The Florida Roundup - GOP gubernatorial candidate Jay Collins, school board races, fact-checks and more

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with Lt. Gov. Jay Collins about his run to become Florida’s next governor (00:00). Then, we looked at the lack of competition for school board seats in this election cycle with Trinity Webster-Bass, who covers education for the Florida Trib (20:04). Plus, Samantha Putterman with our partner PolitiFact joins us to check some recent claims (33:14). And later, more news from across the state including a story about the economic burden immigrant families face with deportation (39:10) and a court challenge to Florida’s property tax amendment (44:48).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. It is great to have you with us this week. In-person, early voting starts Monday in some counties across the peninsula panhandle. Vote by mail ballots could be sitting on your kitchen table like they are on my kitchen table. Voting in the August primary is underway here in the Sunshine State. At the top of the ballot for Republicans is the race for governor. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins is running for a promotion hoping to be the GOP candidate for governor in November. So what do you want to ask the candidate? Republican, Democrats, NPA, here on this Friday across the state of Florida. We're all Floridians, the same phone number for everybody. 305-995-1800, or send us a quick question, radio at the Florida roundup.org. The lieutenant governor, Jay Collins, joins us now. Lieutenant Governor, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time. Hey, good to be on.

Hope you're having a good day. We are having it. It's a Friday. It's a roundup where you get to talk to our fellow Floridians. It's a terrific day, sir. Why do you want to be governor of the state? Well, look, it's an amazing opportunity serving as lieutenant governor to serve nearly like 23.5 million people. In doing this job and serving as a state senator before that, I've had the opportunity to talk to people in all 67 counties and solve real issues for them.

And what I found is this. People want real leaders. They don't want politicians. They don't want political answers. They want someone who runs to the sound of the problem, who meets them in the community, solves issues for them and leaves it better than they got it. That is the reality of my entire life, from the military to serving in a nonprofit,

to now being a state senator, lieutenant governor, running for governor. I'm here to do one thing primarily, and protect and preserve our people, our way of life, to leave this better than we got it. I want to make sure our kids have every opportunity we know of and dream of and things that we can't even possibly imagine because we've done things so well right now.

You mentioned your military service and thank you for the service to our country, Lieutenant Governor. How will you govern differently than Governor DeSantis? Well, look, Governor DeSantis is the greatest governor in our state's history. He's done an incredible job from COVID on. You know, he has stepped in. He's protected our people. He's made a difference. But don't forget that he really became prominent and became America's governor as a term during COVID.

Every governor is going to have something that rises up and defines their time, their term. And who knows what that's going to be? What I'll tell you, I come from a little bit different background. I grew up in a very broken home. I was born to a 16-year-old kid. I was adopted by my grandparents, raised on a farm which we lost, grew up on welfare, on and off all the time. And coming from a very humble beginning, it's very unique. I fought my way through everything.

So I have a certain appreciation and things like foster care and adoption care are inherently important to me because I've been through it. I see it. I understand it. You'll see me lean in a little bit more on those issues right now and lead. And it's important. I think Ron has done a very good job and he's made meaningful changes and empowered me as a senator to do those things. States, but this is definitely going to be a focal point. But in the end, right now, the number one thing comes down to economy. We've got to make sure affordability is taking care of, and we make

an economy that builds and grows as we go. Yeah. The new University of North Florida poll to Floridians about what the most important issues are as they go to the polls has identified affordability, cost of living by half of those surveyed. How will you address it? What's the priority to go after affordability here in the state of Florida if elected governor? Well, I think coming from my background as a Green Beret, working in a tiered asset, we dealt with what we call no-fail missions all the time, meaning just what it implies.

It is a no-fail mission. You don't let the ball drop and you make a difference. Solving an affordability crisis, the problem, it is a no-fail mission. And you've got to hit this in multiple phases simultaneously, One, we can never allow the American dream to be predicated or built on just getting by. That's not the American dream that any of us want or dream about. It just isn't. So we've got to raise the roof on that. We've got to bring in more opportunity, more jobs. A lot of those jobs that we offshoreed, you know, years and years ago, we've got to bring them back in.

So when you're going after that, Lieutenant Governor, pardon the interruption there, sir, but just drill down on that. You're talking about raising incomes. Is that essentially what you'd like to go about that? Well, that's part of it. And all this happens simultaneously, raising incomes by providing more of those blue-collar jobs in that middle of America, middle of Florida, that sometimes has been a struggle. What do you mean by that, though? Florida does not have a long history of factories, for instance, like the old Rust Belt or the Midwest where I grew up, right?

There's light industry here. There's certainly aviation. But what specifically kind of targets would you go after? Well, certainly, I think you have to modernize some of the things we've had from agriculture, like woodchip, woodmills. I think you have to modernize those. pushed them forward where we lost a lot in our very very rural counties but you know look at things like ship building you know we create a lot of small crafts but one singular ship building facility

for a large craft brings 5 000 jobs above 80k on average to start with benefits inland so that's 25 000 jobs on average above 65 000 those are real jobs real salaries and real opportunity and we have that potential sitting right in our ports all over the state things like that we can be very about how we do it. That brings back more of the trades, more economic stability and more opportunity. You know, there's been an inherent bias that you had of a bachelor's, a master's, or a PhD to be successful for a very long time educationally. And that's just not the truth. Excellence should be available in all things. And if you want to be in the trades, you want to get a job, we've got to make sure our education system prepares them for that. So getting more of an emphasis on the trades is something we need to do educationally to fill those gaps.

I think you'll see that bounce economically. But, you know, while this is going on, we also have to bring down insurance rates. We're going to continue to fight for property tax relief. And everywhere we can save money, we should. Lieutenant Governor, we got some phone calls. Let me go after those two issues, right? Insurance and property tax. First of all, I believe, just to confirm, you support the property tax amendment that's going to be on the November ballot.

Is that correct, sir? I do. I'm going to vote for it. I'm not in love with it. I don't think it's exactly the perfect bill, but nothing ever. is. I would love to have seen that trust fund of the back end. I think it was critical for our 29 fiscal-constrained counties. And if elected governor, I think you're going to have to deal with that right away. So you would have to implement this in the proposed amendment mandates

that local governments use the remaining property taxes for things, quote, public safety, including law enforcement, fire service, and emergency medical service. If your governor, you would implement this. Could local governments reduce spending or the rate of spending on police and fire? I think you have to protect our fire and law enforcement. I really do. I think that you need to focus on those areas. Everything in the community starts with safety.

When families feel safe, they're strong. Education thrives and opportunity thrives from there. You can't underfund those folks. Could local government spend less on public hospitals if this amendment passes and you implemented as governor? Well, I think what you're going to see is we have to spend on those things primary to all. that's education, that's transportation, that's law enforcement, fire, sanitation, certainly emergency management, and health care is a big part of what we spend money on, but all of it has to be balanced.

You know, as a state, we've gone from $31 to $61 billion since 2019 in terms of property tax. And the property values have increased that have lifted some of that. Sure, but the money is there. If we haven't spent it on the things come to all, where did it go? Those in Fafel have identified $3 billion in annualized waste. We've got to make sure that we remember it's not the government's money. It's the people's money. We should want them to keep more of it.

You have supported eliminating all property taxes eventually. Is that accurate, sir? Yeah, I would like to get there. I think that's a longer-term step. You know, right now in 27, it's 150K, and 28, it's 250K. And then we can readdress it from there. Yeah, this is raising the homestead exemption for primary homes and condos. How would you advise local governments pay interest on municipal bonds that were issued to pay for bridges and roads and other policy projects if those were backed by property taxes?

Well, I would advise them to manage their budgets and work with their city leaders and county leaders to make that happen. If there's a question, I will tell you under my administration, we're going to sit down and we're going to have a conversation. We're going to solve those problems. everything is a case-by-case basis. So to give a, you know, a weatherman hand, if you will, on that I don't think it's going to give you a real answer. Because I've been around government enough to know that you have to understand the root of the actual issue, their actual spending. And wouldn't the root of this issue particularly be, these are bonds that are already been issued backed by property taxes. And if property taxes are eliminated, how do you pay back?

Well, it's not eliminating all property tax. This is homesteaded property tax. Gotcha. Okay. All right. Less than 30. percent of our property taxes estate comes from homestead. So you would still, you still support property taxes on commercial properties or investment properties. Is that accurate?

I do. And to be clear, we also had to put a cap in that bill so you don't see a spike in non-residential because it's just going to come around to the consumer no matter what. Jay Collins is with us, Lieutenant Governor here in the state of Florida. He is a Republican candidate for governor during this August primary, 305-995-1800. Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant Governor Nancy and Plantation has been listening to the conversation. Nancy, you're on the radio. Go ahead. I am. Hello. My concern is about non-homesteaded properties.

I have a rental that I'm trying to provide affordable housing. It's a single unit. It was my prior house. And I have homestead on my property that I live in. But what about non-homesteaded? Because this property goes up. The value is assessed 10% automatically every year. and even with appeals and so forth, the property value is increasing so significantly.

It's not reflective of the actual value of the property. And the taxes just keep going up, up. Nancy, we hear you. Thanks for adding that question. How about it, Lieutenant Governor, on the non-hancey, the single investment property that Nancy has there? Yeah, Nancy, that's a great question. And it's a frustration that I've heard over and over. I will tell you the homestead of property tax is where we have to start.

And look, nobody wants taxes. Nobody wants to have more taxes. I agree with you. What we have to do is take care of that first and balance the budgets across all cities and counties. And then you can start to do more in the communities if it's affordable and if we can manage that. But that's where Doge and Fafel are so important. But here's the other side of this. We also need to remind local and city county governments these automatic assessments don't,

really reflect the value of the properties. Finding ways to roll that back is something that we as citizens should all push for. It's not fair. It's not right. And we have a voice. And that's something that I think you should pressure local governments on. And it's something that I'm happy to assist when time comes because ultimately it really harms our people who are out there trying to make ends meet to live their American dream. And it's something that we should work together on.

You know, Nancy, I feel you. We have an investment property. well and one that we try to rent out how we can where we can and the value just keep scaling year by year by year it's very frustrating let's uh go to uh john who's been listening in in tallahassee uh where you would like to make your new home uh lieutenant governor if you're uh if you win the primary and then of course on to the general election go ahead john you're on the radio uh hi lieutenant governor thanks take my call my question is regarding the fact that at the beginning every interview you mentioned that ron d'etan desantis the great

greatest governor in Florida's history, yet you also admitted that we're in the midst of an affordability crisis, and I would just like to understand how you reach that conclusion. Well, I will tell you, there are many things that are external to the state of Florida that affect us. Under the Biden administration, we saw a lot of issues that we had to fight through. COVID caused multiple issues, and unfortunately, we can do everything right in Florida, but we can't fix what's happened elsewhere. And those are multiple costs that have been pushed on people. I think we have some long-term things that we've been fighting on and working on. You know, look at the condo situation where we had condo associations that had they had responsibility,

but there was really no accountability. That put people out there in a problem. You know, as a state. Hasn't that added, though, to the affordability crisis to some degree, the perhaps necessary reforms after the surfside tragedy to require the condominium associations to have. But no matter But we were going to have to deal with this problem. And that's why accountability is so important. John, I'll tell you, Ron is by far the best governor in our state's history. It's not even close. And he has answered problems.

But in the end, he can't change what the federal government does. And he can't change some of those issues that came before him. And nothing works in a vacuum by itself. I'm proud of what we've done in bringing a new business generation, number one, in economic growth. number one in terms of educational growth and all of those things. But the reality is we see inflation, we see insurance, we see all these things going on. And we're doing everything we can to bring those rates down. Lieutenant Governor, we get some other listener questions emailed in.

Diana emailed us. How important is Florida forever? This is an environmental trust fund for the state of Florida to conserve land. Would you increase, decrease, or maintain current funding, Diana wants to know? Yeah, so at a minimum, I think you maintain. We can't give up who we are. Look, whether it's the green zones, whether it's our waterways, whether it's our farm and ag land, we've got to protect those things.

That's what makes Florida what it is. You've got to protect those parts of it. If we can't feed ourselves, we're never free. And as a person who retired here after my military career, I'll tell you what, I came here because of the water and the beaches and the bike routes and all the things that made me happy when I retired and we love it here. And you got to preserve and protect those. Lieutenant Governor, you recently filed a lawsuit to keep a competitor off the ballot, James Fishback for the Republican primary. You lost that battle, at least in the first court hearing

here. Do you recognize that loss and are you welcoming fishback to the ballot? Well, it doesn't matter whether I like it, love it, or I'm in between. No, but you accept. Yeah, I mean, look, I respect the rule of law. I respect that the judge made his decision. But I also understand that under that law, basically, if you, you know, you feel like you're a Floridian, you are a Floridian under that ruling. And that's a problem. Now, we're assessing whether we want to go forward. I don't really know yet.

We're weighing everything about that. But in the end, I've got a race to run. Nothing's changed. And we're focusing on it. And on the next 20 days, give or take. That's the important part of it and doesn't change a thing in our mind. Question from Steve here. He writes, people, especially children with disabilities are under fire.

Steve writes, the support lifelines like Medicaid and Snap are being cut. Red tape is a full-time job in getting worse. Steve says the special education that Florida provides is far from adequate. And he says, as the candidate uniquely qualified to understand these issues, how would you stand up for the disabled? We should point out that during your military service, you eventually lost part of your left leg from injuries suffered while you were serving time as a green beret. How would you answer, Steve?

Well, first off, I didn't lose my leg. I do know where it is. It's just not with me anymore. It was amputated. Fair enough. I appreciate that words have meaning, Lieutenant Governor, so thank you for that. It's just more a joke. Look, that loss didn't define me, right?

It doesn't. And I think it's the same way with disability. I see myself as kind of recalibrated rather than disabled. And I have gone out of my way to find a nest and inspire and stand with people with disabilities because I understand it. I've been told many times that I couldn't do things because of what people perceive as a disability. We have APD. Bob Astallis is our secretary.

He is a great man, a kind man and a hardworking guy. I'm not familiar with APD, Lieutenant Governor. Sorry, APD is what? It's people with disabilities. It's the section of our government that focuses on that. Understood. Okay. Yeah, and he is working to stop the backlog to get that taken care of.

But when it comes to education, let me be very clear. I've championed several bills on this. You know, one that I'm very proud of was the FMB Hartzell Act, which made sure that we bring in role models, that we bring in success stories from all walks of life to include those people with disabilities, and we educate students and teachers and other faculty on how to handle, how to talk, how to communicate with people with disabilities

and not make them feel dismissed or less. I don't think anybody should have to lean on the government for solutions. We should have opportunity that's available. And that means getting the best out of every single child, whether they're A, B, typical, neurodevelopment-wise, or they're not. Yes, we're going to fight for this issue. Lieutenant Governor, just 15 seconds left. I'm going to try to ask a yes or no question here.

You have said that one of your competitors, the Congressman Donald's, is not right for, Florida. Will you support the eventual Republican nominee for governor if it's not you? Yes. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that quick and short answer. Much appreciate it. Thanks for your time today, Lieutenant Governor. Thanks. God bless y'all. Yeah. I've a good one. Jay Collins, Lieutenant Governor here in the state of Florida. He is running for the Republican nomination for governor. Now, for all those folks who called that we weren't able to get to those phone calls. Thank you so much for your participation. Send us those questions. Radio at the Florida roundup.org. Program continues after

this. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Next week on our program, it has been a deadly summer in the water here in Florida. This year is on pace to have more people die from drowning than last year. And last year was a record year. Drowning, in fact, is the leading cause of death for the youngest Floridians. So why are drowning deaths increasing here in the Sunshine State? In a state surrounded by water filled with swimming pools,

what's being done to make sure that we stay safe? What precautions do you take around the pool? or at the beach. Do you know how to swim? Do you teach swimming? What about your kids or grandkids? Do they know? Email us your story. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. And we may share it next week. This week on the program, dozens of people running to sit on their local county school boards have already won re-election or election without any voting. 40% of school board positions up for election this year had only one candidate, no competition to make decisions that impact local school classrooms. One group that had been very active in recent years in school board elections, Moms for Liberty, has gone mostly silent this

election cycle, just as it did in the last election cycle. Jennifer Pippen founded the Indian River County chapter of Moms for Liberty. The Moms for Liberty Florida Pact did not help us. We had zero help. Nothing to help get our candidates across the line. It was all just us knocking doors. Public schools face increasing pressure from school vouchers and charter schools. Enrollment is falling in some places here in Florida. And neighborhood schools may close. And teacher pay is not keeping up with inflation. So what's at stake with your school election this year?

With your school board election on your ballot, 305-995-1800. 305-9-9-1-800 is the phone number to join our conversation with Trinity Webster Bass. She is the education reporter for the Florida trip. Trinity, welcome to the program. Thanks for coming. Thanks so much for having me. Why are so many single candidate school board races happening this year? Right.

So many school board races across the state are going uncontested. Out of the 83, about 72 are going uncontested. And a reason for that is because the nature of being a school board member itself has really changed over the years, especially during the pandemic era, with that also came the rise of moms for liberty. We saw that, you know, parents became more vocal. Community members became more vocal. And school board members became the subject of a lot of controversy during that time. Now, Trinity, these are nonpartisan positions officially, but how have campaigns changed in recent years to maybe spotlight certain political ideologies?

Right. So like you mentioned, legally, school board members, members are supposed to be, the board itself is nonpartisan, but each individual member has their own political leaning. And generally across Florida school board boards lean more towards the Republican side of right leaning. But we're seeing this rise again, like through culture war issues. So back in 2021, 2021, we saw moms for liberty members. and just concerned parents in general taking up issues such as book bans, things like the gender assignments for bathrooms, whether or not students, transgender students should be able to play in school sports. So a lot of those things came to play during that time.

Yeah, Florida was certainly a leading state in the so-called parental rights movement coming out of COVID. We've seen some local groups push back on those efforts. We've seen. We've seen, even some of those parental rights pieces of legislation be reformed at the state legislature, and we've seen courts also pushback. How was that all added into, I guess, the tenor and the tone of school board elections this cycle? Right. So I would say that we still see those cultural issues coming to play, right? Book bands, especially across the state, are still a thing. and many school boards have even had to create mechanisms to review those books and determine whether or not those submitted should be taken down from library shelves. But at the same time, I think public school districts are also reckoning with the realities of what's happening within the legislature and also what's happening in the districts themselves.

So in the state, we had the expansion of school vouchers. And of course, that directly affects public school districts and how many students are literally sitting in seats in public schools. And also across the state, including Miami-Dade, Duval, Hillsborough, Broward, all these urban public school districts. Many schools are, many school districts are facing school closures as well, which is somewhat a product of school vouchers, but a number of other reasons that that Ford is experiencing these things right now. Trinity Webster Bass is with this education reporter at the Florida Trib. She's been reporting on the lack of competitive school board races here in the state of Florida and also how a significant voice in school board elections in past election cycles, Moms for Liberty has really gone silent over the past couple of election cycles.

We'll talk about that in a moment. But Joe has been listening in here, Trinity from Central Florida. Joe, you're on the radio. Go ahead. Yeah, hi. My family comes from third generation teachers in Florida. My wife graduated from the U.S.F. And I understand they recently closed their school of education there. Polk County is where she teaches and her family, is going through a huge teacher shortage due to teacher pay the lack of. And then the constant promises like the candidates you had on earlier that say they want to raise teacher education,

and a teacher funding, but don't. So there's just a lot of problems. I just want to know what can be done. What can she, you know, or anyone address or press or, you know, get results for these children. And I understand the voucher problem. We understand that as a family. We see it. It's, you know, certain political parties backing that big time and a certain state-based parties

are backing those ventures. And it's for profit, is what it is. And a lot of the public money is being moved in those sectors. There's just a lot of things that are causing some of these issues. And we need to press our candidates. We need to hold them accountable. And we need to pay our teachers. Thank you for taking my call.

Joe, thank you for adding to the conversation here. I will note that the University of South Florida has its College of Education. There were rumors several years ago or some talk several years ago about its future. But it is in operation now. How about the issue of teacher pay and how different counties are trying to kind of go after that issue? And Trinity, how is it playing a role, if at all, in some of these competitive school board elections? Oh, I think it's definitely paying a role in school board elections. It's been one of those key issues where people are really paying attention across the state.

School districts are having to figure out how to be more competitive with all the different schooling and education. educational options of families have in the state. And that includes how do they support teachers in the best way possible? How do we keep good talent within the school district? And teacher retention, teacher pay, increasing salaries is a huge part of that. Across the state, we're seeing a number of taxes that would kind of supplement what teacher pay is today. So without that type of supplement, they may not be able to, you know, stay in this professional.

or teach in the state. So it's a really important thing coming up this year. Yeah, on the additional tax referendum for teacher pay, I think those have to be renewed every, what, four years or so? Right. Right. Yeah. So it's not like these taxes weren't here before.

We've already been paying for them. It's just a renewal, which is also something many constituents aren't aware of. Yeah. Trinity Webster Bass with us, education reporter at the Florida. Trib reporting on school board elections across the state of Florida. Dave has been listening in and in a patient in Sarasota. Dave, great to have you along. I had a great dinner this week in downtown Sarasota. It was terrific. Appreciate you listening. Go ahead. Yeah, welcome to our, wonderful city, this very tiny blue dot in a massive red county. So with moms for liberty,

Bridiegel, they're openly bisexual woman. That's amazing. But she's a horrible person and so is her husband. But more importantly, I think the DeSantis administration with that $8,200 voucher is just stripping down public education and almost like an uneducation of the future students of Florida. And Sarasota specifically at the Moms for Liberty, you know, like whatever they were trying to do, basically pulled a, I was born and raised in Sarasota, went to USF. Mom's for Liberty was essentially DeSantis's implementation of Christian Ziegler into, you know, that his public role to then get his wife into Sarasota County politics, then to push Sarasota County School Board, which was neutral-leaning throughout my entire life.

We were friends with some of the people that were on there, but basically it is now hard right, and it's very controversial to book fans, uneducation of Sarasota County. I mean, we have IB programs here, Pine View. There's so much. Dave, let me ask you, is we're in an election cycle? Are you seeing much presence of the school board election out and about? Are folks talking about the school board election and going to the polls and making decisions? As a Sarasota County resident, I have received, you know, quite a few pamphlets in my mail, you know, circulars.

But other than that, nobody's putting up signs. Nobody's rallying. There's not a lot of presence, so to speak. It's just actually right-wing people going for those same right-wing seats. Got it. There's no Moms for Liberty at all. Thank you for my call. Thanks, Dave.

Appreciate you calling there from Sarasota. How about the presence of Moms for Liberty, Trinity? You know, in 2022, the group really sprung up here in Florida and made its presence known. And I think a majority of the school board elections that they were involved with, either with a candidate or backed a candidate, they were successful in getting those candidates in seats. Yeah, and Dave brings up an interesting point about maybe what we could. possibly call a shift in the political leaning of school boards across the state. Looking at Sarasota County specifically, two Democratic candidates are actually making headway in their campaign finances and raising a lot of contributions.

And we look at that because that can somewhat be an indicator of who might win. So that's one of the factors there. And it's interesting that just, you know, a few years ago, this is an extremely right-leaning board and now that there are seats opening up, there's this opportunity to maybe go one way or the other. And it's the same for many counties across the state. The constituents that Moms for Liberty tapped into, where have they gone if Moms for Liberty is not as active as it is or not as active either on financing or on policy or positions? I think there's still very much here. I've spoken to a number of sources who still have these.

beliefs and still believe that, you know, book bans should be in place, that we should be taking these up, these issues up at school board meetings. But again, I think at the same time, school boards, public school districts are really having to reckon with these bigger issues. And I think the tide is kind of shifting and the public feels that way as well. You know, it's a firm grasp of the obvious Trinity, but, you know, there's lots of time on this program and lots of ink sort of spilled on top of the ticket races when we just did, you know, almost 20 minutes with one of the gubernatorial candidates on the Republican side. But when you take a look at, right, like one's property tax bill, half of it, about half of it, which will be

untouched by the amendment should voters approve it in November. Half of that is in school districts, goes for public school boards. So the folks that are on these boards make some pretty momentous decisions for their constituents, right? Right. Yeah. But so, true they really have to deal with especially the fiscal side of things and being able to handle the money well and and that impacts directly how schools are able to operate what type of programs they're able to have within schools so it's a pretty big thing and also on the note of property tax i know that there is a carve out for education and it's saying that it won't be touched but at least here in duval county a lot of those dollars also go to things that still support

schools, such as before and after school program. So it's something to also think about as we come up on this election and that's going to be on the ballot. Trinity, I appreciate that perspective. Thanks for sharing your reporter's notebook with us today. Thank you for having me. Trinity Webster Bass education reporter for the Florida trip. I'm Tom Hudson and you're listening to the Florida Ronde up from your Florida Public Radio Station. Time for some politifact here in the Sunshine State. Samantha Putterman is our reporter with our news partner, Politi FAC. Sam, welcome back to the program. Nice to have you again. Hi, yeah, nice to be here. So let's tackle immigration first in the form of temporary protected status, because this

week, TPS of Haitians expired according to the Trump administration. And this may have a huge impact here in the state of Florida. There are more than 100,000 Haitians living in the Sunshine State, and this temporary immigration status was first put in place now, what, 16 years ago, in 2010 after the earthquake there, and then it was extended under the Joe Biden administration because of gang violence that has overtaken much of Haiti. Some have worried about the economic consequences in Florida, with tens of thousands of Haitian workers potentially leaving the country. But this week, Florida's chief financial officer, Blazingola, dismissed those concerns. We have been doing immigration enforcement here, and we've been cracking down on the incentives for the better part of two or three years. They've been saying that the economy was going to create her and no one was going to be able to fill these jobs.

two, three years. Guess what? The economy's fine. We are humming along. All right, Samantha Putterman, with Florida Politifact. We're not going to fact check the chief financial officer explicitly here, but what does the end of TPS mean for important industries here in Florida like health care? Right.

Yeah. So the caregiving sector is of particular concern. So many experts who track the health sector say that revoking TPS will create a sort of caregiving crisis, particularly in states like Florida, who have large. numbers of TPS recipients. Part of the reason why is that even before this decision, there was already a national shortage of personal care aides and nursing assistance, and that's compounded by the fact

that so many Haitians on TPS work in this sector. And it's hard to know the exact figure, but the number of people, you know, currently at risk of losing nursing assistance or caregivers from this decision will likely be in the thousands. And so what kind of timeline do we think about here? you know, when the chief financial officer dismisses these concerns, he talks about two or three years. How do we look at this?

Right. It's hard to know. I mean, depending on what the Trump administration does in terms of enforcement, when it comes to removing TPS recipients, it could be something a little bit more piecemeal where as time goes on, we see these caregiving jobs and people just leaving them more and more. And also, you know, a lot of people also ask why so many Haitians work in the sector. And a big reason is that native-born workers aren't really flocking to these jobs. Because some people, you know, such as the CFO might say, you know, they can be replaced by American workers. But because they are physically and emotionally demanding jobs and sometimes they have low pay and few benefits, we don't see that influx from native-born workers. And because Florida has both large numbers of senior citizens and that substantial Haitian population, the state, you know, just stands to be particularly hard hit.

Yeah, I think it's, what, about 20%? of Floridians are 65 and older, something around that. You'd have to fact check that on me. Right. And also the pressure is only going to increase as the baby boomer generation gets older and the health system will need more of these caregivers, not less. Samantha Putterman, our Florida reporter for our news partner, Politifact. Sam, thanks so much for digging into TPS and the impact on caregivers here in the Florida.

Much appreciate it. Of course. Thanks for having me. If you ever run across a social media post, a comment from a politician, something that you want to put up to a fact check. We are always open radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Our partner, Sam there, Putterman, with the Politifact, joins us every couple of weeks here to put the test of truth up for those comments. All right, we've got plenty more to come here.

Speaking of immigration, we've got a story on the way. It'll be next as you're listening to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Today on the Daily, how the debate. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. It's great to have you on board this week. The main immigration location in the news in Florida over the past year was Alligator Alcatraz. That detention center is now closed. Another immigration facility in Florida from the past is back in the news this week, though. More than six years after it shut down, we're getting more information now about the former detention center in Homestead. That's in Miami-Dade County. This center housed unaccompanied immigrant children.

The facility was shut down in October 2019. It sat next to a contaminated area near an active military site. Two years later in 2021, the American Friends Service Committee sued the federal agencies, including ICE, to get information about environmental conditions at the facility. A judge then ordered the agencies to disclose more than 20,000 pages of records. And this week, the American Friends Service Committee said it had reached an agreement with federal authorities. Tanya Galloni is one of the attorneys representing the Immigrants Rights Group. Kids as young as six were held at the facility and that many had identified sponsors,

which is usually a family member. And ideally, children would be released to sponsors. Some of these kids were also separated from their parents at the border before being taken to the homestead detention center. The main concern, Gologna says, was children being housed in a known contaminated area. It's not considered safe. So how could they be holding children up to 2,000 children? You know, it shouldn't be this hard. We have a right to know what the government is doing when it comes to children who are the most vulnerable.

The records show no evidence the site was evaluated for environmental hazards before detaining children, and that proper cleanup protocol was not completed. This week, more than 100,000 people living in Florida lost their legal immigration designation. Temporary protected status for Haitians officially expired on Tuesday. Now, for immigrant families, fighting deportation can be very expensive. And when a loved one is left behind, oftentimes they end up carrying the financial burden. From our partner station WUSF in Tampa, Nancy Gwan, has more. Life changed drastically for Perla Velasquez when her partner Carlos was detained and deported.

Working now for the past six months by myself has been very hard. Before, Velasquez was a stay-at-home mom. Now she has to support her kids working several jobs. I have been doing lawn cutting. I have been doing house cleaning, jar cleaning. She has a teenage son who's autistic and nonverbal and a three-year-old daughter. You wish she? For them, she puts on a brave face, but inside she feels...

Tire, frustrated, I feel angry. Velazquez has been with Carlos for more than 10 years. Though they never married, she says their family. While she's a U.S. citizen, Carlos didn't have legal status, which is why we're using only his first name. Early one morning, last October, Carlos was on his way to a welding job in Sarasota when he was arrested for driving without a license. He can't get one in Florida without legal status. The sheriff's department placed an immigration hold on him and he was transferred to ICE custody. Velasquez hired attorneys for about $8,000.

Since Carlos didn't have a criminal record, they thought he could be released on bond while fighting deputies. We had the hope. But the judge denied it. And in March, after nearly five months in detention, he was deported to Guatemala. Velazquez says she's still paying off the lawyer's fees. I don't regret anything that I've tried to do for him to be able to stay here. Daniela Arcadia is with the immigrant rights group El Pueblo Unito Tampa Bay. She says families reach out to them every week desperate for help. We help them with food. We help them with utility bills. We helped them pay for their medication. The group covered some of Velascus's bills, and they continue to help her put food on the table.

Arcadia says the group gets donations from people who just want to help. It gives them hope to keep going. That includes a woman who asked us to use only her last name Reyes, due to her immigration status. She crossed the U.S.-Mexico border more than two decades ago. Reyes is making ends meet by selling homemade food and taking care of kids in her neighborhood. Her two youngest played tag with the others.

Last June, the Florida Highway Patrol stopped Reyes' husband on his way to work for having a plastic cover over his license plate. He was transferred to ice. Reyes takes a deep breath before saying, it's been hard. She rifles through papers showing the legal fees. The attorney cost her about $13,000 so far. far. Last year, she and her family were on the verge of being evicted before friends and relatives helped. But it's not just the finances, she says. It's also about not having the emotional support from your partner. And for the kids, not knowing if their dad's coming home.

Her eight and 12-year-olds sometimes hold a photo of their dad and cry because they miss him. Reyes says that's the hardest part. Investigations by the Guardian and ProPublica found family separation has reached a new high since Trump returned to office. In the first seven months, the administration arrested the parents of more than 11,000 U.S. citizen children. Daniela Arcadia says El Pueblo Unido has helped more than 60 families in the Tampa Bay region. It's never been like this before. This is the heaviest that, you know, it's ever felt.

A few weeks ago, Reyes' husband was released from detention. Donations helped pay for his $1,500 bond and a plane ticket home. He surprised his kids at midnight. And he hugged them for the first time in a year. But Reyes says, We don't know where we stand until we can win his deportation case. I'm Nancy Gwan in Tampa. And I'm Tom Hudson.

You're listening to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio Station. This week, the Sunshine State became the first state in nearly a decade to carry out two executions in a single day. While the use of the death penalty has been declining for two decades nationwide, the pace of executions has been increasing here in Florida. Since 2025, Florida has carried out nearly half the state executions across the country. Robin Marr is the executive director of the death. death penalty information center. That's a nonprofit that tracks capital punishment. Now, the organization does not take a position on the death penalty itself, but is critical of how it's been

applied. She spoke about what's behind the trend in Florida with our partner station WGCU and Fort Myers. Governor DeSantis alone is the one who selects people to be executed and sets their execution date. Unlike other states, where courts have a role in setting those dates, only Governor DeSantis in his sole discretion makes those decisions. Florida has carried out a dozen executions so far this year. The next is scheduled for August 18th. Florida voters will be asked this November whether or not to lower local property taxes for most home and condominium owners, but first, a Tallahassee judge has to decide whether the description that's seen on the ballot needs to be changed. There's a group called Save Our Voters from misleading ballot language. It has filed a lawsuit against the property

tax cut amendment written by lawmakers, alleging that the language is misleading. Former Republican state senator from the Tampa area, Jeff Brandis, is part of the group suing to get the ballot language changed. Take a step back. Let's get the at least non-advocacy language on the ballot. Let's at least get to a point where there's some neutral language and begin to talk about both the cost of this and the benefits of it. Right now, it's all benefits. Now, even if a court finds the existing ballot summary language is misleading, that would not erase the measure from the ballot. Under the state law, Attorney General James Uthmire, would be required to amend the ballot summary if it is found to be defective by the court.

Governor Ron DeSantis noted this point when asked about the lawsuit last month. And I would say some of these big government advocates, be careful what you wish for. I recall that state lawmakers pass this measure in the spring after it was drafted by the governor's office. That's why it's on the ballot. There are currently three lawsuits challenging the wording of the amendment. Now, that amendment is not on the ballot that could be in the mail or awaiting you, at your polling place. Early voting kicks off in the August primary on Monday, August 3rd in some Florida counties. All you need to cast an early in-person ballot is a photo ID. Here's Pascoe County Elections supervisor Brian Corley. The most common right now is going to be your driver's license. That's what 99.99% of voters use, but it can be like a military ID.

It can be even a debit credit card. It has to be something. It's a photo and signature ID. And Corley says new laws will limit which IDs are accepted starting next year. Now, before you head out to your early polling place, before you fill out your vote-by-mail ballot, be sure to check out the new voter guide from Florida Public Media to read up on the local candidates. This guide covers nearly all the local and statewide races, school boards, judges, county commissioners. You know, candidates were asked about all different kinds of issues, data centers, property taxes, affordability, and more. You can search for the guide and read it by looking online at the website of this public radio station. Finally, on the Florida Rondup, you know, Ernest Hemingway spent years as a Floridian fishing out in the Gulf Stream south of Key West.

Years after leaving Key West for Cuba, he wrote his final novel, a tale of the ocean and an elderly fisherman, the old man in the sea. But it was a young man who took the top prize during last weekend's annual Hemingway Lookalike contest in the Keys. Usually the winner is a little portly, has the big bushy white beard, tousled hair and a heavy wool sweater. The so-called old Hemingway, Papa Hemingway. But not this year. A young Hemingway won. The dark hair, the dark bushy mustache, not the beard.

All that won over the judges. Chris Dutton, a 39-year-old lawyer from Tampa, became the first ever young Hemingway to take the grand prize in the competition's 45-year history. I haven't completely digested it yet. But I'm ready. Ready to get to work. Dutton is the same age today as Hemingway was when he left Florida. Dutton had the look for the young Hemingway, and he says he had some luck.

He says that during the final judging, he was wearing his lucky sweater. I mean, why else would you wear a sweater in Key West in July if it weren't lucky? Congratulations. That is our program for it today. The Fordorandup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami with assistance from WU.S. SF and Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien. Denise Royal is WLRN's senior producer of content streaming and news products. WLRN's director of live original programming is Katie Munoz. The vice president of radio is Peter Merritt. The program's technical director is

MJ Smith. We get engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Harvey Bissard, and Ernesto J. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at Aaron Leibos.com. You have a Hemingway tale you'd like to tell, perhaps a fishing story, or anything else, on the state of Florida. Just pound out a quick email on your keyboard and send it to radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and of course supporting public radio here in Florida. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.