South Florida Local News

Former President Donald Trump easily won Florida’s presidential primary, cruising to an overwhelming victory in his adopted home state. But the results show lingering doubts about his candidacy among some Republican voters.

Trump’s 81.2% of the vote was big. He won each of the state’s 67 counties; 24 of them with more than 90% of the vote.

And those numbers mean one in five Republicans voted for someone else — not their party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee.

• The number of Republicans who voted in the state’s presidential preference primary on Tuesday was 9.5% lower than the number who voted in the 2020 primary — even as the number of Republican registered voters in Florida increased 8%.
• Trump received 252,000 fewer votes this year, in unofficial results as of midday Wednesday, than in the 2020 primary — a decline of 21.7%.
• The other six candidates whose names appeared on the ballot collectively received 19%. The biggest share was the 13.9% that went to former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who was the last remaining candidate before she dropped out in early March.

She was also one of Trump’s fiercest competitors, describing him as “not qualified to be president” and unable to win a November contest with President Joe Biden.

“The more significant number is former President Trump getting 250,000 less votes than he got in 2020, which was also an uncontested primary,” said Joe Budd, the elected Republican state committeeman for Palm Beach County. “There’s much less enthusiasm this go-around.”

Budd was an early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidential candidacy and later founded a large South Florida political organization now known as Club 47 to support the former president. He supported Gov. Ron DeSantis for the party’s presidential nomination this year.

Richard DeNapoli, the elected state Republican committeeman in Broward and a former county party chair who was also an early supporter of Trump’s 2016 candidacy, said the overall result is the key takeaway.

“President Trump had a resounding victory in Florida, and Republicans have always united behind our nominee in even greater numbers for the general election,” he said via text.

His biggest pockets were in northern and central Florida, along or near the borders of Alabama and Georgia, with a pop of support in the central part of the state — plus, significantly, Miami-Dade County, the state’s largest.

Trump’s support was weaker mainly along the state’s coastal regions, from Broward and Palm Beach counties north to Indian River County along the Atlantic Ocean, and from Hillsborough County south along the Gulf Coast.

Significance

The Florida presidential preference primary was as close to a pure test of Republican sentiment as possible. Unlike some other states, only people who were registered Republicans four weeks before primary day were allowed to participate.

And Democrats painted the results in Florida, as well as other primaries held around the country on Tuesday and previously, as ominous for Trump.

“Donald Trump struggled in his adopted home state,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said Wednesday in a video news conference. “Donald Trump is in trouble here in the state of Florida,” she said, arguing that the primary results “show that Donald Trump is weak and getting weaker by the day. He is in significant trouble, not just here in the state of Florida, but across the entire country.”

Eric Johnson, a Democratic strategist who has managed federal, state and local campaigns, said repeated rounds of voting this year have shown a “significant protest vote continuing to happen in Republican primary after Republican primary.”

“There is a canary in the coal mine for the Trump campaign,” Johnson said.

The question is what do those Republicans who didn’t favor Trump in the primaries do in November. “Do those voters go back to him in a binary choice? Some will. But to the degree that any of them switch over to Biden that’s a real problem for the Trump campaign,” he said.

Republicans scoffed at the notion that the results have any broader implications.

“Nikki Fried and the Democrats should focus on how to save their party from extinction in Florida. It’s normal in primaries to have some people vote for other candidates, but we are united and ready to send Joe Biden back to his basement in Delaware,” state Republican Chair Evan Power said via text.

And Sean Foreman, a political scientist at Barry University, said the lower turnout and the overall results were neither a surprise, nor an indication of how Republicans will do in Florida in November.

“I don’t think it’s cause for concern for the Trump campaign or that Democrats should be overjoyed by those numbers,” Foreman said. “The Florida primary just wasn’t significant this year.”

Foreman said some small but unknown share of the anti-Trump vote undoubtedly came from people who switched their voter registration to Republican just so they could participate in the primary.

Florida in play?

Florida once was the biggest swing state in the country, with the potential to have a major impact on presidential elections because its large cache of electoral votes could go to either candidate.

And for a generation that meant the state’s voters were courted, with candidate campaign visits, advertising and targeted messaging that sought to appeal to Floridians. But it’s become increasingly Republican red.

Few independent analysts — and privately, many Democrats — see Florida within Biden’s reach in 2024.

“Florida continues to be in play,” Fried declared.

Johnson was somewhat more cautious in his assessment.

“Trump only won Florida by 3 (percentage) points” in both 2016 and 2020, he said, so there is potential. It’s an expensive state for either side to campaign in. He said the Biden campaign is “putting in groundwork for a campaign. They’re preparing for one.”

Budd said there is no scenario for a Biden victory in Florida. “I think Florida’s securely red,” he said, pointing to the surge in Republican voter registrations in recent years. “The enthusiasm gap is not going to help Joe Biden in Florida, no way.”

DeSantis, at a Miami Beach news conference Wednesday, said the state is so sure to go Republican that the candidates won’t devote much time or advertising to the state this fall.

“This is not going to be a state that’s competitive in November. And that’s just the reality,” DeSantis said.

Foreman, too, said most of the Republicans who didn’t vote for Trump in the primary will in November.

Republicans will “come home in the fall and vote for Trump or Biden despite all the grumbling to the contrary that we will hear through the summer,” he said.

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Widespread win

Trump won big everywhere, but his performance wasn’t uniform.

His statewide total was 81%. In 16 counties he received a smaller percentage of the vote.

In 50 other counties he received a higher share of the vote.

Trump received 79.8% in Broward and 78.2% in Palm Beach County, slightly less than his statewide average.

He received 86.7% of the vote in Miami-Dade County.

Voters’ views

Most primary voters willing to speak to reporters outside polling places Tuesday said — as the results showed — they were voting for Trump.

Dominick Casale, voting in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, cast his ballot for Trump. “He’s the best,” Casale said. “We’ve got a mummy for a president right now. He’s destroying our country, every second.”

Alan Waxman, of Delray Beach, said he voted for Trump “because I love this country. I’m a patriot. And there was a time I was a Democrat, and then there was a time I was a Republican. And now I just care about this country.”

Joyce Holzapfel, a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Republican and Trump supporter, said she believes he’ll win in November, though she expressed a hint of concern.

From her home overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, she said she used to see far more boaters flying Trump flags. Lately, she said, she’s seen fewer.

Lauren Douglas, of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, said she was “really frustrated that I don’t have any options” since all the non-Trump candidates dropped out.

Douglas said she was voting for Haley. “We need a female in office and somebody who’s not over 80,” she said. Trump is 77 and Biden is 81.

She declined to say if she’d vote for Trump, Biden, or another candidate in November. “It’s personal.”

Haley

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was the last candidate in the contest against Trump — and mounted the most explicitly anti-Trump campaign in its final weeks, arguing he wasn’t fit for the presidency and couldn’t win in November.

She received 13.9% of the statewide vote.

Haley did notably better in Broward and Palm Beach counties, receiving 16% in both.

She did worse than her statewide share of the vote in Miami-Dade County where she received 11% of the vote.

Budd said he wouldn’t read too much into the Haley vote because most of the state’s vote-by-mail ballots went to voters by Feb. 8. Haley was a candidate until March 6.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, center, speaks with Democratic Party activists after a party-building event in West Palm Beach on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Anthony Man/South Florida Sun Sentinel) DeSantis

Fried — nemesis of DeSantis when she was state agriculture commissioner from 2019 to 2021 and unsuccessful candidate for the 2022 Democratic nomination to challenge him — mocked him for receiving just 3.7% of the vote in the state he leads. He dropped out on Jan. 21, after months of personal attacks from Trump and failing to catch fire as a candidate.

Florida records all the votes from candidates who are on the ballot, even if they dropped out.

DeSantis received 2.9% in Broward, 17% in Miami-Dade County, and 3.7% in Palm Beach County.

During his news conference Wednesday, he spoke at length about, and took credit for, the state’s increasing Republican tilt.

But he avoided one question: who did he vote for in the primary?

Staff writers Danica Jefferies and Abigail Hasebroock contributed to this report.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.

A plan to close or overhaul schools is creating division on the Broward School Board, even before any specific school names are released.

Some board members said at a Wednesday workshop they’d prefer to only close no more than a tiny number of schools, while others proposed closing dozens. Some also questioned where the closures will come from and wanted to ensure they didn’t disproportionately impact schools in certain regions or with mostly minority students.

Superintendent Peter Licata said Wednesday he plans to bring forward ideas at an April 16 workshop proposals that could include specific schools that could be combined, merged or dramatically changed. Some could become charter schools, he said.

“It will be a list of proposals, including academic changes, mergers and potentially closures,” he said. “It will include partnerships with some cities that have charter schools. We’re also working with cities that want to create charter schools.”

The School Board is expected to make any final decisions by June and any changes would take effect for the 2024-25 school year.

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The district has published a list of 77 underenrolled schools. Some board members wanted to consider some action if a school was below 60%, others below 50%. Some didn’t say enrollment should be the primary consideration.

“I don’t think a school should be doomed just because it’s underenrolled,” Board member Brenda Fam said.

Fam said some underenrolled schools could becoming technical schools, noting the district’s existing technical schools perform well academically and attract students.

Board member Sarah Leonardi said she’s heard district officials say in past years they can’t invest in underenrolled schools because they’re underenrolled. Many were underenrolled because the district didn’t invest in them, she said.

“I do accept the idea that we may have to close some facilities,” she said.

Board members Debra Hixon, Jeff Holness and Nora Rupert voiced skepticism of closing many schools.

“Closing schools should be a last resort,” Holness said.

Allen Zeman and Daniel Foganholi voiced support for a more aggressive plan. Zeman said the district needs 180 campuses, not 239.

“We have to be grounded in reality. Our resource allocations are limited,” Zeman said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced the first of what he said would be many flights evacuating Floridians and other Americans out of Haiti amid the country’s spiral into violence.

DeSantis spoke at the Orlando Sanford International Airport shortly before the first chartered flight was scheduled to land Wednesday night. He left before its arrival.

DeSantis and state Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie said 14 people were on the flight, including some children.

“We’re committed to rescuing Floridians from a bad situation,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis and Guthrie said 360 Floridians and 501 other U.S. citizens had requested the state’s help in being evacuated so far.

The state conducted similar flights out of Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, for which charter company ARS Global was paid $18.5 million by the state. But DeSantis said there was far less coordination with the Haitian government than with Israel’s.

“So it’s a more challenging situation,” he said. “But there’s been people that have been doing a lot of great work, and in really difficult circumstances, to be able to bring people to safety.”

Guthrie said the state sent its Orlando Regional Coordinator to the Haitian Consulate in Orlando “to knock on the door and try to get some help. … We’re just running into problem after problem getting people vetted.”

Guthrie said that for the last five days, “I’ve had a room of about 25 people working … with our federal government, State Department, [Bureau of] Consular Affairs.”

But DeSantis and Guthrie criticized the U.S. State Department’s requirement that people evacuated on their chartered planes reimburse the federal government.

Orlando resident Abson Louis flew out of Haiti on the first such flight  Sunday.

Orlando man escapes chaos of Haiti, hopes for family’s safety

“I think the last thing these people want is to get stuck with a bill when they’re just basically running for their lives,” DeSantis said.

As for Haitians themselves, however, DeSantis said anyone attempting to arrive in Florida by boat would be caught and turned back.

“People should just understand that the last thing you want to do is get into a boat and go over very dangerous waters just to get intercepted and sent back to where you came from,” he said. “It’s just not worth it.”

DeSantis told a conservative podcaster on Tuesday that for Haitians who land in Florida, “their next stop very well may be Martha’s Vineyard,” a reference to the controversial migrant flight program funded by the state that has enticed migrants onto planes bound for Democratic states and abandoned them there.

Earlier this week, Louis told the Orlando Sentinel that DeSantis should allow refugees into Florida and not send them back to the war zone.

“I think a lot of people want the same opportunity to come here out of the chaos,” he said.

Staff photographer Stephen Dowell contributed to this report.

As the March 19 municipal elections wrapped up, two communities in Palm Beach County still are facing some unfinished business for their elections. Wellington faces two runoff elections, and Lake Worth Beach faces a runoff election.

Here’s what they expect to see in the coming days.

Wellington

In Wellington, an automatic recount was triggered for candidates in the Village Council Seat 4 race.

Five candidates ran for that seat, but voting results for two came close to each other — as of late Tuesday night and with all precincts reporting, candidate Shelly Lariz Albright had 2,239 votes while one of her opponents, Maria Antuña, had 2,270 votes, which is within a 0.5% difference, leading to the initial call for a recount.

But according to the village of Wellington clerk, the recount was ultimately waived. However, that race will still go to a runoff, said Wendy Sartory Link, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. This is essentially an additional election after a tie or inconclusive result.

Another Wellington runoff is set for the Seat 1 Council seat between Amanda Silvestri, who got about 31% of the vote, the highest of the four candidates vying for the seat, and Bob Margolis, who got about 26% of the votes.

The village “actually has to call for the runoff and call for the recount,” Sartory Link said.

According to the village charter, if a candidate wins by less than 35%, a runoff occurs.

Lake Worth Beach

Another runoff may also take place in the Lake Worth Beach race for mayor between incumbent Betty Resch and one of her opponents, Andy Amoroso.

While Resch received about 600 more votes than Amoroso, she only received about 48% of the vote, according to the most recent results from the supervisor of elections.

Winning by less than 50% plus one automatically triggers a runoff in Lake Worth Beach.

These runoff elections will take place on April 2 and are in-person voting only.

In-person voter turnout in Palm Beach County on Tuesday was two or three times higher than any other county in the state, Sartory Link said. Palm Beach County is one of the most populous counties in the state, and a majority of its total 39 municipalities had elections, figuring into the large turnout.

Between 40 and 50 “provisional ballots” will go before the county’s Canvassing Board on Thursday afternoon, she said. Provisional ballots are those where a voter’s eligibility is in question, perhaps because the voter didn’t have ID. And then that voter is given some time to address the issue so the ballot can be counted.

For the municipality election results, certification is expected to be completed after the Canvassing Board meeting on Thursday.

Besides minor hiccups, such as jammed machines here and there or poll workers not showing up to their stations, Sartory Link said the county “had a really good election.”

In Broward County, the scene was similar, with Lisa Arneaud, a spokesperson for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, writing in an email “everything went smoothly.”

No recounts or runoffs were triggered in any of the Broward races, she added.

Sun Sentinel staff writer Lisa J. Huriash contributed to this news article.

A 20-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting outside of a Miramar home Tuesday morning, and the shooter or shooters remain at large.

Miramar Police identified the victim Wednesday as Ernst Valcourt, who turned 20 years old a day before he was killed. Records show he lived in Miami-Dade County.

Tania Ordaz, a spokesperson for the police department, said SoundThinking gun-shot technology, formerly known as ShotSpotter, alerted officers to the shooting in the 3200 block of Southwest 66th Way shortly before noon Tuesday. The car was shot at dozens of times, she said.

Footage from local TV news stations showed a Bentley parked outside the home with bullet holes in its windshield and the doors open on the front passenger’s side and front driver’s side of the car.

The shooting happened outside the home of an acquaintance of Valcourt, Ordaz said. Six people were inside the acquaintance’s home at the time of the shooting. Other people may have been in the car with Valcourt when the shooting began, but he was the only person found in the car parked outside by the time officers arrived.

Ordaz said the shooting appeared to be targeted, and investigators believe multiple people were in the car that the shooter or shooters fired from.

As of Wednesday evening, no arrests have been made and investigators have not yet identified a motive. The police department has not released information as of Wednesday about the shooter or shooter’s car.

“This was a very brazen shooting that happened in residential neighborhood in broad daylight, and obviously the individual or individuals who are responsible for this quite possibly won’t hesitate to do this again,” Ordaz said.

When the beachfront Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood changed hands last year, the new owners were quick to offload two pieces of land on the Intracoastal Waterway to a pair of long-time development firms.

Now, Miami-based Related Group and BH Group of Aventura  are formally unveiling what they have in mind: The Icon Beach Waterfront Residences, a 37-floor luxury condo tower with 30,000 square feet of amenities including access to an on-site marina, full-service beach club, health club, spa, and wellness center.

“The property will also feature an expansive pool deck, complete with outdoor cinema and summer kitchens, magnificent waterfront event space, and a curated collection of museum-quality pieces from the Jorge M. Pérez Contemporary Art Collection,” the companies said in a statement released Wednesday.

In short, it’s yet another potential landing spot for upper-income new arrivals to South Florida, or for current residents looking for a fresh take on luxury living not far from the beach.

For Hollywood, it’s a validation that the South Broward city is making progress in its quest to up its game as a prime destination as it continues to rehabilitate its downtown and improve its accessibility through projects such as a local commuter rail.

Related and BH acquired the two sites last year at 3660 S. Ocean Drive, on the west side of State Road A1A, from a joint venture of Trinity Real Estate Investments of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Credit Suisse Asset Management, which acquired the Diplomat Resort for a reported $835 million.

At the time, Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy said the Related-BH Group plan involved a “public plaza” along the Intracoastal Waterway and additional hotel rooms on the west side of A1A.

On Wednesday, Levy hailed the evolving project as a move that will buttress the Diplomat’s standing as one of the city’s largest employers and the county’s largest convention hotel.

“This residential component is part of the Diplomat Activity Center that was approved by the city and county some years ago, and includes the public access component along the Intracoastal that will benefit the surrounding condo neighbors, who came out and supported this new addition,” he said in a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Condo tower to be followed by hotel

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Nick Perez, president of Related’s condo development division, said the Icon condo tower is essentially the first phase of a two-part project that will ultimately include a 500-unit condo hotel that is now in the planning stages.

“The first project which we’re speaking about now is a 350-unit residential tower,” he said. Unit owners will have access to the oceanfront beach behind the Diplomat, among other amenities.

“There are going to be a lot of synergies with Trinity and the Diplomat Resort,” he said. The hotel will serve as a kind of “extension” for the 1,000-room Diplomat, which regularly plays host to large conferences and conventions each year.

Related, he said, expects to draw both domestic and South American buyers to the condo tower.

“We’re not doing extremely large units,” he said.

Buyers will have the choice of one- to three-bedroom condominiums ranging in size from 948 to 2,500 square feet. Prices will run from $825,000 to $2.8 million. Dezer Platinum Realty, led by developer Gil Dezer and Sebastian Tettamanti, is the project’s exclusive sales and marketing partner.

“Given the the variation of one to three bedrooms with a reasonably sized condominium, we think it’s going to be a pretty good mix of primary and secondary homebuyers,” he said. “We believe we will have a healthy South American demand.”

The project will take two years to build. Sales are beginning this week.

Established in 1979, Related Group has built, rehabilitated, and managed over 100,000 condominium, rental, and commercial units. With a portfolio worth more than $40 billion, it has more than 90 projects under development.

Over the last several years, it set its sights on Broward County with a variety of rental and condo projects. They include the Icon rental tower on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, a workforce housing project called Gallery at FAT Village, and other luxury projects in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Hillsboro Beach.

The company is also partnering with  the Tate brothers and Rok family of Miami to redevelop Fort Lauderdale’s Bahia Mar with a 250-room hotel and four standalone residential towers.

Less than half an hour after he got home shortly after midnight on May 18, 2022, Bryan Robert found himself answering questions from police about his involvement in a fatal car accident in Fort Lauderdale.

A 911 caller identified Robert’s Chevrolet Traverse as the vehicle that struck and killed Ernson Jean, 52, a homeless man who was drunk and either lying or sitting on Sunrise Boulevard at 12:15 a.m.

That 911 call, according to court records, is some of the strongest evidence the state has that Robert left the scene of a fatal accident, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. His lawyer, Robert Buschel, argued in court Wednesday that the phone call not nearly enough to convict his client, and he’s asking Broward Circuit Judge Edward Merrigan to dismiss the case.

Investigators found no evidence on Robert’s Traverse that it was involved in an accident. There was no front-end damage, no damage to his tires, no blood stains, nothing that specifcally ties Robert to the scene of the accident. Prosecutors concede as much in their written response to Robert’s motion to dismiss.

The eyewitness testimony is compelling. The woman who called 911 said she witnessed the accident and took a video of the vehicle as it drove away. Her phone call came right after the accident and gave police what they needed to identify the suspect vehicle.

But the witness also said she did not want to be involved, and investigators have not located her. Buschel hinted that he would challenge the admissibility of her phone call.

Prosecutors will need to account for the evidence investigators thought they would find but didn’t, said Buschel. But Assistant State Attorney Ross Weiner told Merrigan that he can’t grant the motion to dismiss as long as key facts are in dispute.

The value of the 911 call is in dispute.

Merrigan did not say when he would rule.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

By The Associated Press

JetBlue Airways will end service at several cities and reduce flying out of Los Angeles in a move to retrench and focus on stronger markets after years of losing money.

The changes will also help the airline cope with the grounding of some of its planes for inspections of their Pratt & Whitney engines, an executive told employees Tuesday.

Starting in June, the New York-based airline will end flights between Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Nashville; New Orleans and Salt Lake City, and service between New York and Detroit. It also plans to drop several destinations from Los Angeles including Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami.

Beginning June 13, JetBlue will pull out of Kansas City, Missouri; Bogota, Colombia; Quito, Ecuador; and Lima, Peru.

“These markets are unprofitable and our aircraft time can be better utilized elsewhere,” Dave Jehn, the airline’s vice president of network planning, said in a memo to employees.

After JetBlue and Spirit part ways, South Florida retains its ‘hometown’ airline, but what’s next?

JetBlue has lost more than $2 billion since its last profitable year, 2019. The airline tried to grow through a partnership and a merger, but the Biden administration’s Justice Department sued to kill both deals.

Last May, a federal judge ordered JetBlue and American Airlines to dissolve a partnership they created in Boston and New York. In January another judge blocked JetBlue from buying Spirit, saying the proposed $3.8 billion deal violated antitrust law.

The architect of those unsuccessful deals, Robin Hayes, stepped down as CEO in February and was replaced by Joanna Geraghty.

Frustrated by the courtroom defeats, JetBlue under Geraghty is turning toward growing on its own, which will take much longer.

Spirit expects return to profitability with or without JetBlue takeover

Even before the change in CEOs, investor Carl Icahn began to buy nearly 10% of JetBlue stock, and his side got two seats on the airline board.

The airline has struggled to improve its operation. JetBlue ranked ninth out of the nation’s 10 largest airlines in both canceled flights and on-time arrivals last year, according to U.S. Transportation Department numbers.

GAINESVILLE — UF center Micah Handlogten’s first NCAA Tournament appearance is not what he’d hoped but more than he could have expected as he was carried off on a stretcher during Sunday’s SEC Tournament title game loss to Auburn.

Handlogten’s shattered lower left leg suffered during the game’s opening minutes required doctors at nearby Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, to insert two screws below his knee and in the ankle to stabilize the injured limb, coach Todd Golden said Tuesday.

Handlogten consequently did not return to Gainesville with the 7th-seeded Gators (24-11). But rather than fly back Monday, Golden said the 7-foot-1 sophomore will make the four-hour drive with his parents from the hospital to join his team in Indianapolis for Friday’s opening round of the Big Dance against the winner of the play-in game between Colorado (24-10) and Boise State (22-10).

“It’ll be a huge lift for him and kind of get his spirits back,” Golden said. “He’s honestly in great spirits, all things considered. Way better spirits than I’d be in.

“It’s going to be a huge lift for the team also.”

Danielle and Benjamin Handlogten look on as medical personnel tend to their son Micah, Florida’s sophomore center, after he fractured his left leg during the SEC Tournament final on March 17 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Handlogten’s injury was an emotional blow for a leg-weary team playing its fourth game in four days.

The Gators now turn the page and push to make a postseason run. Even without Handlogten, Golden’s squad will be a tough out.

Even so, Handlogten’s loss will be felt. He averaged a team-best 3.4 offensive rebounds for a team third in the nation with 14.8 per game.

True freshman Alex Condon, a hard-nosed 6-foot-11 Aussie, will step in for Handlogten, becoming the first Gator to make his starting debut in the NCAA Tournament. The injury will also elevate the role of first-year forward Thomas Haugh and put even more on the shoulders of 6-foot-10, 239-pound senior Tyrese Samuel, who leads UF with 11 double-doubles.

Handlogten also had 29 blocks, third to Condon (47) and Samuel (37).

“We’ve got to just be more relentless of pursuing the ball on offense and defense,” said Samuel, who averages a team-high 7.5 boards.

Florida power forward Tyrese Samuel leads the Gators with an average of 7.5 rebounds. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Handlogten, though, had lost his way offensively.

He averaged 5.3 points but had more fouls (44) than points (43) during the final 15 games.

The Gators’ many options on offense made up for it and will make them hard to contain during the NCAAs. UF is sixth nationally with an average of 85.1 points, but Colorado is 50th (79.3) and Boise State 108th (75.8) and might be able to keep up.

Facing a play-in opponent is a challenge as Golden and his staff prepare for Wednesday night’s winner.

“We’re at a little bit of a disadvantage because we can’t truly prepare for anybody until late Wednesday night,” Golden said. “It all works itself out at the end of the day. I’m really glad we’re playing on Friday. This team was about as fatigued as you can be coming off four games in four days, and obviously, with the emotion of what happened to Micah.

“We needed some time to kind of get our legs back under us.”

Florida head coach Todd Golden, right, paces on the sideline during the Gators’ loss to Auburn during the SEC Tournament final March 17 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The Gators aim to make Handlogten’s effort to rejoin his team worth it. The 20-year-old’s gruesome injury shook his teammates.

Handlogten fell awkwardly going for a rebound against Auburn and writhed in pain with his hands on his face after he landed. Blood was visible on the back of his calf and the court as trainers attended to him and his distraught parents looked on, including his mother, Danielle, donning his No. 3 jersey.

Medical personnel stabilized his leg in an air cast before he was carried away on a backboard and placed on a stretcher.

“I saw something like that my freshman year at Belmont,” junior shooting guard Will Richard said. “One of my close teammates dislocated his ankle, and it looked a little like that. I’ve seen it before, and I definitely don’t want to see it again.

“It hurts just to see.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

Following are results of the March 19, 2024, municipal elections in Palm Beach County.

(For Broward County results, click here)

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Following are results of the March 19, 2024, municipal elections in Broward County. Results will be begin displaying after polls close at 7 p.m.

(For Palm Beach County results, click here)

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When Broward Circuit Judge George Odom dismissed the state’s case against a convicted felon accused of illegally voting in the 2020 election, he said the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor lacks the authority to bring the case to court.

The ruling put a dent in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stated effort to shine a spotlight on incidents of election fraud in Florida, and now lawyers for the state are asking an appeals court to reinstate the case against Terry Hubbard.

Odom was wrong to toss the case, said Alison Preston, a state deputy solicitor general, because the crime was committed in more than one jurisdiction, usually a trigger for the statewide prosecutor’s intervention.

Hubbard, 55, was one of 20 convicted felons accused of violating election laws by registering to vote and casting ballots in 2020.

“His aim was to vote in the 2020 election,” Preston said. “He knew that he couldn’t vote and yet he registered and did anyway.” Preston said the statewide prosecutor’s office should have the right to bring the case forward because Hubbard’s voter registration was processed in Tallahassee, which means it involved more than one county’s jurisdiction.

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But Craig Trocino, an attorney for Hubbard, argued that the only actions taken by Hubbard, signing the registration form and voting, took place in Broward, and only the Broward State Attorney had the legal authority to prosecute.

“The Florida Constitution is very, very clear that local states’ attorneys have exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute single-circuit crimes in their jurisdiction,” Trocino said. “Only when it branches out does the OSP (the Office of Statewide Prosecution) get involved.”

The arguments were held in front of a three-judge appellate panel comprised of  Judges Melanie May, Dorian Damoorgian and Jeffrey Kuntz, who asked a series of questions challenging both lawyers, leaving no strong indication how — or when — they will rule.

Florida voters in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment aimed at restoring the rights of convicted felons who have completed terms of their sentences. The amendment did not apply to people with convictions for murder or sex offenses. Hubbard served 12 years of a 30-year sentence for sexual battery in the late 1980s and through the 1990s.

Trocino said his client genuinely thought his rights had been restored and that he would not have received a voter registration card otherwise.

Odom’s ruling said Hubbard initially completed a voter-registration application in July 2019 in Broward County. The county supervisor of elections submitted the application to the Department of State, and Hubbard was issued a voter-identification card in August 2019.
Hubbard submitted a second application to Broward County in February 2020, and he voted by mail in the November 2020 election, according to Odom’s ruling.

DeSantis and other Republican leaders in recent years have made a major issue of trying to stop what they say is voter fraud. Those efforts included creating a controversial state Office of Elections Crimes and Security, which critics have derided as the “election police.”

The charges against Hubbard and the other 19 convicted felons were announced in August 2022, less than three months before a general election that included DeSantis winning another term.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and the Brennan Center for Justice signed on to friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Hubbard in the appellate fight.

Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says that the president of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s state-owned “insurer of last resort,” has “failed to cooperate with” an investigation that Whitehouse announced in November.

In a news release on Tuesday, Whitehouse said he sent a letter to Citizens president Tim Cerio “renewing” requests for documents and information made in November related to Citizens’ plans to “address increased underwriting losses from climate-related extreme weather events and other disasters.”

The letter, the release said, “follows new comments from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to CNBC that Citizens ‘is not solvent,’ a statement that also appears at odds with claims Citizens has made to the (Senate Budget) Committee,” which Whitehouse chairs.

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Citizens did not respond to a request for comment about Whitehouse’s newest demands. Spokesman Michael Peltier said that leaders were “traveling” and he had reached out to them.

Citizens has tripled in size as Florida has experienced an insurance crisis. Numerous companies have become insolvent due to more frequent claims costs, rising rates of litigation and ballooning costs of reinsurance, which is insurance that insurers pay to guarantee they can cover claims after a catastrophe.

Prohibitively high costs of insurance or the inability to find a policy makes homeowners eligible for Citizens, which has increased its policy count from 420,000 in 2019 to nearly two million today.

Whitehouse’s request in November — in a letter addressed to DeSantis, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworksy, and Cerio — caught Cerio and Citizens’ top brass by surprise. Cerio told the company’s Board of Governors the following month that they were made aware of the request when a CNN reporter asked for a comment about it.

Cerio then said that Citizens would not need a federal bailout. Florida law requires special assessments and surcharges — potentially against nearly all insurance customers in Florida — to cover any shortfall the company might experience paying for losses after severe weather events, Cerio said.

Cerio told Whitehouse essentially the same thing in a letter dated Dec. 15, that “Florida law provides a framework to ensure that Citizens remains solvent,” as Whitehouse stated in a letter he sent to Cerio on Monday.

Whitehouse, in his letter, called that response “deficient” and reiterated his request for “information and documents concerning Citizens’ plans to address increased underwriting losses from climate-related extreme weather events and other disasters such as tropical cyclones, intense precipitation events, droughts, heatwaves, sea level rise, and wildfires.”

Cerio’s letter, Whitehouse said, “simply explained what I already understood to be true.” But it did not address “my concerns that, should a major storm hit Florida and require exorbitant levies, Florida residents might be unwilling or unable to pay them, leading to further financial risks both to Florida and, possibly, the federal government.”

To prove his concerns are “grounded in history,” Whitehouse brought up bills introduced in the Florida Senate and in Congress after the 2004-05 hurricanes that aimed to create a national catastrophe insurance program.

Bringing “further urgency to my concerns,” Whitehouse wrote, were news stories about Citizens’ efforts to reduce its size by “offloading hundreds of thousands of policies — often its least risky policies — to private insurers.”

Whitehouse’s letter accused Citizens of failing to address four of seven questions outlined in his November request, or provide “documents or communications in response to any question.”

Emails sent to Citizens by Whitehouse’s staff on Dec. 19 and Jan. 5 “to request a briefing with relevant Citizens employees to discuss the company’s response and additional steps” were ignored, Whitehouse’s letter stated.

The letter reminded Cerio that Citizens is subject to Florida’s Sunshine Law, which states that “all state, county and municipal records are open for personal inspection and copying by any person.”

Whitehouse again set a deadline for compliance. This time, he requested “full and complete responses” to questions in his November letter “no later than March 28” —10 calendar days after the email was sent to Cerio.

Whitehouse’s newest letter comes six days after Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller held a news conference to draw attention to a bill that U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz filed last May.

Geller said the bill would save Floridians 25% off of their property insurance bills by requiring the U.S. to issue Treasury notes — repayable over a decade — to cover costs of repairing damage from any storm beyond what would be generated by a 1-in-50-year storm. Policyholders would save money because insurers would no longer be required to purchase reinsurance to cover a 1-in-130-year storm, Geller said.

Issuing Treasury notes, Geller said, would not cost the federal government anything because they would be backed by the full faith and credit of Florida residents.

DeSantis has repeated his claim that Citizens insolvent several times over the past year, and most recently during an appearance on CNBC on Feb. 27.

But economists have pointed out to Politifact that Citizens is not “insolvent” as the word is commonly understood. It has about $5 billion in reserves and enough reinsurance to cover $16.7 billion in damage before having to impose assessments and surcharges.

Spokespersons for DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio did not respond to requests for comment about Whitehouse’s newest letter.

McKinley Lewis, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, also did not respond directly to Whitehouse’s demands.

Instead, he issued a statement saying that Scott “has been clear that every option should be on the table until the property insurance market is fixed and all families can afford their premiums.”

He added, “When he was governor, Sen. Scott worked to grow Florida’s private property insurance market and depopulate Citizens, which lowered costs for homeowners and increased the stability of the market so that claims could be paid in the event of a hurricane. This is a major crisis for Florida homeowners and as long as there’s still work to do, the state’s job isn’t done.”

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

With the recent Academy Awards, there has been lot of attention about one film in particular — “Barbie,” one of the most popular movies of 2023.

“Barbie,” which lost for Best Picture to “Oppenheimer,” gets a close look for its focus on the empowerment of women. Barbie dolls have been astronauts, doctors and presidents of the United States.

But the theme also points to the success of real-life women. Florida has its share of female trailblazers who deserve their own movies.

Mary McLeod Bethune and Marjory Stoneman Douglas lead the list.

Bethune worked to ensure education, voting and civil rights for Blacks in Florida and the United States and for underprivileged people worldwide. From creating the Daytona Beach school that’s now Bethune-Cookman University to helping to form the United Nations, Bethune’s life should be seen on film.

The Internet Movie Database, the primary online resource for movie information, lists a planned short film about Bethune. With the title “Reflections: The Life & Times of Mary McLeod Bethune,” the movie would star Karen Y. McLean.

There have been other portrayals of Bethune. In Florida, her life has been dramatized in live presentations by author and historian Ersula Knox Odom.

During the 1990s, actress Joan Turner had a similar portrayal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in a one-woman show. While Douglas has been shown in a number of documentaries, there has been no major dramatic film about her life as yet. Besides being the prime conservationist of the Everglades, Douglas was also a journalist and advocate for women’s and civil rights.

Any film faces the obstacle of the current condition of Florida’s film industry. In recent years, state government has ended incentives for filming in local communities. There are ongoing projects — recently, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem have been filming a movie with a Formula 1 racing theme in Daytona Beach. But various films with Florida themes have headed to Georgia, Louisiana and other states with tax incentives.

It’s worth remembering that a long list of Academy Award winners has been filmed in Florida. That includes the 1948 movie “The Yearling,” based on the book by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and 1984’s “Cross Creek,” which starred Mary Steenburgen as Rawlings. Both were filmed in the Ocala National Forest area where Rawlings lived.

Other stories of Florida’s iconic women are waiting to be filmed here. Such movies would be productive for the state for many reasons.

Sylvia Gurinsky is a tour guide and writer who lives in Davie.

When the John Kander-Fred Ebb musical “Cabaret” opened on Broadway in 1966, it was a game changer in its staging, tone and story.

Certainly, other musicals had tackled politics in specific eras, such as “Sound of Music” (1959) and “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964). But none targeted the rise of Nazism in Berlin during 1929 and 1930 using a low-rent nightclub as a metaphor for apathy.

Director Sam Mendes’ 1993 London revival of “Cabaret” further upped the ante, zeroing in on the seediness of the Kit Kat Klub, Nazism seeping through Germany and a blatantly sexualized The Emcee, dressed in fishnet stockings and torn mesh top, not the tuxedo that Joel Grey wore in the original.

Zoetic Stage’s production of “Cabaret” is another game changer, with its innovative direction and staging by Stuart Meltzer, a superb cast and inventive set. It runs through Sunday, April 7, in the Carnival Studio Theater at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

Zoetic cofounder Meltzer has taken this now-popular musical, listed in the top 10 most-produced titles in American theater, to make it totally his own production. He reconceives aspects introduced in the Mendes version to make Zoetic’s “Cabaret” seem like a fresh, new musical.

The director’s attention to details makes many scenes powerful and unpredictable. The first time we hear the Nazi refrain “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” expertly sung by Nate Promkul, is a chilling surprise. Meltzer’s unique spin on the last scene becomes one of those heart-in-the-throat moments in which the audience’s gasp is universal.

Instead of the traditional proscenium stage, Zoetic’s is a variation of theater-in-the-round, cleverly designed by another cofounder, Michael McKeever. At one end is the dancers’ cluttered dressing room. This leads to a runway of sorts that leads to a circle stage, followed by another runway leading to a rectangular stage with the words Kit Kat Klub in bold gold letters, behind which is the band.

Some audience members sit at either long tables up against the staging or in individual tables, or in regular theater seats behind the tables. As a result, the audience feels as if they are smack in the middle of the action.

As audience members enter, a dancer already is slumped over a dressing table — perhaps exhausted, or drunk, or perhaps it’s Elsie, who will be mentioned later in the song “Cabaret.” We won’t spoil the surprise.

Zoetic Stage’s production of “Cabaret,” at Miami’s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, has innovative direction and staging by Stuart Meltzer, a superb cast and inventive set. (Justin Namon/Courtesy)

“Cabaret” opens just before the new year of 1930 in Berlin. The Jazz Age is winding down while the Nazi Party is gaining strength. The seedy Kit Kat Klub isn’t the place to be, but it offers a refuge for those living on the fringe, basking in its decadence. Its patrons and dancers refuse to acknowledge the violence, antisemitism and hatred growing outside its walls.

“Here, everything is beautiful” is the common refrain. Only it isn’t.

American Clifford Bradshaw arrives in Berlin to work on a novel, teaching English on the side for an income. On the train, he meets German Ernst Ludwig, who agrees to become his first pupil, recommends a boarding house and offers him an occasional job taking items back and forth to France for “a good political cause.”

Ernst also introduces Cliff to the Kit Kat Klub, where he meets the English chanteuse, Sally Bowles. Cliff also is recognized by one of the male dancers, with whom he’d had a liaison in another country. A few days later, Sally shows up at the boardinghouse insisting to move in with Cliff after she is fired.

At the boardinghouse, proprietress Fräulein Schneider and her Jewish tenant, Herr Schultz, who owns a fruit store, begin a serious romance with plans to marry. Their courtship is lovely and heartbreaking.

“Cabaret” has essentially four stories: that of Cliff and Sally and their growing relationship, that of the nightclub, the goings on at the boardinghouse, and the rapid influence of the Nazis.

Meltzer’s skill at casting superior actors and pushing them to even higher performances excels in “Cabaret.”

Lindsey Corey, one of South Florida’s top singer-actors, digs even deeper than usual as Sally Bowles. While her character is, essentially, a third-rate entertainer, there is no denying that Corey gives a first-rate performance. Her “Don’t Tell Mama,” “Mein Herr” and “Maybe This Time” are show-stoppers, but her savvy interpretation of the song “Cabaret” is excellent. Too many singers approach this song as a happy party tune, but it is not, and Corey understands this. She finds the pathos, the sadness, the idea that Berlin is changing for the worse and she can no longer ignore politics. Corey’s rendition is one of the best we’ve ever heard.

Teddy Warren’s Cliff arrives in Berlin thinking he is worldly-wise but soon learns how little he knows. Suffering from writer’s block, he is seduced by the decadence of Berlin and by Sally.

Cliff, at first, is in awe of Berlin — “It’s tawdry and terrible. And I love it,” he says. His realization that his errands for Ernst are for the Nazis forces him to reevaluate his life. Warren, recently seen in GableStage’s “Old Wicked Songs,” effectively shows his character’s growth.

The Emcee is this musical’s showiest role, and the excellent Elijah Word makes every song, every movement, even a piercing glance count in this sexually charged character who moves along the story of the club and performs with the dancers. Word’s role in Slow Burn Theatre Co.’s “Kinky Boots” established him as a powerful entertainer, but his Emcee shows his talent at another level.

Avi Hoffman and Laura Turnbull as Herr Schultz and Fräulein Schneider in “Cabaret,” playing in Miami through April 7. (Justin Namon/Courtesy)

Word is mesmerizing when on stage, from “Willkommen” to “Two Ladies” to “Money.” The Emcee is dressed, not just in the torn mesh top and corset established in Mendes’ production, but mostly in rather sophisticated but oh-so-sexy costumes winningly designed by Dawn Shamburger.

The Emcee arrives as if in a fashion show wearing fishnet stockings, a garter belt and a corset, of course, but also an open-front skirt with pannier, a vest, jacket and top hat. Each subsequent outfit further establishes his character.

As Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz, longtime married actors Laura Turnbull and Avi Hoffman bring an undeniable chemistry to their heartfelt performances, especially in the duets “Married” and “It Couldn’t Please Me More.” Turnbull’s “What Would You Do?” is a forceful look at the cost of surviving.

Sara Grant is a revelation in her dual roles as the dancer Frenchie and Fräulein Kost, a prostitute who lives at the boardinghouse. Kost often is a minor character, meant to cause friction with Fräulein Schneider. But Grant makes Kost three-dimensional, especially as she gradually reveals her Nazi sympathies and virulent antisemitism. Grant has proved herself in a variety of roles in South Florida, but “Cabaret” shows her talents at a new high.

As the character of Ernst Ludwig, Robert Koutras starts out as an affable stranger, easy to start a friendship with. Koutras makes Ernst still seem like a nice guy even when his conman tendencies are revealed. But his black heart becomes clear when he first wears a swastika and his version of “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” that closes the first act is biting descent into hatred.

Kudos also are deserving for Ben Sandomir as various characters, as well as for Casey Sacco, Conor Walton, Lauren Danielle Horgan and Nate Promkul, who invest individuality into their roles as Kit Kat Klub dancers. The band, led by Eric Alsford, is a highlight.

Quiana Major’s sound design and Becky Montero’s lighting design enhance the production.

At its essence, “Cabaret” is a musical about denial. Sally Bowles and the Kit Kat Klub’s dancers refuse to believe that politics will affect their lives. Cliff acknowledges the influence of Nazism but declines to act until it’s almost too late. Fräulein Schneider forgoes happiness and love for safety. And, saddest of all, Herr Schultz refuses to believe that his supposed friends and neighbors would turn against him because he’s Jewish.

Zoetic Stage’s “Cabaret” is not to be missed.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Zoetic Stage presents “Cabaret”

WHEN: Wednesday-Sunday, through April 7

WHERE: Carnival Studio Theater at Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

COST: $65-$85

INFORMATION: 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org

A version of this review ran in floridatheateronstage.com.

By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to dismiss an indictment charging the former president with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, renewing their arguments that he is immune from prosecution for official acts taken in the White House.

Lower courts have already twice rejected the immunity claims, but Trump’s lawyers will get a fresh chance to press their case before the Supreme Court when the justices hear arguments on April 25. The high court’s decision to consider the matter has left the criminal case on hold pending the outcome of the appeal, making it unclear whether special counsel Jack Smith will be able to put the ex-president on trial before November’s election.

In a brief filed Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers repeated many of the same arguments that judges have already turned aside, asserting that a president “cannot function, and the Presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence, if the President faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office.”

“A denial of criminal immunity would incapacitate every future President with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office, and condemn him to years of post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents,” the lawyers wrote. “The threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would become a political cudgel to influence the most sensitive and controversial Presidential decisions, taking away the strength, authority, and decisiveness of the Presidency.”

Smith’s team has said ex-presidents do not enjoy absolute immunity and that, in any event, the steps Trump is accused of taking in his failed but frantic effort to remain in power after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden would not count as official presidential acts.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, and a three-judge federal appeals panel in Washington have both agreed with Smith, but the case — once scheduled for trial on March 4 — has been effectively frozen for months as the appeal continues to wind through the courts.

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Trump’s lawyers also told the justices that in the event they don’t accept the immunity arguments, they should send the case back to Chutkan for additional “fact-finding.” Such a move would result in even lengthier delays before a trial could be scheduled.

Trump’s position was supported in separate briefs filed Tuesday with the Supreme Court, including one from 18 Republican-led states.

The case is one of four state and federal criminal prosecutions that Trump is facing as he seeks to reclaim the White House. He and his lawyers have sought to delay the cases from proceeding to trial, a strategy that to date has yielded some success for the ex-president.

Of those four, only one — a case in New York charging Trump in connection with hush money payments meant to suppress claims of an extramarital sexual encounter — is on track to start in the next several months. The judge in that case delayed the trial last week until at least mid-April as he seeks answers about a last-minute evidence dump that the former president’s lawyers said has hampered their ability to prepare their defense.

The Cooper City High School student who crashed with a Tesla while driving his scooter to school Monday morning has died from his injuries, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

Anthony Malec, a 16-year-old in 11th grade, was pronounced dead at a hospital Tuesday morning, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Malec was riding a stand-up electric scooter outside of the designated crosswalk in the 9800 block of Stirling Road, near the high school, shortly after 8 a.m. when he rode into the path of a woman driving a 2022 Tesla Model X. The driver was Fritznie Jarbeth, 40, of Coral Springs, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Jarbeth stayed at the scene. The Sheriff’s Office said speeding and impairment are not considered factors in the crash.

16-year-old student on scooter seriously injured when struck by car near Cooper City High

The accident was within the designated school zone, but the Sheriff’s Office could not say Monday whether the zone was in effect. Classes at the high school begin at 7:40 a.m., and other traffic restrictions in the zone also end at 7:40.

The teen was taken to the hospital in “extremely critical condition,” Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Michael Kane told the South Florida Sun Sentinel  on Monday.

Cooper City High School Principal Vera Perkovic said in a message to families announcing the student’s death that all after-school activities were canceled on Tuesday and that grief counselors will be available during the week.

“I want to offer my deepest condolences to the student’s family and loved ones, classmates, teachers and staff, and our entire community as we mourn this great loss,” Perkovic said. “I ask our school community to rally around the family in prayer and support during this time of deep sorrow.”

UCF thought it had put its time in the American Athletic Conference in the rearview mirror when it joined the Big 12 last July.

However, as fictitious mobster Michael Corleone found out in “The Godfather Part III,” just because you think you’re out doesn’t mean they won’t try to pull you back in.

UCF (17-15) faces a familiar opponent — one from their past — when former AAC member and in-state rival USF (24-7) travels to Orlando to face the Knights in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) Tuesday night at Addition Financial Arena (9 p.m., ESPN+).

“It’s great to play USF,” said UCF coach Johnny Dawkins. “They probably feel the same way. Unfortunately, we’re not in the same league anymore, but that was always a great rivalry.

Slow start sends UCF to 2nd-round loss to BYU in Big 12 tourney

“The War on I-4 took on a special meaning for all of us as competitors, so we have to get our guys up to speed on exactly what it means.”

Guard Darius Johnson, forward C.J. Walker and forward Thierno Sylla are the only Knights to have participated in the rivalry series, which ended with a pair of losses to the Bulls last season.

“I remember asking Coach if we were still going to have the game against USF,” Johnson recalled. “Fortunately, it worked out, so we can play them.

“We have a lot of new guys on the team, and some of them don’t realize how big the rivalry is, so I tried to relate to them any rivalries they may have had in high school or at the AAU level.”

UCF wrapped up its first season in the Big 12 with seven conference wins, including a program-first three wins over ranked opponents: No. 3 Kansas, No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas Tech.

The Knights also secured their first win in the conference tournament, blowing out Oklahoma State 77-62 in the first round before losing to BYU 87-73 in the second.

Big 12 men’s and women’s tournaments to remain in Kansas City through 2031

USF went on an incredible run in its first season under coach Amir Abdul-Rahim, winning 22 of its final 24 games to capture the AAC regular-season title. But the Bulls fell short in the conference tournament, losing to eventual tourney champ UAB in the semifinals.

UCF and South Florida personnel said they believed they did enough to earn a spot in the 68-team NCAA tournament field, but both were shut out and found themselves in the 32-team NIT field instead.

“We’re happy to be still playing, first and foremost,”  Dawkins said. “Going to a postseason tournament, especially if you couldn’t make the NCAA, but to go to the NIT is a really good first step for the group.”

Junior guard Jaylin Sellers added, “I know it wasn’t what we expected us to do, but I’m cool with it, and I want to run it.”

This is the 49th meeting in the series, with USF holding a 27-21 advantage. The Bulls have won five of the last eight games, including twice in the 2022-23 season. Those losses still hang over Johnson, who scored 2 points in UCF’s 82-75 home loss.

“Last year was disappointing,” said Johnson, who is second on the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game. “To get them back is something I’m looking forward to.”

UCF knows it faces a challenge because USF is one of the better teams in the AAC in 3-point shooting, connecting on 36% of its long-range shots. The Bulls are reminiscent of another team the Knights recently faced.

“They’re very similar to BYU. They have a lot of guys who want to shoot the ball and they have a lot of guard play,” Johnson said. “We have to be talking on defense and making sure we limit [their] threes and stop them in transition.”

The victor will face this weekend the winner of top-seeded Villanova vs. VCU.

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — The infamous “Access Hollywood” video in which Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission will not be shown to jurors at the former president’s hush-money criminal trial, a New York judge ruled Monday.

Judge Juan M. Merchan said prosecutors can still question witnesses about the tape, which was made public in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 White House campaign. But “it is not necessary that the tape itself be introduced into evidence or that it be played for the jury,” the judge said.

Merchan issued rulings on the “Access Hollywood” tape and other issues even after deciding last Friday to postpone the trial until at least mid-April to deal with a last-minute evidence dump that Trump’s lawyers said has hampered their ability to prepare their defense.

Merchan scheduled a hearing for March 25, the trial’s original start date, to address that issue.

Trump’s lawyers complained that they only recently started receiving more than 100,000 pages of documents from a previous federal investigation into the matter. They’ve asked for a three-month delay and for the case to be thrown out.

The hush money case centers on allegations that Trump falsified his company’s records to hide the true nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who paid porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 during the 2016 presidential campaign to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and were not part of any cover-up.

In other rulings Monday, Merchan denied a defense bid to bar Cohen, Daniels and other key prosecution witnesses from testifying.

He also again rejected the defense’s request that prosecutors be barred from arguing that Trump was seeking to improperly influence the 2016 election with the alleged hush-money scheme or that the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid aided in suppressing negative stories about him in a practice known as “catch and kill.”

Prosecutors contend the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” footage, followed by a flurry of women coming forward to accuse Trump of sexual assault, hastened his efforts to keep negative stories out of the press, leading to the hush-money arrangement with Daniels.

Trump’s lawyers argued that the “Access Hollywood” video “contains inflammatory and unduly prejudicial evidence that has no place at this trial about documents and accounting practices.”

Merchan said he would reconsider allowing prosecutors to show the tape if Trump’s lawyers were to “open the door” during the trial.

The judge said he would rule later, after further study, on the prosecution’s request to present evidence about the sexual assault allegations that surfaced after the tape was made public.

Before he rules, Merchan said prosecutors will be required to make additional arguments about the evidence’s admissibility so he can better analyze it pursuant to rules governing testimony about so-called “prior bad acts.”

UCF landed another possible piece to its 2025 recruiting class with the verbal commitment of Cedartown (Ga.) defensive back Demarcus Gardner.

Gardner becomes the sixth player to commit to the Knights after announcing his decision on social media on Monday.

The 6-foot, 170-pound cornerback played two seasons of varsity football at Cedartown High School, registering 53 tackles, 8 interceptions, and 12 passes defended in 25 games. He also played receiver for the Bulldogs, totaling 942 yards with 13 touchdowns, according to MaxPreps.

Gods Plan