The Florida Roundup - Legislative session goes into overtime amid infighting, Canadian snowbirds rethink Floridas and weekly news briefing.

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we checked in on condo reform legislation and other bills with WUSF’s Douglas Soule (00:58). Then, Politico’s Gary Fineout joined us to discuss why this session will be going into overtime and the halting of the House’s Hope Florida investigation (07:15). Plus, we talked about how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could impact Canadian tourism to Florida (19:54). Plus, a report on the health of Crystal Springs (40:00), voices from Roman Catholics in South Florida who are mourning the loss of Pope Francis (43:56), and the art of cool kicks on display in Sarasota (45:08).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty. Tom is off today. The Trump administration's sweeping immigration crackdown includes tightening up policies for Canadian visitors. Canadians who spend more than 30 days in the United States have to register with the US government or face penalties. Add to that tariffs and suddenly Florida may not seem like such a warm welcoming place to spend the winter. We're coming up in about 20 minutes. We're going to talk about what Canadian visitors add to our economy and culture here in Florida and we would like your input. If you're a snowbird or if your business depends on Canadian tourists, share your thoughts on how this could affect your travel plans to Florida or your bottom line.

Share your thoughts on how this could affect your travel plans to Florida or your bottom line. You can email your questions and comments to radio at thefloridaroundup.org, that's radio at thefloridaroundup.org, and call 305-995-1800. First though, an update on the legislative session. With just a few days left, what are the priorities for lawmakers? One issue in the foreground after last week's shooting at Florida State University that left two dead and six wounded is gun safety. A bill to lower the age requirement to buy shotguns and rifles from 18 to 21 was

approved by the House. Here's what some of you think about the idea. It's rough it's you want to say yes that everybody should should, but I don't think no, I don't think it should be that way because a lot of them are immature. So I think yes, they should probably make them take a course or something before you get the firearm at minimum. I think if you are considered a legal adult and you can vote and make decisions for the country at 18, I think you should also be able to enjoy every other right and privilege that is guaranteed to you once you turn 18. So that was Gus Smorales who's a gunsmith in Pasco County and a Hernando County firefighter and Michael Fussella, president of the University of South Florida's College Republican Student Club,

talking with Megan Bowman from our partner station WUSF. Meanwhile here's FSU junior Andres Perez from Orlando. Our generation deserves better, we deserve to feel safe in our schools, our communities and we deserve a safe future. Well for an update on gun legislation and other bills we're joined by WUSF's Douglas Soll. Douglas, what's the latest on that bill to lower the buying age for long guns from 21 to 18? That legislation appears to be dead. While it passed out of the House chamber, it didn't pass out of a single committee in the Senate. Procedurally, that's usually a nail in the coffin. Senate President Ben Albright confirmed yesterday this legislation wasn't happening this session. As for next year, House Speaker Daniel Perez said yesterday

he still supports the gun bill. Okay. So on the other side of the gun safety debate, you've had student activists calling for things like stronger safe gun storage laws, more money for mental health, classroom doors that lock from the inside. That was a call we heard as well. Does it look like the shooting at Florida State University will have any influence on what laws get passed and what don't? You know, that's hard to say. We're at the tail end of the session and a hectic one at that. And we're far away from next session.

Senate President Ben Auburn was asked about some of these proposals yesterday. He, in his response, emphasized his support for the second amendment and said simply, we'll see. Now, if you're a condo owner, just switching gears for a moment here, you may have seen some steep increases in fees recently, but there is legislation that would give condo owners some relief. Here's condo owner Pamela Rose from Laudahill.

My concern is that we look like we're going to lose all our property and I'm crying. I mean, Virginia is crying too. We're not, we're not 60 years old. We're in our seventies. How can we do that? All right. So Pamela Rose is 75 years old. So as a neighbor of Virginia D Jackson, they spoke to WSF's Megan Bowman about trying to make ends meet when condo fees have spiked to $900 a month. I'm single. I got one check. I pay a mortgage.

We got the, I don't have enough. I don't even have money to buy groceries with. All right. So kind of a pretty clear indication of the pressure that some of these folks are under. Douglas, where do things stand with condo legislation? Is the Senate on the same page as the House? So the House passed its bill this week. The Senate was scheduled to do so as well, but that vote was postponed.

Obviously, a lot of conversation will likely be happening behind the scenes in the next few days because the chambers are not in fact, close to being on the same page, the bills look pretty different. The Senate bill as just one example, allows condo associations to invest reserve funds to pay for repairs and more. And Governor DeSantis has had some things to say on this too. What are you hearing from him? Yeah. So Governor Ron DeSantis wanted lawmakers to pass condo legislation in a special session

before the regular session. So he certainly wants them to pass something now. It's notable that earlier this month he praised the Senate bill and hugely criticized the House bill. But that House bill was modified before it passed this week. So we'll have to see if the governor weighs in again as the chambers work to resolve their differences. Now, as I mentioned at the top of this conversation, there's just a week lift in the session, just days to go. Are they going to get a budget agreement by the end of next week?

Nope. That was confirmed yesterday, actually. Senate President Ben Alperton says he's uncomfortable with a across the board permanent sales tax reduction, which the other chamber wants. Now after he said that, House Speaker Daniel Perez went after the Senate in a way that I haven't seen from legislative leadership in the few years I've covered the Florida Capitol. He accused the Senate of being patronizing in their budget negotiations and says the

Senate budget shows a quote habit of pathological overspending. So the tensions are certainly high. Right. So a lot of fractures, not just between the two houses there, the two chambers, I should say, but also the governor and lawmakers. I mean, I'm wondering about how the session compares to others. Typically you have a flurry of bills kind of getting rushed through in the last days and weeks of session. What about this year, Douglas? You know, there's been a flurry of bills in the last days here as well. There's so much to cover as a journalist, which is the norm. Obviously, one

huge divergence from what you generally expect is the budget not getting done in these last days, which for sure impacts negotiations and conversations about the remaining policy bills. The budget can impact those policy bills and vice versa. The tensions between the chambers do seem to be higher than normal, as we've previously discussed. And you know, there's a lot of tensions between the governor and the House as well. The chambers also had worked out differences on some big bills as well, including that one on condo affordability as well as one pushed by Senate President Albert aimed at helping rural communities. Douglas Sol is with WSF's Your Florida team keeping tabs on the legislative session up

in Tallahassee. Douglas, thanks so much for your reporting. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. We're listening to the Florida Roundup and speaking of tension in Tallahassee, a weeks long probe by the Florida House into hope Florida came screeching to a halt Thursday afternoon. A House panel was investigating whether $10 million in a Medicaid settlement was funneled

through the charity and directed to political committees fighting last year's ballot amendment to legalize recreational marijuana. State Representative Alex Andrade, who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, said he was ending the probe after the Hope Florida Foundation's lawyer and leaders of nonprofits that received $5 million grants from the foundation refused to appear before the panel. He said the money transfers may have been criminal, but his committee does not have the power to prosecute the case. There was a culture of deception,

incompetence and a treatment of taxpayer funds as if it was their own kind of personal piggy bank. And that just guides our role and responsibility as legislators going forward. I'll leave the rest of the investigation up to the FBI and Department of Justice. Well, Governor DeSantis, meanwhile, has been defending the charity that's linked to his wife, Casey DeSantis. He called the investigation a smear campaign. They don't like you working with the faith-based community. Some of these people view it as a way to attack the First Lady and all the great things she's done because they view her as a threat. So that's what's motivating this. Well for some insights into the Hope Florida probe and how that relationship between the governor and lawmakers is affecting this session, here's Gary Fine out with Politico Florida. Gary, thanks so much for joining the roundup. Appreciate it.

Gary, are you there? Yeah. I believe you are, okay. So good to have you with us. I wonder if you could just kind of break this down for us. There's a lot of people caught up in this hope Florida scandal. Remind us who else was implicated.

I mean, the Attorney General James Uthmeyer is sort of part of this as well? Yeah, it's a really kind of complicated array of things going on in terms of following the money and what have you. I mean, the main thing is that there was a company that provides services to the state of Florida. It's a vendor in the Medicaid program, reached a legal settlement with the state of Florida, and then part of the money of that legal settlement

was directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, a non-profit that's sort of affiliated with the Department of Children and Families. And then the issue became that that foundation last year took the $10 million from that settlement, gave it to two outside nonprofit groups that then days later gave that money to a political committee that was opposed

to the marijuana amendment. The chair of the committee was James Uthmeyer, who is now the attorney general, but at the time was also the chief of staff for the governor. And so that's what the main crux of it is, is a lot of questions as to should that 10 million gone back into state coffers? Should it been part of it shared with the federal government? What about how this money flowed into these committees? And there's been these hearings, and as you pointed out, you had Representative Andrade on just a moment ago with that sound bit.

You know, he's raising questions of the legality of it all. Meanwhile, the states kind of pushed back and said, no, the 10 million was on top top of the rest of the settlement and it was perfectly legal and the governor has said that there's nothing to see here. And he's basically criticized the House, criticized the media for writing about it. And then as we got through all this, you know, the House has made a decision. They were holding hearings. People were saying they weren't going to come to the hearings. So they wrapped that all up yesterday. And where do we go from here? It's kind of hard to say. I mean, it looks for now the House isn't going to have any more hearings. They have requested a bunch

of information that they're still waiting on from several state agencies. And then the question is, is anyone else going to look into this? Yeah, I mean, that was something we heard from Representative Andrade, right? He was like, it's up to the FBI and the Department of Justice now, but I mean, could there be a criminal investigation or is this just talk? I mean, I really don't know. I mean, I understand there's the opinion of the Representative Andrade, but then, like, as you heard, there's other people including the attorney general who has said that there is nothing untoward gone happened here.

I mean, on the very least, it's sort of, we still have this issue of a person who was chief of staff while also chairing a committee that's engaged in political stuff, and know and and sort of the Outside of all of this this is kind of affected like governor DeSantis wanted a bill to sort of Permanently place the hope Florida initiative into Florida law that bill is for the all-intensive purposes dead The Senate president yesterday indicated that they have no, because of all these questions, they're not going to take that bill up.

There's another bill that deals with another office in the governor's suite that basically, for a time, had been headed by the same person who headed Hope, Florida, and now it's called the faith-based office, and there's questions about that. And so it's sort of definitely caused a sort of disruption, obviously, in the relationship between the governor and the House. And the question is,

how is that going to affect everything else that's going on here with the budget stalemate, with condo relief, constitutional amendments, tax cuts? All this stuff is kind of up in the air right now. And, you know, technically they were supposed kind of up in the air right now and you know technically they were supposed to be out by next Friday now we don't know when they're gonna wrap up their work for the year. It's all very complicated right now up here. Yeah so I wonder if you could kind of walk us through that a little bit because they're going into extra time right? Do they just keep coming back? Do they conclude things for now and come back for a special session how does that all work well I mean

procedurally there are different ways you can do it they could they could agree to extend the session that's a that would have to be a voted on resolution of the two chambers and and they would put it on the floor and they'd say okay we're going to extend for a certain amount of days. Or they end the session next Friday, they sign-e-die, and then they just come back later in a special session and deal with the budget. And I don't want to get into all the nuance with your listeners, but the thing is that under the normal way it works, if a bill hasn't passed by the end of the session, next Friday, it's dead. And so the decision has to be, are you going to be able to get all the work that's not budget related, say like condos,

are you going to be able to get that done by next Friday, or do you have a conversation about well, do we extend the session and include the condo bill or whatever else we want to include? But the fact of the matter is until you get an agreement on the budget and an agreement on tax cuts, it's kind of like everything else is kind of in limbo. What's happening at the Capitol today? Well, today the House, just a short while ago, passed a tax cut bill for the second time this session that includes the $5 billion cut in sales taxes. This bill that they just passed also, though, has property tax in it in which it would direct

that hotel bed taxes be used to provide property tax relief to homeowners next year. Now this idea of doing this with these hotel bed taxes, which are normally used for tourism promotion, this has been a non-starter with the Senate, so it's kind of interesting that they're passing that bill. They're passing another bill. They're planning to passing another bill today that has to do with lawsuits that would kind of roll back part of what they did in the insurance debate.

And the insurance commissioner sent out a memo last night contending that the House bill would cause insurance rates to rise. So yeah, there's a lot of tension right now. I think it's a bit to describe it. Right. There's obviously some kind of ruptures in the Republican Party it seems, but there's also some things going on with the Democratic Party. I mean last night Jason Pizzo announced he's no longer Democrat, he's now at no party affiliation. What's happening there?

What's going on? I mean he hasn't really talked to anybody since he made his dramatic announcement on the floor of the Senate. I mean he he hasn't really talked to anybody since he made his dramatic announcement on the floor of the Senate. I mean, he basically got up at the very end of the Senate session yesterday and said, you know what, I can't be a member of the Democratic Party anymore. The Democratic Party is dead. I'm going to switch to no party affiliation, which is what we call independence in Florida. And you know, he said he had faxed it in, his party registration, so it should be taking

effect today. And then, so that left the Senate Democrats without their leader for the rest of the session. So they had a special meeting late yesterday afternoon. They picked Senator Lori Berman from Palm Beach County as the now the new Senate Democratic leader. And then what was interesting is right after Pizzo did that, you had all these Democrats come out and say, basically more or less good riddance.

I mean, he had rubbed people the wrong way, part of which was there was a blow up earlier this week between him and Senator Chevron Jones, who's from the Miami Gardens area. And there was a bill dealing with the municipal utility down in Miami-Dade County, and he had raised some questions about the city, and he got up the floor two days ago and said that some people had suggested he was a racist for bringing up his questions, and he basically said on the floor, he said,

and to those who think I'm a racist, well, suck it. I mean, he actually said that two days ago. And then he comes up, you know, yesterday and says, I'm leaving the party. And interestingly enough, you know, he'd been talked about as a potential candidate for governor, that maybe he was going to run for governor next year. I don't know what his political plans are. I mean, it would say it is extraordinarily difficult to try to run as a third-party candidate who's not affiliated with a Republican or Democratic party. So we'll see if he goes forward, whether to run for governor or attorney general. I mean, these things have kind of been discussed in the past. But yet, it was quite the moment. The Democrats said they did not know that this was coming, that they were not expecting this to happen yesterday.

Gary, in the last 30 seconds or so, you've covered Tallahassee for many years. How does this session kind of compare to others in terms of all these complicated dynamics going on? Well, we haven't had this in many, many years, not really since Governor DeSantis has been in base, but I mean we've had little, you know, we've had some flare-ups, dramatic flare-ups in the past. It's been 10 years to the week that there was a huge dust-up over Medicaid expansion and the House shut down three days early and just walked away.

So it's not that drama doesn't happen here from time to time, it's just we haven't seen it of late. And so this has been quite a dynamic session and you know much a lot more news to cover than normal. Indeed and more to come. Well Gary Fineout with Politico Florida, thank you so much for your insights, appreciate it. Thank you. Well still to come, Canadians give Florida the cold shoulder amid tariff talk and a fracturing of the once friendly political bond between the two countries. What does that mean for businesses that welcome snowbirds each winter?

That's after the break. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Here for all of South Florida every day. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty. Next week on our program, calling all college seniors. What are your next steps after graduation? The class of 2025 is entering a difficult jobs market with lower hiring in the federal

workforce and a crowded private sector. Are you a senior in college looking to start your career? What are your plans? Send us a note, radio at the floridaroundup.org. Maybe you're a parent with a college student nearing graduation. You can email us radio at the Florida Roundup.org. We may share your story next week. Back to this week's story though, some Canadians who spent winters here in Barmy, Florida are giving the Sunshine State the cold shoulder. This comes as the Trump administration's sweeping immigration

crackdown includes tightening up policies for Canadian visitors. Canadians who spend more than 30 days in the United States have to register with the US government or face penalties. And on top of that, there's tariffs and suddenly Florida may not seem like such a warm, welcoming place to spend the winter. If you're a snowbird or if your business depends on Canadian tourists your insights are part of this conversation too. Share your thoughts on how this political and economic uncertainty is affecting your travel plans to Florida or your bottom line. You can email your questions and comments to

radio at the floridaroundup.org that's radio at the floridaroundup.org. Give us a call we're at 305-995-1800 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. Well, in a few moments, you're going to hear from a long time motel owner from Quebec who set down roots in Hollywood more than 30 years ago and who's baffled to see his compatriots deserting Florida. But first, let's hear from Tim Harper. He's a former Toronto Star staff colonist, currently a freelance contributor for the star. Back in March, Tim wrote about how he'd normally be sitting off for Dunedin, spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays.

This year though, he opted to stay in Toronto. Tim, welcome to the Florida Roundup. Now, you decided to skip out on spring training this year, and I imagine for a baseball fan, especially a fan of the Jays, that beautiful little stadium down there in Dunedin, that must have been a pretty tough call. Why did you decide to stay home in Toronto? Well, you know actually to be honest with you and thanks for having me, it turned into a pretty easy call. We go down there every year.

It's been about 10 years. We actually stay in Largo. Excuse me. We go there for spring training. We've been to Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Games. We were there for the in St. Pete's for the opener of the Rays last year. So this is a regular gig that we do. But with the election of Donald Trump and the disrespect he was showing this country, the 51st state cover calling our former Prime Minister Trudeau, Governor Trudeau, the tariff threats that turned into tariff reality, the continual misrepresentation of trade stats between the two countries, this misrepresentation of how much fentanyl is

coming across the border. It just, you know, as a Canadian, there's a very, an individual Canadian, very few things you can do. You can buy Canadian, which much of the country is, or you can refuse to spend your hard-earned tourism dollars in a country that's showing you such disrespect. And I should point out that the final straw probably came when your governor, DeSantis, chirped Canada about mocking the boycott by citing 2024 tourism stats and saying that doesn't sound like much of a boycott. But of course that was before Donald Trump came in and started threatening annexation of my country.

Yeah. 305-995-1800, if you'd like to join the conversation. If you're at Snowbird kind of thinking like Tim, our guest here, that it's better to stay put in Canada for now rather than visit Florida. We'd love to hear your input as well, 305-995-1800. Tim, what are you hearing from other Canadians who like to visit the United States like you typically do in a spring? Well they're staying here.

I have another friend who canceled a trip down to see the Kentucky Derby. I don't know anybody who's in my circle who's traveling to the United States except when they have to for business or if they have family. But you've seen the statistics as well as I have. The travel between Canada and the US, at least by land, is down 32% in March. So we made a decision, the group that I was part of that is being taken, it seems, throughout the country. You've written before, during the first Trump administration, about Canada's relationship

with the United States and kind of about how Canadians see themselves too. What would you say is different now compared to say 2016 or 2017? Well that's an interesting question. The Trump presidency has somehow galvanized this country into a show of patriotism that you don't often experience in this country. Being told that your country need not exist and you'd be better off as a state was quite a catalyst for what's called here an elbows up movement to fight back and protect your country and your sovereignty. And there are fewer guardrails around Donald Trump in his second term as well. So I mean, there's a fear that he's not just blowing smoke.

What he's talking about is something serious. So I want to just ask real quick if I could about the elbows up movement. I know folks who watched SNL a while back would have seen that. That was- That was a chance. Is that a hockey thing? Yeah, it's a hockey thing.

And, you know, let's play it with the Canadian cliche but it means that when you're playing tough you go into the corner with your elbows up. And yeah, he did it on the closing at SNL and pointed to the, it was like a secret code to everybody up here watching. It's been adopted by everyone. And you know, it's also, believe it or not, it's turned around the entire federal election campaign in this country because we vote on Monday.

Yeah. And a party that was 27 points behind in the polls, liberals, Justin Trudeau's party, looked like they could win simply because their new leader, Mark Carney, has adopted a pro-Canada elbows up strategy against Donald Trump. I wonder how you see this resolving, Tim. You think you'll be back watching your Blue Jays at TD Ballpark next spring? Well, I'll be honest with you, Matthew.

It was a brutal winter here. We wanted to go. Yeah. I mean, we took a political stand, but man, we wanted somehow to find a reason to go. We've already canceled another trip to the US baseball related in the summer. There's a sense in this country to be honest with you that we're in for four years of this. I don't know when I'm gonna next go

back to the US. I lived in the US for six years. I traveled extensively through the country, throughout the country. I just don't know when I'm gonna feel comfortable going back. Well, Tim, I hope things resolve and that you're able to come back and appreciate the things you enjoy here in Florida. But that's Tim Harper, former Toronto Star staff colonist. Thank you so much for your insights. Appreciate it. Thank you very much for your time. Well, now for some perspective, here's Richard Clavette. He's from Quebec originally and has

been running a motel that caters to a lot of Canadians in Hollywood, Florida for more than 30 years. Richard Clavette is the proprietor of Richard's Motel in Hollywood, Florida. Richard, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. You're welcome. So tell us a little bit about your business and who your typical customers are. I'm originally from Quebec. I first bought the place, the Little Motel here in 1990. And since then, I've been carrying to people from mostly Quebec in the wintertime. Over the years, they came back, you know, in greater numbers, years after years. And this year was like quite, well, quite a good start at the beginning. But then suddenly I started to notice a lot of white outs in my reservation book. People were canceling,

they were using a lot of them were using the excuse like this was a health, but some were like quite frank, you know, it was the political situation between the US and Canada. Do they go into detail like because there's a few things going on right? There's economics at play here too with tariffs. There's the kind of exchange rate as well. Do they get into the nitty gritty of everything like that or they just say it's really politics? They're blaming Trump. Being on the phone with some people canceling because they don't feel safe driving down here in the U.S.

And even though I use the example like my mom is from Quebec, she drives around here with a Quebec tag. She had an event not too long ago where she had like a flat tire. People are good, they stop by, they offer to help. Actually the of the the war between Canada and the u.s Here to me presently just doesn't really exist. It's not in the mind of people here What are your Canadian customers who are canceling reservations telling you about where they might go instead? Or are they just saying we're gonna stay in Canada for now I got one there was a good reservation and the guy had like a thousand dollar deposit You know paid in advance and it canceled. The guy told me he's going to Cuba. What about the

idea that Canadians have to register with the US government if they're gonna be here for longer than 30 days to is that something that You've heard your customers saying they are upset about or worried about? Yeah, a lot of them are worried about. I even had some here that were worried about going back home, am I going to need to register before going home? What's going to happen if those things go in effect and we're not back there? And they are like nervous, but to me, there's nothing to be worried about that the I-94 form has always existed. To me, it's not a big deal. And all those countries that they're kind of claiming that they're going instead of coming this way, they all have like some kind of documents like that to fill out when they

go there in those countries if it's not visas or like tourist tax and stuff like that it's just I don't know there's a lot of panic. Richard, so you bought the motel in 1990 and so you've spent a good amount of time in Florida. Have you ever experienced anything like what's happening now in terms of how Canadians are reacting to the politics of the United States or just in terms of your business as a motelier? Well, COVID was pretty bad. And COVID when it hit, that's another thing. We had a good start that year, everything was going great. And then the COVID hit by the middle end of March, everybody was gone. That was worse. I'm wondering, Richard, then, I mean, how bad has this winter been for you in terms of your business and

What are you thinking about for the future? Like are you worried about the coming winter? I would say I feel pretty lucky because it kind of hit me toward the end of the season But I feel a lot for like Americans that that or might be like on the East Coast of Maine that might be like on the east coast of Maine, Old Orchard Beach, that area that was so famous with Canadians, Wildwood in New Jersey. They're gonna get hit right in the middle of their ice season and that might be terrible. Things will get better, but we're in, I guess, for a few months. That's gonna be rough. Every year year it's the same thing. Winter comes and it's cold and they need to go south and the same thing that happened here every spring I got like a little tears in my eyes and I see all those snowbirds going back home

and then we have to go through the local clientele and this year we just had to do it like a little sooner and a little bit unexpected Well Richard Clavette, I hope things pick up again for your business. Thank you so much for sharing your insights. Thank you very much Let's go to the phones now. I've got Sylvia calling in Sylvia. You're on the air Hi, how are you? Good. How are you? What's going on? What do you think? well, I'm obviously disappointed in the way our president has treated our Canadian friends. We have an AirBB here in Sarasota, Florida, and we have Canadian visitors fairly regularly. We had some Canadians that were planning to come in January, some elderly gentlemen who come down this way to golf every year.

And we were booked for two weeks in January and we got a message about three weeks ago, maybe a month ago, saying, we're so sorry, but we're going to have to cancel because these were their exact words. We don't trust their president anymore. Right. So, you know, all I could say was I understand. I'm sorry. I hope, you know, you're welcome here anytime. We hope you'll come back. But, yeah, it's disappointing. Well, Sylvia, thanks for sharing your opinion there. Let's go to Angie now in Orlando. Angie, what's on your mind? Hi, I think it's about time that we've started to treat the Canadians like all the other immigrants. For years, the Canadians have enjoyed the Granis and more than the, can I say the melatonin pigment- Let's not go in that direction.

I think you've kind of made your point pretty clear there. And you want to get Graham onto the line here. Graham Brink, I should say, is the Tampa Bay Times opinion editor. Graham, thanks for joining us. Now, you've written some columns about how people are feeling about Canadian visitation to Florida. What's kind of going through your mind as you listen to this conversation? Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, I've written several columns, a couple which got picked up by Canadian newspapers,

so I actually heard from what is now hundreds of Canadians via email and some called me. And the things that really stood out to me is that what sort of sent this off for them was Donald Trump's comment about the 51st state and insulting former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The tariffs added to that, the tariffs back and forth, but these two countries are somewhat used to tariffs, and maybe not at this level, maybe not with this much attention, but it was really that 51st State comment, and then he doubled down on it and said it again, that really got people fired up in Canada. Every single one who talked to me said,

that's what really matters. Now I'm hearing that there's also a bit of fear involved because there's been some high profile arrests and detainments at the part of Canadians. You know, there haven't been that many, they often get quite a bit of publicity and so that can make people feel a little uncertain about coming to the United States or Florida

You've written to let me it's gonna have a big impact or it could have a big impact You know economically right a 10% reduction in Canadian visitation two point one billion dollars and lost revenue So there's a pretty massive numbers there Yeah, that's it. That's a number for the United States. You're right. There are a number of flights that are being booked are down. WestJet, which is Canada's second largest airline, has said traffic between Canadian and U.S. cities is down 25 percent. Air Canada, which is the largest airline, says it's down 10 percent.

Some of the smaller airlines say it's down in the 20 to 25% range. Here in Florida, some of the airports are reporting due to the fact that we say Tampa International Airport in Canadian City reduced seat capacity by 12% for April compared to projections made in January. It's down more like 15% and 20% in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. So you're seeing fewer visitors flying in. Those numbers, some folks who follow this

feel like they're going to go up a little bit over the next few months because some of those flights were already booked. And so before the controversy arose, so they don't want to cancel them because they lose money. But people who are Canadians who are thinking of booking a flight to the United States may choose the Bahamas instead or one of your guests in Cuba because it's pretty easy for Canadians to travel to Cuba

or Mexico. I've even heard from many Canadians in the emails about going to Portugal or Spain instead of coming to Florida or the United States. All right. So lots of options there. I mean, I guess one thing we could say about Florida is the sunshine isn't going to let up anytime soon, so there are some things in Florida's favor without the politics that are affecting the relationship between these two countries. Graham Brink, opinion editor for the Tampa Bay Times, thank you so much for your insights. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Still to come, here from some of the students who've been speaking out after last week's shooting at FSU and the art of the sneaker. This is the Florida Roundup on your Florida Public Radio station. This is the Florida Roundup, I'm Matthew Petty. At the start of the hour you heard the latest on Florida's firearms laws, including proposals to loosen existing gun restrictions and tighter controls on gun ownership. After last week's shooting at Florida State University, some of the loudest calls for action have come from students. And although it is not a political issue when a mass tragedy happens, it becomes political when it is enabled by

poor policy. That's FSU freshman Madeleine Probst from Orlando. Probst was part of a group of students who gave a press conference at the state Capitol on Tuesday. Students are calling for more money for mental health services and a stronger safe gun storage law. They also want lawmakers to keep current limits in place like the one that requires Floridians to be 21 to buy a shotgun or rifle. The accused shooter was 20 and got access to his mother's firearm. It is time for policy and change because while thoughts and prayers can put Band-Aids over a bullet wound, they will do nothing to stop the next bullet from shooting.

On Wednesday, about 100 students marched a mile from FSU to the state Capitol to rally for gun control policies. One of them was FSU junior Logan Rubenstein. The fact that we have to keep doing this and the fact that this keeps happening is a failure on the building behind me and on our country. Rubenstein's from Parkland and there are echoes this week of the student-led protests after the 2018 Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people. Lawmakers held a moment of silence Wednesday for the victims of last week's shooting at FSU. Here's State Senator Cory Simon, who played football at FSU.

It has for a moment of silence for my son and my family as we mourn those lost and the many lives that have been changed forever. Bills that would tighten Florida gun laws don't appear to have any chance of passing the session, but neither does legislation to roll back restrictions passed after the Parkland school shooting. To Brevard County now, where there's been protest after a teacher was fired for using a student's preferred name, which is prohibited under the expanded Parental Rights and Education law.

More than 50 parents, students and advocates were at a Brevard County School Board meeting Tuesday night, calling for the reinstatement of Satellite High English teacher Melissa Calhoun. Zander Moritz is the executive director of the C Alliance, a student-led advocacy group fighting for social equity. And we're asking that this phenomenal teacher, who only showed a student basic respect, be allowed to continue to do what they do well, especially at a time where we're struggling to find teachers for our public schools. The school board did not reconsider their decision to fire Calhoun at Tuesday's meeting.

In a statement, the Florida Department of Education said, quote, student name change decisions lay with parents, not educators or administrators. One of the most unique things about Florida is its large number of crystalline springs, but population and over-pumping of the aquifer are combining to cloud what Marjorie Stoneman Douglas once called, bowls of liquid light. From our partner station WUSF, Steve Newborn takes you on a boat tour of one of the state's largest springs and explains how some people are fighting to keep them unique. From atop a pontoon boat, you can see that Three Sisters Springs is a postcard picture

of idyllic Florida. Swimmers float on foam noodles above manatees munching on seagrass in the clear water. The three crevasses where the underground aquifer flows into Crystal River are shaded a deep blue. But just a few feet away, the waters start to sport a tinge of green, as in algae green. You notice the water's kind of dusty and brown. Captain Mark Denzer is our pilot on a recent spring day. He says what causes the problem is a lack of seagrass. It was killed by pollution and Hurricane Helene's storm surge. That's because every time a manatee swims by, a fish swims by, a bird swims by, it creates

that dust because the grass isn't holding it down. So once we remove any component of the rest of the ecosystem, it has to recover from it. With 71 spring vents, Kings Bay is the second largest freshwater spring system in Florida and one of the largest in the nation. Nitrogen and phosphorus from septic tanks and lawn fertilizer spawns the growth of algae. That smothers the eelgrass that is one of the anchors of the food chain for marine life, including Crystal River's famous manatees. People like Michael McGrath are hoping the state will take action.

Having blue springs and also green lawns, these goals are not mutually exclusive. McGrath is with the Sierra Club of Florida. He helped organize this tour to help stop over-pumping of groundwater that sucks up almost a third of the spring's historic flow. And he's pushing summertime bans on lawn fertilizer. Citrus County, where Crystal River is located, has a wintertime ban but is considering one during the rainy summer months when runoff enters the Springs. Several other counties such as Hernando, Hillsboro, Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota have similar bans. Statewide 18 counties and hundreds of cities have them but Ryan Smart of the Florida Springs Council says that's only part of the solution. So when you look at where the pollution comes from, here in Crystal River, it's largely urban.

It's primarily septic tanks and it's primarily urban fertilizer. Governor DeSantis has proposed $50 million in grants this upcoming year for springs protection. That includes about $5 million to convert septic tanks to sewer around Wikiawatchee Springs in Hernando County. Smart says that's a drop in the bucket. So at that rate we're never going to be able to make a real meaningful difference. The extent of the number of projects that have to be done and the cost to removing those septic tanks means if that's going to be the solution we need a lot more money from coming from Tallahassee. Improvements can't come soon enough for Maxine Connor.

She's active in the Sierra Club Adventure Coast, which includes Citrus and Hernando Counties. Maxine's been coming to Crystal River since the late 1970s, and the changes have been drastic. It was crystal clear. It was just absolutely amazing. When I moved up here in 2012, I was horrified when I finally came out here on the bay to see the changes. And what did she feel when she moved back here? Sadness. It's a shame because it was a magical

experience. Recapturing that magic will take a lot of time and a lot of money. I'm Steve Newborn in Crystal River. I'm Matthew Petty and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Pope Francis, who died Monday, was a committed champion of immigrants and the poor. From our partner station WLRN, Tim Padgett reports Roman Catholics here who shared his mission say they're more inspired now to continue it. Among Catholics mourning Francis, who was Pope for 12 years, his death is felt especially

deeply by those involved in ministries like St. Vincent de Paul. The Catholic charity helps the poor, and in South Florida that often means immigrants. Irene Rivera Royston is a member of the St. Vincent de Paul conference at Holy Rosary St. Richard Catholic Church in Palmetto Bay. His call of love and acceptance of such a diverse population circulated within our group over those 12 years. People would speak of how much the Pope encouraged us. Fernando Bolaños directs St. Vincent de Paul at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Doral,

where the needs of waves of Venezuelan migrants in recent years have been especially urgent. He started telling everyone you have to go to the Oscars and visit the immigrants. For us, it was a real inspiration. Francis, in Argentine, was the first Latin American pope. I'm Tim Padgett in Miami. And finally, if you're a sneakerhead, here's a story for you. From Doc Martens to Air Force One's shoes and sneakers blend function with fashion. The latter is the focus of a new exhibition at the Sarasota Art Museum.

WUSF's Kathy Carter takes us there. Slipping on the right pair of shoes can instantly transform your look. Think of the way a high heel elevates a pair of jeans, or how a pair of designer sneakers can make your walk bounce. Long ago, shoemakers, also known as cobblers, could only make two pairs of shoes a day, often requested directly by a customer. Today, footwear is a global phenomenon influencing fashion, music and sports.

We currently produce 20 billion pairs of shoes a year, which is equal to almost three pairs per person on the planet. Elizabeth Semelhack is the director of the Batra Shoe Museum in Toronto, which loan more than 70 pieces from their collection to the Sarasota Art Museum. The show is organized into themes from a historic perspective with shoes from the 19th and 20th centuries to the brands that changed the industry. On September 15th, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18th, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA threw them out of the game.

Fortunately, the NBA can't stop you from wearing them. Air Jordans from Nike. The popularity of athlete indoor shoes beginning in the 80s launched a subculture called sneaker heads. And as specialty items became in demand, footwear companies generated even more hype by collaborating with celebrities. Today Semmelhack says designers often release small batches of elaborate limited edition shoes. People who are taking the bull by the horns and trying to change the industry, people who are pushing the envelope of what is possible to wear on our feet. Take Mr. Bailey, octopus designed by designer Daniel Bailey. The pink high top is an intricate

but wearable sneaker featuring a tentacle inspired soul. It was created for a collaboration with Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, who's best known for his vibrant colors and anime inspired style. Other highlights include 3D printed shoes and sneakers. 3D printing, which is a subtractive process, means that you can have your design and you peel it away the way Michelangelo sculpts a piece of marble, right? So you're able to do just incredible shapes. Another trend in the industry is sustainability. Footwear designed and manufactured with materials and processes that minimize environmental impact. In 2005, Stella McCartney became the

first high fashion designer to sign with Adidas in their sports performance division. Her take on the Adidas Alterboost 21 incorporated knit made from 50% recycled polyester. Similhag says with so many shoes produced each year, footwear designers are leaning more into eco-friendly footwear. So I think of mushroom leather, things that are compostable means that you could have something that's the latest fashion and when you no longer need it to do its fashion job, then it can be recycled. Simelhag says each piece in the exhibit is wearable.

So even if it's unlikely you'll ever need a pair of oversized shoes with motorized wheels that can rotate 360 degrees, it is fun to look just for kicks. I'm Kathy Carter in Sarasota That's our program for today the Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN public media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa The show is produced by Bridgette O'Brien and Grayson Doctor with assistance from Denise Royal WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Metz. The program's technical director is MJ Smith WLRN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Mertz. The program's Technical Director is MJ Smith. Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J and Jackson Harp.

Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at www.AaronLeibos.com. If you missed any of today's show, you can download it and past programs at www.wlrn.org slash podcast or find us on the NPR One app. Thanks for calling in and listening.