Hi, kids!

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the news and newsmakers of the day who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life or detracted from it in some significant way:

Local Hero Debbie Darino Forges Another Valuable Tool for Animal Protection

Debbie Darino is my hero. 

She is also a tireless champion for the prevention of animal cruelty – and for enacting laws that hold those subhumans who intentionally hurt or kill a defenseless animal criminally accountable for their despicable actions.

In 2019, thanks to Debbie’s diligent leadership, with the help of members of her animal rights group Justice for Ponce – a nonprofit formed after Ponce, a Labrador Retriever puppy, that was brutally beaten to death by a vile piece of human excrement just after midnight on April 8, 2017 – she successfully spearheaded the effort to pass “Ponce’s Law.” 

God’s work…

This important legislation increased penalties for animal abusers and launched a countywide online registry of people convicted of animal cruelty, ensuring these despicable individuals will never have contact with a defenseless pet again.

Now, Ms. Darino has successfully fought for a statewide database of known animal abusers which went online January 1.  According to reports, she is currently lobbying for a nationwide database of offenders to make certain they never have access to potential victims in the future.

The new registry is part of “Dexter’s Law,” legislation signed into effect in May 2025, memorializing a dog that was adopted from a shelter in Pinellas County, brutally killed, and found dumped in Fort De Soto Park four days later. 

The law also requires a 1.25 multiplier to the punishment of those convicted of aggravated animal cruelty.

In addition to her strong lobbying efforts, Debbie is founder and president of the Ponce Animal Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, that assists with the care of animals in need of medical procedures or emergency treatment. 

To donate to this most worthwhile organization, please go here: https://tinyurl.com/mvu5e4tm

Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis honored Debbie as a “Florida Hero” for her tireless contributions to animal welfare – a most fitting tribute for her unwavering commitment to the protection of animals everywhere.    

Well done, Debbie!   

Florida Legislature Sells Our Future Water Quality to the Highest Bidder

Up yours, Florida residents. 

You will ultimately drink your own recycled sewage – and watch more of our environmentally sensitive waterways fouled and destroyed with runoff and other pollutants to make way for even more sprawl across the width and breadth of our state – and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

Because bought-and-paid-for Florida legislators said so…    

If Rep. Randy Maggard of Pasco County and Sen. Stan McClain of Ocala (a residential building contractor) have their way (and they will), House Bill 479 and accompanying Senate Bill 718 will prohibit local governments from adopting any ordinances or policies regulating water quality or quantity, pollution control, pollution discharge prevention, or removal, including the delineation of wetlands.   

In my view, the true definition of self-serving was exemplified in a November 2025 report on the proposed bill by Jesse Mendoza writing in Florida Politics:

“Maggard filed a nearly identical bill in 2023 that died in the Water Quality, Supply & Treatment subcommittee. Reporting by Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix revealed the bill was filed after Maggard’s nephew removed an eagle nest on his property against regulations, leading to the realization that building plans for the property did not match wetlands mapping.

The 2023 bill also incited outcry among environmental advocacy groups, such as the Friends of the Everglades, that decried a lack of protection for existing local wetlands and water quality protection laws.”

You read that right.

If passed into law, the regulation and management of our drinking water will ultimately be impacted as the source is fouled when all environmental protections for sensitive wetlands, waterways, and estuaries are fully preempted to the state, i.e., a cheap brothel pimped by the development machine that owns the political paper on their elected handmaidens in Tallahassee… 

What?  You don’t want faceless bureaucrats in Tallahassee neutering important regulations that protect our most precious natural resources? 

You prefer that those elected and appointed at the municipal and county level retain home rule authority to preserve the character of our communities, set public policy that protects our homes from flooding, and ensure the quality and quantity of your families drinking water? 

Hard cheese, rube… 

In Florida, you pay to play.  Money talks and bullshit “public input” walks.

Once the law is passed, any local government who dares violate the state’s preemption will be summarily handed over to the Chief Financial Officer of Florida who will withhold any state funds to which the city or county may be entitled. 

Essentially punishing Florida residents by denying an equitable return of our tax dollars – public funds that are repackaged as state “grants” so legislators can come down with one of those giant cardboard checks, stage a silly campaign photo-op, and act like they’re doing us a favor.  

Shameless assholes…   

This should all sound familiar to waterlogged Floridians.

Last year, our craven legislators overwhelmingly passed SB 180 – a law cloaked as an “emergency management” measure to provide probable deniability, then sold as a means of assisting homeowners with expediting rebuilding following a natural disaster.

That was complete bullshit. 

After some twenty Florida cities and counties pushed back with legal action – and citizens besieged their local legislative delegations at town halls – compromised lawmakers finally confessed that the new law went too far in preempting local growth management regulations and have agreed to make a few tweaks to the law in 2026.

Don’t hold your breath… 

So, how do you think our local legislative delegation will couch this new preemptive law gutting water quality regulations to conceal its true purpose?  Legislation clearly designed to pave the way (literally) for more malignant growth by eviscerating local control of water quality and quantity?

For reasons known only to those mysterious puppeteers who keep us squabbling and divided – always expanding the partisan chasm that separates us as a means of controlling our destiny (and the results of elections) – the Florida legislature seems intent on pitting local governments against the state, asserting dominance by eliminating or reducing property taxes that pay for local essential services in favor of (who knows?).

All while abusively preempting local control of environmental protection, growth management, and development regulations to destroy the character of our communities.

In my view, the real reason is clear, and there appears to be no limit to how far these compromised shills in Tallahassee will go to centralize control and ensure the profit motives of those corporations, out-of-state hedge funds, and development interests who manipulate the process with massive campaign contributions and political donations.

If, as James Madison said, “All power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from, the people” still stands as the foundational principle of our American democracy – then it is incumbent upon We, The Little People to reclaim our power – and ensure that our state government is working in the best interests of all of us, not just the mercenary special interests of their political benefactors.

That change comes at the ballot box. 

I say again:  Vote like your lives and livelihoods depend upon it… 

Volusia Residents and Visitors Deserve Answers on Beach Safety

On the day after Christmas, a Canadian visitor tragically drowned in the ocean after becoming caught in a rip current off Ormond Beach.  The sterile facts show that a 44-year-old man from Quebec was found floating face down in the water 150-yards offshore in the 200 block of A-1-A. 

According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Lifeguards immediately began CPR, but extremely soft sand made transport to a waiting ambulance at the nearest beach ramp difficult.”

Despite the heroic efforts of lifeguards and EMS personnel, the victim was pronounced dead at a local emergency room.

In a subsequent social media post by the Volusia Waterman’s Association – the bargaining unit representing employees of Volusia County Beach Safety – gave us the rest of this tragic story:

“It should also be noted that due to minimal staffing and secondary tasks, lifeguard patrol units had to be pulled from neighboring zones to assist with this call. At the time of the incident, the closest open lifeguard tower was more than 1.5 miles away. Swim near a lifeguard.”

In May 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring that county sheriff’s assume responsibility for law enforcement in all unincorporated areas of the state, including beaches.  The law also prohibited county governments from maintaining any law enforcement agency not supervised by the county’s elected sheriff.

The law essentially eliminated the Volusia County Beach Patrol, long comprised of triple-certified law enforcement, lifeguards, and emergency medical personnel who patrolled area beaches.  As I recall, reports at the time indicated that not all of the former Beach Patrol members transferred to the Sheriff’s Office. 

In 2023, during a trial run of the county’s new split responsibilities for beach safety, WESH -2 quoted Sheriff Mike Chitwood, “There were a lot of rescues out there, a lot of EMTs out there. That’s what they’re supposed to do, and we’re out there doing the law enforcement. We’re doing what we do best. They’re doing what they do best. It’s a win, win,” Chitwood said.”

By July 2023, there appeared to be cracks developing in one side of the new beach safety equation…

At that time, in a disturbing exposé in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, reporter Sheldon Gardner explained that Volusia County Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue was experiencing a chronic shortage of qualified lifeguards.

By any metric, protecting 47-miles of everchanging coastline is a challenging task. 

That’s why (we’re constantly told) department directors responsible for these things are paid astronomical six-figure salaries to oversee – tactically, logistically, and administratively – the protection of Volusia County residents and visitors.   

During the summer of 2023, reports indicate protection was provided by what Volusia County Beach Safety estimated at 44 full-time lifeguards/EMTs and “about” 190 part-time lifeguards, many of whom operated on a weird “come as you want” work schedule.

Not so prophetically, nearly three-years ago, I ended a rant in this space on the frightening issue of beach safety with the warning:

“I fear if the Volusia County Council continues to do nothing, all beachgoing residents and visitors can do is wait helplessly – hoping their name doesn’t follow the next grim headline, “Another victim dies on Volusia County beaches…”

So, what has been done by Volusia County leaders to ensure adequate beach safety staffing in the nearly three-years since the state mandated split in responsibilities?

I’m asking.

It appears Sheriff Chitwood has lived up to his end of the bargain, providing effective law enforcement services on Volusia County beaches.  However, in the aftermath of the Christmas tragedy in Ormond Beach, and the disturbing remarks of the Volusia Waterman’s Association, many want to know what changes are planned to ensure that the “minimal staffing and secondary tasks” lifeguards face are not a contributing factor in the outcome of beach emergencies going forward.

In the meantime, my advice is to swim near a lifeguard (if they are not otherwise indisposed), and prepare to self-rescue… 

Quote of the Week

“Nicole Crosby, a St. Johns County environmental activist and political marketing consultant, called the “Blue Ribbon Projects” bill the Legislature’s “latest nightmare,” as it will make it easier for developers of large tracts to circumvent city and county growth-management regulations.

“We’ve had an increasing number of laws that are taking away home rule,” Crosby said. “I think that’s derivative of what’s happening locally, where the slow-the-growth movements are gaining control in their county commissions and their city councils. And so the outgrowth of that is these developers going to the state, and trying to grab control that way.”

–Nicole Crosby, St. Johns County, as quoted by Mark Harper writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Fears about overdevelopment likely to drive Florida politics in 2026,” Wednesday, January 7, 2026

In a sign of what’s to come, Sen. Stan McClain of Ocala (the same Stan McClain who wants to usurp our water protections…) and Rep. Lauren Melo (a real estate broker from Naples) have each filed bills establishing “Blue Ribbon” projects, essentially incentivizing largescale developments for landowners who control at least 10,000 or more contiguous acres.

Not many of those “land barons” around, beyond out-of-state development consortiums and hedge funds… 

Ostensibly, the measures would require participating landowners to conserve at least 60% of the property.

Don’t believe a word of it…

In an excellent December 2025 piece in The Florida Phoenix entitled “Florida lawmakers promote ‘Blue Ribbon’ developers at public’s expense,” veteran environmental reporter Craig Pittman summed up the proposed law perfectly:

“No more fighting a wealthy landowner in a packed public hearing, hoping to persuade your elected representatives to vote no. These bills would give an automatic green light to some big, bad projects, as long as they check a few boxes on a form.

“This is a real estate development bill unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” investigative reporter Jason Garcia said on his “Seeking Rents” podcast.

The bills call these big developments “Blue Ribbon” projects. The term implies they would win an award for excellence, like a prize pig at the county fair.

Instead, I think these two bills should win the award for the boldest, most brazen ripoff of the public in the 2026 session. The big landowners would be the ones resembling Porky and Babe, stuffing their snouts in the trough with no one to rein them in.”

(Find Mr. Pittman’s article here: https://tinyurl.com/ywydpkv8 )

As a longtime political voyeur, one thing I’ve learned is when politicians employ the persuasive technique of repeating your own words back to you (the term is called “gaslighting”) the hairs on the back of your neck should start to rise…  

Once approved, the “Blue Ribbon” legislation would require administrative approval by cities and counties if the development meets the hazy requirements of the legislation within just 60-days, essentially removing public participation from the equation.  As I understand it, after the approval period expires, if a development fits the loose confines of the law, the project would be automatically approved for the next 50-years.  

In keeping with the current push at all levels of government to eliminate our ability to voice our concerns and participate in the planning process, the legislation would permit “Blue Ribbon” projects to be rubber stamped by government administrators – not those we elect to represent our interests.

In his incredibly cogent article, Mr. Pittman explained the fallacy of the “conservation” aspect of the bill:

“Florida has been described as a sunny place for shady people. Why that’s not our official state slogan, I don’t know.

But bear that in mind when I tell you that the one part of these two pro-developer bills that sounds attractive is as full of holes as a block of Swiss cheese.

The bills say any landowner who wants to get these development favors must set aside 60% of their property as a “reserve area.” The sponsors have been promoting this as if we’re going to get a lot of free parkland. In fact, I’ve seen it referred to in some publications as a “land conservation bill.”

But it’s not.

The language in the “reserve area” part of the bill is as loose as the wobbly wheels on an old shopping cart. It doesn’t require the landowner to keep that 60% in one contiguous area. It could be scattered here and there across the whole expanse.

Even worse, it doesn’t require keeping the land in its natural state. You could build a power station, a pickleball court, or a retention pond and call it “a reserve area” and you’d be in compliance.

Heck, put in an 18-hole golf course for your big development and call it a “reserve area.” You’ve got to reserve a tee time, right?”

This one bears watching… 

And Another Thing!

It appears another John Grisham novel is taking shape after a suspicious mass exodus of employees over at Brown & Brown…

“(David) Howden and the individual defendants filed a blistering response to the lawsuit on Dec. 26, which said neither the company nor the employees did anything wrong and that Brown & Brown workers were leaving because of a “toxic” corporate climate and pay that was below industry standards.

The 72-page response said the employee exodus happened because employees “were so unhappy with Brown’s terrible management and poor, under-market compensation” that they were prepared to leave without having another job lined up.

“The context of the departures from Brown on December 18 is very different from Brown’s narrative of a pirate raid,” Howden said in the response. “Rather, it was a prison break.”

–Executive Editor John Dunbar, writing in The Daytona Beach News-Journal, “Court grants temporary relief to Brown & Brown as ex-workers sound off,” Sunday, January 4, 2026

Please find the rest of the piece here: https://tinyurl.com/5n95tw3z  

Just three years after the Daytona Beach-based insurance intermediary Brown & Brown settled a four-and-a-half-year legal Battle Royale with top talent, some of whom went on to form the phenomenally successful Foundation Risk Partners in Ormond Beach, more drama and intrigue has befallen J. Hyatt Brown in his glass-and-steel monolith that overshadows his realm on Beach Street.

I found the accusations eerily familiar… 

According to a December 2025 News-Journal report, “Brown & Brown Inc. is alleging in a Dec. 22 lawsuit that 29 top former employees hatched a plot with a competitor to execute a “mass employee raid” targeting 200 of the insurance company’s workers from Massachusetts and offices across the country.”

The locally based insurance giant is also suing British-based Howden U.S. Services LLC, which has been accused by at least three other insurers of poaching workers in the past. The suit, filed in Massachusetts Superior Court for Suffolk County, does not say whether any local employees were affected.

The mass resignations took place on Dec. 18. In addition to Massachusetts, the suit says Brown & Brown staff in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin resigned.”

According to the report, the lawsuit claims many of the alleged “coordinators” of the employee “raid” have “longstanding business and personal relationships” with Jim Hays, who owned Hays Cos., Inc. – a company purchased by Brown & Brown in 2018 for $750 million.

Additionally, the News-Journal reports “In August 2025, Howden announced that Hays would serve as vice chairman.”

Now, Brown & Brown alleges that after profiting from the sale of Hayes Companies to Brown & Brown, Mr. Hayes “…is now assisting Howden to illegally try to steal the business back.”

Look, I don’t presume to understand the nuances of the piratical, cutthroat, and incredibly lucrative nature of the international insurance labyrinth; however, (last I checked) we don’t have indentured servitude in this country. 

In my view, people should be free to pursue their trade – and be compensated for their skill and effort – when and where they want, within the confines of professional ethics and fairly entered contractual obligations.

According to Mr. Dunbar’s report, one of the alleged “masterminds” of the “plot” to lure Brown & Brown employees voiced his displeasure with Brown in Howden’s legal response:

“Donald McGowan, former regional president of Brown & Brown in New England, now with Howden, was dubbed a ringleader of the employee “raid.” He denies it in the Howden response.

“I had been unhappy with Brown, its management, its corporate governance, its stock price, its unwillingness to fairly compensate its employees, all while overcompensating the Brown family, for some time,” he states.”

I guess when your names on the door you can do whatever you want, but this isn’t the first time we’ve heard similar claims oozing out of Brown & Brown HQ…

During the four-years of legal wrangling that finally freed those former Brown executives who went on to form Financial Risk Partners, we heard similar tales of “betrayal” when, in 2009, J. Hyatt appointed his son, Powell Brown, to succeed him as CEO – an apparent reversal on a previous promise to Brown & Brown’s then-vice chairman to elevate him to the position.

In a revealing peak inside, made possible by legal filings and the excellent reportage of the News-Journal’s business editor Clayton Park, we also learned that some executives came to believe J. Hyatt’s kingdom wasn’t the “meritocracy” the organization had long claimed to be. 

According to a November 2018 story by Park writing in the News-Journal:

“Brown & Brown for many years under J. Hyatt Brown’s leadership had hailed itself as a “meritocracy” where employees earned promotions based solely on merit and ability.

“The sudden elevation of the younger Brown to chief executive “created a crisis of confidence in the current and future leadership of (Brown & Brown) that, in one fell swoop, shattered the trust of a workforce who was led to believe in the meritocracy Hyatt had preached,” according to the legal response.

“Right there, for the (Brown & Brown) world to see, merit and loyalty were discarded for nepotism,” the legal response states.

“The executive ranks of the company soon became the Brown family employment center, with Brown family children and relations being elevated to the highest positions in the company regardless of the merit,” the legal response adds.”

Eerily similar, indeed… 

According to the News-Journal, Brown & Brown recently won an initial victory in what will undoubtedly be a long and costly war when, in late December 2025, a Massachusetts Superior Court Judge issued a temporary restraining order against the 28 individual defendants and Howden U.S. Services LLC, prohibiting them from “…recruiting current Brown & Brown employees or soliciting Brown & Brown insurance customers.”

Like me, if you love a good legal thriller – an intricate plot interweaving boardroom intrigue and courtroom maneuvering – laced with some behind-the-scenes drama as billionaires bicker with billionaires, you’ll want to get the popcorn ready for this edge-of-your-seat clash of the titans…

That’s all for me.  Have a great weekend, y’all!