The Florida Roundup - Paul Renner enters governor's race, street art removals, weekly news briefing, PolitiFact and Carl Hiaasen on ‘Fever Beach’

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke with former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner about his gubernatorial candidacy (01:04). Then, we spoke with Central Florida Public Media’s Joe Mario Pedersen and WLRN’s Carlton Gillespie about the removal of street art across the state (10:46 ). Plus, we had an update on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ from Christina Boomer Vazquez with WPLG Local 10 News (20:20) and spoke with Dr. Jason Goldman with the American College of Physicians about Florida’s move to remove vaccine requirements for children (25:54). We also checked in with PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman for a claims check (32:28). And later, author and journalist Carl Hiaasen joined us to talk about his latest novel set in Florida (39:34).

The Florida Roundup is sponsored by Covering Florida Navigator program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-913 or coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along this week, and it has been a busy week of news across the Sunshine State. The effort to end required vaccines was. launch. There was another legal decision this week about alligator alcatraz and the fight over painted pavement removing street art from intersections. We're going to talk about that in a couple of

minutes. Do you find painted pedestrian crosswalks a safety hazard or a cause for celebration? You can call us now 305-995-1800 or send us a quick email. The inbox is open at the Florida roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup. your calls and emails on that topic in just a few minutes first the republican race for governor next year got a new candidate this week former house speaker paul renner announced his candidacy and paul joins us now welcome back to florida public radio paul nice to have you again i'm great to be with you so let's start with why do you want the job why do you want to be governor well look i've got two small kids so i think about what's going to happen in the future who's

going to lead our state. And, you know, so after prayer and support of my family, I'm jumping in this race. Voters want somebody they can trust. They want somebody with leadership experience. They want somebody who can deliver results and solve problems that are hard to solve. I've done that over 20 years in the military, two wars, as a state prosecutor, and, of course, as Speaker of the House in two years that were very successful. Let me ask you. You mentioned being a parent here. That's certainly in the headlines in the last several days with the announcement by the state surgeon general and the effort to do away with mandatory childhood vaccinations. Is that an effort you support? Well, look, I'm a big advocate for parental rights.

What I can tell you is when I was younger, 58. You know, we took a handful of shots. Now kids are getting just a huge expansion in the number of shots when they're getting and how many they're getting. And we need to look at that. We need to look at the safety issues. And so I want parents to be comfortable that they can talk to their physician and get advice. And what I want to mandate is information. I want to mandate that people are fully informed. That's what medical informed consent is all about, not mandating that their kids necessarily have to take a shot that they may be uncomfortable with. There's a number of shots that are mandated in state law. If you were still the Speaker of the House, would you be behind legislation that would repeat? those requirements that exist now for shots such as polio and whooping cough i think tom with every decision you get full information you talk to your physician on the benefits and there are benefits to be clear and you talk about the cost so it may be a different analysis between a polio vaccine

and a vaccine for rhodovirus that you know you get sick you feel better and i think that's the issue we've just had this proliferation of shots and we need to make sure that you know if you're kids getting seven shots in one day, is that safe? It may not be safe. And so I applaud RFK Jr. and others who are calling for research, 2025 research. Some of these vaccines, you know, started back in the 60s. But at the same time, look, vaccines have saved millions of lives. And so if you're talking about polio or measles, that's where I would say, I want our leaders also to say that vaccines do save lives. And they're the cost-benefit analysis for me as a father is I'm going to have my kid take that shot.

But I suppose the question, right, Paul, is whether or not the government should mandate those, with some exceptions, some exemptions, as the case is, and has been for a number of years here in Florida for public school children. Yeah, and, you know, Tom, honestly, the problem for the government is the government has completely blown their credibility and bipartisan majorities, for example, don't have confidence in the CDC and what a lot of health professionals are telling them. And that needs that just going to be a long time getting that confidence back. And so that's that's kind of where we are after COVID. You know, we were told a bunch of things, including that the vaccine stopped the virus. I distinctly remembered that.

You're not going to get COVID if you get the virus. And everybody got the vaccine, rather. Everybody got the vaccine. And then we were told, no, it doesn't really stop the COVID virus. It just kind of makes it less bad. And so, you know, public officials have to be transparent. And that's why I say I want to mandate information. I want all the science on the table, the benefits of vaccine, which are significant.

And also the potential risks, which are not insignificant. There's some real there there. And we need to openly across the aisle. Let's not make this a snowplow politics issue where you have to be for no vaccines or you have to be for mandated vaccines with no exceptions. Let's just look openly at the science and let parents and physicians make those decisions. We're speaking with Paul Renner, former House Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, and he announced his candidacy this week for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. Let's talk about

immigration enforcement. The DeSantis administration has taken a lead on this. Do you support the state efforts on immigration enforcement, including the tax dollars that have been spent but yet not reimbursed? I do, and here's the problem is the taxpayers have been paying a much larger bill for many, many years with the lack of enforcement at the border, whether that's free education, free health care, gang violence, human trafficking, fentanyl drugs, you name it. And so it's a situation where the pendulum has been allowed to swing so far over in one direction in abdicating our duty to citizens to defend the border that now it's swinging the other way. We'll get our arms around it and eventually we'll get to a place of where we don't have to, you know, spend as much

money. But I think the governor is absolutely right to do it to empty our county jails of people that really just need to be deported. Florida has taken the lead in state immigration law. The legislation passed just this past spring. And of course, the state taking this lead with these immigration detention centers. You served in the Navy in combat zones. And thank you for your service to this country, Paul. What do you think of using federal troops for local enforcement outside of a natural disaster, such as what we've seen in Washington, D.C. recently. First time, thank you for the thank you, and I will steal a line. I heard from somebody else about service, you're worth it, and all your listeners. So proud to do it. On National Guard,

look, I don't want to see that in Florida. When you have the National Guard coming into your city, it's mean you've totally failed to obey your oath to protect your citizens. And so I applaud the the president for putting National Guard into Chicago or D.C. or wherever we need to restore order. But in Florida, and I can tell you, as a former prosecutor, I love our police officers. I love our sheriffs and police chiefs. We're going to honor them and let them do their job. We don't need the National Guard doing that job. And I want to ask you about that because you did serve as a uniformed member of the Navy. Would you have felt, did you feel you had training to act as domestic law enforcement if that would have been called upon you during your time and duty?

No, that's not what the military does. The military's trained for other things. My point is, you know, at a point of social collapse and rampant, violent crime, you have many Democrats in D.C. that are, if not publicly, privately applauding what's happening. And once we get in under control, yes, those guys need to go back to doing what they're doing and we need to have cops that are allowed to do their job. But I don't want the National Guard in Florida. I don't think we need them because we're taking care of business here.

Let's talk about property taxes. You know this is going to come up for the next governor because this governor has been pushing an elimination of property taxes in one way, shape, reform. Do you believe local property taxes levied by local governments should be eliminated in Florida? I believe the governor's absolutely right to bring them down to address property taxes. Here's the data. Florida's growing twice as fast and property tax increases as the nation, almost 50% since 2019. So what I want to see is substantial reductions in property taxes. I'll fight for that.

I also want to see for our elderly who have been in their homes. They're on a tight nest egg for the rest of their lives not to be priced out of their homes. And that's happening or about to happen. And so at the same time, Tom, you've got to get to 60%. And so what I've seen, you know, when I was a-60-threshold to get an amendment adopted by the public to the Constitution. And that's Republicans. That's right. That's Republicans.

That's independents. That's Democrats. Constitution. That's a good thing, first of all. So you've got to hit the sweet spot and make sure that people aren't going to be concerned about lack of services and that kind of thing. So I think there's a sweet spot to be had. I'm looking forward to what the governor proposes specifically. I'm looking forward to what the legislature proposes specifically. And in due time, I'll have my own proposal. And it may be applauding one of those two. Yeah, well, we'll look forward to that when you come out with it and we'll talk about it here on the radio with you. We'd love that. Finally, I just want to get your

thoughts on this crosswalk and pavement paintings issue. What do you make of what's happening here? It's a total safety issue for me. When somebody, especially somebody who's challenged in their driving anyway, comes to an intersection, I want them to know where the left turn and the right turn lane are. I don't think it should be politicized. Create a graffiti wall. Let people put rainbow colors up there. Let people put back the blue there. I don't care if it's right or left. To me, it's just, it's so simple. It's a safety issue. I know. And look, we should have addressed it on the front end and not let people get there, then suddenly, you know, take it back.

I think, you know, if it was a safety issue now, it was a safety issue then. But that's where I come down on. I wouldn't allow the painting of the streets. I just think it's safety. Not on the streets, but on the walls, maybe, perhaps. Yeah, yeah, have a graffiti wall. Let freedom ring. Let the First Amendment ring.

Say your piece in America. I believe in that. The street artists are applauding that maybe in some of our neighborhoods. Paul Anderson. A graffiti wall, not across from my house. Okay, fair enough, and NIMBY as well. Paul Ren, a former Speaker of the House in the GOP, gubernatorial Canada here in Florida. Paul, thanks so much for your time today.

Much appreciated. Thanks for the time. Painted pavements, yeah, let's get into it here. A Rainbow Crosswalk Memorial to Victims of the Pulse Mass Shooting in Orlando. There's a police mural that was in Tampa. Both have been removed by the State Department of Transportation in recent weeks. Two pastors were arrested in St. Petersburg last weekend after attempting to block the state from covering a mural reading Black History Matters. Reverend Andy Oliver is with the Allendale United Methodist Church.

As I was kneeling, the Florida DOT truck was backing up toward us, and I knew it was going to be a matter of time before we would be asked to move, and I had no desire to move from that place because that's where my faith required me to be. Florida Governor Ronda says the law he signed in June is meant to prohibit non-standard and aesthetic treatments on public roadways, sections, crosswalks and sidewalks. There's laws that are on the books that I enforce that I may not fully agree with, but I took an oath to do it.

And so that's the way the cookie crumbles. Anna emailed us. I just came from my hairdressing appointment in Five Points Jacksonville. To my dismay, I noticed how drab the streets looked because the city had paved over the beautiful street art and LGBTQ rainbows at pedestrian crossings. It simply looked gloomy, boring, and it made me sad. Philip was driving around in Jacksonville. He probably stopped before he sent us this email.

Painted crosswalks are not a traffic hazard other than selfish drivers. The greatest driving obstacle is billboards. Joe Mario Pedersen is with us now reporter with our partner, Central Florida, public media. Joe, the crosswalk that commemorated the pulse shooting was removed about two weeks ago. What's happened since then? Yeah, so you're absolutely right. You know, it's been removed two weeks ago. And since then, we've seen this sort of tug of war going on between the Department of Transportation and protesters who have actively disagreed with the state's decision to paint over.

You know, initially starting with that painting over, protesters run back out onto the crosswalk. They chalk it up in a, you know, a rainbow color, the same way that it was previously painted in tribute. And then, you know, a few hours later, F dot will return. They'll wash it over. and then we rinse and repeat this process over and over again. What's some of the justification that the state has pointed to for removing that particular memorial but also other painted intersections? So the state has referred to how earlier this year it updated its regulations,

which included the prohibition of non-uniform traffic control devices, such as pavement markings on state and local roads. FDOT said in June it notified local governments about roadways in violation. You know, two weeks ago, FDOT also said that it sent notifications to municipalities that weren't in compliance to bring roadways up to standard. It is not clear if Orlando ever received those notifications. Joe Mari Pedersen, reporter for our partner, Central Florida Public Media with us in Orlando. Chuck emailed us, I enjoy the art and appreciate the time and resources expended to create the crosswalks. As a bonus, I slow down.

Amanda has been listening in Southwest Florida. Amanda, thanks for calling. on the radio. Hi, yeah, thank you. I'm kind of just echo the previous caller. I think the roadways do need to be consistent for liability and confusion. I'm just in favor of safety on the roadways, though I think marginalized groups need to be protected and celebrated through like murals.

So flags, murals, those are fine. I think those should be on public buildings and especially private buildings if they can do whatever they want, if it's within their, you know, municipality. Sure. Yeah, Amanda, thanks for sharing your opinion there in Southwest Florida. Susie and Jacksonville emailed a link to the Instagram account of the city of Clemson, South Carolina. It was a video of the city's public works crews painting orange paw prints on roads and out of Clemson University. And Susie wrote, clearly if the gator or seminal were more stencil friendly, we would not be debating this at all, she writes. Carlton Gillespie is a reporter with our partner, WLRN, in South Florida.

Carlton, number of communities in South Florida have been fighting this. Fort Lauderdale, Key West, Delray Beach, Miami Beach. What are their arguments against this? The argument is home rule. In Fort Lauderdale, especially the crosswalks that the DOT had originally signaled out, crosswalks and pavement sections were not on state roads. They were on roads that were on roads that were on roads. And in that case, right, traffic control is overseen by the county. So their argument is that the state can't tell them what to do on their own roads. How much money are we talking about that have been invested in some of these intersections? They can be anywhere from $10 to $20,000-30,000-ish dollars, but most of depending on kind of the size and structure, but they're all kind of baked into or they were baked into the redesigns of these streetscapes when they were happening. This was a concerted effort, and we've heard a number of callers talk about safety, but the reason that these were included, and Fort Lauderdale certainly has the data to back this up, is that the intersections that were painted have actually become safer. The rate of vehicle collisions are lower.

So that's another argument that Fort Lauderdale and cities like it are making is that they're actually recording less crashes per rate since these crosswalks have been painted. So somehow it is maybe better for safety to have kind of this little bit of a distraction on the ground. It's certainly the argument. And it's why the DOT signed off on these projects when they were done in the first place. Let's go to Victor, who's been listening in South Florida in Miami Shores on line 6. Victor, go ahead. You're on the radio.

yes hi uh it's a very interesting uh thing that's going on uh but in miami shores about maybe five years ago we painted it with our own money we painted a street uh with street art like that for events and everybody loved it there was no complaints uh it was right up at an intersection and there's really nothing negative about these and it's true about them being when they're intersections, they do make traffic slow down, so it's a positive. There's really no negative to these. Yeah, thanks, Victor, for that thought there for Miami Shores in Miami-Dade County. RMA emailed this from Jack saying, if our Florida governor and his minions truly believe that colorful street crossings are a hazard, then they also have to eliminate every possible distraction

to motorists and pedestrians, which include the following. And then he's got a long list here, or she, RMA has got static bulletins, digital billboards, mobile billboards, bus advertising, Taxi and ride share raps, truck wraps, kiosks, etc. Carlton, what kind of images are we talking about here? What's the variety of images that are actually painted? So in Fort Lauderdale, there's a number. The Breakers Avenue has two, one on Rio Mar and one on Taramar Street. They're kind of like artistic interpretations of waves.

Another one that the DOT pointed out was Las Solis Boulevard down by the beach, which kind of has these jagged black lines that are sort of like crosswalks, because that streets often shut down for, you know, parties or street. festivals. I was there when the Stanley Cup was lifted. That whole area was shut down. But the one, and obviously the ones that are drawing the most contention in South Florida, there is a Pride Progress flag on Sebastian Street in Fort Lauderdale. This is historically gay beach. There was a historic hotel, the Marlon Hotel there, that was really crucial for the community in the 70s. And that's just a picture of the Pride Progress flag. But we've also seen

rainbow intersections in Delray Beach and Miami Beach. Carlton Glesby covers Broward County for our partner station, WLRN, in South Florida. Carlton, thanks for sharing your reporting. Thanks, Tom. Our email box is always open. Sorry, we couldn't get to all the phone calls, but we will be reading those emails in a later program. You can send us your thoughts.

Radio at the Florida roundup. org. Radio at the Florida roundup. org. And our apologies to our colleague, Megan Bowman at WUSF in Tampa. We had some technical difficulty connecting with her to share her reporting, but you can find it as well on WUSF.org. website. All right, we got plenty more still to talk about here on the Florida Roundup. We're going

to be talking about vaccines. We're going to be talking about Alligator Alcatraz. A little later on in the program, Carl Hyacin will be along with us here on the Florida Roundup. You're listening to the program from your Florida Public Radio Station. Stick with us. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by covering Florida Navigator program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-915 or covering Florida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to be along with you this week. Next week on our program, President Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill and Health Care here in Florida.

The law makes changes to two health insurance programs that hundreds of thousands of Floridians rely on, Medicaid and Obamacare. The Florida Hospital Association thinks almost one million. people will lose health insurance with the changes to Medicaid alone. Hundreds of thousands of others who are insured through the Affordable Care Act may lose some of their subsidy helping them afford coverage. So do you rely on Obamacare or Medicaid for your health insurance? How much is it? And what's the coverage like?

What are the questions you have about health care here in Florida and the big beautiful bill? Email us now, radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. That's next week. Now, Alligator Alcatraz. The mission continues on immigration enforcement. That was Governor Ron DeSantis Thursday night on social media grinning. As an appeals court ruled, the Immigration Detention Center in the Everglades can remain open,

overriding a judge's decision two weeks ago that the state had to close it down by the end of October. We're going to continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement. Christina Vasquez is a reporter with WPLG Local 10 television in South Florida. Christina, thanks so much for joining us here on the Florida Ronda. What was the appeals court rationale for allowing this facility to stay open? I think the most fascinating moment in this entire ruling is when you get to the page where the majority is talking about how the plaintiffs in this case were the environmental groups to include Friends of the Everglades, you know, the concerns they had about the environmental impact of everything, right? Light water, noise, pollution. And then they write, we need not, however, weighed into that issue here.

And then you see Judge Jordan on dissent say, that cannot be right because the entire facts of the case were surrounded and focused and underpinned by the environment. In fact, a legal analyst David Weinstein, you know, says in his analysis with me yesterday, the majority viewed the irreparable harm through the defendant's view, right? That they would suffer one related to immigration policy, not the environment, which is really, what this particular case is about. Yeah, and we should note the majority in this ruling was two judges. The minority was one. It was just three judges that heard this appeal. Earlier this week, you and the Associated Press and other journalism organizations reported

that there was an email from the head of the state emergency management agency indicating that the facility would be empty, quote, within a few days. That was before this appeals court ruling. So what do we know about the facility operating? So that was in response to an interfaith group of clergy, right? They were asking for clergy access to the facility, and he responded saying it's going to be emptying out, possibly to zero individuals. What we know from covering the federal hearings and speaking with some congressmen who had visited the facility is that the numbers were already dwindling. And we already had heard from the Department of Homeland Security.

They had emailed me confirming that they were complying with that order. so it seems to track with all of that. So on one hand, the state and even the feds are saying things are winding down. On the other hand, we had the governor come out with a big grin on social media late Thursday saying the mission continues with the appeals court allowing Alligator Alcatraz to remain open. One thing that caught my ear in his remarks is when he says we're open for business. We heard from the White House's borders are Tom Homan. And he had made some remarks when he was talking about how they're complying that he thanked the state of Florida. And he described it as a nice transitional facility, but said ultimately what they need are brick and mortar institutions.

They need permanent facilities and that they now have this investment in cash in order to create that infrastructure. So open for business, but it's still uncertain to me, given his remarks, right, at that level, is there still a need for this kind of facility? Well, because there's still some legal uncertainties around the Everglades facility. Two other lawsuits have been filed against it. including one arguing that the state and feds have kept detainees from their lawyers. What's the status of that case? That is a fascinating case. You have two cases of plaintiffs in this, which is really interesting.

You have the detainees, but you also have their attorneys. And they're essentially saying to the court, look, our First Amendment rights are being violated because we are being denied timely and confidential access to our clients to our attorneys. And so that case moves on. And you can imagine how many other states in the country are. really going to be looking at where this eventually lands because we have so many other states, as you know, that are in current time trying to figure out how to help the federal government with their detention bed capacity issue. And so all of these cases have this national significance because it's going to create case law at the same time that other states are sort of coming

online with their own versions of, you know, state-run immigration detention facilities. Including Nebraska, Indiana, and at least what, two. more now in Florida that the governor has talked about in northeast and northwest Florida? And we would note all with very catchy names, right? So the one in Florida deportation depot, then you have the Cornhusker Click, the Speedway Slammer. So there's definitely... And the panhandle pokey, I think, is what they're trying to call the one that they just announced this week. There's definitely some excitement of creating some of that kind of catchy branding around this idea. But ultimately what it is, our state-run, immigration detention facilities.

be able to assist the Trump administration execute, right, on its campaign promise of mass deportations and its immigration policy, because that whole idea was launched and they've been moving forward with it before some of those logistical pieces were in place, which namely in this scenario involves detention bed capacity, right, and expanding that at the state level. Christina Vasquez, reporter for WPLG Local 10 television in South Florida, watching the immigration enforcement situation play out. Christina, thanks so much for sharing all your reporting with us. Thank you for having me.

Now, whooping cough, polio, and mumps. By law, those are three of the diseases. Florida children must get vaccinated against in order to attend school. There's some others, too, that are written into Florida law. But this week, State Surgeon General Joseph Lattapo launched an effort to get rid of all mandatory vaccines for Floridians. Who am I as a government or anyone else? else or who am I is a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body. Who am I to tell you what your child should put in your body?

Latipo and the state health department can end some vaccine requirements, but not all. Several will require the legislature to pass a new law. Dr. Jason Goldman is with us now. He is president of the American College of Physicians. He's a liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. And he's also a practicing primary care physician taking care of patients in western Broward County. Dr. Goldman, welcome to the program. Thanks for your time today. Thank you so much. Pleasure to be here.

So do you support the effort to make all vaccinations optional in Florida? Certainly not. You know, when you answer the question, who is he, he's a physician, who should be looking at the public health of our entire country. And vaccines have been the single greatest advancement in modern medicine to help prevent disease, prevent death, prevent hospitalization. You know, I'm fond of saying with my pediatrician colleagues, childhood vaccination causes adults. This is how we stop diseases and keep people healthy and live long healthy lives.

Dr. Goldman, the governor talked about this this week when he endorsed the idea, and he talked about kind of the number of vaccines that children are recommended to get now compared to when he was a kid. You know, if you look back when I was growing up what they would recommend now, They're recommending, like, way more stuff for this. And we just heard from Paul Renner, who's a candidate for governor on the Republican side, talk about the number of vaccines is different today than it was just several years ago. Is the volume of vaccines? Is that true, first of all? And if so, why? What does that tell us? So, yes, we do have more vaccines because it's called modern medicine and advancement.

And we learn more, fight more diseases, combat more disease. diseases and are able to keep people healthier. So just because there are more vaccines, that means we're getting smarter and able to prevent more diseases that didn't exist before. Are you satisfied, though, with the science of maybe the interactivity between all of these vaccinations in young children, infants even? This has been studied multiple times. Co-administration timing of vaccines. It is safe and effective to give multiple vaccines together. It does not cause increased harm. That's been looked at, studied, and proven to be of safe and effective benefit. Dr. Jason Goldman is with as a primary care physician in Broward County and president of the

American College of Physicians. Let me move away from the medicine, if I may, doctor, to the business side of this. If vaccinations, if childhood vaccinations become 100% optional in Florida, what could that mean for the supply of vaccinations for parents who do want to immunize their children. Well, it's also a bigger issue that we live in an ecosystem. We are all interconnected. You know, vaccines, not only do they prevent disease, but they keep us healthier, but the real issue is if you get sick with a vaccine preventable disease, end up in the hospital, you're increasing cost to the system, you're decreasing access of care for others who may need that hospitalization because you're taking up a bed that could have been used for other services,

and you are expanding the cost of the entire system. You know, the access to care issue is more of an insurance and payment issue because if they're not recommended by the advisory committee, then insurances aren't mandated to cover them. And the vaccine for children program, which provides vaccines to millions of children who can't afford it, will be affected as well. So it doesn't just affect the individual. It infects the country as a whole. So does it, how does it affect the supply of vaccines? Well, if there isn't an ability to pay for them, if the manufacturers don't supply them, it's going to decrease access. And that's going to hurt those who want to get vaccines and need those vaccines.

As a PCP, as a primary care physician yourself, what potentially could you be looking at for supply and demand for vaccinations with some of your patients in the years ahead if the Florida effort to eliminate required vaccinations is, is essentially? successful? Well, I deal with adults. So most of those vaccines are for childhood use. I don't necessarily have to give those except maybe as a booster. Well, let me ask you about the COVID vaccine now, which clearly was in focus for the testimony of the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. yesterday, Thursday on Capitol Hill, the lack of a full recommendation, but just for the, you know, some special cases. Is that affected your ability to get access for your patients to get access for a COVID vaccination if they'd like one this year.

Oh, well, certainly. If patients can't get the COVID vaccine because it's not being recommended, they're concerned. They're coming to me. Like, what do I do? They may not have access to it because they can't afford it, and if it's not recommended, it's not covered. And this is because of the insurability issue of it, is that right? Correct.

The Affordable Care Act mandates that they're covered. You are a liaison to the advisory committee on immunization practices to the CDC. That committee, all of its members, were fired by the Health and Human Services Secretary, Secretary Kennedy back in June. He has appointed, I believe, seven of the 14 members and has a slate of seven more. Are you still working with the Reconstructed Committee today? It's hard to say, we're liaisons, but we were removed from all of the working groups. So they have essentially removed all the subject matter experts who are there at the meetings

to be able to give that real world experience in data analysis, and they removed all of us from the work group. So the question is, who's actually advising the advisors, who is providing the information? It's certainly not the physicians with the most expertise in this matter. Am I correct to hear you say that, at least on paper, you're liaison still to this committee. but in reality you're not we have no idea they're not communicating with us they're not giving us information it's not like it was in the past where it was full and transparent and we had access to all the information now it's a dark cloud and we have no idea what's going on

i'm going to ask you a personal health care question here doctor and you know you don't have to answer that under the hipper rules and the privacy rules are you vaccinated do you have children are they vaccinated i have no problem saying it i'm up to date on all my vaccines my children up-to-date on vaccines. I strongly believe in vaccination because it helps not only me as an individual, but society as a whole to keep us all healthy. Dr. Goldman will let you get back to the patients. Dr. Jason Goldman with us here on the Florida Ronda, President of the American College of Physicians and a primary care physician practicing in Western Broward County. Dr. Dr. Thanks so much for your time and expertise. Much appreciated. Thank you so much. I'm Tom Hudson. You are listening

to the Florida Rondup from your Florida Public Radio Station. Every couple of weeks here going forward, connect with our partner, Politifact, to separate fact from fiction. Now, if you have a claim from a politician, a public official, or something you saw on social media, and you want us to put it to the test of Politifact, just email us, radio at the Florida roundup.org. Samantha Putterman is with us with Politifact, Florida. Sam, welcome back. Nice to hear from you. Hey, nice to hear from you too. We will start right with vaccines, right? We had the state surgeon general, Joseph Latipo, saying he wants to get rid of vaccine mandates, and he made this claim. Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.

So you dug into this on Thursday. What do medical professionals say about equating childhood vaccine requirements with slavery? Yeah, so we rated this one pants on fire. Slavery, you know, is the violent ownership of people and school entry vaccine mandates are safety conditions, you know, for shared spaces. And notably, parents, including in Florida, can apply for exemptions. The state has both medical and religious exemptions. exemptions. Obviously, people who were enslaved did not have exemptions. You know, self-imaccipation existed in some form, but that was incredibly difficult and dangerous. People who attempted

it risk severe punishment, re-enslavement, or death. So these are not the same thing. Governor DeSantis has been pushing separately for what he called a correction in the 2020 census to redraw political boundaries and likely try to add a congressional seat from Florida, probably a Republican seat. In August, the state attorney general, James Uthmeyer, posted this on social media, writing, quote, during my time in the first Trump administration, the Supreme Court blocked us from asking in the census whether someone is a U.S. citizen, though it was asked for over 150 years prior to the Obama administration. So, Sam, this implies the citizenship question was dropped during the Obama administration. Was it?

No. So we rated this one false. The Census Bureau has long asked people about their citizenship status, including under Obama. The last time the census came close to asking every household about citizenship was in 1950 when it was a follow-up question for foreign-born respondents. and later censuses asked the question only for a sample of households. But when Obama was president in 2010, the Bureau changed the way it asked about citizenship, putting in the question in the annual American Community Survey. But plans for this change began years earlier under the Bush administration, not under Obama. This was short form versus long form kind of questionnaire, right?

Exactly. And currently, the American Community Survey still sends this question to about 3.5 million households each year. Samantha Puterman with our news partner, Politifact. Sam, thanks for waiting through all of this. Every couple of weeks, we're going to check in with you, okay? Great. Sounds good. Thanks for having. Sure thing. And so if you've got something that you've heard from an official you saw on public media, on social media, rather, and you want Politifact to do a fact check on it, just put it in our inbox. We will pass it along to our news partners, PolitiFact, Sam and her crew. Our email address is Radio at the Florida Roundup.org.

Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. And every couple of weeks, we will check in with Sam and the editors to put it to the test about what we're hearing, what we're seeing, what we're scrolling through on social media, what is true and what is not, and separate fact from fiction. Coming up here on our program, Carl Heison will join us. Carl's out with a brand new book, longtime Florida journalist. We'll talk about the news of the week with Carl, and we've got a special treat for Florida Roundup listeners. and with the new Heiason novel. Stick with us. It's still to come here on the Florida Roundup.

You are listening to it from your Florida Public Radio Station. Stick with us. 813-915 or covering florida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along for the ride this week. We're going to connect with journalist and author of Carl Hyacin in just a quick moment. And be sure to stick around for a Florida Roundup original radio theater play.

Yeah, we got it all for you. When we mean Roundup, we mean Roundup. This is an original radio theater play based on the opening scene of Carl's new novel, Fever Beach. That's coming up in just a few minutes. But first, the economy and interest rates this week. The president of the Regional Federal Reserve, which includes Florida, thinks a small cut in the bank's target interest rate is appropriate before the end of the year. Rafael Bostic is his name. He did not commit to win a reduction in borrowing costs may happen, just that it would be appropriate sometime this year. He released his quarterly message saying this

week. He's not a voting member of the Fed's Open Market Committee, which is the group that sets the bank's target short-term interest rate. But as the leader of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, he has a seat at the table when it discusses economic conditions and borrowing rates. Uncertainty abounds is what he wrote in his quarterly message this week. He says as he has traveled throughout the southeast in recent weeks, business people say they are not confident in their own business outlook for the next six months. Inflation remains above target.

And the labor market is cooling. And this makes the job of the Fed's business. policy-setting federal open market committee especially challenging. Bostick pointed out the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, which is called the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index. It has been above the bank's 2% target for four years and counting. Now, regional inflation rates are trickier to draw conclusions from, but South Florida's Consumer Price Index, for instance, was 3.1% in June, which is the most recent monthly data that's available. Now, the Federal Reserve Board meets in two weeks for its next interest rate

decision, and it is widely expected to cut borrowing rates for the first time in more than a year and a half. All right, so this week in Florida, we had a new Republican gubernatorial candidate shunned by his once ally, the governor. We had the top doctor in the state compare vaccine requirements to measles and polio to slavery. We had a court-decide and immigration detention Camp in the Everglades can stay open and a government effort to paint over rainbow crosswalks continued throughout the state. So you know you're a fan of our next guest if all that sounds like a novel. Carl Hyacin is a longtime Florida journalist and author. His latest novel is entitled Fever Beach. Congratulations on the book here. Has it become more difficult to write political

satire in the age of President Trump in the Maga movement? Yeah, it's become more more difficult and more painful but at the same time. I mean, it's hard, I mean, when this alligator, Alcatraz, the abomination opened up. A lot of people said, this is like right out of your book,

and I said, even I couldn't invent something that's demented. Yeah. You know, it's tough. It's a tough target for satire. I am reminded of your colleague, Dave Barry's reoccurring phrase of, I'm not making this up.

Do you find yourself sometimes saying that yeah i am i steal it from dave all the time yeah when i'm traveling out of florida but now the rest of the country is uh acutely aware of the dysfunction yeah here and it's it's it's it's now been brought full strength to washington what do you make of that you covered florida politics and policies from what governor kirk on i think right what do you what do you make of the of the swing let's say the swing to more conservative Well, that is something's going on nationally, but the astonishing thing is that the Republican Party today is not recognizable from the Republican Party and even going back into the 80s. It's just a completely different beast now, and, you know, it's, and there are a lot of disgruntled people in that party because of it.

Yeah, well, that movement of the Republican Party and conservatism is kind of a core element underlying the new book, Fever Beach. It includes elements of the January 6th insurrection. And as you note and have noted and wrote about, you know, the state that had the most January 6th defendants was Florida. What do you think that is? Right, right. It's also the birthplace of, you know, the proud boys and the oathkeepers have a cell here or whatever they call it, a clubhouse. I had a tree house, I'm not sure. And, of course, Moms for Liberty was basically a creation of Governor DeSantis.

Yeah, yeah. Let me ask you about reading. You've balanced this journalism and fiction writing for decades here. There's a survey out from the federal government that found that adults spent 30 minutes a day reading for pleasure. We spent about twice as much playing video games. But you're still at your keyboard, and we thank you for it, Carl. Well, nice of you to say that. Yeah, it's, again, it's not just Florida's nationally,

and it's a tough thing to be competing with, you know, online gambling. But luckily, fortunately, people are still buying books. It's still always amazing to me to walk through an airport these days and see someone reading an actual bound book versus, you know, just staring at their phone and playing angry birds or whatever it is. Oh, you're still a decade behind if you're playing Angry Birds. Oh, is that over? Oh, good.

I think that one's over, yeah. What I get for writing all day long. That's right. Up with the inanities. Yeah, yeah. Hey, well, listen, we've got a treat for you. I'm sorry about the little technical mess up there at the beginning, but we're glad you're on the program.

And, you know, open invitation. We'd love to have you come back and continue to talk with us. Of course. We put together, you know, lots of your novels have been made into movies. Well, several of them have been made into movies. and streaming shows, of course. And we took a little bit of liberty with Fever Beach, your new novel here. And we took the first two pages, and we put it up for our, we call them our Florida Roundup

players to put together a little bit of radio theater for you. Fantastic. Yeah, so I hope you don't mind, but we're going to get to that in just a few moments. Carl Heyson, long-time journalist and author of Fever Beach. I'm Tom Hudson, and you can, of course, send us your notes at Radio at the the Florida Roundup.org. Let us know what you think about this little experiment in radio theater here with Carl Hyacin and Fever Beach. Stick with this, Carl. Stay on the line. You'll be able to hear it. I got to remind folks that you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your

Florida Public Radio Station. Finally on the Roundup, here's the start of Fever Beach by Carl Hyacin presented by the Florida Roundup players. On the afternoon of September 20th, Dishwater Gray in rainy, a man named Dale Figo picked up a hitchhiker on Gus Grissom Boulevard in Tangelo Shores, Florida. The hitchhiker who reminded Figo of Danny DeFito. Asked for a lift to the interstate. Figo agreed to take him there after finishing an errand. Soon they entered a manicured subdivision called Sanctuary Falls, where Figo eased his Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab to the curb

and told the hitchhiker what was about to happen. The hitchhiker placed his backpack on the floorboard and pivoted warily toward the back seat. where he saw an assault rifle, a can of bear spray, a sex doll made to look like the lower torso of a woman, and a pile of clear Ziploc bags. Each bag contained a handful of what appeared to be beach sand and a garishly printed flyer.

Reading upside down, the hitchhiker saw that one of the words was Jewish. Figo began sorting and stacking the bags on the console. I'll drive, you throw. Do what? The saint is for weight. Also, so the baggies won't blow away. I'm pretty sure Holocaust isn't spelled with a K.

And I'm pretty sure I didn't tell you to prove to teach my business. Slowly, Figo began driving up and down the tidy streets. The hitchhiker reluctantly lobbing the slur-filled... Ziplocs onto driveways of multi-million-dollar properties, lush with bogan vias, block olive trees, and hybrid palms. When the hitchhiker noticed a shamrock painted on one of the mailboxes, he asked Figo if they were in the right neighborhood. Never questioned the mission. What mission exactly? Community outreach, dumbass, to enlight the mother-de-sitting citizen.

Enlight? For real? Figo reached across and popped him in the jaw. Ow! What the hell? It was the first time he'd been slugged by a driver. Propositioned, sure. Robbed too many times to count.

But never once punched. And he'd thumbed his way from coast to coast. You want to ride a 95 or not? Why'd you hit me? Christ's sakes, I'm old enough to be your dad. Just keeping it real. What I do, my top forte, you might say. After all the bagged tracks were distributed, Figo made a phone call to somebody named Jonas

and reported that the run had been completed without incident. Fever Beach by Carl Hyacson. Our Florida Roundup players there, Christine D. Matte, Mark Rowe, and Grant Hudson. And that's the Florida Roundup this week, produced by WLR 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, Ernesto J. and Jackson Harp. Our theme music is from Miami jazz guitarist, Aaron Leibos, at Aaron Leibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and especially supporting public media in your slice of Florida. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. Florida Navigator Program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 87781391915 or covering Florida.org.