SUMMARY: Florida’s 2025 legislative session ended after a record 105 days, extended by GOP infighting over immigration, gun rights, tax cuts, and the Hope Florida initiative. House Speaker Danny Perez welcomed its conclusion, while lawmakers remain divided on the path forward. Democrats criticized the delays as wasteful, urging cooperation. Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman saw a shift toward legislative independence from Governor DeSantis, whose influence is waning as his term nears its end. Despite gridlock, leaders touted policy wins like permanent sales tax holidays and stricter immigration laws. DeSantis retains line-item veto power and has until July 1 to finalize the budget.

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SUMMARY: E-bike incidents in St. Johns County have surged, with 20 cases reported in the first five months of 2025—up from just eight in all of 2024. Most involved crashes, and some included hit-and-runs and a DUI. Wolfson Children’s Hospital saw a 222% increase in e-bike and e-scooter injuries from 2023 to 2024 and expects 2025 numbers to double again. Safety concerns are prompting state lawmakers to consider stricter regulations, while local deputies plan to increase enforcement. Helmet use is strongly emphasized as a key safety measure amid rising incidents involving collisions and e-bikes losing control.

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The post E-bike crashes double in St. Johns County; SJSO reports 20 cases in 2025 compared to 8 in 2024 appeared first on www.news4jax.com

by Ross Williams, Florida Phoenix
June 18, 2025

The brain-dead pregnant woman who became a flashpoint in the national debate over reproductive rights and Georgia’s six-week abortion ban has delivered her baby, her family has announced.

Doctors told the family of 30-year-old mother and nurse Adriana Smith she had no chance of recovery after a series of blood clots in her brain left her brain dead in mid February, when she was about two months pregnant. Smith has been kept on life support since then to support the pregnancy.

The baby, Chance, was delivered Friday by emergency cesarean section and taken to the neonatal intensive care unit. Smith’s mother, April Newkirk, told 11Alive News the child was born prematurely weighing one pound 13 ounces.

Newkirk said she is calling for prayers for her grandson’s safety and health.

“Right now, we don’t know everything, because it’s so early. So they can’t tell everything,” she said. “Prayer changes things. And we just hope and pray that he’s OK.”

Newkirk told 11Alive that her daughter would be taken off life support Tuesday afternoon.

Smith became a flashpoint in the debate over reproductive rights and Georgia’s six-week abortion ban after family told news outlets that doctors told them that while she had no chance of recovery, Smith’s organs would be kept functioning so as not to violate Georgia law.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has said the law does not require such action.

“There is nothing in the LIFE Act that requires medical professionals to keep a woman on life support after brain death,” he said in an earlier statement. “Removing life support is not an action ‘with the purpose to terminate a pregnancy.’”

Newkirk said she is frustrated that Smith sought care for the blood clots that would go on to take her life. She said her daughter was released from the hospital without proper testing.

“All women should have a choice about their bodies. And I think I want people to know that [Adriana] was a nurse, an RN. The same field that she worked in is the same people who failed her. Can you understand what I’m saying? They didn’t go that extra mile, Not even that extra mile. They didn’t even do a CT scan on her. That would have detected it.”

Newkirk was on hand Sunday along with other family members and supporters gathered for a somber celebration of Smith’s 31st birthday at Park Avenue Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Several dozen people sang happy birthday and released white balloons into the sky. Smith’s mother helped serve slices of pink strawberry cake in the sanctuary as children laughed and shrieked in play behind the pews.

Smith’s family did not speak to the press and did not mention Chance’s birth at the time, but organizers invited members of the media to a rally in the church sanctuary following the private event.

Well-wishers and activists warded away the Georgia heat with “Black Lives Matter” fans as health care and abortion rights advocates spoke in front of an altar stacked with sunflowers and yellow and white roses between pillars of blue and pink birthday balloons.

Among them was Allison Coffman, executive director of the Amplify Georgia Collaborative, a reproductive rights group.

“Adriana Smith did not mean to die. She knew something was wrong, and she went to the hospital, and she was denied care,” Coffman said. “Unfortunately, this is not a unique story. Pregnant people across Georgia are receiving denied, delayed, and distorted care.”

This story first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, a member with the Phoenix in the nonprofit States Newsroom.

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.

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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-Left

This content presents a story that is sympathetic to reproductive rights and critical of restrictive abortion laws, highlighting the tragic case of Adriana Smith as an example of potential negative consequences. It emphasizes the viewpoint of the family and reproductive rights advocates while including the state’s legal perspective, though the framing generally leans toward promoting expanded choices and healthcare access. The inclusion of social justice elements, like the mention of Black Lives Matter and reproductive health critiques, also aligns more closely with a center-left perspective.