The Florida Roundup - Snowfall in Florida, special legislative session ahead, Trump and the Christian Right, struggling citrus crops and looming seaweed

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we checked in with meteorologist Megan Borowski to talk about the record-breaking snowfall in the Panhandle (07:00). Then, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout joined us for a preview of next week’s special legislative session and special elections (12:55). And later, NPR’s Sarah McCammon joined us to talk about how the Evangelical Right has influenced national policy (25:44). Plus, a look at Florida’s struggling citrus industry (37:33), why experts say 2025 will be a big year for seaweed (41:22) and a look at how homeless shelters in Tampa Bay are grappling with all the extreme cold weather (46:00).

covering florida navigator program provides confidential assistance for all floridians looking to explore health care coverage options within the federal health insurance marketplace help is available at eight seven seven eight one three ninety one fifteen or at covering florida dot org this is the florida roundup i'm tom hudson thanks for being here yes we will talk about the big news of the week a new President politics and faith next week special legislative session. But first, this this was the week that Florida froze

over, or at least a good part of Florida froze over. Pensacola saw more than seven inches of snow. That sentence has never been true until Tuesday. Areas around Pensacola saw even more snow. It's been a decade since any snow fell on Florida. And a decade ago, that was only an inch. So yeah, it's rare. Roads shut down. Schools closed.

Lots of people traded sun and sand for snow and ice. Now we want to hear how you spent your snow day or snow days this week 305-995-1800 305-995-1800. Send us a quick note radio at the Florida Roundup dot org radio at the Florida roundup.org radio at the Florida roundup.org. Like snow in Florida, you have to move fast. It's not going to last we're taking your calls and emails for only about 10 minutes now 305-995-1800. FSU Senior

Tiffany Pereira, like thousands of other students, had the rare experience of a Florida snow day. I feel great. I haven't had a snow day in 10 years. Knowing that school was canceled was kind of funny because I was like, wow, like I haven't had one of these since I was in sixth grade. So that's really weird. A Florida snow day. That is really weird, isn't it? It meant that Floridians got to do things they rarely get to do. Shovel driveways, steer into a skid, sledding, making snowmen. Regan McCarthy is with our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee. She starts our reporting with those trying their hand at building snowmen. This one's perfect. I know that one's really good. It's kind of missing its like internal part.

Not far from Florida State University's Landis Green, a grouping of approximately six inch tall snowmen sits along a row of picnic tables. There's some really cute ones all around. They really, it's been amazing. Isabella Diaz is a freshman at FSU, but she grew up near Boynton Beach. For her, this winter storm is pretty thrilling. It's just cool because like this is my first time making a snowman in like 10 years. So yeah, and it's in Florida, which is crazy. That last voice belongs to Gia Lalor. The two have improvised their own snowman, scooping up icy sleet

and snow with hands covered by sweatshirt sleeves instead of mittens, piling the slush into a snowman-esque shape, then trying an acorn for a nose in place of the more traditional carrot. Lalor admits it's all a bit unusual, but then again she says, so is the storm. This is really crazy. We're not really equipped for it, but we're out here nonetheless. I'm Reegan McCarthy. I'm Kate Payne in Tallahassee.

Tallahassee's Cascades Park was transformed into a sledding hotspot on Wednesday as kids raced down the snow-covered hills. Michael Holmes set his alarm to wake up bright and early so his kids could make the most of their first snow day. I think this is their first time seeing like falling snow like active small falling snow last night so they were outside in the middle of night last night playing around throwing snowballs. This being Florida they didn't have real sledding gear. So nine-year-old Layla and 12-year-old Raleigh are using what they could find.

A boogie board and a skim board. So far the skim board is working out really, really well. Nice and slick. Holmes has lived in Tallahassee his whole life and has never seen snow like this. In a state where kids are more used to school being canceled because of hurricanes, he's glad his kids can experience the rare joy of a Florida snow day. There's that phrase again, Florida snow day. How about those three words this week here? 305-995-1800. Yes, we have a lot of news to get to this weekend. We will, but how about the joy of a Florida snow day?

Certainly it came with some dangers, but how about it, Florida? What did you do on that day off or days off if you were in the part of the state that saw snow and the amount of snow that are just record levels? 305-995-1800. Call now. Glenn has been listening in his patient on I-10 up in the panhandle. Glenn, you're on the radio. Go ahead. Hello. Hi.

I spent the day or the last two days just observing from the house and walking around the yard and sitting outside on my back porch patio just observing the beauty. Indoors, I enjoyed cooking. I did a couple dishes and drank a lot of hot beverages. Give us a sec. What was on the menu for you, Glenn, during your snow day? I made sweet potato puffs in the morning and I made a date nut torte in the evening. Very good.

Calorie dense, it sounds like, to push against the freeze. Glenn, thanks for joining us. Teresa has been listening in in central Florida. Teresa, go ahead. You are on the radio. I'm sorry. Is this Patrice? Patrice, yeah.

Go ahead. Go ahead, Patrice. Hi. My name is Patrice Schrepsen-Myers. I'm from central Florida, actually calling in from the Butler chain of lakes. And I spent my day at Valkiva Springs State Park looking at the manatees who were trying to stay warm in the spring at 72 degrees. But I have a daughter who's at Pensacola Naval Air Station and they got seven inches of snow. She's there training for the Navy as a naval flight officer. And the last time I saw snow as a Florida girl born and bred was 1978 when we got snow and we were snowed in at our ranch and farm in North Central Florida.

Wow, unbelievable. Well, thanks to your daughter for her service. And I think all of it's probably melted by now for her and her colleagues. But thanks for sharing your story. Martina sent us this email saying I spent it indoors. She notes Floridians have a tough time driving on dry roads. Indeed, they do. And by the way, we've got a bit more on that coming up late in this program here today. Megan Borowski is with a senior meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Megan, boy, what a week here in Florida. The quiet time, but oh my gosh, what are some of the final tallies of snowfall and where? Well, Tom, we had 10 inches. That seems to be from what I've gotten here. That is the bullseye for the biggest amounts. Ferry Pass in

Escambia County got 10 inches. Also in Jay and Milton in Santa Rosa County we got 10 inches, 9.8 inches a little bit north of Milton. But I'm just impressed of the number of accumulations in the locations where we had over a half a foot of snow. Imagine that, Tom. Over a half a foot of snow in Florida. Well, I'm a Midwestern boy. I do not have to imagine it. My back still hurts from plenty of winters of having to shovel out driveways and sidewalks.

But unbelievably unusual, these amounts all across the Panhandle. Yeah. Yeah. I just went back and looked at some climatological data just over the past 10 15 years or so And all the snow events that we've had they're rare They're not you know, totally out of the question

But out of all the events that we've had over the past five to ten years It's only about half inch accumulation maybe a quarter of inch of ice, but these numbers I mean this is gonna go down in the record books for probably the winter storm of the century for Florida. We had some colleagues who were sending us photographs. I'm in South Florida. You're in Central Florida. We had colleagues along the Panhandle keeping us updated on Tuesday. And I think I judged one picture of the snowfall.

It was more than a broom, but not quite a snowblower yet. But eight inches, nine inches, that's a couple of passes of a snow blower. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm from up north in New Jersey originally as well. That's even impressive for the Jersey Shore for us. So let's get to the meteorological conditions here, the science of all this.

What was the setup for this winter storm? Yeah. So we had a trough of low pressure in the mid level of the atmosphere. We had a really strong trough of low pressure extending anywhere from the Great Lakes all the way down to the Southern Plains. And that kind of scooped eastward for the non-technical term. We had a good amount of energy. And you know, the trough extended a very far south. And so we were able to get a blast of cold air. Of course, we're sitting along the central Gulf Coast, or the Gulf Coast, so we have moisture in place.

We had energy in the atmosphere. We had cold temperatures that blasted on in, and all of that kind of set the stage for this snowfall. So is it accurate to call this Gulf effect snow? You know? No, I don't think so because lake effects know the wind has to blow across the lake. Right.

To pick up the humidity. Right. Exactly. We had winds from the north. So I don't know if you would technically call it that, but that's, I kind of like that, Tom. Yeah. Well, it's not, not this case.

Okay. Maybe another century. We'll, we'll get to that. Right. So the snow, yes, it fell. And then the cold, freeze watches and warnings really spreading across the state. Well, and that's the thing as well. We're not done yet. We're still feeling the effects of this storm.

We've got freeze warnings in effect for Pasco County all the way eastward to Volusia County tonight. And even in South Florida, in Miami, you guys woke up the lows in the 40s. You're gonna wake up again tomorrow. We had a wind chill in Miami. We had a windchill in Miami. We had a windchill here.

It was below 45 degrees with the windchill. And that's going to happen again tomorrow. We're not out of it yet. No. The good news is high pressure. I'll move offshore and we'll get a warm up early next week. Yeah, we're not out of it yet. Joanne has been listening in Panama City Beach.

And Joanne, you want to fact check something I said just a couple of moments ago. You still have snow on the ground, eh? Yeah, the roofs are covered. There's plenty of snowmen still around and it's just middle of the afternoon now and it's late morning now and we still have snow on the ground. Yeah, so the snowmen aren't drooping down. They're not losing their heads. No, it's not melting yet. Yeah. In shady areas there are simulations of snow. We maybe had four inches, maybe a little under four inches, but the temperatures have not dropped enough since Tuesday to melt it. Yeah. Yeah. How have you been dealing with the snow day in Panama City Beach? Oh, it's beautiful. Just bundle up and go outside. It's been beautiful. Yeah, it is beautiful. There's nothing quite like a winter scene with the palm trees either. Joanne,

thanks for listening and calling there from Panama City. How about the forecast here, Megan? How long are these, particularly these dangerous freezing temperatures expected to last? Well, at least for tonight, we have freeze mornings, in fact, from the Panhandle all the way down to the I-4 corridor t By the time we get to tom the weekend, high pressur will start to get winds f the southeast and that's to warm up. We might get

saturday night into sunda handle. But after that, y should rebound to at least levels by the time we get the work week and then we a little bit back to normal. So this is still the dry season in Florida. And the snow, you know, Joanne, the snow will melt.

The snowman will melt, it sounds like. But how will this affect any of the drought conditions? Well, you know, it's funny, because I was thinking about that, that it has been very dry. And so we kind of needed the precipitation. The panhandle is actually in the best shape right now. They only have a little bit of abnormally dry conditions. But we did have some, you know, several days of just mist over the Florida Peninsula. I don't know if accumulations were that much

to put a dent in it. But I will say that I guess it helped a little bit at least. But I don't expect to see major changes in the drought monitor. We've got a good portion of the peninsula either under moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions. Megan Borowski, senior meteorologist with our partner, the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Megan, always a pleasure. Thanks so much. Thanks, Tom. Stay warm. Well, this week a lot of Florida froze over and the relations between the governor and state legislative leaders were certainly pretty chilly too.

The lawmakers will be back in Tallahassee on Monday but not because they necessarily want to. Governor Ron DeSantis has called them there to do some work. I called a special session of the legislature to start on January 27th and they are to address the issue of immigration. Now there's a list of other issues the governor wants lawmakers to tackle but immigration is clearly the central topic. So this is a great opportunity for our country but certainly for people that have been complaining about Biden for the last four years you want to now get in the fight and be part of the solution.

Gary Fineout is watching all this as a veteran state legislative government reporter for Politico. Joining us from Tallahassee, Gary, welcome to the program again. All right. Thanks for having me on. Before we talk about the process, which is important here, let's talk about the policy. What is the centerpiece of the governor's proposals on immigration? Well, I mean, there's actually quite a lot. You know, there's some of the main parts have to do with sort of making sure that local officials are fully cooperative with the actions of the federal government as they begin to carry out these enforcement actions involved

with immigration. I mean, you're, but you're also talking about things he wants to get legal authority to transport migrants from Florida to outside of the US, which the transport program that got a lot of attention that operated within the within the confines of the United States. So he wants to be able to take people to other countries. He wants he had initially proposed, you know, going after elected officials if they don't fully cooperative. There's talk about increasing penalties for people who are in the country illegally and they and they and they registered to vote. There's currently criminal penalties now

and he wants to increase. There's a long list of things that he wants to do. Yeah, as you mentioned, the law enforcement piece, perhaps being at the center of this, the Florida Sheriff's Departments across the state with jails have been required by state law since 2022 to apply to a federal immigration program that allows them to hold suspected undocumented immigrants in their jails and then turn them over to federal authorities. None of the applications made during the Biden administration, though, were approved. So Gary, what kind of changes would what the governor wants to do mean for local law enforcement? Well, I mean, you know, your point, I mean, a lot of them were already, you know, we have this whole thing where we went through the sanctuary cities debate and

everything like that. Yeah, prohibited those a number of years ago. We prohibited those and they kind of, you know, sort of were demanding that the sheriffs work with the federal authorities. Again, I mean, I think a lot of this has to do with, you know, it's just a matter of, now he's also, we have not seen anything specific about this. He's also said that he's willing to set aside money to help local authorities if they need to hold people for a while and things like that. We haven't seen a price tag for that.

Yeah. I want to ask you about the budgetary questions. The governor trumpets the fact that there's big state reserves, but what about the expense of what he wants to do? Local jails, housing suspected illegal aliens, expanding the transfer program, as you mentioned, for international flights? I mean, there are price tags to these things. There are, and we haven't really seen those price tags. I mean, what I mean, the governor initially came out with some broad concepts, then he came out with more specific things that he gave the legislature. He does have two bills, one dealing with ballot initiatives and one dealing

with immigration. So we've got some bills, but we really haven't seen none of this has been vetted by the legislature. And you know, as of you know, noon today, you know, right now we're looking at a situation where the legislature this morning told the legislative leaders told members you need to be in Tallahassee at 1030 on Monday morning. We will convene in the special session. But, I say this, but there's no committee meeting scheduled. Right. There's no bills that have been teed up for consideration. Yeah. So we haven't seen any analysis by any of the budget committees as to what they think this is going to cost.

I want to ask you more about process in a moment, but just real quick on the issues here, because the governor had a whole laundry list of issues that he wanted lawmakers to tackle. Immigration, obviously the key one. You mentioned the petition signatures. He also talked about condo reforms. Any legislative language from the governor's office about what he wants to do with condos? Well, there was a sheet that was transmitted to the legislature about, I want to say, I think it was a month, but close to two weeks ago, did have some stuff about condos. And I know that's very important to your audience down, especially down in South Florida. There

were some interesting ideas that were thrown out. One of them was having the State Board of Administration, which is the entity, for those not familiar with it, they administer the state pension fund. And part of it, he had a proposal where he said, well, maybe the SBA could help underwrite loans to condo associations to help them pay for those requirements under the condo law. That is interesting because we've seen some local governments, Miami-Dade County, do something like that. It's very limited in scope, but to try to provide some kind of financial relief, especially

for those long-term owners in those vintage condos. Gary, stick with us. We've got to take a quick break. We've got a lot more to talk about with this special legislative session that is coming up. We know at least on Monday, the gavel will fall for lawmakers in Florida for a special session called by the governor. Gary find out is a veteran government affairs reporter for Politico. He's joining us from Tallahassee.

We've got more on that to come here on the Florida Roundup as you are listening to our program from your Florida Public Radio Station. Stay close. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for all Floridians looking to explore health care coverage options within the federal health insurance marketplace. Help is available at 877-813-915 or at coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being here. We're going to the birds and the reptiles and the

mammals. The Florida Roundup this program will be live in person at Zoo Miami on February 7th. You and me and the flamingos. Yeah, it's a live in person Florida Roundup, this program, will be live in person at Zoo Miami on February 7th. You and me and the flamingos. Yeah, it's a live in person Florida Roundup, February 7th at Zoo Miami. And yes, we will be right in front of the flamingos. The top elected leader of the largest county here in Florida will be there with us. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava will be talking with a wildlife veterinarian. This guy has done surgery on pythons to put tracking devices inside of them.

So we'll hear about that. He's also studied all sorts of invasive species here in the Sunshine State. We'll have some live music and it's all free. Register at w lr n dot o RG. We hope to see you live February 7 at Zoo Miami, be sure to bring that sunscreen. This week, well actually next week on Monday, state lawmakers are due in Tallahassee. Governor Ron DeSantis called them for a special legislative session, but leaders called it premature.

The lawmakers have to meet, but they don't have to pass any bills, something the governor thinks would cost them public support. I don't think the idea that you would go in and just gavel out is sustainable because people would have to go on the record saying they think that they should gavel out and ignore this. And so that would be very, very hazardous politically, I think, for these members to do. Gary Fineout is a veteran government reporter here in the state of Florida for Politico, still with us from Tallahassee.

So the governor has released some suggested language for that bill on immigration, as you mentioned earlier, Gary. Does it have any legislative sponsors? Not that I've seen. I mean, it wasn't until this morning that the Senate website even was acknowledging that there was a special session. And last time I checked, there were no bills filed as of yet. I mean, could still come. But yeah But yeah, no, I don't haven't

seen anything yet. So how would you describe the balance of power here that is shifting that we're seeing happen in real time of political capital between the legislature and the governor and also the new president to the United States? Well, I think, you know, it's worth noting that, you know, President Trump did put out a social media message where he sort of endorsed the idea of having a special session, said, thought it was a good idea. But I mean, the communication that you have with some of the members is basically there's this sort of like well it's not that they're opposed to doing things to many things it's just a matter of there was this whole idea of you know is it an emergency did it need to be done right now I think you know it's been reported by

politico and other outlets that the governor didn't even really give the legislative leaders a heads up that he was actually going to do this until minutes before he held a press conference in Tallahassee. Right. And there's been some reporting as well that it was a misstep because this the week of the 27th was the only week that state lawmakers were not expected to be in Tallahassee as they warm up for the regular session. Right. Yeah, no, that's absolutely correct. And now, I mean, from a political, you know, landscape kind of thing. Well, I mean, procedural arguments versus policy arguments, you know, who's going to have the upper hand there. But I think what you also are, I mean, I think there is, you could make an argument that there's a bit of pent up demand here,

you know, that the legislative, there are rank and file legislators, Republican legislators who have sort of waited for this moment of when, you know, as Senator Pizzo has said, he's a Democratic leader. He's a Senate Democrat. He says that the legislature begins to assert itself as an independent branch of government once again. Let's go ahead. I want to end our final moments here. I just want to ask you about some national politics here in Florida because there's two special elections next week here in the Sunshine State, both primaries leading to general elections coming up in the spring to replace two members of Congress. Matt Gaetz in the panhandle, he quit, and Michael Waltz along the Atlantic coast, he

also quit, but is now President Trump's national security adviser. Both districts heavily Republican, Gary. So the primary next week on Tuesday likely is going to decide some of the results. So what are you watching for here in the panhandle and along the Atlantic coast? Well, I think I think you're absolutely right. I think we're watching to see whether or not the people who were endorsed by President Trump, that would be State Senator Randy Fine and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronus, whether or not they will be able to use those endorsements

and notch an easy victory. I mean, I think they have name recognition and they have financial resources. But the race up in the panhandle has a lot of candidates. It's gonna be a special election. We've just had a winter storm. I don't know what kind of turnout you're going to have. But I mean, I think from a national perspective,

the deal is that we're going to have the primary and then it's going to be followed by a general election on April 1st. And the issue is how soon will Speaker Johnson get Republican reinforcement so he has a, you know, more of a cushion up in up in the up the House. That's right. Yeah, the House GOP majority is razor razor thin and two more votes which are likely to come out of District one and District six here in Florida will be key to help try to shore up what majority that the Republicans do have in Congress. Well, Gary, always a pleasure to see you. I hope or to hear from you. I hope you weathered the snowstorm here of 2025 okay in the panhandle.

Yeah, no, I did. Yeah, we did okay. You know, my driveway has been very, very hazardous because it's a steep driveway and I nearly fell down a couple of times. Oh, no. Oh, no. Well, remember, when you're shoveling, lift with your legs, Gary Fineout. Lift with your legs.

Gary Fineout, veteran state house reporter for our colleagues at Politico. Don't forget, you can sign up for our live in-person program, February 7th, Zoo Miami. Please register at WLRN.org. We'd love to see you in the sun at the zoo. This week Donald Trump was sworn in as President of the United States. While it was his second inauguration, it was his first as a Florida resident. Evangelical Christian voters, including those here, overwhelmingly voted to reelect Trump. During the campaign, he intertwined his policy positions with evangelical themes

and invoked his faith in his inauguration address on Monday. Just a few months ago in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again. Less than 24 hours later, the president was sitting in a front pew at the National Cathedral in Washington. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. The right Reverend Mariana Edgar Budde gave the sermon.

She's the Episcopal Bishop of Washington and she made this direct request to President Trump. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. She mentioned gay, lesbian and transgender children. She mentioned immigrants who are in the United States without legal status. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we will all want strangers in this land. Afterward, the president was asked what he

thought of the service. Not too exciting was it? I do think it was a good service. Thank you very much. And on Wednesday the president took to his social media platform. He said she owed the public an apology calling her tone quote nasty. Trump wrote she brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. Sarah McCammond is a national political correspondent

for NPR and author of The Exvangelicals, Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church. Sarah, thanks for coming back on the program. How unusual is it for a religious leader like the bishop to make such a direct appeal to an elected official in such a public and frankly reverenced place. I don't know how unusual it is historically.

I mean, you could probably think of some other examples, but I will say that sermon was not particularly unusual for an Episcopal church sermon, if you know anything about the Episcopal church, if you spent time in those pews, which I have at times in my life. And as my colleague Jason DeRose pointed out in his coverage of this story, you know, this is a pretty standard fair sermon for a bishop-like bishop buddy. The church, the Episcopal Church tends to attract more progressive, sort of more liberal Christians. It has a long history of supporting gay rights. It was one of the first denominations, maybe even the first denomination to bless same-sex

unions and allow same-sex clergy. So this isn't really surprising from that standpoint. I think what caught everyone's attention is, yes, the sort of direct message to President Trump that she conveyed. You know, arguably it's a preacher's job, a pastor's job to sort of speak truth to power, to also challenge their parishioners. But I think this sort of was very stark in the sense that she was speaking directly to the president. You know, it's not unusual for clergy across the political spectrum to invoke political themes and messages,

but this was, I think, unusually kind of intimate in that she was standing right there and he was sitting right there in her church. We certainly have seen the intimate relationship between faith and politics building over the course of many presidential cycles. In this one, it was on full display. And the president's words during the campaign have turned into actions here in the first week of his second term. What signs, Sarah, of evangelical influence do you see in the early actions taken by the president, including the dozens of executive orders signed this week? Yes, his executive actions in several of his early actions as president sort of reflect rewarding that conservative Christian base. I reported this week on the executive action related to gender and sex in which the federal government

says it will now recognize only two sexes and describes those sexes as not changeable. This does away with programs and policies designed to help transgender people and you know I think creates and talking with experts creates some questions about what will happen for people who want to change a passport or renew a passport if their gender identity does not match their birth sex. So that was a priority for religious conservatives for sure. We also saw Trump pardon close to two dozen anti-abortion activists who had been convicted of essentially obstructing access to clinics. Again, a major

priority for the Christian right for a long time. And just, and today, Vice President J.D. Vance is a featured speaker at the March for Life here in Washington, D.C., where I am. And regarding the March for Life, I'll mention that Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis, is accepting an award on behalf of those organizers for the actions and the legislation that he championed here in the state of Florida, which now has a six week ban, one of the most restrictive bans on abortion

in the United States. That is a good example. You know, I think Trump understood that based on the results of the 2022 and 2023 elections where voters had an opportunity in several states to sort of weigh in directly on abortion related ballot measures. I think Trump understood that that abortion was an issue where Republicans saw themselves as somewhat on the defense as Roe v. Wade was overturned and many abortion laws went

into effect across the country. And so he criticized at one point that six-week abortion ban before to be for sort of backpedaling from that. But nonetheless, as you say, your Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be at this event today alongside the vice president. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. We're speaking with NPR national correspondent Sarah McCammon. She's also the author of The Ex-Fangelicals.

Now regarding immigration, the president's quick action on immigration have been criticized by some faith leaders. The president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops called them deeply troubled and warned, quote, they will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable. Faith leaders also are squarely at this intersection of enforcement of the president's immigration orders considering, Sarah, that the president's orders now no longer allow safe sanctuary at churches and houses of faith, allow federal immigration enforcement to happen in those places.

Yeah. And it'll be really interesting to see how religious groups and congregations respond to that. You know, I think this is, again, much like the encounter with the Episcopal bishop in DC, this is an example of just how much division there is within American Christianity. You know, American Christianity can mean a lot of different things to different people, and you know, a lot of the refugee resettlement work that happens in this country is conducted by religious groups, most of them some kind of Christian groups. I mean, there are refugee

agencies affiliated with several major religious groups. There's a Jewish group, there's a Lutheran group, a Catholic group, and there are a couple that are evangelical as well. And so, you know, this has been a source of tension and criticism from some in the evangelical movement in the past. You may remember when Trump was running for president in 2016 and then after the so-called Muslim ban started to take effect after he was elected, there was criticism from some in the evangelical world who have a long history of caring about these issues involving immigrants and refugees. So it will be fascinating to see how that unfolds. And, you know, I don't imagine that Trump's staunch Christian right supporters, the people that have been with him for years and years,

will be moved much by that. If you look at past history. But I think there will be criticism from the religious left. There already has been for some of these kinds of actions. And there may be churches that choose to defy those orders. I don't know. We'll see. In your book, you write about your background being raised in the evangelical church and then of course your decision to leave that traditional evangelical church. I'm curious Sarah with that history,

with that intimate knowledge that you have, what role do you think the president's self-proclaimed divine protection regarding the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania. What role do you think that plays in the evangelical community's support of his policies? We've heard this narrative for years now from evangelicals, you know, many of whom will say they don't necessarily like everything about Trump, but they believe he has an important role to play in history and that perhaps God has some design on his life or some intention for him. And I think for people who already believe that kind of narrative or hold that kind of theology, his brush with literal brush with a bullet reinforced that belief for them.

I also like to have you talk a little bit about this intersection of faith and information in this news age that you and I work in professionally and that we have here in the country. And one of the major social media platforms, Metta, announcing an end to fact checking on its Facebook platform, you've got the kind of free for all nature of social media in general. What do you think that approach in social media has on evangelical support for the president? Well, I think everybody, because of the way algorithms work, tends to be in their information bubble and evangelicals are no different. You know, one of the things I wrote about

in my book was that even long before social media, there was sort of a parallel infrastructure, a really robust infrastructure of religious broadcasting, religious media that had been built up, you know, starting in really the sixties by people like Pat Robertson and then people like James Dobson came along, a psychologist and author with Focus on the Family Correct, with a radio show that had tremendous reach and that sort of morphed from family and parenting and marriage advice into political activism or at least his work did if not always his radio show. There's a long history of there being sort of a parallel infrastructure for information in the evangelical world. I think the advent of social media has only added to that I mean in a really profound way. I think conservatives would say that media has only added to that, I mean, in a really profound way.

I think conservatives would say that much of the quote unquote mainstream media from in their view is dominated by left-wing perspectives. And so that's part of why this right-wing infrastructure has exploded in the way that it has on multiple platforms. But it certainly helps Trump and other conservatives, Republicans get their message out. And quite effectively, I get their message out. And, you know, quite effectively, I think we've seen Sarah McCammond, national political correspondent for NPR, author of the ex vangelicals loving, live, living, and leaving the white evangelical church. Sarah, thanks again

for spending some time with us. Thank you. Still to come on our program this week, a couple of stories about plants. One in Florida and one possibly coming to Florida. That's next on the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for all Floridians looking to explore health care coverage options within the federal health insurance marketplace. Help is available at 877-813-915 or at coveringflorida.org.

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Couple of stories about plants now. First, a staggering drop off in crop production is plaguing citrus growers across the state. Florida's famed oranges are struggling and they have been for years. It hasn't been working out for citrus in general for every grower for the past probably 10 years.

This is Caleb Shelfer. His family's groves date back to the 1880s. He's among those who worry the Sunshine State's defining crops of oranges and grapefruits will disappear. They're out here struggling. We've been scraping by and the reason that we continue to do this is for the love of the land and for the love of Florida. What old Florida used to be, this is what it is and we don't want to see that go. Over the past two decades, citrus production in Florida has dropped 90 percent according to a recent report by Florida Tax Watch.

Southwest Florida's biggest grower, Aliko, announced in early January that it was getting out of the citrus growing business because of the financial challenges stemming from citrus greening and hurricanes. In a statement, the company said most of its land will likely be used for other agricultural purposes, but about 25 percent of it has development potential. So how far has Florida's orange crop fallen? About 12 million boxes of oranges are expected to be harvested this year. A decade ago, it was more than 100 million. 30 years ago, Florida produced more than 200 million boxes of oranges.

So the crop has fallen by 95% in about a generation. Citrus growers like the shelfers are fighting for financial survival. There's no other crops to really jump into that's going to make you that money back and the only crop is is houses. You cannot say no to someone that offers you millions of dollars for a piece of land that's to you is losing money. Sandra Victorova at our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers has more. You'll find all kinds of citrus growing at Joshua Citrus in Arcadia. But these groves are a painful site for owner Kevin Shelford. Trees like this one don't have much time left. It's dead, but it don't know it yet.

Like most of the trees on the company's 300 acres, it's plagued by citrus greening disease. It should have 30 or 40 years left. It probably may not have a year left. Their citrus production has dropped by about 90% in recent years. Citrus greening, a deadly bacterial infection, strangles the tree. So fruit struggles to grow. The citrus is often not as sweet or as big as it should be. That's why in the store now you don't see a lot of big grapefruit from florida hurricanes have also dealt another painful blow. Ian really hit us hard. Their trees sat in Ian's floodwaters for days, making compromised trees more vulnerable. The company estimates they've lost about

15,000 trees in three years. It's a similar story across the industry. It's heartbreaking to see all the citrus going away and probably will never come back. It's especially heartbreaking for the Shelfers because their family has been growing citrus on this land since the 18 80s. But they understand why some growers walk away and sell to developers. They say they've lost money on citrus crops the past three seasons. If it weren't for our store and what we do over there, we would have had to close the doors by now. Joshua Citrus is embracing change,

marketing public events at their store, selling more than just citrus to customers, and offering agriculture tours. The Shelford's struggled to understand why there hasn't been more federal support for citrus. Their best hope now is that scientists working on an answer to citrus greening succeed soon, but they know a solution is years away at best. So they'll continue to look at how to diversify sales,

perhaps dabbling into new crops like avocados. We are looking from, but I don't mean we want to go do something else. Possibly we will have to one day. I'm Sandra Victorova. The Florida citrus crop may be dwindling but it is expected to be a major seaweed season this year on the waters around Florida. Sargassum is the formal name of the leafy brown seaweed that floats on top of the ocean. It can be blown ashore in Florida beginning in the spring. There's a lot of it already out there in the Atlantic now. Ryan Barnes is a research associate

professor at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. Brian Barnes is a research associate professor at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. Brian, thanks for joining us. How much sargassum is out there way out at sea right now? There's a lot. So it's right now I think we have around four million tons of sargassum out there in the central Atlantic, which is a lot for this time of year. We're seeing a lot and a lot more than we've seen in the last couple of years. What does that mean? What does it mean if there is a likelihood of a major seaweed season? The sargassum when it's offshore, it actually is a good habitat. There's a lot of fisheries, a lot of animals, invertebrates that depend on it. And a major sargassum year just means that

there's a lot of sargassum in this area that we call the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt that goes from Africa all the way in through the Caribbean and sometimes impacts Florida. So major sargassum season means we have a lot of sargassum. Some of this can roll up onto beaches and start causing economic environmental issues for those areas. But just because there's a lot of sargassum in the greater Atlantic doesn't mean we're going to have those severe impacts. What does the amount of sargassum here in an early calendar year tell us about the marine or environmental conditions of the water?

Sargassum is just like a typical plant that you would have around your house. As long as you've got a seed population and then the right nutrients, the right temperature environment and so forth, then the organism will start to grow and multiply and expand. And we've seen a really explosive growth in the Central Atlantic. The question now becomes, do the winds and the currents, do they carry all of that sargassum into areas in the Caribbean and eventually into Florida that it might cause problems for beachgoers and so forth. What about the risks to the peninsula

in both sides of the peninsula and the Panhandle? Can it get around the Straits of Florida into the Gulf? Yeah, so definitely it comes in between the Yucatan and Cuba. And then it rides the loop current, which kind of goes up north a little bit and then turns right back around. We don't actually see many impacts, many landings of sargassum on the west coast of Florida,

just because it's riding that loop current all the way out the straits of Florida. Once you get off into the Keys, you can see large inundations in the Florida Keys, in the Miami-Dade area, going all the way up the Treasure Coast. What about the timing, if it is to blow into Florida? The earliest we typically see any kind of major inundations in Florida would be March time frame. But usually the more substantial impacts are in May and into the summer months. It's really early to make any predictions about what

might be impacts to Florida, other than that if they occur, they'll be several months away. You mentioned potential economic impact, because it can crowd beaches, and there's an expense to remove it. Is it dangerous at all? Should we not touch it? Not great to be in and about, but the impacts more so

to human health are just the smell and respiratory distress from the decaying matter as it's washed up on beaches. That's usually what I see the most complaints about. Brian, you've got young children. of stress from the decaying matter as it's washed up on beaches. That's usually what I see the most complaints about. Brian, you've got young children. If you've got a beach day, do you look at that sargassum forecast before you head out with your umbrella and chairs? Yes and no. The sargassum forecast is monthly retrospective now, and it provides data on the level of the entire ocean. And actually, that leads into what a lot of we're working on now is getting into that granular,

this particular beach may be impacted on this particular day, rather than something like the Florida Keys may get some impacts in a couple of months. That is kind of the frontiers that we're pushing with some of our new funding from NOAA and so forth, is to try and get into that granular level of being able to advise beachgoers as to whether or not this a particular beach would be impacted by sargassum on a particular day or week. If you're successful with that, Brian, might we see a new type of flag at the beach? There's a marine life flag, there's a wind flag, might there be a sargassum flag? I like that, but I do like that. The I do like that the surf warning,

red tide warning and the sarcasm warning. It sounds good. Brian Barnes is a research associate professor at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it. And I'm Tom Hudson, you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. A couple more notes on the Florida snow this week before we leave you. Not every place saw snow, but the temperatures really dropped across the state. Most counties had cold weather advisories issued. Some even had freeze watches and freeze warnings.

Many regions opened up cold weather shelters to help those without homes to stay warm. Sky LeBron reports now from our partner station WSF in Tampa. I brought some blankets, some socks. We need these socks. We really need socks. Pastor Reba Haley looks through a box of donated clothes at the shelter she's overseeing at her church, the Gathering Place in Valrico. She says the demand has never been like this before. We've never ever in the years that I've been working with the county and being partners with them and then being part never had 40 straight. Now we're going on five, six days straight.

At the shelter, people get food, a warm place to sleep and somewhere to take a bath and brush their teeth. Felicia Crosby-Rucker is the county's Homeless and Community Services Director. She says last year they activated the cold shelters around 10 times. By the end of this week, it'll already have been activated 15 times this month alone. And she says big events like this weekend's parade reduced where they can place families in need. Two of our locations are in the path of gasparola. So we're working to identify other locations so they can relocate. Crosby Rutgers says the county is still looking for

organizations that can serve as cold weather shelters to house more people if needed. I'm Sky Lebron in Tampa. And then finally on the roundup, there was this comment by Governor DeSantis on Tuesday as he was talking about getting ready for the cold and snow. The road conditions, driving in icy conditions, can be very, very hazardous. And that's true anyways, but you also have Florida drivers, which, you know, look, North Florida may not be the level of South Florida in terms of the driving. Now, hold on a second here. Now, yes, driving in ice and snow can be dangerous, can be very dangerous, no doubt about it. I know, I learned to drive in a Midwestern winter. But what is the governor implying

about Florida drivers there? Especially South Florida drivers. I mean I'm in Miami, I've been driving here for more than a decade. Down here the interstate numbers like 75 and 95, those are the speed limits right? That is our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Merz. The technical director of the program is MJ Smith, engineering help

each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J, and Jackson Hart. Katie Munoz answers our phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Levos at aaronlevos.com. We'd love to see you live in person February 7th at Zoo Miami, a special edition live out in the public, out in the wild of South Dade County. It's a free event. Please register at wlrn.org. Coming up February 7th.

Thanks for calling, listening, and above all supporting public radio in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend and buckle up. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for all Floridians looking to explore health care coverage options within the federal health insurance marketplace. Help is available at 877-813-915 or at coveringflorida.org.