Governor Ron DeSantis

In a matter of eight days, The State of Florida took a barely used Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport and transformed it into the Immigration Detention Center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Hurricane Ian slammed Lee County with treacherous storm surge, damaging nearly 50,000 homes, killing 150 people and causing a record $112 billion in property damage after making landfall on Sept. 28, 2022.Some of the victims got hit by more than just the storm.In early 2023, as lawsuits against a company that helped clean up the damage were piling up in Lee County, Gov. DeSantis began doling out massive contracts to the Canadian-owned company based in Texas, putting the company accused of ripping off hurricane victims in charge of some of the state’s hurricane relief efforts. In total, the governor’s office has awarded that company $200 million in state contracts and purchase orders with little oversight, competitive bids, or other safeguards in place.

Last year, two Citizen-Led Amendment Initiatives failed to meet the 60% requirement to become law. Those included the attempts to legalize marijuana and to bring an end to the state’s abortion ban.

State lawmakers and members of Congress will be able to visit a controversial immigrant-detention center in the Everglades on Saturday, after some Democratic legislators last week were denied access to inspect the facility. The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Wednesday sent an email inviting “congressional and state legislators” to tour the detention center, which state officials hurriedly erected as part of an effort to help President Donald Trump’s deportation of undocumented immigrants.

As part of Governor Ron DeSantis’ vetoes to the Florida Budget, he eliminated nearly $6 million in state funding for public radio and television stations.

Following an extended Legislative session, Florida’s Senate and House agreed on a budget. Before it became official, Governor Ron DeSantis brought out his red veto pen and made some major changes.

In Florida, and across America, higher education is facing unprecedented attacks — affecting what subjects can be taught, how university presidents can be ousted, whether various institutions will lose federal funding and if diversity and inclusion offices are even allowed to exist.It’s not just a battle. It’s an all-out war against the traditional norms of academia.President Donald Trump’s crusade against Harvard University and other colleges began in January 2025, but in Florida, where Republicans have long had a monopoly on power in a staunchly red state, that same war has already been underway for several years.

As the large commercial trucks roar one after another onto the airfield property in the Everglades where a massive detention camp for immigrants is being built, one State of Florida-contracted company name stands out among them: IRG Global Emergency Management.The company has brought everything from large trailers to golf carts to a command post into the detention camp that Gov. Ron DeSantis has dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” — and maybe even a kitchen sink or two.

Environmental groups say damage from Alligator Alcatraz is already obvious in light pollution and other issues.

In an 11th-hour and unexpected move, DeSantis cut close to $6 million in funding for public radio and television stations across the state.