First Read for Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023

Good morning. It’s National Pizza Day. Here are two of many lists: “10 Restaurants With Some of the Best Pizza in Florida,” and “Best pizza in Florida: Where to grab a slice.” 

FIRST UP

The new head of the First Amendment Foundation is weighing in on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ call to loosen standards to file defamation claims under state law. Bobby Block, the former Florida Today editor who is now the foundation’s executive director, sent a Wednesday email blast urging Florida not to “turn back the clock on legally protected free speech that criticizes public figures and elected officials.”

On Tuesday, DeSantis hosted a televised roundtable with lawyers and others before a studio audience in Hialeah. He said “he wants to make it easier to sue media outlets that he claimed were society’s ‘leading purveyors of disinformation,’ ” the USA TODAY Network-Florida reports. “Trump has called for similar changes.” 

In the U.S. Supreme Court case of New York Times v. Sullivan, the court held public officials and figures to a higher standard to prove libel: that a statement must be made “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard” of its falsity. In Florida, according to the Digital Media Law Project, a private individual “generally must prove that the defendant was at least negligent.”

There are “federal constitutional protections for free speech and press based on the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include unpleasant attacks on government and public officials,” said Block, who joined the foundation last month. “We strongly urge our elected officials to refrain from attempting to reverse 50 years of legal precedent.”

– Jim Rosica

FROM CITY & STATE

* IN THE MAIL: The U.S. Postal Service has informed employees – including in Florida – of the details of their revised roles as they report to new facilities later this month, when many letter carriers will have to commute significantly farther to make deliveries each day. 

* COLLEGE ATHLETES: The Florida House is poised to pass a measure that would allow colleges and universities to steer endorsement opportunities toward student-athletes, with the bill sponsor calling a current law “outdated and overly restrictive.”

NEW THIS MORNING

* The Florida House is ready to take up a proposal that would shift control of Walt Disney Co.’s Reedy Creek Improvement District in central Florida and give it a new name, the News Service of Florida reports. 

* DeSantis is taking his $1.5 billion tax cut plan, unveiled last week as part of his budget recommendations, on the road – and he is bringing legislative support: House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, Florida Politics reports. 

* Facing blowback, the director of Florida’s high school sports governing body is backing away from using an eligibility form that requires female athletes to disclose their menstrual history in order to compete, the Associated Press reports.

* In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden used Florida Sen. Rick Scott's controversial “sunset” plan to bait Republicans into apparently backing protections on Social Security and Medicare, the Palm Beach Post reports.

* A circuit judge won’t sanction The Palm Beach Post for naming State Attorney Dave Aronberg in its lawsuit to obtain secret grand jury testimony that could show why prosecutors soft-pedaled the initial case against serial sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, the newspaper reports. 

More news below …

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YOUR MESSAGE HERE: City & State First Read is the must-read morning roundup of Florida politics and government. Reaching thousands of subscribers each morning, it's the most effective and targeted digital ad venue to get your message in front of city and state elected officials, agency and industry leaders, and the staff, advocates, media and operatives who drive the issues of the day – all by 7 a.m. each weekday. For advertising information, please email: advertising@cityandstatefl.com

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* According to a Human Rights Watch report released today, Hillsborough County has the highest percentage of denied abortions for young people seeking approval in Florida courts, Axios Tampa Bay reports. 

* After Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said on air that a Florida State University scholarship promotes what he called “race hatred,” the university updated the scholarship’s description and award criteria, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. 

* Jacksonville’s mayoral race will move from the airwaves to the courtroom: Republican candidate Daniel Davis filed a defamation suit against local TV stations over an ad from fellow candidate LeAnna Cumber, Florida Politics reports. 

* A Pompano Beach hotel escaped liability for the death of a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim after a judge ruled that the girl’s drug use constituted a felony that shielded the hotel from legal consequences, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. 

* Allison Foster, the Sarasota County School District's executive director of human resources, was unanimously appointed to serve as interim superintendent until the School Board chooses a permanent replacement for Brennan Asplen, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports.

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DESANTIS WATCH 

The governor's official schedule for Wednesday shows he had a call with Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, held a press conference in Ocala, met with representatives of The Claremont Institute (a California-based conservative think tank once led by current Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn) and had an interview with TheBlaze, the conservative media outlet founded by Glenn Beck. The Claremont Institute separately announced it was expanding operations to Florida, The Florida Standard reported. 

Later, he had separate meetings with the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris and the following Executive Office staff members: Deputy Chief of Staff Alex Kelly, Director of Policy & Budget Chris Spencer, Communications Director Taryn Fenske and Director Of External Affairs Savannah Kelly Jefferson. 

2024 ROUNDUP

* DeSantis angrily but indirectly reacted to former President Donald Trump posting on social media a photograph of what is purported to be the governor as a young teacher partying with teenage girls, the Orlando Sentinel reports. 

* The long cold war between Trump and DeSantis is finally coming to an end – because it’s going nuclear instead, Puck’s Tina Nguyen writes. 

* As the 2024 presidential election cycle gets underway, the political arm of Turning Point USA – the influential right-wing nonprofit run by Charlie Kirk – is losing a key asset: Students for Trump, the Washington Post reports. 

* DeSantis could beat Trump in 2024 presidential race with education moves, as there are signs the former president is feeling politically vulnerable when it comes to schools, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

ANALYSIS & OPINION 

* At the State of the Union, Biden said he won’t tolerate Chinese spying. He should consult Florida U.S. Marco Rubio, the Miami Herald editorial board writes.

* Those behind the scandal of Jacksonville’s JEA utility sale attempt still are playing politics with it, the Florida Times-Union’s Mark Woods writes.

* In DeSantis’ America, it’s apparently fine for a parent to take a minor to a movie that features total nudity, rape or body dismemberment – but not to a drag show, the Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell writes. 

* The judgment of one of the New College trustees appointed by DeSantis is questionable, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Chris Anderson writes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To former state Rep. Fred Costello … to Chair of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee Todd Jennings … to former state Rep. Patrick Rooney Jr. 

ON THE MOVE: Bill Cowles, first elected Orange County supervisor of elections in 1996, will not seek another term in 2024, he announced Wednesday.

Have a birthday, career change, birth, death or life event to announce? Email us: editor@cityandstatefl.com. 

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YOUR MESSAGE HERE: City & State First Read is the must-read morning roundup of Florida politics and government. Reaching thousands of subscribers each morning, it's the most effective and targeted digital ad venue to get your message in front of city and state elected officials, agency and industry leaders, and the staff, advocates, media and operatives who drive the issues of the day – all by 7 a.m. each weekday. For advertising information, please email: advertising@cityandstatefl.com

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KICKER

“He’s set himself up as the don among Republican governors when it comes to education.”

– Max Eden, an education fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, via the Tampa Bay Times, on DeSantis’ leaning into education policy ahead of the Republican primary.