Staff Reports
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Florida just put a price on black bear lives — five bucks. The same price as a cheap-o locking lid for your trash can, a device that would prevent “nuisance” encounters more effectively than the killing of 187 Florida black bears.
On Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the state’s first black bear hunt in a decade, setting a Dec. 6–28 season in four “bear management units” across 31 counties.
The 187 permits will be issued by lottery — 68 in the East Panhandle, 46 in North Florida, 18 in Central Florida, and 55 in the South — one bear each. Hunters can use archery, bait, firearms, and hounding, the latter described by critics as “a chase to exhaustion” ending with a close-range kill.
FWC leaders say the decision follows the 2019 Florida Black Bear Management Plan and targets areas with the largest bear populations, citing nuisance reports that have tripled since 2016.
Opponents, backed by polling showing more than 80% of Floridians opposed, see déjà vu from the 2015 disaster when hunters hit the quota in two days, killing over 300 bears, including lactating mothers. FWC’s own questionnaire found the hunt equally unpopular among everyday Floridians.
Bear Warriors United has already sued, arguing the FWC shouldn’t have removed the species from the state’s threatened list in the first place.
The new hunt may not be the last either. The agency plans to revisit the hunt each year and launch a private-lands harvest program in 2026 — if the courts and public opinion don’t slam the lid on it first.
Evening Reads
—”Donald Trump is right that D.C. has a serious crime problem” via Charles Fain Lehman of The Atlantic
—”Trump’s military crackdowns are only going to get worse” via Asawin Suebsaeng and Ryan Bort of Rolling Stone
—“The RFK Jr. 2028 talk heats up … and Laura Loomer is involved” via Chris Cillizza of So What
—”RFK Jr. is supporting mRNA research—just not for vaccines” via Emily Mullin of WIRED
—”Florida approves first bear hunt in a decade, defying a surge of opponents” via Stephen Hudak of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
—”How Florida’s new education chief is rattling schools with public threats” via Jeffrey S. Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times
—”Ron DeSantis says Jay Collins has ‘the ingredients’ to become a ‘compelling candidate’” via Mitch Perry of the Florida Phoenix
—”Florida driver’s license change could cause you voting issues.” via Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
—“Your favorite brands are funding anti-abortion legal campaigns” via Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims of Popular Information
—“The Joe Rogan Experience is a mirror for America” via Christian Paz of Vox
Quote of the Day
“This is not just like an opioid. It is an opioid.”
— FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, on Attorney General James Uthmeier’s hydroxymitragynine ban.
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.
The 300-plus Floridians who turned out for the FWC vote didn’t get their way, but they get some Bear Juice for effort.
With Attorney General Uthmeier yoinking bobo buprenorphine from store shelves, Floridians will need to get relief the old-fashioned way: A Painkiller.
Tell the barkeep to prep 21 Quantum Leaps — one for each member of the largest cohort of distinguished Fulbright awardees in Florida Poly history.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
The U.S. Amateur golf championship is underway at The Olympic Club in San Francisco (7 p.m. ET, GOLF Channel).
A pair of Florida amateurs qualified for the event. Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach was selected as the third seed in the match play format, while Boca Raton’s Frankie Harris is the #22 seed.
Russell, 16, was the American Junior Golf Association player of the year in 2023 when he won the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior Players Championship at the age of 14. He also won the 2024 Rolex Tournament of Champions. At the age of 15, he made his first start in a professional tournament. Russell has committed to playing his college golf at Florida State.
Russell’s first-round matchup is against Travis Woolf of Fort Worth, Texas, the #62 seed.
Harris is a senior at the University of South Carolina. He started his college career at Auburn. During his redshirt junior season, Harris earned a spot in the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, marking his third consecutive U.S. Amateur appearance. Last year, he missed the cut during the stroke play round after shooting 77-67 to finish the first two rounds at 2-over par. He also missed the cut the previous year.
The event follows a format that includes 36 holes of stroke play to determine the top 64 players, who then compete in a match play bracket with 18-hole matches until the final 36-hole match to determine the champion.
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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.
