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

Coming up, built in just over a week, the operating price tag of $450 million, and state lawmakers turned away at the gate.

It's Alligator Alcatraz, Florida's detention center in the Everglades, at the epicenter of the political debate on immigration enforcement.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cut nearly $6 million for public radio and television stations.

So where does the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network and its alert system stand?

And what Bay area schools are making the grade?

The answer from the Florida Department of Education.

These stories and more are next on Florida This Week.

[upbeat music] Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Lissette Campos.

Joining our panel this week, we welcome Patrick Manteiga, editor and publisher of La Gaceta and a Democrat, Kathryn Varn, reporter for Axios Tampa Bay.

Aakash Patel, CEO of Elevate Inc. and a Republican.

And Justin Garcia, a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times.

Thank you all for joining us.

We begin today's program with much of the national debate on immigration enforcement and politics.

It continues to center in South Florida.

A newly built migrant detention center deep in the Florida Everglades is drawing intense backlash.

Nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz, a state run facility began housing detainees earlier this month.

But serious concerns are growing.

Family members of detainees alleged inhumane conditions, reporting overcrowding, lack of food and water, inadequate medical care, and denial of religious rights.

Meanwhile, several immigration attorneys say they've been blocked from meeting with their clients.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management oversees the facility and calls the claims false and politically motivated.

The center is also facing legal and financial questions, funded with $450 million from state coffers, not federal money.

Governor Ron DeSantis and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem say the state plans to seek reimbursement through FEMA's Shelter and Services program, despite the controversy.

State officials maintain the facility is essential to handling a growing population of undocumented migrants.

And there are so many layers to this.

There's the immigration, there's the legal, there's the humane treatment, there's the environment.

Patrick, I'd like to start with you and how you see all of this developing?

Well, you know, I guess I want to peel back is is the fact that, you know, we just spent $450 million.

The governor did it saying it was an emergency.

He did it without any oversight.

This is no bid contracts.

The land was seized and there was no permits here.

There was no inspections.

We have put in basically a put together city portable generators, portable water systems, portable sewage systems and and of course, there's no amenities around to support it.

There's inadequate fire rescue nearby.

There's inadequate hospitals nearby.

And so we're putting 3000 people in the middle of nowhere at a very high price to Florida taxpayers.

And we had a session so we could have discussed this with our legislators.

He could have worked with more people to try and get this done and get it approved.

When you start to look at $450 million, I did the math the other day we could give we could pay for 49,000 Floridians to be on Medicare for one year for that kind of money, and 450 million is just for one year.

That's all it covers.

You bring up the point of he, the governor, has created this center with very little oversight.

And yet the Florida Division of Emergency Management is the organization that's overseeing this, that say that they're responsible for this.

Aakash, what is the information that you think is important for the public to know about this?

I think this was the president and most Americans know the president ran on getting illegal, illegal citizens deported.

And there was someone that says, hey, we could do this.

And the governor raised his hand and said, we got a spot in Florida.

They did this in ten days.

Like Patrick mentioned, it was very quick.

And FEMA and the director, Kevin Guthrie, said, we can do it.

We can manage it.

Your segment mentioned that we can get reimbursed for those $450 million.

So maybe that's going to happen.

Maybe it's not.

But that's still I think it was it was a chance for Florida to shine.

And we did it.

And we did it quickly.

And just like the president asked Kathryn.

Your views.

You know, I think there's so many, like you said, so many layers.

And along with the fiscal issues that, um, that Patrick raised and that, uh, you know, putting it together quickly, you know, there's environmental concerns that's been a big criticism that's come out, um, that this is very environmentally sensitive land right in the middle of the Everglades and Big Cypress, um, uh, national preserve.

And there's, uh, there's, you know, obvious to human rights issues that are coming out of this.

Um, you know, the Miami Herald had some great reporting recently about, you know, what we're hearing from the first detainees, um, you know, that their food had worms in it or, you know, there's at one point it was the AC was pumping and it was freezing.

And then at another point the AC broke and it was really hot.

And, you know, people.

Read when people read that, that the food had worms in it.

I mean, you can't there are people who say they find that very hard to believe that a facility run by anyone in the United States would allow food to be served up with worms.

Well, I think if you've been covering the carceral system and granted, this is not a prison.

It's, you know, a detainment facility for immigration violations.

But if you've been covering prisons in any capacity, you know, you know, facilities that house a lot of people at once.

Um, you know, it's really not that hard to believe.

Um, there's there's frequently, you know, issues with food, with access to attorneys, with, um, you know, having to pay for phone calls to talk to your loved ones and things like that.

And it's worth noting, too, that Florida's prison system remains in in shambles.

I mean, it is a mess.

There are facilities that are crumbling, that are really old and need some, you know, need some, uh, you know, renovations at the very least.

There was an audit done last year that called for, you know, that Florida needs new prisons, um, to, to support the incarcerated population.

And, um, and they can't hire enough, um, prison guards to work at these facilities.

So the Florida National Guard has been deployed at prisons for years now.

And that's the same group that has also been deployed, I believe, to do some of the, um, you know, guard work at, at Alligator Alcatraz.

So, you know, we already have all of these facilities housing a lot of people that, um, that aren't doing too hot, a lot of them also, most of the prisons are not air conditioned.

And so, um, people who are incarcerated are living in unair conditioned facilities in Florida summer.

I mean, imagine that, you know, so, um, there's a lot of questions about, you know, human rights.

Justin, how do you see this?

Yeah, so I've spent a lot of my career honing in and focusing on the judicial system, the carceral system in Florida.

And I think what people maybe aren't looking closely enough at is that usually there is a process, and that that process is meant to be followed in a way that gives people opportunities to advocate for their rights.

Right, and what we're seeing is a large absence of that in this scenario.

We're seeing that, as was mentioned, like immigration attorneys can't even get in to talk to their clients.

Lawmakers can't go in to see what the facility conditions are actually like.

Like if you're going to talk about the back and forth about the worms and the cans of food, why not let the lawmakers in?

Why not have transparency?

Why not let the lawyers come in and and inspect the conditions?

Why not let them talk to their clients who we have this tendency a lot of times to be like, well, they got arrested.

They're criminals.

They committed a crime.

We don't know that yet.

That's how our system works.

You don't know until they have a day in court.

None of these people have had their day in court, and now they're talking about deputizing people who may not be qualified to be their judges, who are not actual judges.

And that creates all kinds of other implications in the legal system.

And let's go back to that, that those images, right, of the state representatives and the senators who went to the gate and tried to get in.

There are those who say that you have several politicians who are trying to take advantage of the situation to bring attention to themselves, rather than the process.

And there's been when you look at the statute, the statute does say that it's a Department of Corrections facility that legislators can go at any time, right at their pleasure.

This is not a Department of Correctional Corrections run facility.

Well, the people I saw taking advantage of the publicity was the governor and the president.

I mean, those were the ones that were there, and they were the ones smiling at the camera.

So, you know, a few Democrats want to get in and check it.

It seems like that's reasonable, considering it's $450 million of my money and your money and everybody else's money that's spending for this.

Um, you know, the other thing that we have to think about here is, is that, you know, if we have a hurricane down south, they can't leave those people in a tent.

They're going to have to evacuate them.

Um, when you house 3000 people and and tents, you would have to have in most counties, you'd have to have some sort of fire suppression system.

We don't have that.

You'd have to have certain standards for kitchens that they don't have there.

Like I said, this is just been thrown together.

And the Florida Division of Emergency Management say that it's a work in progress.

Aakash, we're going to say something before we go.

It is a work in progress, and I think they are going to let the attorneys visit, but they're going to be set up time and structure.

They haven't had that yet.

And the Democratic legislators that went and waived the cameras or some of them are from this area.

They're all looking for attention.

And there's probably a time where they can come visit too.

Why can't they get attention if the governor does?

Well, that's what's wrong with that.

I think they schedule it.

I think that's just the process of scheduling.

I'm sorry.

We have to schedule like they do when they inspect all the buildings they schedule and say, clean it up before you get here.

And for it being a work in progress.

I mean, it's a heck of a time to have a work in progress facility with 3000 people in it.

When we're approaching the peak of hurricane season, and we did get a look at how it fares in bad weather, because when the president was in town, there was a pretty bad thunderstorm that came through and water was already seeping into the facility.

And I know the Department of Emergency Management has said that's been addressed, and they've tightened the tents.

But we've all lived through hurricanes in our, you know, comfortable homes and seen how, you know, scary that can be.

So, you know, there's still a lot of questions there.

Anytime there's a lack of transparency in any government run institution, you're going to allow those questions to be raised and linger.

If you have transparency and you can show very clearly this is actually not happening.

What you're what you're saying, then you're able to squash that.

So why not have the transparency?

That's always the question in the back of my mind as a journalist.

Transparency.

Transparency.

Transparency.

Certainly.

You know, we welcome all the voices that are here and looking at the different aspects of this Alligator Alcatraz.

That doesn't seem like it's going away anytime soon.

We're going to move on to our next story.

Many Floridians are feeling extra nervous about hurricane season with the tragedy going on in Texas.

Eyes are on the ongoing recovery efforts from the deadly flooding there.

The death toll in Texas has surpassed 100 victims, including 30 children.

Officials continue to warn the public that the death toll is expected to rise as more people in the area are reported missing.

And there are questions if the emergency alert system used in the overnight hours of the flash flooding were enough in our state, the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, also known as FPREN, is the alert system used in times of crisis.

The weight of the governor's veto pen is coming down on public broadcasting this week.

Governor Ron DeSantis cutting nearly $6 million for public radio and television stations across Florida.

In session, the state legislature approved approximately $370,000 for each television station and $100,000 for each radio station.

The governor kept in place funding for the Florida Channel and the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, also known as FPREN, in times of hurricanes and other emergencies.

FPREN and public broadcasting stations like WEDU do not go off the air.

The content is focused on information from first responders and emergency managers.

The broadcasters that stand to see the biggest impact from the state.

Funding cuts are small television stations, who rely on the state for as much as 35% of their budget.

Paul Grove, president and CEO of WEDU, had this to say.

We were very surprised that governor DeSantis decided to veto us in the 11th hour.

Uh, the most important thing was we were put in his budget originally.

So when we did hear about the veto, we were very surprised.

WEDU and Florida PBS stations across the state are saving lives through our technology, and that is hinged on the money we receive from government that allows us to bring even more dollars in for WEDU voluntarily.

FPREN and the Florida Storms app is something that we have talked about at the start, starting, you know, June 1st with the start of the new hurricane season and the fact that that provides you with the weather alerts that are specific to the zip code, the county that you put into the app.

Um, when you look at this lack of funding, this cut, this line item, um, I'm interested to see how do you all feel about this?

Kathryn, I'll start with you.

I mean, I think one of the most important points is that this is going to affect small TV stations, which typically are in more rural areas of the state.

Um, we're in a local news crisis.

We have been for a long time now.

Um.

And when you say local news crisis, explain to viewers what that is.

Sure.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, we're seeing cuts to local.

We've been seeing cuts to local news, um, all over the place.

I mean, everywhere from large newspapers and large news outlets, you know, down to to some, you know, some smaller newspapers and TV stations have closed altogether.

Um, and so, you know, it's it's there's a lot of reasons for it.

A lot of it comes from, you know, the internet coming along and there not being a surefire way to monetize local news online.

Um, and so, you know, a lot of these smaller markets have, you know, depend on, um, you know, the few outlets they have like these small, you know, public media, TV stations.

Radio stations or the television stations.

And I mean, even like, look at, you know, WSF, I know they cover you know, they cover Tampa and St. Pete, of course, but then they also cover some of the outlying counties, like Citrus County or Polk County, that don't have as robust of a local media ecosystem as we do here.

And we're very lucky to have the Times and La Gaceta and and Axios, if I may say so myself.

Um, and you know, but a lot of markets don't have that.

And so I worry for those residents who not only are, you know, yes, the public radio network emergency Network will still be there, but you need journalists behind the scenes, you know, following, following weather reports, being out in the field and all of that.

And so I worry for those those markets, not only for their emergency, you know, resources, but also just who's going to keep an eye on their city hall, who's going to keep an eye on, on, you know, local officials that are spending their taxpayer money, you know.

So I think that's it's it's unfortunate.

And logistically speaking, you know, during moments of crisis, during hurricane coverage, the reporters are carrying the message of first responders, of emergency managers relaying that message.

Aakash, I'd like to, you know, ask you a lot of even Republicans have been surprised that the governor would make this decision.

Well, for viewers, I mean, this is not uncommon where the governor has something in the budget that it passes that he vetoes it.

It happens a lot.

Happened a lot to the stuff that we were supporting for the Hillsborough Community College and the other boards that I'm on.

But it's it's frustrating for sure.

But I would say sessions back again next year early.

It starts in January.

This session was frustrating for a lot of people.

For a lot of reasons.

You have over 160 days for a 60 day session, so I think it got caught in the political scheme, to be honest with you, between what was going on between the Speaker and the Senate president, and the governor... and, and, it happened a lot of issues across the aisle, both sides.

So I would I would hope that next year that they realize and double up.

Patrick.

Your thoughts?

Well, the governor's vetoes this time seemed to be very quick and without a whole lot of discussion back and forth.

Normally the the budget cycle would allow him to call some legislators, ask them really what their pet projects were.

I even know that sometimes people who are scheduled get the money will get a call from the governor's office, and they'll talk about the project with the governor's office so that they can give good feedback to the governor.

I think that he just needed to chop $600 million out of this and just went down the road and did it.

And, uh, since, uh, since the funds for, uh, public radio and public TV are, are on the chopping block in the federal government, maybe he just thought it was.

Might as well just duplicate it as we're doing with immigration and everything else we seem to be duplicating from the Trump administration.

So it's very disappointing.

Um, you know, programs like this you don't see on prime time on regular stations.

Um, and, this is a good program.

And there's a lot of good programs out there that are done on radio and TV.

And, uh, and, you know, it's just another another paper cut to the media.

The Fourth Estate and this country, I think, continues to suffer with a weak Fourth Estate.

Justin, how can we get more young people to tune in to media and what's happening so that they do have a stake in the game when funds are being cut and when the local media, as Kathryn has pointed out, is under, um, basically shrinking right under attack.

Well, I can say that I have to admit that I'm biased in this subject because I worked here at WEDU several years ago.

I also worked at WMNF Community Radio, and I love both of those places.

And I also grew up with public media.

Right.

Speaking of the youth, right.

It's not just about the news.

It's also about education and culture and those things being provided to people who oftentimes don't have access to that in ways that other people might.

And that's the beauty of public broadcasting.

I'm just going to go on my diatribe.

But no, but that is part of it is bringing into the fold is having the funding to reach out to to the youth who need it, who need that, that education, who need those shows that a lot of us grew up on, that taught us kind of the basics of how to navigate life, you know, and appreciate art.

Yeah, exactly.

And when you have that, and that's part of a robust society, right?

You don't have a thriving society without that education and that culture being central to the society.

So I don't know if that answers your question, but I think without funding, you can't reach out and provide that material at all to to the youth, and then you can't bring in the new generation into the fold of this type of learning experience that public media has provided throughout the years.

I do think that there's we're going to end the show with something that we can all agree is good news, and that's what's happening with the Florida Department of Education.

They made headlines in recent days and the story is actually good news.

Their new report shows that most Florida schools are making the grade.

Take a look.

The Florida Department of Education this week released school grades for the 2024 2025 academic school year.

Topping the list locally, Pinellas and Sarasota County districts, which brought home grades of a all the rest of the counties in the greater Tampa Bay area, got B grades.

Overall, 28 school districts in the state received an A grade.

31 received a B grade, and eight districts received A-C. No school districts received a, D or an F in the report.

Acosta your thoughts?

Well, you know, Rick Scott, they always said Governor Scott was known as a jobs governor.

I think governor DeSantis is going to be known as the education governor.

He's put in place a lot of policies in education, whether it's K through 12, State University system, Florida College system.

And you saw the results here, not only are stats grades are up, but students with disabilities grades are up.

Students African American students are up.

Hispanics are up.

Economically disadvantaged students are up.

So what I was a lot of pushback initially when he became governor on some of these education policies.

But we're seeing the results.

And I think the first thing people do when they relocate here is they ask how the school system is.

Patrick, do you think this is good news for teachers?

Well, first of all, I think the governor's a disaster when it comes to public education.

And and I completely disagree with that.

I am happy for any good news for public education.

The problem is, is that in 2023, you needed a 70% for an A at high schools, and middle schools need a 6 to 8% to be an A.

Now it's 64%.

So we've just lowered the standards and schools go up.

And so part of the problem is, is that these are all very subjective.

But really at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if your schools are an A or B, what matters is if your child is an A, if you have a a child and an F school, it's a great school.

If you have a F child in a school, It's a horrible school.

So that's really what this is about.

And so anytime we try to put grades on whole schools, whole districts, it really doesn't tell the story.

What tells the story is, is how individual parents feel about their public school experience.

And and that's what we should be striving for, to make each one of them happy.

Before we run out of time, I want to go over the big stories, the big stories that you all are looking at.

I know that there's so much going on.

We can only cover so much in the show.

Justin, I'd like to start with you.

What are some of the other what is another big story that you're tracking?

Yeah, I think it's very interesting that the Supreme Court, uh, decided not to side with DeSantis and Whitmer about it being a crime for people who enter the U.S. illegally to cross into Florida over state borders or to reenter after being deported.

I think that's interesting because there is an ongoing lawsuit right now, and the Supreme Court decided let that play out, let this be handled, and let that handle and let that be handled in the lower courts.

And then we'll see what happens.

Kathryn.

This is very vegetables, but it is local government budget season, and I would encourage everybody to look at what their local government is doing, and especially in the context of, um, you know, in the spirit of following in the in the on the heels of the federal government, some local governments, including Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, have indicated that they, you know, want to rein in some of the spending in the way that Doge did at the federal level.

So, um, definitely something to keep an eye on.

Patrick.

Um, there's been a lot of rumors out there that Jay Collins would be our next lieutenant governor.

I'm hearing rumors now that perhaps former House Speaker Paul Ryan might be gaining momentum with the governor, and that Jay Collins might be sliding down the list.

Why do you think that's important?

Well, I think that the governor is looking to appoint the next lieutenant governor that he wants to back to be the next governor.

And so, uh, this decision, uh, is, um, DeSantis trying to build his slate so that he can still have influence in the state after he is termed out.

On the election theme.

Local elections matter.

We have a fortunate situation where a city councilwoman in Tampa, district five, Henderson, passed away.

There's a special election in September and maybe a runoff in October.

We have ten candidates that have filed, and one of them is a former county commissioner and a and a city councilman, Tom Scott.

And then there's nine newcomers.

And so it'll be interesting to watch.

But this is a local district election.

So your vote matters.

And so it'll be interesting to see who else files and what qualifies.

Thank you so much for coming in.

Thank you for the great conversation.

You know, it's always our mission to include the different voices, the different opinions, and so that everyone can really bring information so that the viewer at home can decide, um, what they think is best for them, but based on information and facts.

So we thank you for letting us helping us do that.

That's it for us.

Thanks to our panel members this week Patrick Manteiga, Aakash Patel, Kathryn Varn, and Justin Garcia.

You can send us your comments about this program to ftw@wedu.org.

This show is on every Friday night at 8:30pm and Sunday afternoons at 12:30pm.

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Thanks for watching.

Have a great weekend.