The Florida Roundup - Government shutdown ends, Florida’s death penalty record, weekly news briefing

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, as the longest federal government shutdown ends, we spoke with Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (01:50) and later with Dan McCabe with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (10:04). Later, we looked at the record-breaking number of executions in Florida this year with Maria DeLiberato with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (19:34) and then spoke with the daughter of one of the men who was executed by the state earlier this year (22:28). Plus, we look at how one man in Central Florida is honoring fallen soldiers through an act of service (37:36), a week of record-breaking cold temperatures (45:26), and Northern Lights in Florida (47:36).

Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here. During the shutdown, I had to call my landlord and other creditors to explain that I was unable to make payments due to not getting a check myself. That is Jared Crawford. He's an insurance specialist with the Social Security Administration in Miami. He worked throughout the government shutdown. For six weeks, he had to show up for work but did not get a paycheck.

Some creditors extended my due dates because they had some type of assistance program. But others basically was saying that, you know, my due date was coming up and I would be responsible. Crawford is just one of thousands of Floridians now waiting for back pay after the federal government shutdown. ended this week. Meantime, millions of Floridians are shopping for health insurance at health care.gov, and they do not have any extra help since there is no agreement to extend the enhanced subsidies for Obamacare health insurance plans. That was the key issue for Democrats to reopen the government. Now, we'll hear from a leading Florida Democrat on Capitol Hill in just a minute, and later you'll hear from the top union official for air traffic controllers

in Florida. So what do you think was accomplished over the past six weeks with the federal government closed. How did it affect you here in Florida? Did you cancel travel plans, postponed spending? 305-995-1800. Email radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Debbie Wassman-Schultz is a Democrat representing parts of Broward County in Congress. Representative, thanks again for your time. Let's start with the bills that the House had to decide this week to reopen the government. You voted against those bills. Why was that? Well, because it was absolutely critical that in a negotiated compromise to reopen the government, that legislation needed to include an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that ensure that millions of people's health care costs won't explode.

We're in the middle of the open enrollment period now. And I can tell you, I just spoke to a constituent of mine last night who just got her premium notice. And her premium is going from $386 a month to $1,427 a month. And, you know, she's a singular employee, a contractor, and that's just out of control. And, I mean, this is so critical for people's kitchen table costs. And it was just unconscionable that it wasn't included. What tools or procedures do you and your fellow House Democrats have to try to force a vote in the House on some kind of extension for enhanced credits in time for that constituent and others and millions of Floridians to be able to realize those credits before January 1st? On Wednesday when the House bill came to the floor, Hakeem Jeffries, our Democratic leader, introduced legislation that would extend the Affordable Care Act.

credits for three years and filed it as a discharge petition so that 218 members, and we invite the Republican colleagues of ours who say that they support extending those tax credits to sign the discharge petition and force a bill to the floor. What happens if that fails? If that effort fails, is there something left for you to use in a parliamentary procedure for House Democrats to secure this vote that Mike Johnson has not pledged on Unlike Senator John Thune in the Senate, who has promised his Democratic colleagues to have a vote on extended tax credits. I'm actually certain that Republicans are feeling pressure from their own constituents.

In Florida alone, we have the most signups of any state in the country. The top 10 districts for Affordable Care Act signups are in Florida. Nearly all of those are Republican districts. And Republicans need to listen to their constituents and make sure. that they can go to the doctor when they're sick, that they don't have to use the emergency room as their primary access point for health care, that they aren't forced to choose between paying their health care premiums and buying groceries. It's callous indifference. And the American people have spoken on the Affordable Care Act. Time and again, there have been elections

decided on whether or not we're going to make sure health care remains affordable. Republicans have lost those elections because they've opposed making sure health care remains. affordable. Florida Senator Rick Scott says he would like to send the tax subsidy for the Affordable Care Act directly to the consumer instead of insurance companies. He's proposed some kind of health savings account or that kind of mechanism here. What are your thoughts? It seems like you're shaking your head here. That type of proposal requires thousands and thousands of dollars and that of out-of-pocket costs for constituents. Rick Scott has not care about affordable health care. He's never cared. He's never supported any proposal that ensures that people who

are really struggling to make hands meet and that simply need to be able to live a middle class lifestyle. He's, you know, 100 millionaires. So it's understandable that he is not in touch with them. He's never supported anything that would ensure that. The focus here has been on the enhanced tax credits that were first approved during the pandemic. We spoke a couple of weeks ago with Katie Roders Turner with the Family Health Care Foundation in Tampa, one of the navigators here in Florida. We do believe for those who are within the usual allowance of the advanced premium tax credits, not the enhanced tax credits, we're cautiously optimistic that there won't be a significant increase in plan prices. She has since shared with us representative a bronze plan, for instance,

for a family of three making $90,000 here in Florida. That monthly premium is $350. $750 a month being paid to the health insurer through the regular tax premium credit. Would you be willing to drop, I suppose, the income levels that are required for the enhanced tax credit that is the source of the debate now? What Democrats have always been willing to do is sit down at the negotiating table where our partners on the other side of the aisle have been absent and were out of session for eight weeks. and refuse to even have the House be in session. So, yeah, of course. I mean, I don't know what I'd be willing to support. But I know that we need to sit down and work something out

so that we can ensure that most people do not lose the ability to afford their health care coverage. We spoke with a few federal employees as well, representative, including Damien de Leonardo, who works for the TSA in South Florida. This was his fourth government shutdown as a federal government employee. I want Congress to understand that shutdowns put strain on federal employees and our families. We keep the country running, but we're left unsure of when we'll be paid and it's stressful

and it affects every part of life. What do you think he will experience after most of the government funding approved this week is due to run out at the end of January? The government is reopening and everything will return to the normal functioning of government. Unfortunately, the normal functioning of government under Donald Trump, who has put an incredible strain on the federal employees like the person you talk to because he's fired 200,000 people illegally, he's made significant cutbacks in funding on lawfully that Congress approved. So, I mean, Donald Trump appears to be intent on breaking government and making life harder for federal employees and as a result, making a life harder for Americans. By the way, I just will also want to add that Republicans certainly found the time and the motivation over the summer when they passed the big ugly law to call us back into session during the July 4th recess to extend the tax cuts from 2017 that were expiring that also had an expiration date, likely Affordable Care Act tax credits, and they made those permanent. Those tax cuts are now permanent for billionaires, but at the same time when we were pushing to extend the tax credits to make health care affordable,

they couldn't find the time or the support or the motivation to do that. And that tells you all you need to know about their priorities. Representative, thank you so much for your time today. We really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you so much. Good to be with you. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a Democrat, a member of the Florida delegation.

Our district includes parts of Broward County. Cyber Wolfman emailed us. It disgusts and horrifies me that Republicans would play politics with hunger, starving the poor and working poor who are barely making it day by day. Used to be a libertarian, cyberwolfman rights, until I realized that corporations couldn't be trusted. Callie emailed, The Republicans know that the Democrats know,

and the Democrats know that the Republicans know that the Republicans will not move one micron on the health insurance coverage if the Democrats surrender their leverage. That is the filibuster. Sean in Winterhaven said, On the ACA, the Affordable Care Act, the Republicans have no proposal for an alternative.

In Lake Worth, Gary emailed, think the Democrats should agree to open the government using people losing their SNAP benefits as the reason. Not being able to afford health care is not the same level of hardship as not eating. Anna says, I'm a Republican. I want the Republicans to vote for the ACA subsidies to continue. Health care at a reasonable rate must be a priority for all. Now, one pressure point that was building on Senate Democrats to forge a deal reopening the government was flight cancellations. A week ago, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to reduce the number of flights at big airports, including four in Florida, Orlando,

Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Tampa. The agency said it was for safety reasons. Dan McCabe is the Southern Regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controlers Association. Dan, thanks for your time. What is air traffic control staffing expected to be like across the southeast this weekend? Well, I hope it's normal. It's hard to tell. It's always hard to tell because the Southeast is an area where you've got facilities that depending on weather patterns and what's going on. They can get extremely busy very quickly. You can run into some things, some different procedures or way of doing things that require more controllers. But I would expect things to be as normal as possible. Are air traffic controllers then returning to their jobs for those that

may have stopped going or paused? They've been going the whole time. And I know you have many that have been doing, you know, side jobs before a shift. If they're working in the evening, a side job in the evening after a day shift, I would assume that will begin to taper off as that first makeup check rolls through and some normalcy returns to their financial situations. Yeah, I mean, they've been going the whole time. You just had some that have had to make some decisions. And this is why it was so critical that we got out of this thing was you put people in a position that they shouldn't have to be in to make a decision that they shouldn't have to make. When will air traffic controllers get paid next?

I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I've seen conflicting info. I'm sure it'll be very soon. There'll be a kind of a blast and then they'll go back and and do a deep dive and analyze what differentials everyone needs or missed or overtimes or you know nights holidays things like that confident that they'll get paid though oh for sure okay yeah and for that first check any idea how much it'll be will it make up for all of the lost money in one check i don't know that's a that's another interesting question and i don't know and that's something that i'm sure that we'll we'll figure out fairly soon how was air safety impact impacted by the government shutdown in a unique way. And, you know, this career is all about

mitigating risk. But to do that, you've got to really be on your A game. You got to, you know, you got to be rested. You got to pay attention because it's a hundred percent outcome game. You can't pause it. You can't get them and walk away. So they've got to be on their game. And in the process of doing that, what you don't want them to do is have a whole bunch of of outside stress, and we're talking financial stress, family stress, things like that. These aren't small little low-hanging fruit stress. These are some of the worst stress that a person can deal with. And now they're bringing that into the control room with them, which means they're probably not well-rested. They're probably not on their A-game as far as thinking. So you're

introducing that risk into the system that we spend all of our time and effort pulling risk out of. And, you know, that's a problem. That's a different way of doing it, of introducing risk, but it's a thing. As you know, when the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration put in place the reductions of flights, reducing the number of flights that controllers and your controllers would have to manage and mitigate that risk as they're on the ground and in the air, the FAA said it was to help adjust to safety. concerns, how did that reduction in flights impact safety? Did it improve it? I don't know. I don't know if you could prove that through data, but you could say this controller work nine airplanes instead of 10 airplanes at a time. Statistically, you know, that might be better. The only thing you can really do is slow the system down, you know, and I've told people delays are terrible. Nobody likes

delays. I fly a lot. I hate delays. But delays are a good thing. They mean the system's working. You don't want to push 100% efficiency through the middle of a giant thunderstorm that's sitting over the top of the Orlando airport, right? The thing is, this was a giant thunderstorm over the entire United States. Country, correct. How do you think this reduction in flights impacted the job of air traffic controllers? Did it reduce that stress? No, because they still weren't getting paid. You know, you work in one airplane versus 12 airplanes.

You're still not getting paid. You're still thinking about your mortgage and your car and your kids. and your wife and your husband, you know. I mean, does it make it easier? Sure, it might. This point could be debated, but air traffic controllers helped solve the last government shutdown more than a decade ago. Arguably, they helped get enough senators to the side of yes for a spending plan for

this government shutdown, kind of two in a row where air traffic controllers played the key role in getting Congress to reopen the government. What do you make of that? Well, you know, my position on that's always been pretty simple. The political stuff sticks with the politicians. Controllers don't start shutdowns. They don't end shutdowns. But what they do is they sure suffer shutdowns every single day, 24 hours a day,

from the minute it starts to the minute it ends. The moment that shutdown begins to the moment that shutdown ends, those controllers are right in the thick of it. All the way through. gradually getting worse as it goes. The controllers have, we've just been stuck in the middle. Do you think the Thanksgiving week travel in the southeast will be normal in terms of at least air traffic control staffing?

I hope so. I hope so. I think, fingers crossed, I think we'll be okay. Dan McCabe is the Southern Regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controlers Association. Dan, thank you for your time, and thanks for those controllers that have been working last several weeks. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. You know, over the six weeks of the government shutdown, we've been talking about it a lot here on the Florida round. A lot of Floridians impacted directly and certainly indirectly by the longest government shutdown in modern history,

and we've been collecting your emails. Eliza sent us this note a few weeks back. You'd ask people with marketplace health care coverage to email. I have had it since it began but have never gotten subsidies. too much to qualify for a subsidy. Now, the increase for me without any assistance is 50% as she's looking at her insurance bill for the next year. She says she can't go outside the marketplace because of pre-existing conditions that insurance

will not cover. It seems, she writes, as if the everyday person is being crushed from all sides. We got a note from Mike as well, just a couple of weeks ago. Mike just sent us a kind of a rhetorical question here. He wrote, would it be more effective for the public to direct? their complaints and concerns about the government shutdown to corporations and business that bankroll senators. Just a thought, Mike wrote. And then Anne-Marie in Jacksonville sent us this note.

She says, I'm not writing this as a partisan. I'm an independent voter, not here to choose a side or point fingers at one political party. I'm the wife of a Navy war veteran who has served this country for more than two decades as an active duty reservist and as a civil federal government employee as well as the mother of a Navy ROTC midshipment. Many in Congress are wealthy, Anne-Marie wrote us. A missed paycheck won't affect them the way it affects the sailor standing watch, the airmen on deployment, or the young ROTC midshipmen, or the countless other families trying to keep up with rent, mortgage payments, and groceries. Decisions, Anne-Marie wrote us from Jacksonville,

decisions made in Washington ripple through real lives in Jacksonville, Norfolk, San Diego, and every military community in America. Anne-Marie, thank you for sharing your thoughts. as the wife and mother of military folks. Thank you for their service and your service as well. I will share on this week of Veterans Day. We do have some Veterans Day stories coming up a little bit later on in our program.

You can always reach out to us. Our inbox always open. We love to hear from you. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Coming up next, an exploration of the death penalty here in the state of Florida with a unique voice, that of a woman who was the victim of someone who was murdered,

as well as a family member of someone who was executed this year in Florida. You're listening to The Roundup on your Florida Public Radio Station. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being with us. Florida is setting records. 16 death row inmates have been executed so far this year. That includes six who were veterans. It is certainly the most aggressive that I have ever seen, and it is the most aggressive in Florida's modern history.

That's Maria Delabrado. She's the legal and policy director for Floridians for alternatives to the death penalty. It's such a serious and solemn duty. It's being just completely run roughshod, like, in this sort of cavalier manner. The governor has the final authority to issue a warrant of execution in Florida. Governor Andesantis has signed more this year than any other year since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976. I support capital punishment because I think there are some crimes that are just so horrific. The only appropriate punishment is the death penalty. This was the governor in May.

This stuff is just overwhelmingly sadistic. It shocks your conscience. And that's just not the way that a civilized society can function. So part of it is an appropriate punishment. Part of it is it expresses the outrage of the community. Because if you do something less than that, then potentially you're sending a signal that, yeah, it's bad, but not as bad as it could have been. No, these are the worst of the worst. But Maria DeLiberato, with Florida's Four Alternatives to the Death Penalty, thinks the acceleration of executions is less about policy and more.

about politics. We saw six executions in 2023. And right now, where we are with the Trump administration and Pam Bondi as the United States Attorney General have made clear that that this kind of quote unquote tough on crime is the way. And so it feels very clear that they are doing this to try to score political points in that arena. Now earlier this month, the governor rejected that politics was behind his execution orders. We're doing it to be able to bring a justice to the victims families. And I think it's important. And I've had people, you know, sometimes they'll come to the office after and you can just see after decades the weight that's kind of been lifted. It's a good sound bite. It's not reality. This is Maria Delabrado with the Floridians for alternatives to the death penalty

group. There are certainly, I am sure, some victims who very much want to see the death penalty carried out and may indeed feel that weight. And there are countless others. And I would hazard to say many more others that say this execution did not bring them anything but more pain and anguish. So what do you think? Email us radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Laura wrote, my question to all the Christian anti-abortion folks is, why don't you actively oppose the death penalty in Florida as much as you do abortion if the issue is the sanctity of life? Chris and Tampa sent this question. When the state kills, how does that possibly show that killing is wrong? Share your Thoughts Radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

Corticia Wyndham was not yet a year old when her father shot and killed her mother, grandmother, and another man. A fourth man was shot and survived. Corticia grew up with bedroom furniture her mom bought just days before. Corticia is a family member of both a victim of the crime and a family member of the person who committed the crime and was sentenced to die for it. Curtis Windham, her father, was executed in late August. His daughter, Corticia, is now 33, lives in Georgia, with children of her own.

You were eight months old when your father killed your mother and grandmother. You were raised by relatives from both sides of the family. What were you told about your mom growing up? Growing up, I just was told that my mom was an angel and she had left to be with God. How did you learn about what happened on that day? about your father and what he did to your mother and your grandmother and a third person. I was a child between 11 and 13, and playing with some cousins. And one of my cousins said, well, that's why your dad killed your mom.

And it was just really weird because I had known my dad was in prison all my life. I would go and visit him all the time, and they just said, you know, my dad, oh, he went to jail for doing something bad. And my mom went to heaven to be with God, but it never clicked to me that my dad was in prison for killing my mom. And do you remember subsequent conversations you had with your aunt and other family members as you began to learn more about the story? When I first found out, I had a relationship with my dad. So I did ask him at the time and I was very frustrated. I've been

knowing you all my life and I've went through certain things because I don't have my parents here and now I find out that you're the reason behind all of this. I grew hatred towards him and I asked him why

and I remember the first time I asked him why he said that he always knew one day he would have to answer that question. But today at this time, he's not going to answer it because my emotions were too high. You would have been barely a teenager at that time. Correct. When did he or did he ever answer that key question of why he did what he did? I never asked him again because I wasn't ready for the answer. I was no longer ready for the answer after I had cooled down.

And I was like, I went all this time. I didn't want to know. But once his death warrant was signed and I was going to visit him every week, I did let him know. I do want to know why. And I didn't want him to take it to his grave. And he did. He told me, he told me everything.

And those last few weeks of visiting him, I think it was refreshing for both of us. And that's the good thing that I got out of this whole horrible situation of losing a parent already. And then losing this other parent, we had the tough conversations with it giving us the countdown that, hey, he is going to die on this day at this. this time. Now we were basically forced to have the hard conversations. And that's what we did when I went back and forth to visit him the last few days. There was a lot of time that transpired many, many years, decades between when you first confronted your father as an early teenager to just late July of this year when his death warrant was signed by the governor to have that conversation now. And it sounds like to me that you want to

keep that conversation to yourself. It's not a secret. I don't mind sharing it. He did tell me that he never wanted to kill my mom. He never wanted to kill anyone. And the way it was portrayed in the news was completely wrong. It wasn't about money. And he said even that morning, he was just with my mom.

They had just about a home in a park of Florida. She was supposed to be going shopping to furnish that house that they had just bought. He said he then went home, not even knowing that my mom was still there. And in his mind, no one was supposed to be in our house. And when she walked out, he shot her, not knowing that that was even her. And his mind was not there. He said, by this time, he just was not in his right head. You have four boys yourself.

How much do they know about their grandfather and grandmother? They don't know too much because I do feel like certain things should be, you should get older enough to understand. I do know some of my nieces had told the boys probably like a year ago, oh, your granddad killed our grandmother. Very similar to how you learned. Very similar to how I like her. One person shot by your father survived, Kenneth Williams.

You received a text message from his daughter, Chelsea Brown, during the lengthy appeals process. Do you remember receiving that text message? I do remember receiving it on August 2nd. She reached out and she said, Hi, Corticia. I know you don't know me. I heard about your dad My dad Kenneth Williams Was the fourth guy

Your dad shot And by the grace of God He survived I just wanted to let you know That my dad has forgiven Your father And has been over the situation For years now

Him and I definitely Said a prayer for you And your family And I hope you find The strength of Jesus Through this difficult time Sending love and light Did you respond?

I did respond to her thank you and I really appreciate it. I did also let her know that my dad never made excuses for the things that he did and he is very sorry for his actions. Governor DeSantis has signed a record number of executions this year, including your fathers. He says he's done it to bring justice to the families of victims. You are a victim of the murder that led to an execution. You're also a family member of a person who is condemned on death row here in Florida. Do you believe that justice has been served in your case, in this case? Not at all. After 33 years, I have siblings on both sides. My dad has kids. My mom has

other kids. No one wanted it to happen. She does have a sister who said that it was justice for her. I haven't talked back to her. since this situation, but besides her, I don't know of any other person that wanted this to happen. He was already in prison for 33 years. So what satisfaction do you get out of killing a man 33 years later? I don't see the justice in it. What would have been appropriate justice, in your opinion, for your father and his crimes, the three murders, including that of your mother and your grandmother? Honestly, don't know.

33 years is a long time on death row. I think that was justified. He didn't live the best life on death row. You know, he was in a one man's cell for many years. So I do feel like he's suffered enough being on death row. Or if they're going to take a life for another life, you do it around the time they did their action. They were set in prison for 33 years.

And a lot of my mother's family and even the family of John Lee said that this was reopening old wounds. Wounds that had finally held. It reopened old wounds in poor sodden them. I'd like to clarify if your father was put to death faster, you think that that would have been better justice? I don't think that I would have endured all the all that I endured in 33 years I think if he was killed when I was six months I wouldn't have went through all that I went through

or I wouldn't have went through the ups and outs of forgiving him and I never went to counselor after everything I endured in life And then when I finally do see I with you, after everything, now you're being punished for something that you did 33 years later. And for the state to say that they're doing it for me, it's crazy. Do you believe the death penalty is appropriate punishment for any crimes? I don't think so at all. You carry your father with you with your first name. Right.

What does that mean for you and your family? it means a lot because my name is Corticia and then reading it on paper is a lot so nine times out of ten when I'm meeting new people the first thing they ask is about my name or how to pronounce it and then they're like oh I never heard that before

and then I every time if I've had a dollar for every time I say my name is Corticia because my father's the name is Curtis and everyone responds oh okay I like that I understand that I'm always doing that. I do it all the time. Corticia, thank you for sharing your story with us. Much appreciated.

Thank you. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Rondeup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Sam Putterman is with us now. Florida reporter with our partner, PolitiFact. Sam, let's talk about the death penalty here in the Sunshine State. How has the death penalty sentencing evolved in Florida? So, yeah, Florida law.

have altered capital punishment sentencing multiple times over the past decade, and recent changes have made it a lot easier for prosecutors to obtain and uphold these sentences. In 2020, Florida Supreme Court ended the practice of having a court review for these sentences, which used to require an appeals court to compare a death penalty sentence with similar cases to ensure that constitutional standards were met and that the sentence was warranted. And then in 2023, Florida enacted a law that widely broadened death penalty sentencing. It lowered the threshold for capital punishment sentencing from requiring a unanimous jury vote of 12 to 0 to a vote of 8 to 4, which is the lowest in the country. And Florida in this is definitely an outlier. It's only one of two states

that does non-unanimous death sentencing. And Alabama, the other state, requires at least 10 votes in favor of a death sentence. So the lowest margin for a jury to decide to put someone to death. On Thursday this week, the Attorney General James Uthmeyer announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty in a new case for a man accused of sexually abusing raping children as young as three years old. And Governor DeSantis on Thursday then posted this on social media writing, quote, imposing the death penalty for pedophiles is appropriate punishment and necessary to deter other offenders. The governor continued, proud that Florida has led the way in rediscovering the need to put victims first. So how unprecedented would a death penalty be in a case?

that does not involve first-degree murder. So, yeah, it is pretty unprecedented. Florida in 2023 expanded the death penalty, again, to apply to some non-homicide crimes, which do include certain sexual offenses against children. Following Florida's lead, other states have introduced legislation to allow for capital punishment for non-homicide crimes,

but so far, only Tennessee, and of course, Florida, permit the death penalty for non-lethal crimes. So it is not a common practice. How many condemned in Florida have been ultimately released, or their sentences reduced down from an execution date? So Florida has had more death penalty exonerations than any other state, actually.

It's been 30 people since 1973. Some experts point to Florida's, you know, the broad death penalty criteria we just discussed, saying that prosecutors have very wide discretion when they can seek the death penalty, but also an overburdened public defender system as reasons behind the, you know, the broad number. Mishandled evidence and unreliable forensic procedures have also played a role in the his wrongful convictions because, you know, DNA evidence has largely been a contributing factor in several of Florida's exonerations. And what about the pace, the timeline for death penalty

cases they can stretch on, obviously, for decades? Does a quick sentencing and execution serve as a crime deterrent, as the governor has said? Right. So experts at data doesn't support the idea that the death penalty and likely Swifter executions deter crimes since the certainty of apprehension, they say, has instead been shown to be the more effective crime deterrent. rather than the severity of the consequences, but there's been a lot of studies. And many experts say it's pretty inconclusive, at least at this point. Sam Putterman with our news partner, Politifact,

here walking through some of the details of the death penalty in Florida. Much thanks, Sam. We appreciate it. Thanks so much. Ed has been listening and sent us this email. Ed says I was a public TV journalist in Tallahassee in the late 1970s when there was no executions until May 79 when I was a witness to the first execution in Florida when the Supreme Court resumed death penalty nationwide.

had said a very sobering and surreal experience. You finished his email writing, I'm staggered by the pace at which they are carried out today. We've got more to come here on the Florida Rundup. Stick with us. You're listening to our program from your Florida Public Radio Station. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset

that helps to bring clean water to Floridians. Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. Veterans Day was this week with the usual and appropriate parades and remembrances. Andrew Loomish helps make sure fallen vets in central Florida have the respect they deserve with a simple, single act. Delina Miller from our partner station, WUSF, has his story. It's a chilly Saturday morning during the first weekend in November, and a group of ten people are gathered under a white tent. Joseph Winters, the general manager of Rose Hill Memorial Park, welcomes them. It's an honor to see such a caring group of people to come out and honor our veterans. Winters introduces Andrew Loomish, a Landau Lake's resident who has been restoring headstones for more than a decade. He's known as the Good Cemetery.

Today he's teaching folks the way the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs takes care of them. They received permission from living relatives to clean the headstones they're restoring. That's required by Florida law. go to a national cemetery and you'll see all the headstones and they're all lined up perfectly and they're all in great condition and that's because they maintain them the way you're going to learn to maintain them today. While the group was there to focus on veterans, Loomish demonstrates proper restoration techniques and cleaning materials on the small upright headstone of four-year-old Gerald Farmer who died in 1947. He starts by scrubbing it with a wet Tampico brush made from

natural plant fibers. I'm going to get in here. I want to get it nice and wet. I don't care. I mean, you can even pour it on if you want. I do that too. Get in there, pour it on. You need more water. You just tell me I'll get you water. Then he sprays D2 biological solution directly on the stone. It's a specialty cleaner and you have to order it online. So it's safe for the grass. It's safe for the plants. It won't harm them. Again, eight-year study by the government to make sure that it was safe to use. Lumish says you may be tempted to use bleach or a multi-purpose cleaner, But over time, the chemicals spread into the pores of marble, granite, and concrete and rot them from the inside. You let the D2 work its magic for a few minutes and then go into it again with the brush and a towel to remove debris, tree sap, and anything else.

Then one more spritz of the D2. But no rinsing. D2 likes sun. So we leave it just like this. The sun will bake it into the stone and will continue to work on the biological growth and pull it out. After the demonstration, Loomish leads the group to an area where around 500 veterans are laid to rest. Linda Connor makes a beeline for a headstone that looks older and is in rougher shape than many of the others. She begins to scrub with a wet brush. I see orange lichen. Oh, yeah, it is kind of a mess.

She flew in from Boston, even though she's been cleaning and restoring headstones for 15 years as a member of the Association for Gravestone Studies. But she's a fan of Loomish's and follows him on Facebook, where he shares the history and stories of the people whose headstones he cleans. After a thorough brushing and some d-2, the letters become more clear. Looks like Isaac. Across the cemetery, Conner's daughter Aaron and Aaron's boyfriend, Sean Thompson, work on their own headstones. Aaron says she and her mother have been coming to cemeteries for years to look at and sometimes clean headstones. But today's Thompson's first time. It was a beautiful day to be outside and kind of pay my respects. He kneels down next to a flat grave marker with a small American flag planted in the dirt beside it.

This is the final resting place of William L. Parker, a World War II veteran who died in 1956 at the age of 68. I'm pretty satisfied with the results I see after. I pour water on it. I know it's not as good as it'll become, but it still looks good after I rinse all this mud off of it. Every time Loomish restores a headstone or teaches people like Thompson how to do it, He's also honoring a friend and employee who died by suicide. I can't change the past, but in a way I get to talk about Chris. I get to honor Chris every time I honor another veteran when I'm able to restore that monument and tell their story.

Loomish says the best part of teaching workshops is the ripple effect it has in the community. For every headstone he cleans and restores, he says, hundreds more are getting the same treatment because of the army of people he's taught and inspired to do the same. I'm Dailina Miller in Tampa. Sean Kaufman and Carlos Diaz Serrano are friends and colleagues who now call Florida home. They both served in the Armed Forces. Kaufman is a Green Beret Army Special Forces officer and Serrano as an Air Force Communications Officer. They spoke to StoryCorps' Military Voices Initiative earlier this year in the Tampa area.

For me, I knew the military was something that attracted me, like probably 7, 8, but it really didn't hit home until 9th grade. So we went to a base visit to Muniz's Air Guard base in San Juan. That's the first time I saw an F-16 right up close. That's when I decided to join the Air Force. How about you, Sean? I was an Army brat. Both my parents were in the Army. They actually met at Fort Camel, Kentucky.

My dad retired out of Germany, and we moved back to his hometown in Kentucky. I knew in Germany, though, that I wanted to go in the military, not just because my parents were in the military, but my grandmother had brought over a VHS of Top Gun. And I wanted to be a naval aviator. And so I did a few years of Air Force RLTC, and then 9-11 happens. And there was a shortage of pilots up to that point, and then there wasn't. So I went down and talked to the Army, went to basic training, commissioned,

and that's how I got in the Army. So I joined the Air Force officially. on July 29, 2005, and I was supposed to go from training to my base, Injurlick, in Turkey. But before I went to Injurlick, I had to stop in Biloxin, Mississippi. Four weeks into the Air Force, when Katrina hit and, like, completely destroy Biloxin, Mississippi. And they go, like, well, you guys got to figure out how to make your way back to your bases. I get on a C-17. My first C-17 ride is on an evacuation with 200 or so. Airman. Yeah, I remember my first ride in the C-17. I didn't land in it. I actually jumped out of it.

So that was a good experience. There's so many sacrifices that we make in the last 20 years for me. My daughter was born. I was in Afghanistan. The first four years, my daughter was born. I was half of it. What is one of the most proudest moments in your career? I was in Israel on October 17th, 2023, so 10 days after October 7th. Some of the guys I worked with were, like, looking them in the face on how bad October 7 was and the stuff that they had been dealing with and seeing both sides of it. Like the Palestinians, what they were having to deal with, too. But I would say being able to be there, having a career at that point where I'm sitting at a little over 19 years

and being able to use all my experience that led me up to that point. I would design the network control center for Kendall Hart. At that time, that was one of the proudest things. to the sign of the pad or the grounding, you know, that kind of stuff, so that was cool. Everyone says, hey, thank you for your service, but the families, the spouses don't get to hear that a lot, and they then make the most sacrifices. One of the main reasons I decided to retire here in Tampa is, like, it was starting to affect, like, my daughter. I was actually the first one that got to hold my daughter, so I would say to her that there's a lot of times that I couldn't be there,

but I looked at it as I was doing stuff to make sure that she could have the best life. That was Sean Kaufman. he was a green beret. He lives now in Lakeland. Carlos D.S. Serrano was in the Air Force. He lives in Tampa. StoryCorps' Military Voices Initiative provides a platform for veterans, service members, and military families to share their stories. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio Station. This was a record-breaking week in parts of Florida. 44 degrees. Tuesday morning in Naples. 36 in Orlando. Do I hear 31 in Pensacola? Winter temperatures came to Florida this week,

and by one measure, the falling iguana barometer in South Florida. It was really cold. Megan Borowski is a senior meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Watch out below for those falling reptiles, Megan. No, I need to wear a helmet or something. Indeed. How unusual are these cold temps this early in our winter? Yeah, I mean, this is certainly early in the season.

Typically speaking, we're looking at getting to. these temperatures, not until the middle to latter portion of the month of December. So we're about a month early across the state, yes. So what fueled this cold weather? Well, we had a storm system move across the United States. We had a strong cold front move through our area. Thankfully, we really didn't get much in the way of severe weather from it. But behind it, we had winds directly from the north. And if you actually trace the winds, you can go all the way through the contiguous United States up to Ontario and Manitoba. So we had a nice Canadian air mass arrived.

Oh, yeah, hey, dear. There certainly was a nice Canadian air mass. So does this cold weather this early pretend anything about the winter ahead? Not necessarily, no. So we'll have cold snaps. But actually, we're looking at a lanina setting up a weak lanina,

but nonetheless a lanina. And that actually for the winter as a whole should mean drier conditions for most of the state of Florida. and warmer conditions. Again, once you take the winter temperatures as a whole, the average as a whole. So we'll have cold snaps, but on average, the winter should be warmer and drier. You know, one upside of this cold weather, gorgeous sunsets. Oh my gosh, that cold weather really just let the sun pop through the horizon. Yeah, absolutely. We had a nice dry air mask, kept us cloud free and gave us great viewing for the Aurora. We got a little bit of treat there. Indeed, we did. Megan Borowski, senior meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency. network. And finally on the roundup, it wasn't just the cold weather that visited the sunshine state this week. Everybody is still talking about the northern lights. The northern lights there, even Florida. The northern lights at our southern latitude. The northern lights there have been on

display this week across 21 states all the way down to Florida. We threw in the northern lights this far south Tuesday night. Did you look toward the horizon and see the pink and the red and the green glow? It was spectacular. If spectacular if you did, Aurora Borealis, the Interstellar Light Show. A coronal mass ejection helped bring the lights south this week. Enormous bursts of solar material and geomagnetic activity from the sun fired up the lights. And so to recap Florida weather this week, the northern lights, cold temperatures, and falling iguanas. Florida is not for the faint of heart.

That is our program for today. by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Denise Royal. WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Merritt's. The program's technical director is M.J. Smith, engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson and Ernesto J. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist, Aaron Leibos, at Aaron Leibos.com. You can always email us. Our inbox is always open. Send us a note, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and above all, supporting public media.

in your slice of Florida. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. Support for Florida Roundup comes from the Everglades Foundation, working to restore and protect Florida's $1 trillion asset that helps to bring clean water to Floridians.

Learn more at Everglades Foundation.org.