida law has allowed associations to waive those reserves for quite a while. But that era is over with the new laws coming into play. Tara, we've got phone calls and emails here lining up to play upon your expertise as someone who's been out looking at these condominium buildings and looking at the reserves, the financial reserves, the balance sheets of these associations. Paul has been listening in Orlando and has been patient. Paul, you're on the radio. Go ahead. Hey, thank you for having this show. It's very timely. I own a one-bedroom unit, approximate value of about $150,000 here in Orlando. And a hedge fund or private equity firm has come in and bought up a significant number of the property and installed a bunch of people on the board

who immediately used the condo association reserves to put in a $30,000 to $40,000 special assessment, as well as increasing the homeowners association by at least a half, if not two-thirds. And they're using that to buy up the properties at depressed rates. With some other plan in the future, Paul, thank you for that. Tara, as you look at financial reserves for these buildings, what do you comment? What do you think of Paul's experience there as perhaps an institutional owner coming in and making some of these significant changes that are affecting certainly Paul's bottom line? It's why it's so important to be involved in the board and the community, because now

more than ever, the board members and the decisions that they're making greatly affect the pocketbooks of every unit owner. decisions that they're making greatly affect the pocketbooks of every unit owner. And a lot of the information, and Paul sounds like a particular case, and I have heard of several examples like that. I don't believe that's widespread. Those are the examples that are so unfortunate that they make the news. I would encourage people, however, if their buildings are in need of massive repair, I have seen instances where unit owners come together as you do it in one year, two years or five years working against each other, you lose that power of community. And what happens is they just come in and buy them up anyways. When they have a majority of the board, they ultimately can have control and have situations like this.

Some emails here. Pam in Brandon asks, do the condo regulations apply to apartment buildings? They do not. And the reason is, is because you have to think of the mentality. And this is why we're in the situation that we're in. Because for decades, condo unit owners were more concerned about the granite in their kitchen and how close they were to the pool. And that's what they were looking at and not actually the reserve. Yeah. Versus an apartment building manager, for instance, who is hired and is financial and fiduciarily responsible for maintaining that property. It's one owner and they receive the benefit when they sell. Before the reserve studies,

they weren't receiving the benefit when they sold of a higher reserve account. What about a condominium building with condominiums that are leased out? Because it's still a condominium building, I suspect, Tara, it would still be subject to these regulations, right? Yeah. Everything under Florida statute 718 condominiums are subject to the statutes. It doesn't matter if it's tenant occupied. Yeah. What are some of the common misconceptions by building associations with the new financial regulations as they make these budgets? I would say the biggest misconception is the definition of fully funded. And Senator Pizzo and Senator Bradley just hosted a condo summit last week in Boca and brought in industry professionals.

And during that, one of the things they talked about was possibly changing that wording because it's a little confusing, right? Yeah. Fully funded means 100%, but that's actually not what the legislation, at least the way that it's written right now, aims for. I just want to squeeze in one more call. Antonio has been listening in patiently in Miami Beach, Tara. Go ahead, Antonio. You're on the radio. Hi, Tom.

So I'm from Miami Beach. It's actually very close to Miami Beach, North Bay Village, a small on the radio. Hi, Tom. So I'm from Miami Beach. It's actually very close to Miami Beach, North Bay Village, a small island. And the board kept using the old term, 40-year certification. And now listen to the program, I learned about this term milestone and the phase one, phase two. And they recently said that we had passed the inspection and it was very vague. So now I imagine that they passed the phase one because we received a report of a visual inspection. So my question is, when is the phase two due? How much time? Good question, Antonio. Tara, the phase two comes if there's an issue spotted in the phase one visual inspection, correct?

Doesn't sound like he's going to need a phase two, but I want to touch on something because it's really important. Senator Bradley just kept saying milestone, and Broward and Dade. And Dade County, yeah. Recertifications, which is a much higher standard, actually, than milestones. So if you're listening in those counties, you will not get a milestone report.

You will get a recertification. So what your board is telling you is correct you need a recent vacation it used to be 40 years now it's either 25 or 30 depending on your jurisdiction and it renews every 10 years thereafter tara stone is the ceo at stone building solutions in st petersburg it's a building engineering Tara, thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us. Absolutely. We're in Coral Gables as well. On both coasts, as it were, right? Yeah. Rebecca in Broward sent us this email. As a board member of a 20-year-old two-condo building complex in Broward, we have been funding our reserves for at least the past 10 years. We have approximately $176,000 in reserves and did our structural infrastructure reserve study months ago. That said, our owners are suffering with all the increased expenses, especially insurance.

A number of folks have certainly echoed that feeling, Rebecca. Thanks for participating in the conversation. You can always reach us radio at the Florida Roundup dot o r g. More to come here on the Florida Roundup, including some important political decisions ahead for Governor DeSantis. That's next. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. Eight seven seven eight one three ninety one fifteen. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115. We're coveringflorida.org.

This is the Florida Roundup on your Florida Public Radio station. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for listening. The political rumors that Governor Ron DeSantis may be nominated for defense secretary have quieted it down quite a bit this week, but the speculation over who the governor may name to two key elected posts continues running hot. A U.S. Senate seat here in Florida and the state's chief financial officer position could both be vacant soon, thanks to nominations from President-elect Donald Trump and other consequences from the election. If Marco Rubio is confirmed as Secretary of State, that would leave an empty seat in the Senate for the governor to name a temporary successor. And if

Jimmy Patronus wins election for a soon to be open U.S. House seat in the panhandle, the governor will have to name a new state finance chief. All this now with Gary Fineout, political reporter extraordinaire with Politico in Tallahassee. Gary, welcome back to the program. Thanks for having me on again. How is the governor approaching these decisions? Is he actually interviewing candidates? Well, he put out a, you know, he put out a statement on his social media account at the end of November that suggested that he was going to vet and interview candidates. What I would tell you is he hasn't really said much about it since then. Yeah.

He's, there's not been a lot of, I mean, he hasn't really done any, a lot of media interviews since that time. And he hasn't been, I mean, he's only been on a couple of appearances on Fox, but really hasn't discussed it. And then we really, and we really haven't seen him since the news sort of floated out there last week that he was under consideration for defense secretary if Pete Hexeth does not wind up being able to get through the confirmation process. So let's talk about the U.S. Senate.

Rumored names there range from himself, the chief of staff, former Florida Speaker of the House, the current attorney general. The name getting a lot of attention this week, though, is the soon to be former Republican National Committee chair and president-elect daughter-in-law, Laura Trump. So what's the speculation here lately? Well, clearly you've seen her name out there, and there was some reports regarding the fact that President-elect Trump apparently has discussed it with DeSantis, although it's my understanding that conversation may have been a little while ago. is um i think that's the situation with the defense secretary may have sort of scrambled things a bit you know in terms of how's it all going to play out i mean initially uh the governor himself communicated that he wanted to try to get it done by early january i mean you know hopefully we'll know here shortly as to what the situation with hegseth is. And maybe once that situation is remedied,

then maybe we'll get a better, clearer understanding of the timeline for everything else. I mean, I think the situation is that the thing that would be probably most likely to rule out would be him appointing himself. Everyone that I and my colleagues at Politico have talked to have indicated that the governor doesn't really have an interest in doing that.

Although some have some have suggested that that would be a political route for him to kind of remain in a prominent position past his time when he leaves as governor. We've seen previous Senate seats open up like this before, and the successors are temporary. They're they're folks that have been named who perhaps don't have necessarily a significant political ambition to run for office. A caretaker. A caretaker. A caretaker. Better word. Yes. Thank you for that edit, Gary. Yeah. I mean, might that be a possible consideration here? I mean, might that be a possibility consideration here? That could. Yes, that could be a possibility. I mean, certainly there were some people on the names that were initially kind of said to be in consideration several weeks ago. A couple of them you probably place in that caretaker category and think that they would not be likely to mount a campaign in 2026.

Right. Go ahead. Let's talk. Let's move to the statewide office, the chief financial officer possibility. There's four statewide elected positions in state government. The chief financial officer is one. The current one, Jimmy Petronas, is running for Congress in a special election, which we'll mention here in a moment. The president elect Trump has endorsed Petronas for Congress and has gone further to endorse who he wants to be Jimmy Petronas's successor as the next CFO in Florida. Is that putting some weight behind the decision that DeSantis may have to make? I mean, I certainly it's a consideration that the governor has to has to think about. I mean I think uh that one is a little bit more um for lack of a better word delicate um what the the person that the president has recommended is uh state Senator Joe cruders who is someone who has long had a relationship with

the president and is very uh has a very good connection with Susie Wiles who is going to be uh president-elect Trump's chief of staff in the White House. So there's a long-running connection there. The problem, and maybe that's too strong a word, but let's just say the situation is that Gruters and Governor DeSantis are not on the best of terms. They have had a back-and-forth relationship. I in uh i don't know if if you recall but there was a a point in which uh senator gruters all but suggested that governor desantis vetoed items in the budget that gruters had sponsored because he was upset that gruters endorsed trump instead of desantis for president yeah so you so there there are elements here of where there there have not been the warmest relationship over the last couple years and so the question is would governor

desantis who you know i think your listeners are very well aware of this is is is someone who um can be very decisive in terms of things that he does and wants. Would he go ahead and appoint someone that he doesn't have that close of a relationship with? And when this was all sort of being played out a couple of weeks ago, we previously, Politico-Politiacus reported, there are a lot of people who thought that the governor was going to appoint State Senator Blaise N'Golia, someone who has been an ally. State Senator Blaise N'Golia, someone who has been an ally. But again, we, you know, like everything that's going on with all this, a lot of things are fluid. Yeah, very fluid. Definitely. On the two special elections for the U.S. House, we've got one in the panhandle to replace Matt Gaetz, who outright quit the job that he was reelected to. The other is to replace mike walsh who resigned

to become the president-elect's national security advisor any doubt at all gary that these two seats will remain in republican hands that would seem to be highly highly unlikely these are both very ruby red republican districts i mean especially the one in the panhandle yeah um so with with that and we just have a couple many left or so with that, the primary is scheduled for January 28th. How would you rate the competitiveness of either of these Republican primaries then? both of those races will go a long way. I think you saw some amount of consolidation. But the only caveat that I would say is, especially in the Congressional District 1, the panhandle seat,

you got a lot of people getting into that race. You got like a state legislator. You had a guy who ran against Matt Gaetz this past year. You have some local officials. So, I mean, what are we talking about with like how much percentage of the vote is going to win the primary? Because the important thing to remember here in Florida is, you know, we don't have a runoff anymore. We got rid of that about 20 years ago. So whoever gets a plurality in the primary is going to go forward into the general election. And that's on april 1st gary fine out watching florida politics from tallahassee for politico gary have a terrific

holiday season thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us with the college football playoffs now just a week away and the nfl season fast approaching its own playoffs it is gambling season it's the second one with legal online sports betting here in Florida. You can win big on Hard Rock Bet. This is an ad for the Hard Rock Sports Betting app. Or a Post Malone size bet. Oh yeah. It's owned by the Seminole Tribe, which has the exclusive right to offer sports betting and a number of casino games. But that does not stop illegal casinos from operating. An investigation from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found hundreds of illegal casinos across the state. We spoke with reporter David Fleschler. David, thanks for joining us.

Describe these illegal casinos. There are hundreds of these things, at least in Florida. They typically are in fairly run-down strip malls. Might have a pawn shop and a vape store and a massage parlor some are very out there in public they'll have names like games and more treasure island arcade goldmine arcade and they typically have black glass so you can't see inside they'll have a locked door with a buzzer and they might have a video camera so they could see who's knocking at the door inside they're typically fairly dim gloomy places they'll have 30 or 40 slot machines just the same kind of slot machines you'd find at a legal casino at hard rock although the ones in

these places tend to be pretty worn down, used machines. They will have free coffee and soda, bags of cookies and chips. Some of the nicer ones will give you lunch or dinner or at least pizza. When you walk in, often there's a security guard with a metal detector that they pass over you. There are devices players use to cheat that you can put up against a machine to screw with the electronics. And also, these illegal casinos are often victims of armed robberies. So many of them have security guards. How do gamblers find them? Most of them are pretty public.

They will have a name and say it's an arcade, which is the euphemism for illegal casinos. Some of them are almost completely hidden. You have to have an idea what's in there to know that it's an arcade, which is the euphemism for illegal casinos. Some of them are almost completely hidden. You have to have an idea what's in there to know that it's there. I found a couple of those were illegal casinos that formerly had been somewhat public, but then got raided or shut down or whatever. So they began to become more discreet. Most of these slot machines, is that the gambling that's happening predominantly, if not exclusively, at these quote-unquote arcades? It's all slot machines. A few have what are called fish tables, which is another kind of gambling device where it's like a flat table and there are all these electronic fish.

It's like a video game that you're trying to shoot or catch, and you do that to win or lose money. The casino games themselves that are inside these illegal casinos, are the slot machines legit? Meaning, do they follow the same rules and the same odds of games at legal casinos in Florida? I've talked to investigators, law enforcement investigators, who say that the answer to that is no. They are often crooked machines that rip off the players. In Florida, the legal machines are supposed to return 85% of their revenue to the gambler. But obviously, for the illegal casinos, anything goes. I talked to one investigator. He found the machines were set at 50% to return to the gambler.

After a raid on a casino, I think in Brevard County, they found one machine that in more than 4,000 pulls hadn't paid off once. And who is gambling at these illegal casinos? And do they know they're illegal? I would say most players do not know they're illegal? I would say most players do not know they're illegal because a lot of the employees don't know they're illegal. Demographically, it varies. During the day, it's older, middle-aged people.

At night, it's a younger crowd. Who owns them? Who's operating these things? The ownership varies a lot. If you talk to investigators, they will tell you there's a fair amount of organized crime ownership of these places that would not show up on paper because they're owned through fronts. A lot of these places, even though they're illegal, they have some of the trappings of legal businesses. They are run by corporations that have corporation papers. They are registered to pay local taxes. The owners on paper, we've found several people

with serious criminal records. We found people with records for drug trafficking, racketeering, fraud, all kinds of things. But the ownership just varies a lot. Sometimes it's just small business people who previously owned like a convenience store, some kind of small retail, and this just seemed like a natural thing to do on top of that. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. We're speaking with David Fleschler, who is a reporter at the South Florida Sun Sentinel behind an investigation into hundreds of illegal casinos operating in Florida. Who's profiting from these illegal games, from this illegal gambling? Is it some of these

more legit organized corporations or organized crime or kind of all the above? Yeah, it's all of the above. And the fact that an entity has incorporation papers doesn't mean it's not connected with organized crime. I tried to find out how profitable these places were, and it varies a lot. One place that got rated, there was a couple who owned a couple of casinos in West Palm and Vero Beach. They found the gross revenue from these businesses over a year was something like $5.3 million. That's before they pay their expenses, but it's still a lot of money. They typically pay their employees in cash, and I remember seeing very low numbers, $10 an hour, $15 an hour. Wow. You mentioned some of them along the East

Coast in Florida. Your investigation found hundreds of these things operating throughout the state. And it varied a lot by county. There's some counties with like none, or it was very hard to find any. Palm Beach County has at least 30 now that are in operation. There were a lot in Lee County, but yes, we've found hundreds. What is law enforcement doing? Who is the legal agency that's responsible

for policing and regulating these places? There have been a fair number of raids in Palm Beach County, and it's up to whoever the local police are and the state gambling commission to investigate them and it takes a long time so you can see why they don't want to do this too often but they do very carefully documented investigations they send undercover uh deputies in to act like gamblers place bets record everything that goes on and then they do a financial analysis of the business.

Then they finally raid these places. I found six illegal casinos in Palm Beach County that had been raided that are now back in business. It's a whack-a-mole then for law enforcement, right? You push one down, you go through the investigation, you're able to go in and shut it down, and then it pops up maybe just down the block. And you can understand why a law enforcement agency with limited resources trying to deal with homicides and fentanyl and traffic exits and everything else might not want to invest too much time in these investigations, especially when a lot of people would say this is a victimless crime.

investigations, especially when a lot of people would say this is a victimless crime. Why are you devoting resources to something like this when our cities are flooded with drugs, etc.? There are serious implications, though, when it comes to legal gambling revenue in the state of Florida because of what's called the state compact. It's that contract between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe. And David, as you know, it gives the tribe exclusive right to operate a number of different types of gambling. And in exchange, then the tribe pays the state hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But in previous renegotiations of this contract, the tribe has been bothered by the lack of enforcement of some of these illegal casinos and illegal slot machines. Right. The enforcement against these operations is something the state has to do to hold up its end of the bargain with the Seminoles. As you yourself toured some of these illegal casinos, what's the takeaway for you about how these are operating the patrons and the real murkiness around who's profiting from them i think a lot of people are making a lot of money off of human boredom and loneliness i think that's what drives a lot of people to these casinos it's a business

that causes a lot of harm to people and takes advantage of vulnerable people to hurt them even more. Well, terrific reporting, David. We appreciate you sharing it with us today. David Fleschler is a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

Stories about animals and kids this week in Florida. That's still to come. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th, 877-813-9115. We're coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here.

Some stories about kids and animals this week. And let's start with kids. It may be just a couple of weeks before Christmas, but the state of Florida faces a deadline to decide whether or not to participate in a federal food assistance program that helps feed children over the summer. Florida has not taken the money from the federal government for the past two summers. Last year, Department of Children and Families Chief of Staff Mallory McManus said the agency expected to meet the needs of kids without the additional federal assistance. So now it faces this deadline whether or not it will take the federal help next summer. Danielle Pryor from our partner Central Florida Public Media reports some childhood hunger advocates are urging the state to not opt out of the program again. Last year, Florida was one of 13 states that opted out of the Sunbucks or Summer EBT program. The federal program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides struggling families with an additional $120 per child to buy groceries during the summer months when school's out.

No Kid Hungry Florida Director Sky Beard says Governor Ron DeSantis has until January 1st to opt into the program. So Florida did not participate last year and I do remain hopeful that we can lead to a different decision for next summer. The USDA estimated over 2 million kids in Florida could have received this additional assistance last year. In Orlando, I'm Danielle Pryor. The federal government has approved Florida's application for a waiver to expand KidCare. KidCare is the state's health insurance program for children. But as Marjorie Menzel reports from our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee, that approval comes after a year-long delay, and the wait for coverage might not be over yet. Back in 2023, the Florida legislature voted unanimously to expand Kid Care, making more kids eligible for the program. Then a few months later, the DeSantis administration filed a lawsuit over a federal rule put in place during the pandemic.

It requires the state to provide eligible children with a full year of continuous coverage. Lynn Hearn is the director of advocacy at the Florida Health Justice Project. She says the state's lawsuit caused a crucial delay. Justice Florida began reviewing Medicaid eligibility after the pandemic. More than half a million children were disenrolled, and they couldn't get on kid care due to the waiver dispute. It's truly heartbreaking. Expansion was due to be implemented at a critical time, the exact same time that coverage was due to be ending. She says the most fragile children

often weren't covered. The plan was for especially these medically complex children to be able to transition to the expanded kid care program so they would be able to receive the specialized care that they need through the Children's Medical Services Plan, but that didn't happen. It's unclear what will happen next. The state now has the go ahead to expand kid care, but with the stipulation that it provides 12 months of continuous coverage. Florida requires KidCare participants to pay a premium, but the federal rule says that coverage can't be discontinued even if a family misses a payment. The DeSantis administration's lawsuit was dismissed, but it has filed an appeal. I'm Margie Menzel. And then there's this story about the organization

ultimately responsible for setting policy for the college students at the University of Florida. An investigation by our partner station WUFT in Gainesville found the University of Florida's Board of Trustees likely violated the state's sunshine law. I'm Gabriel Velasquez-Neda. The University of Florida's Board of Trustees used tens of thousands of dollars in public money to pay for private meetings over the last few years, going back to 2018. According to Florida legal precedent,

this violates the Sunshine Law. Research from WUFT found that UF spent almost $100,000 since 2023 on meetings and retreats where the public was not allowed to attend. At the most recent retreat, the CFO at the university presented the 2025 fiscal budget, which is identical to what the board is expected to approve during its meeting later this month. At other retreats, decisions were made such as approving leases for university offices or formally appointing a board member in 2022.

According to Barbara Peterson, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, the board broke the Sunshine Law by not providing public notice or allowing the public to attend its retreats. No other public university in Florida has regularly held such private retreats that exclude the public, and in a statement released earlier this week, a UF spokesperson said the university's intent has never been to close the meetings. The University of Florida now says future private retreats will be open to the public. Now, some animal stories. Almost three dozen Florida panthers have been killed this year, and it's a lot, but it's not a record despite what you may have heard or read. It's a lot, but it's not a record despite what you may have heard or read.

Here's senior environmental reporter Tom Bayless from our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. 32 Florida panthers were killed this year, most struck by vehicles when crossing a road. There's great affection for the highly endangered state animal, so 32 dead in one year is tragic. Stories about the panther deaths have run dozens of times in national and local media in recent months. Reporters have hyped this year's tally of panther deaths as a record and a grim milestone. Grim? Yes. A record or milestone? No. Unfortunately, milestone? No. Unfortunately, 32 panthers killed in a year is about average. For reasons biologists don't yet know, only 13 panthers were killed in 2023. Some suggest the waning days of COVID kept people at home and off the roads. That difference, with this year's total, has led to dozens of stories on the huge spike in overall panther deaths,

but without the context of the previous year's totals. A factual headline with everything in context? Florida panther deaths return to average as the highly endangered state animal struggles to exist. In Fort Myers, I'm Tom Bayless. And I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Just this week, the Florida panther death toll increased to 33 when a three and a half year old male was hit and killed by a car in Hardy County. That's according to the State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Now the state could be moving toward its first sanctioned bear hunt in nearly a decade. That same commission, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, on

Wednesday directed officials to bring forward plans for a possible bear hunt. The proposals are expected to be completed by May for the commission to consider. And in the meantime, it will gather data about bear populations and get more public input. And already commissioners are hearing about the possibility of bringing back a bear hunt. Newton Cook with United Waterfowlers Florida supports the idea. Over the eons, man has hunted bears and occasionally a bear has hunted a man. And if we're going to have a natural distribution of wildlife, it is important that we use man in the picture. Now, the last bear hunt approved by the state of Florida was in October 2015. It was projected to last up to a week.

It was called off after two days. The tally of bears killed by hunters reached 304. The tally of bears killed by hunters reached 304. We may be able to blame really bad flooding from back-to-back hurricanes this year for doing more than soaking neighborhoods. Those floodwaters may have helped spread invasive species. The environment editor at our partner station WLRN in South Florida, Jenny Stoletovich, has more. StormTracker maps compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey found that Hurricanes Helene and Milton could accelerate the spread of hundreds of non-native species between Naples and the Panhandle and east to Jacksonville. Once species reach new areas, they can quickly become invasive and wipe out native wildlife.

The tracking found Cuban tree frogs and alligator weed, along with two kinds of catfish, among the most invasive that may have been moved to new areas. The tree frogs eat native frogs. Alligator weed can clog waterways. Flooding may have also helped spread one of the state's most harmful invaders, Burmese pythons. The snakes are now mostly found in South Florida. I'm Jenny Stiletovich in Miami. Now, speaking of invasive species, there is this Florida wildlife story. The Lake Worth Community High School in Palm Beach County closed its pool this month.

The pool's filtration system just could not keep up with iguana waste, let's call it. Video shows the green scaly reptiles lounging among the bleachers and lumbering along the pool deck amid, well, plenty of evidence that they've been around for some time. The school district says the pool has reached the end of its lifespan. It was built in the 1960s. The district now says it is exploring what it calls aquatic opportunities. Finally on the roundup, Christmas is less than two weeks away.

So, you know the elves are awfully busy. Santa is gathering his wish lists every day with every child who sits on his lap and shares what they want under the tree. And for one of his representatives, forget the bowl full of jelly. Forget the chubby and plump guy in an ill-fitting red suit. For one mall in Florida, it's Fashion Santa. There's no Christmas choir carol for this guy. It's all music that he strikes a pose to down a catwalk.

Fashion Santa is male model Paul Mason. He says he grew a beard while grieving after his mother died. And that beard came in white. So he trimmed it up, picked up a svelte red velvet suit with patent leather Chelsea boots, and Fashion Santa was born. That was about a decade ago. And while he strikes a pose in his finest North Pole attire across the country visiting malls, he also raises money for children's charities.

Fashion Santa must come to the Sunshine State. He visits this weekend in an upscale mall in Coral Gables. That is our program for this week. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Meritz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay, and Jackson Hart. Richard Ives answers our phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist

Aaron Levos at AaronLevos.com. You can always catch our podcast at WLRN.org slash podcasts or find us on the NPR One app. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public media in your neck of the woods. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.