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☆ A Florida parent tried to get Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem banned from school — and confused her with Oprah
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A Florida parent tried to get Amanda Gorman's poetry banned, complaining it could "indoctrinate students." Gorman said she is "gutted," but the school told Insider the poem isn't bannedGorman slammed the situation on Twitter, repeating claims that the school banned the book. "Because of one parent's complaint, my inaugural poem, 'The Hill We Climb,' has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County." The organization, along with Penguin Randomhouse, filed a lawsuit against a Florida school district over the book bans, the Miami Herald reported. "I wrote 'The Hill We Climb' to that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein reportedly threatened Bill Gates with knowledge of the Microsoft billionaire's affair with a Russian bridge player
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bill Gates had an affair with a Russian bridge player around 2010, The Wall Street Journal reports. The woman later met Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 and he paid for her to attend a coding camp, per WSJ. Epstein reportedly asked Gates to repay him for the camp in 2017, implying he would expose the affair. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates had an affair around 2010, The Wall Street Journal reports, and knowledge of the relationship was used by Jeffrey Epstein in a seemingly threatening email to Gates in 2017. "Mr. Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes," a spokeswoman for Gates told the Journal.

☆ U.S.-Made Technology Is Flowing to Sanctioned Russian Airlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Ana Swanson | Niraj Chokshi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The shipments also increased over the course of last year as Russia recruited global businesses to help it bypass the sanctions. The men are accused of fielding requests for parts, including expensive brake systems for a Boeing 737, from at least three Russian airlines, including two that had been strictly barred from purchasing U.S.-made products through a so-called temporary denial order issued by the Commerce Department. Despite the level of sanctions evasion, airplane shipments into Russia remain significantly lower than before the war. U.S. officials say Russian airlines have been forced to cannibalize planes, breaking them down for spare parts to keep others in operation, as well as turning to Iran for maintenance and parts. Russia’s imports of aircraft and aircraft parts fell from $3.45 billion annually before the invasion to only about $286 million afterward, according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity, a data visualization platform that explores global trade dynamics.

☆ Video shows a 5-foot-long alligator wandering Florida's sewers. Workers initially thought it was a toad.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An alligator was spotted in the underground sewage system in Oviedo, Florida last week, officials said. Footage taken by a robot inspecting pipes shows the 5-foot-long alligator perching in sewage. Officials said that the alligator got away after the robot got stuck. However this time around, the robot stumbled upon a 5-foot alligator lingering in the sewage water of one of the pipes. As the robot moves within snapping distance, the alligator starts to back away with its mouth open.

☆ The 'brain' behind Ron DeSantis' likely presidential campaign was involved in a major 'ghost candidate' scandal in Florida: 'If it's not illegal, it should be'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Florida pollster Ryan Tyson is expected to be a top advisor in Ron DeSantis' presidential bid. Ron DeSantis' presumptive presidential bid, was deeply enmeshed in a major Florida political-corruption scandal that has resulted in criminal charges for five people, two of whom have been convicted. At the center of the scandal are "ghost candidates" — those drafted to run purely to siphon votes from an opposing party in close races. It's not illegal to run ghost candidates, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, a Democrat, said at a news conference in 2021 after two people were arrested on campaign-finance charges in connection with the scheme. Tyson is "Ron DeSantis' brain," Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics, said.

☆ Florida lawmakers just passed a bill for DeSantis to remain governor while running for president
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Republicans in Florida are changing the law so DeSantis can run for president and keep his job. The Trump campaign accused DeSantis of violating the law, even though he hasn't made a bid official. "If an individual who is Florida governor is running for president, I think he should be allowed to do it," Passidomo told reporters at the time. Hutson disagreed that with the assessment that DeSantis wouldn't be able to both operate as governor and run for president. April 25, 2023: This story has been updated with a comment from the Trump campaign.

☆ Criminals are buying guns in US states with loose gun laws and then smuggling them to Haiti, UN says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Criminals are using lax gun laws in the United States, specifically in Florida, to traffic guns to Haiti. A UN report found that the United States is the "principal source" for guns and munitions in Haiti. "Weapons are frequently procured through straw man purchases in US states with looser gun laws and fewer purchasing restrictions." Handguns that sell for $400 to $500 in the United States can be resold for up to $10,000 in Haiti, according to the report. Florida recently became the 26th state in the United States to legalize permitless concealed carry.

☆ As Trump attacks DeSantis over his travel, Florida allies prepare to change the law so the governor can stay in his role while running for president
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Republicans in Florida want to change the law so DeSantis can run for president and keep his job. The so-called "Resign to Run" law has been changed for candidates before. The Trump campaign accused DeSantis of violating the law, even though he hasn't made a bid official. "If an individual who is Florida governor is running for president, I think he should be allowed to do it," Passidomo told reporters at the time. April 25, 2023: This story has been updated with a comment from the Trump campaign.

☆ Donald Trump Sides With Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Review & Outlook: What started as a row over parental rights legislation has resulted in the Walt Disney Company losing special privileges in Florida—and serves as a wake-up call for other CEOs. Images: Reuters/AP/Miami Herald Composite: Mark KellyThe only thing Democrats enjoy watching more than Ron DeSantis ’s escalating tiff with Disney is the daily Donald Trump show. In Tuesday’s double feature, the former President sided with the woke Mickey Mouse to score points over the Florida Governor. “Disney’s next move will be the announcement that no more money will be invested in Florida because of the Governor,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In fact, they could even announce a slow withdrawal or sale of certain properties, or the whole thing.

☆ Inside Disney it's 'Revenge of the Creatives' and 'Shields Up!' against outside foes as returned CEO Bob Iger is taking no prisoners
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Since returning as Disney CEO, Bob Iger has vanquished foes and dumped many of predecessor Bob Chapek's hires. But it's a supercharged Bob Iger who is really taking command. "If I'm inside Bob's head coming back, after the downfall of Bob Chapek, this is all about taking no prisoners," said Will Schutte, a high-level executive coach. Disney World is scheduled to host a major conference on gay rights in September, according to the Miami Herald. Even if he wants to be the Bob Iger of old he can't be.

☆ Florida aquarium to release orca after more than 50 years in captivity
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Tyler Clifford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A killer whale jumps out of the water in the sea near Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan, July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonMarch 30 (Reuters) - A Florida aquarium has reached a deal with animal welfare advocates to release Lolita, a 5,000-pound (2,268 kg) killer whale held in captivity for more than half a century, officials said on Thursday. The plan to return Lolita to her natural habitat requires federal approval, according to the newspaper. The Seaquarium's previous owner, SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (SEAS.N), phased out killer whale shows in 2016. Killer whales are highly social mammals that have no natural predators and can up to 80 years.

☆ Ron DeSantis will spend up to $4 billion on school vouchers for Florida families to challenge 'woke' public schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ron DeSantis is waging a war against 'woke' public schools. On Monday, the governor signed universal school vouchers into law, which both conservatives and liberals expect to hurt public schools. Public school enrollment has only dropped a few percentage points, from 89.6% to 87.2%, since Republican Gov. Now, however, DeSantis' move to broaden the voucher program to all Florida families could meaningfully threaten funding for public schools. Spar fears universal vouchers "will literally siphon money away" from public schools because it's all under the same education budget.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein: JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank ordered to face lawsuits over ties to financier
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank must face lawsuits that accuse them of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, a US judge said Monday. Rakoff’s decision gives the plaintiffs a chance to prove another claim: that JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank (DB)knowingly benefited from involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking. JPMorgan spokeswoman Trish Wexler and Deutsche Bank spokesman Dylan Riddle declined to comment on Rakoff’s ruling. ‘Landmark decision’Epstein had been a client of JPMorgan from 2000 to 2013, and Deutsche Bank from 2013 to 2018. In the Deutsche Bank case, the plaintiff, also known as Jane Doe 1, said Epstein sexually abused her from 2003 to 2018.

☆ DeSantis administration sent undercover agents to an Orlando drag show and they found nothing wrong with it. The state is still trying to punish the venue.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Undercover agents were sent by the DeSantis administration to spy on a drag show, the Miami Herald reported. Still, Florida is moving ahead with a complaint against the venue to strip its liquor license. Ron DeSantis to spy on an Orlando drag show — and they found nothing "lewd" about it, according to the Miami Herald. A Florida drag queen told Insider before the Miami Herald report was published that they were concerned about rumors of undercover state agents showing up at performances. The DeSantis administration recently targeted the Hyatt Regency Miami after one of its facilities hosted "A Drag Queen Christmas" with minors present in the audience.

☆ Jeffrey Epstein said he stopped hanging out with Trump 'when he realized Trump was a crook,' according to his brother
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jeffrey Epstein hinted at his fallout with Donald Trump in an unaired interview, according to his brother. "He stopped hanging out with Trump when he realized Trump was a crook," Mark Epstein told Insider. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were friends for years, and the nature of their fallout remains hazy. "And in that interview, Jeffrey said he stopped hanging out with Trump when he realized Trump was a crook." Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on sex-trafficking charges and died in jail several weeks later while awaiting trial.

☆ The Justice Department investigated Jeffrey Epstein's death. Then it went silent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Jeffrey Epstein's death in a federal jail was seen as a shocking Justice Department failure. But more than three years later, the office still hasn't released its report into the circumstances of Epstein's death. "We all took it by surprise," Mark Epstein told Insider. Barr tasked the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, and the FBI with investigating "the circumstances of Mr. Epstein's death." Mark Epstein told Insider that he spoke to his brother about once a month in the years before his death.

☆ Jeff Koons 'balloon dog' sculpture valued at over $40,000 accidentally shattered at Miami art festival, and one collector wants to buy the pieces
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A balloon dog sculpture from artist Jeff Koons was accidentally broken at an art festival in Miami. One collector told The Miami Herald and NPR that he is interested in buying the pieces, as its breaking is part of the sculpture's story. Gamson posted pictures and videos of the broken sculpture to his Instagram, capturing the immediate aftermath as the crowd formed and the shattered statue was cleaned up. He can be heard mentioning something about wanting to buy the shattered pieces in one of the videos, and Gamson told NPR this week that he is still interested in buying the pieces. "I find value in it even when it's broken," Gamson told the Herald.

☆ Florida state officials are weighing 'classical and Christian' alternative to the SAT: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Florida officials have been holding talks to use the CLT as an alternative to the SAT, per the Miami Herald. Tate told the newspaper that the SAT had become "increasingly ideological" partly because it had "censored the entire Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition." Florida Department of Education Senior Chancellor Henry Mack on Thursday expressed interest in using the Classic Learning Test. "As you know the State University System is the largest university system in the country that still requires an entrance exam as part of our admissions process. Tate told the Herald that conservatives may prefer the CLT, but he didn't want the assessment to become ideological.

☆ Jeff Koons 'balloon dog' sculpture valued at over $40,000 accidentally shattered at Miami art festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A balloon dog sculpture from artist Jeff Koons was accidentally broken at an art festival in Miami. A woman attending the event allegedly tapped the sculpture, and it fell off its stand. The incident will be forgiven as the work was insured, an art advisor told the Miami Herald. The small glass sculpture, valued at $42,000, was on display during a VIP preview event for Art Wynwood when it was broken Thursday evening, according to the Miami Herald. "I find value in it even when it's broken," Gamson told the Herald.

Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents arrested and charged four suspects in Florida for alleged roles in the plot that led to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, authorities said on Tuesday. A person holds a photo of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot dead earlier this month, during his funeral at his family home in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, July 23, 2021. Veintemilla, a U.S. citizen, lent over $170,000 to CTU Security to finance their operations in Haiti, officials added. The arrests and charges were reported earlier on Tuesday by the Miami Herald and the New York Times. The resulting violence has left much of the country off-limits to the government and led to routine gun battles with police.

☆ A Floridian is leaving for Portugal because he said pollution, traffic, and overcrowding have turned his home of 20 years into a rotten paradise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Victor Zubriski, 74, is leaving the Boca Raton area after 20 years and moving to Portugal. According to Redfin, the median sale price in Boca Raton is $585,000, an increase of nearly 17% from this time last year. The median rent in Boca Raton has increased $339 from the same time last year to a median of $3,675, according to Zillow. That's 75% higher than the national median rent of $2,097. Miami Herald/Getty Images"The essential factor down here in Boca Raton is overcrowding," he said.

☆ Prince Andrew wants to overturn his multi-million settlement with Virginia Giuffre. Experts say it's a 'foolhardy effort.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Ashley Collman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Prince Andrew wants to overturn his settlement with Virginia Giuffre, according to news reports. Giuffre claims Epstein sex-trafficked her to Andrew when she was 17 years old. Representatives for the prince and Giuffre did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment on Wednesday. Overall, Filitti described the idea of trying to overturn the settlement as a "foolhardy effort." "If Prince Andrew wants to rehabilitate his image, perhaps he should do so in a way that doesn't remind the public about the seamier aspects of his private life," Filitti said.

☆ Ron DeSantis just notched a win in court. But the judge says he still violated a prosecutor’s free speech rights.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +15 min

In a statement posted on Twitter, DeSantis' office lauded the ruling without addressing those nuances. By suspending Warren, DeSantis also elevated the Democrat’s political profile in his own party. And no one in Hillsborough County was charged with violating that state law when Warren was the county prosecutor. Court testimony from DeSantis administration officials showed that the abortion letter was the major cause of Warren's suspension. Abortion was the only issue mentioned in the first draft of DeSantis' suspension order.

☆ A mysterious 'Doe 183' is trying to keep Jeffrey Epstein documents under seal. Could it be Les Wexner?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"In the court's view, there's no reason to redact Doe 183 from the documents." And when Insider asked that lawyer about his work for Doe 183, a representative for Wexner responded, declining to comment. But if Doe 183 wins their fight to keep the documents redacted, their name and the context surrounding it would remain behind those blacked-out lines. While he never identified himself verbally, the transcript's cover sheet identifies him as an attorney representing Doe 183. Of those 21 documents, there are seven docket entries where Doe 183 is the sole Doe mentioned.

☆ DeSantis casts himself as a national leader at his inauguration amid 2024 speculation, promising Florida will 'carry the torch' of freedom and fight 'woke'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Florida Gov. The Florida inauguration offered a split screen from the national conversation back in Washington, DC, where Republicans performed poorly in the midterms. Florida Gov. Zackary Atkins hangs a street sign with the name of Florida Gov. Retired broadcaster Gene Deckerhoff, who was the voice of the Florida State Seminoles for 43 years, was the MC for the event.

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