- This is a production of WEDU PS Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- Next on WEDU, the governor suspends another elected state attorney.

Hurricane Ian victims are traumatized again, this time by insurance companies.

The governor fires the top staffer in his presidential campaign.

And to teach or not to teach?

How much Shakespeare to offer in public schools.

All this and more, next on Florida this week.

(opening music) - Welcome back.

On Wednesday, governor Ron DeSantis suspended the Orlando area's elected state attorney.

The governor suspended Monique Worrell, of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which includes Orange and Oceola counties.

The governor accused Worrell of neglect of duty by avoiding charging people with crimes that could result in minimum mandatory sentences, including gun crimes, drug trafficking, and child pornography.

He also said the state attorney's office had a pattern of letting juveniles avoid serious charges or incarceration.

- Prosecutors do have a certain amount of discretion about which cases to bring, and which not.

But what this state attorney has done is abuse that discretion and has effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida.

- Worrell vowed to seek re-election next year, and said a removal was political, and not about her performance.

- I am your duly elected state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and nothing done by a weak dictator can change that.

Elected officials are being taken out of office solely for political purposes, and that should never be a thing.

- [Host] This was the second time DeSantis, a Republican, has removed an elected Democratic state attorney.

Last year, he suspended Hillsborough County's state attorney, Andrew Warren.

- Romy Ellenbogan is a Tallahassee correspondent for the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald, and she's been following the latest developments.

And Romy, nice to see you, thank you for coming on the program.

- Thank you for having me.

- Tell us a little bit more about why the governor took this step.

What does he say?

- Well, the governor is saying that Monique Worrell has been weak on crime, and that though there is prosecutorial discretion, that she's gone too far by avoiding the law, pointing to things like mandatory minimums not being enforced, juveniles not being charged as adults, other things that he generally says contribute to a crime-ridden environment in the area, and that it's a dereliction of duty.

Similarly, you know, when he suspended Warren, he says that these two prosecutors aren't following their duties.

- There's a little bit of difference though.

In this case, the governor has outlined a list of crimes that Worrell apparently has not prosecuted to the degree that the governor wanted them prosecuted.

In the Warren case, it was Warren's position on things like abortion, a statement that Warren signed.

The governor has a list this time, right?

- The two cases are different.

In the Warren Executive order suspending him, it did mention some of how he handled non-violent crimes.

But really what took center stage was that issue of abortion and prosecuting transgender medical care.

Monique Worrell signed that same pledge for transgender medical care, and it's not mentioned at all in the executive order suspending her, it really instead focuses on the charges on the crimes, on the actions of her office, and less so on maybe what she promised to do or not do.

- So what is Worrell's defense?

What does she say in response to the governor's suspension?

- Yeah, similar to Warren, she says that it's political.

I mean, particularly now she said it's because he has a quote failing campaign, and needed to get back in the news in a good way for red meat for his base.

So she said it's all just a ploy and that they've been out to get her, that she never deceived voters about what her intentions were, that she said she would take a different approach and that the governor just doesn't like that, and is removing her for a political reason.

- Did she run as a reformer when she ran for state attorney in Orange and Oceola?

- I didn't pay much attention to her campaign, to be honest, but she said that yes, she always promised she would bring police accountability that she, you know, had known views about this.

I believe she's close to Aramis Ayala as well, known entity in her community in favor of reform.

- And Ayla was the previous state attorney there in Orange and Oceola.

- Yes.

- So what are her options?

What could she do?

To try to, I mean, does she want to get her job back, and what is she saying about that?

- So she said at least that she's gonna keep running for re-election, so the voters could put her back in.

If they do, I don't know what would happen if the governor would allow it or, you know, what would come of that if she's suspended, but she is running for re-election.

She's indicated as well that she would be willing to take it to the courts, but did at her press conference sort of hedge against that by saying, with a Republican legislature, with a, you know, court system that's been heavily influenced by the governor's appointments, it might not be as fair to her as she would like it to be.

- Was she popular when she was elected state attorney?

Did she get a good margin of victory?

- Again, I apologize.

I don't quite know.

- Yeah, but you know, I'm wondering what has been the response, what kind of response is out there?

I mean, are law enforcement groups cheering this?

And what are others saying about it?

- Yeah, well, Republicans, you know, followers of DeSantis have celebrated it.

Law enforcement in the area also celebrated it.

I mean, even recently when there was that shooting where two Orlando cops were shot, that was one of the cases highlighted by the governor.

And after that, the area Police Union really heavily criticized Worrell.

So it's those kind of groups that are happy to see a change.

The sheriffs themselves maybe have not come out and as full throated support as say, (indistinct) did with Warren.

Democrats are lining up behind Worrell, are saying, Hey, this was political.

You can't just thwart the voter's will because of something you would like to do.

- And I wonder how many times, how common is this?

I mean, this governor has removed now two state attorneys, they were elected in their counties.

How common is this for a governor to move in and remove somebody who is elected, who's not been charged with any crime?

- Yeah, DeSantis has now removed, I believe it's 23 people from office.

Other governors remove people as well.

Chris did, Scott did, Bush did.

But that tends to be when someone has committed a crime, when they've been charged with a crime, or in kind of more extreme cases where they were accused of mishandling an election.

That happened under Scott with Brenda Snipes in Broward County.

- Well, Romy Ellenbogan, thanks a lot for coming on Florida this Week.

- Yeah, thank you.

(light music) - Well, it's been almost 11 months since Hurricane Ian devastated large parts of the Southwest Florida coastline and interior.

Yet many homeowners are still struggling to get money from insurance companies to rebuild.

As our next guest reports, since 2021, 9 property insurance companies in Florida have gone insolvent.

One of the latest and largest is UPC, United Property and Casualty.

Because it's out of business, Florida residents will shoulder the burden for the company's collapse.

The state-run Florida Insurance Guarantee Association is stepping in to try to settle 22,000 UPC claims.

It will take more than a year, and probably cost around $600 million.

And joining us now is Breonna Sacks, extreme weather and disaster reporter for the Washington Post, she's been covering the continuing struggles of those recovering from Hurricane Ian, and right now she's in Maui covering that disaster.

And Brianna, welcome to Florida this Week.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- So Brianna, what does UPC going outta business mean for the folks in Florida who were covered by them and went through Hurricane Ian?

- It, for a lot of people, means that their recovery is even more prolonged.

And, a lot of the stories I heard from the last, gosh, seven, eight months, was that they felt completely abandoned and ghosted by their insurance company in the middle of trying to get their claim resolved.

And then the company going under means that the state has to come in and kind of starts the process all over again.

And who knows when they'll be able to get the money they need to rebuild their homes at a time when hurricane seasons already here.

- You previously reported in the Washington Post that one couple was paid only $31,000, on their $130,000 claim from Hurricane Ian, and that's just one story.

There are many stories you've covered for The Post of people getting just small amounts for their hurricane damage.

- Yeah, I think insurance is very complicated and it's difficult to understand, at least, also for me, who has been reporting on this for a long time.

But how these amounts are decided, when the damage seems so catastrophic to a home, and then to get that amount of money and what that actually would go to, it doesn't really make sense.

Especially when people have been paying high premiums for years and they insure their home for, you know, a value that they had imagined they would get back if something were to happen to it.

- UPC, did the state regulators, did they know that UPC was a problem company?

Were they paying attention, and did they warn, or were they aware that it was about to collapse before Ian struck Florida?

- Yes, they had been involved with the company since about 2020 and when their financials really started to deteriorate and they had been having weekly, monthly, check-ins asking them for financial statements.

There had also been reports made by some public adjusters, or independent adjusters and a public holder advocacy group, about concerning behavior with some prior hurricane claims.

So that is the question here is, is that the regulators were involved in some way, but could they have done more, could they have done more earlier, should we, should Florida have more robust regulatory systems in place that would prevent these big companies from collapsing, and leaving homeowners really like, on their own?

- Now, leading up to the collapse of UPC and leaving these 22,000 people kind of suspended, up in the air, their fates up in the air, did the CEO get paid?

Did the shareholders get paid, and what happened to any money that was left over from UPC?

- That's a good question.

I know that other outlets had reported on this as well that, yes, the CEO and executives were still making bonuses and getting paid in dividends up until, I believe, a few months before they went insolvent.

And I think the big question that experts pointed me to was, how was a company that went under, how were those same leaders able to stay in business and rebrand their company, you know, the parent company.

And still operate in Florida and their new rebranded company is doing much better.

Their stock price soared, they got out of property and casualty, or property homeowner, and they're now in commercial.

But I think that it just points to the system in Florida where the executives of these companies are able to still stay in the game and kind of repeat the pattern.

- And could this happen again with other insurance companies?

Is it happening with other insurance companies in Florida?

- Yes, I believe it could happen again.

I know there's a few insurance companies on the watch list for concerns about whether they'll go under.

Reinsurance, I know is a big problem for these insurance companies, it's gotten a lot more expensive.

So, I'm sure that Florida will see another insolvency sooner rather than later.

- Brianna, you're on Maui right now.

We only have about 30 seconds left, but how bad.

What are you seeing there on Maui?

You're the disaster and kind of climate change reporter for the Washington Post.

How bad is it that right there on Maui where you are?

- I just got here.

It, I mean, it's devastating.

I am from California, I grew up evacuating wildfires, and one went through my hometown in 2018.

So, seeing that type of grief and anguish and shock hits home for me.

And it's a really beautiful place that will never be the same, and I think we keep seeing that over and over, you know.

These amazing little historic towns, gems to communities are just wiped out.

- Brianna Sacks, thanks a lot.

Thanks for coming on Florida this Week.

I know you're busy and we really appreciate it.

- Well, thanks for having me.

(light music) - Joining us now on our panel, Tara Newsom is an attorney and a political science professor at St. Petersburg College.

And Ryan Wiggins is the chief of staff for the Lincoln Project.

On Monday, Hillsborough school district officials said that they were limiting instruction of William Shakespeare's works in public schools because of concerns that the barred sexual content might be prohibited under new state law.

Hillsborough School Superintendent Van Ayers says the district has not excluded Shakespeare from high school, but the students will not be taught whole plays, only excerpts.

The full texts will be in the classrooms and can be checked out of the media centers.

Only one other Florida school district has taken the public step of removing Shakespeare because of concerns about complying with the new law on sexual content.

In July, the Orange County School district pulled four Shakespeare plays, along with dozens of other popular and classic books, saying the move was temporary until the state can clarify what can stay.

To add to the confusion, state education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. included Romeo and Juliet on the list of books he recommends students read this month.

Romeo and Juliet has been criticized by some for including a reference to teens having sex before marriage.

And Tara, is this censorship, is it overreaction?

Is it protecting children, or the result of unclear regulations from Tallahassee?

- I think the damage is done.

DeSantis and his appointees and the state legislature created an environment where intellectual freedom, intellectual curiosity is all suppressed.

And so this is what they get, they get a culture of fear, afraid of retribution from the governor.

And I think what we're really starting to see is the watering down of Florida's curriculum and that's making Florida students really not competitive in a world market.

And it's also really showing that the Republicans are steering away from an old pillar of the party, which is local control, because usually these kind of decisions are made on the local level, they're not top down.

- All right, so, according to the US Supreme Court in Connolly versus general construction, 1926 opinion, a law is unconstitutionally vague when people of common intelligence must necessarily guess at the law's meaning.

Are these regulations unconstitutionally vague?

- I think that they're exactly that.

Listen, America's eyes are wide open.

If we can't, on the face of the legislation, if superintendents can't, on the face of what's put in front of them, understand how to communicate to parents and to teachers on whether or not studying Shakespeare is violating the "don't say gay bill", then maybe we shouldn't have those regulations.

But most importantly, we shouldn't have regulations that are suppressing thought, critical thinking, intellectual freedom, and that's exactly what this is doing.

And no matter what the education department says, no matter what DeSantis says, the culture of fear, of trying out different ideas, diversity, is really a problem in Florida, and it's gonna really interfere with innovation and progress.

- Ryan, what's the view out there in Pensacola?

I mean, that's a really conservative district that you're in.

How much fear is there in the Pensacola school district, and what do you think of this move by Hillsborough County?

- Well, I'll tell you, Escambia County has had similar issues where there are entire media centers that are closed right now.

There are libraries that have black tarps over their books.

There are signs and classrooms that say that there, that the parents are gonna have to provide books for their students to read in class, and that they should have to go check them out from the library, or public library, because there is so much concern over, you know, them getting, teachers getting fired, or schools losing, you know, there funding, in the instance that they're breaking this rule.

And let's talk about this rule, right?

So they put this law on the books.

Why did they do it?

For media attention.

They did it so that we would talk about it.

They did it to try to up DeSantis' name ID, it's the same reason they've done all of these culture wars.

But this war on woke is actually a war on parents and their rights to have their children educated.

It's a war on students, it's a war on, you know, my right as a mom to make sure that my kids are getting the education that I want them to get, and the education that my tax dollars are paying for them to get.

So this whole, the Moms for Liberty seem to have gotten control of, you know, the Board of Education in the state.

And what it's doing is it's leading to a board of un-education.

- The governor boasts that this is the free state of Florida.

When the governor goes around Florida and says that, and goes around the country and says that, what are your thoughts?

- There's nothing free about Florida right now.

I mean, you look at families who are leaving Florida right now because they don't feel safe.

They don't feel like their children who may be gay, or transgender will will be, you know, hurt, actually physically harmed, in this state.

And so you have families who are leaving.

You have people in the Jewish community who are leaving, because they're scared because Ron DeSantis has yet to say a thing about the antisemitism that we're seeing all over the state run rampant.

And so I don't think that that's a sign of a free state when you have people who are in fear to just live their lives.

And that is exactly what you're seeing here, is that people are in fear to just, to just read!

I mean listen, I think I stand with most moms in this entire country who say, "You know what, if my kid will read, I don't care what he reads, I want him to read."

And to restricts books because they have sex in them?

Sex is part of life, and especially in high school, these kids are experiencing that.

And any kid with the internet, has access to any of this.

This is all culture wars and it's all just for politics, and it's really, really sad, 'cause it is dumbing down of our state and of our students.

- Okay, well Governor DeSantis fired his veteran campaign manager, Jenera Peck this week.

Peck had been with DeSantis since his second run for governor and through the early part of his presidential campaign.

She was replaced by James Uthmeier the governor's longtime chief of staff.

It's the latest move in a month long shakeup of his struggling campaign.

DeSantis trails Donald Trump in most public polling, and he's already laid off 40% of his initial campaign staff, in an attempt to cut costs.

This week, DeSantis put out a new campaign ad.

- [Voiceover] When our country was under attack.

Ron DeSantis fought back, he joined the Navy, became a JAG officer, volunteered to serve in Iraq, deployed with Navy Seal Team one, and earned a Bronze star.

Ron DeSantis embodies service over self.

And as the father of three young children, he understands the importance of the fights ahead, and why we must never back down.

Ron DeSantis, the fighter we need as president.

- [Host] The Lincoln Project founded by moderate Republicans, put out a video this week, depicting DeSantis as an angry, uncomfortable candidate.

- [Voiceover] Presidential charm.

The DeSantis method.

When interacting with the public, be sure to turn on the charm.

- Stop coming up to me and talking to me.

What are you talking about?

I'm not here to talk with people.

Are you fine?

- [Voiceover] Friendly.

- What is that?

Hi-Ci?

Yeah, that's probably a lot of sugar, huh?

- [Voiceover] Fun.

- I'm here.

I don't know if the other one.

- I'm just kidding.

I'm not (indistinct).

- Okay.

All right.

Yeah, it's good.

It's good.

All right.

We'll say hi to everyone.

- [Voiceover] When interacting with the media.

It's important to be polite and congenial.

- How would they know me?

Okay, think about that.

Do you honestly believe that's credible?

- [Voicemail] Strong.

- You better ask an on-topic question, 'cause I'm not answering anything that's not about the economy.

- [Voiceover] Confident.

- I'm sick of the judgment, the judgmental stuff.

- [Voiceover] It's important to be prepared for any situation that might come up on the campaign trail.

Even a runny nose.

Yum.

- Ryan, the governor's following the latest, one of the latest Republican polls shows him third place, in third place nationwide.

What can DeSantis do to turn things around?

- He can't.

He can't.

You know, it's, it's funny, we talk about this a lot inside the Lincoln Project.

What happens when the dog catches the car?

DeSantis has caught the car.

He got every single thing he possibly could have wanted out of session this year, the legislature laid down and gave him every single thing he wanted.

And guess what?

America doesn't want to be Florida.

America is not interested in fascism, and in his attempts to silence people who are his enemies.

And that's what you're seeing, is you're seeing that they would prefer Donald Trump to Ron DeSantis.

Think about that.

I mean, this guy is under indictment all over the place for all sorts of things.

And they still like him better than Ron DeSantis.

There is no path for DeSantis, there hasn't been a path for DeSantis.

And this relaunch of his campaign was about as successful as the original launch of his campaign.

It's a flop.

- Tara, that new ad, the governor says the phrase, "service over self".

What do you think of the governor's new campaign ad?

- I think he's bastardizing a principle that many of us who are in education, in service, in healthcare, anytime we serve the public, we give ourselves before others.

And I think that I agree with Ryan entirely, there's no remaking or rebooting or reloading his message.

He is his policies, he is who he is.

And, you know, a twice impeached, three time indicted, out on bail, Donald Trump, is polling 25 to 30% higher than him.

That is what America thinks of his gaslighting of others before self.

His policies and his behavior speaks for itself.

- All right, well before we go, what other news stories should we be paying attention to?

Tara, your other big story?

- I think the big story that we really need to be paying attention to is what happened in Ohio.

Ohio joined Kansas and Kentucky in pushing it against women's healthcare, and it was in a large percentage, over 60% of voters came out in support of pushing back against draconian measures on women's healthcare.

And that's not just women that had, that was men, that was diverse individuals from economic and educational backgrounds that are coming out in mass.

And I think those are the people that we need to watch for the 2024 primaries as well as the general election.

- All right.

Ryan, you're other big story of the week.

- Well, first of all, I agree with her.

I think that was a huge story this week.

My big story is the one that everyone's following, it's mugshot gate next week, you know, the Georgia courts are supposed to come back and indict Donald Trump.

The sheriff there has already said he will not get any special treatment.

They're going to post mugshots, they're going to fingerprint him, they're gonna walk him just like they would anybody else.

And I think that that's very, very interesting on the back of the other two indictments that he also has going on right now.

And I think that it's gonna be really interesting to watch and see how he handles this, considering there is a judge in DC who's ready to put him in jail if he, and has said, has told him that.

If he starts talking about these cases or 1/6 or any of this stuff.

So I think it's gonna be very, very, very interesting in the next couple weeks if he can show willpower and restraint, which we have not seen thus far.

And to see, you know, what happens in Georgia, and then what happens in DC with this judge.

- Ryan Wiggins.

Tara Newsom, thanks a lot for doing the program.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thanks.

- And thank you for joining us.

Send us your comments at ftw@wedu.org, and please like us on Facebook.

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And from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

(peppy music) - [Voiceover] Florida this Week is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.