Staff Reports
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Central Florida homeless advocates say a new law is making it harder to understand the gravity of the homeless situation while they also grapple with public outcry over building a new shelter in Orlando.
In 2024, the Legislature passed a measure (HB 1365) banning cities and communities from allowing people to camp or sleep in public places.
“Based on what we’ve already seen, people are definitely hiding more,” said community leader Martha Are during a League of Women Voters of Orange County meeting. “People are less visible. The numbers are not necessarily going down, but if you can’t find people when you’re doing the counts, then it can appear that the numbers have gone down.”
Are is the CEO of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness and the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who pushed for the ban that went into effect in January, said, “It’s not criminalizing homelessness. What they’re saying is you don’t have a right to just sleep in front of somebody’s business or you don’t have a right to just take over a street and put an encampment down.”
Critics call it an unfunded mandate and say it doesn’t solve the root of the homelessness dilemma.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—“15 lessons scientists learned about us when the world stood still” via Claire Cain Miller and Irineo Cabreros of The New York Times
—“Judge orders Donald Trump officials to offer jobs back to fired probationary workers” via Salvador Rizzo of The Washington Post
—“‘We hear you, Mr. President’: The world lines up to buy American gas” via Max Bearak, Rebecca F. Elliott and Brad Plumer of The New York Times
—“Should Democrats let the government shut down?” via Christian Paz of Vox
—“Gutting the Department of Education is as cruel as it is stupid” via Nikki McCann Ramirez and Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone
—“Elon Musk looks desperate” via Charlie Wiezel of The Atlantic
—“Trump ramps up E.U. trade war with tariff threat on champagne, wine” via Kim Mackrael, Gavin Bade and Anthony DeBarros of The Wall Street Journal
—“Trump travel ban: ‘no exceptions’ for Cubans, Venezuelans. Other islands may join Haiti on list” via Nora Gamez Torres and Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald
—“Florida vaccine skeptic out as proposed CDC director amid measles outbreak” via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel
—“Tampa Bay Rays won’t move forward with stadium deal” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics
Quote of the Day
“They can’t even find enough to arrest me just ran their mouth like circus clowns”
— Andrew Tate, taunting the Governor and Attorney General.
Put it on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
Pour Dave Weldon a Better Luck Tomorrow now that he’s officially out of the running for CDC director.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds gets a Turning Point for landing an endorsement from Charlie Kirk.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Selection Sunday approaches this weekend.
The field for the NCAA Tournament will be set and college basketball fans can begin filling out their brackets after the announcement on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, CBS).
Of the 68 spots in the field, 31 will come from automatic bids awarded to conference tournament champions. The other 37 spots will be assigned by the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee, whose task is to identify the best teams in the country, seed them, and place them in their regions.
The Florida Gators could earn a #1 seed after a remarkable campaign. Florida (27-4 in the regular season) finished second in the Southeastern Conference standings behind another probably top seed, Auburn. Any wins in the SEC tournament by Florida can only help their cause. The Gators will play the winner of Thursday’s Mississippi State-Missouri game in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Other candidates for #1 seeds include Duke, Houston, Alabama and Tennessee, although it would be surprising for any conference to be awarded three #1 seeds. It happened in 2019 when Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina were all #1 seeds from the ACC.
Three of college basketball’s blue bloods have struggled and could be on the bubble. ESPN’s Bracketology lists North Carolina as the last team in. Two-time defending national champions Connecticut will likely make it in but are projected as an eight-seed. Kansas will almost certainly make the tournament but will likely have the program’s lowest seed since 2000. The Jayhawks have been a four-seed or better in the last 23 tournaments. They are projected as a six-seed.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
