www.thecentersquare.com – By Steve Wilson | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-07-15 15:22:00
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state leaders celebrated the opening of the C-43 Caloosahatchee Reservoir in Hendry County, a major step in Everglades restoration. Designed to hold 170,000 acre-feet of water, the reservoir reduces harmful wet-season discharges into the Caloosahatchee Estuary and provides critical freshwater during dry periods. The project includes a pump station moving 650,000 gallons per minute. Since 2019, Florida has spent nearly \$8 billion on 75 water quality and restoration projects, with nutrient reductions exceeding 1.8 million pounds of nitrogen annually. DeSantis hailed the reservoir as a transformative effort to safeguard Florida’s environment and coastal communities.
(The Center Square) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials celebrated the opening on Tuesday of the Caloosahatchee Reservoir, a vital cog in the restoration of the Everglades.
C-43 in Hendry County is intended to act as a catch basin for 170,000 acre-feet of local basin stormwater runoff and releases from Lake Okeechobee. This is intended to reduce the volume of discharges into the Caloosahatchee Estuary in southwestern Florida during the spring and summer wet season.
The reservoir will also provide a source of freshwater flow to the estuary during the dry season to help balance salinity levels and provide flows to plants and wildlife when needed.
A pump station, capable of moving 650,000 gallons per minute, has also opened to facilitate level changes in the reservoir, which will have a maximum depth of 25 feet.
“During my time as governor, we have set new records for investing in conservation, water quality improvements, and Everglades restoration,” DeSantis said at an event in Fort Denaud. “This project will have an impact far beyond the Caloosahatchee. The C-43 Reservoir is a landmark achievement in our broader mission to restore the Everglades, expand Florida’s water storage capacity, and leave this state better to God than we found it.”
DeSantis issued an executive order on water quality and Everglades restoration on his second day in office, which committed $2.5 billion over four years for water quality and Everglades projects. During the rest of his first term, $3.3 billion in taxpayer funds were spent on Everglades and water quality-related projects, exceeding the previous dozen years combined.
In this year’s budget, the state will spend $1.4 billion included in this year’s budget, adding up to nearly $8 billion in spending and 75 projects since 2019.
“Governor DeSantis, you have been the tip of the spear when it comes to Everglades restoration,” said Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula. “This is a big deal because with every ribbon-cutting such as this one, we’re one step closer to provide the protection for our coastal communities and our fisheries remain healthy and bountiful for those living in and around the water in these communities and it is meaningful for the future of Florida.”
According to Florida officials, nutrient reductions now now exceed 1.8 million pounds of nitrogen and 770,000 pounds of phosphorus annually, with south Florida’s water storage capacity tripled to 176 billion gallons.
Governor DeSantis Announces Opening of C-43 Reservoir in Hendry County https://t.co/ZbidsLEQOe
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The article primarily reports on the achievements of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials regarding the opening of a water reservoir project. It highlights significant government spending on environmental restoration and presents supportive quotes from Republican politicians without critique or counterbalance from other political perspectives. The tone of the coverage is positive toward DeSantis’s policies, using phrases like “landmark achievement” and emphasizing record investment, which suggest a favorable framing. While it does not overtly push a partisan agenda, the lack of critical viewpoints and the focus on Republican leaders’ statements indicate a mild center-right leaning. This is because the article promotes a specific political figure’s environmental efforts, which aligns with how conservative politicians often frame their stewardship of state resources in a positive light. However, the piece remains mostly factual and descriptive rather than ideological or polemical, avoiding extreme bias.
SUMMARY: Congressman Cory Mills faces a Columbia County court hearing after harassment allegations from ex-girlfriend Lindsey Langston, Miss United States and local GOP committeewoman. Langston, 25, filed for a restraining order, reporting threats from Mills, including releasing nude images and videos since their 2021 breakup. The couple lived together until Langston left following assault accusations from another woman against Mills, later withdrawn. Mills denies wrongdoing, with his attorney questioning the evidence’s validity. Langston is represented by attorney and commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who lost to Mills in the 2022 GOP primary and calls for Mills’ resignation or expulsion. The hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Columbia County.
Florida university faculty express deep concerns over state policies impacting tenure, academic freedom, and diversity initiatives. A recent American Association of University Professors survey found 31% of Florida faculty have sought or plan to seek jobs out of state, driven by political interference, funding cuts, and restrictive educational mandates. Faculty report self-censorship, anxiety, and curriculum scrutiny due to laws banning “indoctrinating concepts” and the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Tenured professors face post-tenure reviews and fear ideological repression. Over 70% would advise against academic careers in Florida, citing a stifled environment that hinders teaching and research quality.
Citing state policy on tenure, elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and the cost of living, Florida faculty laid out their frustrations in a recent survey.
In a Faculty in the South survey conducted by various conferences of the American Association of University Professors, 31% of Florida respondents said they have applied for a job outside of Florida since 2023. That number was 25% among all survey respondents in the South.
The same, 31% of Florida respondents, said they plan to seek employment in another state during the next hiring cycle.
“The governor of Florida threatens at every turn to take funding away so administration at colleges don’t stand up to him or board of education. I no longer have any motivation or creativity to make courses better,” a tenured professor at a public community college wrote.
The survey focused on policy affecting employment, including whether faculty would recommend working in their state to up-and-coming academics, and trends in applications for faculty positions. It included nearly 200 responses from Florida faculty among its nearly 4,000 responses across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
The survey concluded with an open-ended question asking faculty to provide examples of how “attacks on higher education are directly impacting your work.” It did not report respondents’ identities beyond basic demographics like gender, race, tenure status, years of experience, and type of institution they teach at.
‘Walking on egg shells’
“Students report any classroom discussion they don’t like directly to the Governor’s office. Everyone is afraid all the time,” one woman teaching at a public four-year school wrote. “I have stopped teaching books that might be in any way controversial. I don’t open up general discussion in class but ask only direct questions that will elicit non-controversial answers. I need health insurance so I can’t just quit.”
The state scanning course materials for disfavored viewpoints was a widespread stressor for many faculty.
“Most of the courses I’ve taught for decades now violate state and university mandates,” a man teaching at a Florida tier-one research university said.
As of earlier this year, Florida institutions’ general education courses no longer contained “indoctrinating concepts,” State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues proclaimed in January.
Florida universities have conducted a review, required by a 2022 law, of general education courses to ensure that they do not “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.”
“I’m continually worried that the content of my clases [sic] will be flagged as “DEI” because I am a historian of the Caribbean, a region mostly populated by non-white people,” one professor said.
One women’s studies professor described the effect as “Constant anxiety, walking on egg shells trying to anticipate what would be used against me/us.”
More than a third, 34%, of Florida respondents said administrators have questioned syllabi or curricula choices for their courses. Among all states surveyed, half as many, 17%, indicated administrators questioned their curricula.
One professor said that since the state and federal government have made illegal “a wide range of Constitutionally protected components of speech and expression,” “I must break the law in order to tell the truth. Because I’m hired to tell the truth, and because I’m much more committed to the truth than to the law, I break the law. This means I am expecting to be arrested in front of a classroom any day, for actions that are illegal only as a result of the right-wing fad of the most recent decade.”
Nearly three in four, 71%, of faculty in Florida who were surveyed said they would not encourage a graduate student to seek employment in Florida.
“I am going to take early retirement despite a great job and salary. The threats are real and I am exhausted, between fighting this and fighting AI and poorly prepared, lazy, unethical students,” a tenured professor at a four-year public university wrote.
Higher education funding cuts have been the subject of nationwide political debate, including Florida State University reporting that it lost $100 million in federal grants, although $83 million of that has since been reinstated, the school’s president said last week.
About one-in-10, 11%, said they have had a federal contract ended by the Trump administration.
“The loss of vital federal grants has removed opportunities from me and my colleagues,” one professor wrote. “Attacks on LGBTQ students, immigrants, and diversity have also made it difficult to recruit promising graduate students or to guarantee their health and safety. Florida colleges being forced to remove diversity languages has destroyed years of valuable work, overturned an incredible general education curriculum, taken power and governance away from faculty, and wasted a lot of valuable time.”
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Tenure troubles
Since 2023, professors in Florida with tenure have been subject to post-tenure review, graded on standards crafted by university trustees relating to research performance, teaching, service, and compliance with state laws and university policies.
Of the nearly-one-third who recently applied for an out-of-state job, tenure and DEI issues, academic freedom, the political climate, and cost of living were among the most common concerns.
Respondents said the number of applications for coworkers’ positions, as well as the quality of applicants, have decreased.
“Our department is trying to improve, but we have had several failed searches in recent years because candidates don’t want to move to Florida because of the broad political climate and the fact that tenure protections functionally no longer exist here,” a tenured public university professor said.
Some faculty said they have not experienced problems with “attacks on higher education,” one stating, “I haven’t felt any — Florida is great!.” Another said, “They’re not, and freedom in the classroom still persists, and I am at a public university in… wait for it… FLORIDA…”
“I find that I’m having to spend more time explaining to students why they need to use evidence to support their views and why clear arguments are important,” a professor at a private institution wrote.
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One professor complained that “our board of trustees stacked with heritage foundation members, our president was forced out and replaced by a republican politician.” Course materials face heightened scrutiny, this professor added.
“The climate of persecution, retaliation, and ideological imposition makes it impossible to teach my discipline accurately or well without opening oneself to disciplinary measures,” that professor said. “While New College got a lot of headlines, similar invasions of public universities are happening with no national press, leaving those of us who work here isolated and vulnerable to attack.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated a shake-up of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees in a more conservative light earlier this year and that institution is now led by a former GOP lawmaker.
Results for the survey were collected throughout August and more than 60% of respondents said they are tenured. Last year’s iteration of the survey featured responses from about 350 Florida professors.
“There is a lower threshold of critical thinking because everyone is fearful about what is ‘allowed’ vs. ‘banned’ by law. The fear and the self-censorship is widespread. Our administration, now saddled with a governor-imposed, unqualified hire as a President, is understandably more cautious rather than vocal about protecting academic freedom,” one professor wrote.
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Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning
The content highlights concerns from Florida faculty about state policies perceived as restrictive to academic freedom, particularly regarding tenure, diversity initiatives, and curriculum oversight. It presents critical perspectives on actions taken by conservative state leadership, emphasizing the negative impact on educators and higher education. The tone and focus suggest a left-leaning bias, as it centers on critiques of right-leaning policies and their consequences for academic environments.
SUMMARY: With three days until their season opener on the road against Indianapolis, the Miami Dolphins continue intense preparations. Defensive focus centers on a largely new secondary, featuring up to five new starters, including second-year cornerback Storm Duck, who has risen from undrafted status to starting lineup. Duck expresses excitement and commitment to consistency and playing with enjoyment, crediting elite receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle for pushing him and the team to improve during training camp. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver emphasizes the importance of young players playing fast under internal pressure, reflecting the high expectations placed on this pivotal, make-or-break season for head coach Mike McDaniel.
CBS News Miami’s Mike Cugno reports on what the Dolphins need to do as they near their season opener against the Colts.
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