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By JIMMY GOLEN

BOSTON — Brad Marchand had two assists in his emotional return to Boston, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the winner with 27 seconds left to help the Florida Panthers beat the Bruins 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Boston rallied to tie it after trailing 2-0 lead in the third period, then Marchand skated through the neutral zone and flipped the puck ahead to Eetu Luostarinen as he burst ahead of the last defender and beat Jeremy Swayman to make it 3-2 with 10 minutes to play.

With the Boston net empty, Morgan Geekie made it 3-3 with 1:31 left. But Verhaeghe broke the tie with 27 seconds to play.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Swayman made 19 saves for Boston, which lost its fifth straight game after starting Marco Sturm’s coaching tenure with three wins in a row.

Marchand received a standing ovation when he was the last player to leave the ice after the pregame warmups, and then another when the TD Garden scoreboard played a highlight video from his time in Boston.

The four-time All-Star and the last remaining member of Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup championship team, who was dealt to Florida at the trade deadline last season, broke down as he waved to the crowd and tapped his heart.

Marchand, who went on to help the Panthers win their second straight Stanley Cup title, drew a tripping penalty 33 seconds into the game and was swiping at the puck in the crease on the ensuing power play along with Mackie Samoskevich, who was credited with the goal.

A.J. Greer made it 2-0 in the second period. Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm also scored for Boston.

Up next

Florida hosts Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Panthers left wing Brad Marchand, right, celebrates after a goal by right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) during the first period on Tuesday in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Although it was just an exhibition game, UCF held its ground against No. 6 Duke for 24 minutes at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night. However, the Blue Devils used a 16-2 run to secure a comfortable 96-71 win over the Knights.

UCF senior guard Riley Kugel had a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds, while junior forward Jordan Burks added 21 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

The Knights shot 38.4% (28 of 73) from the field, including 26.7% (8-30) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Cameron Boozer, the son of former Blue Devils all-American Carlos Boozer, had a team-high 33 points with 12 rebounds in his college debut at Duke. Boozer’s brother, Cayden, had nine points. Isaiah Evans and Nikolas Khamenia added 14 points apiece.

This was a return home for UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, who was an all-American and Naismith Player of the Year with the Blue Devils. He would eventually serve as an assistant coach under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, winning a national championship in 2001.

It had been 18 years since Dawkins had returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“It’s going to be really odd,” Dawkins told the Sentinel in July. “This is the first time I’ll ever go into that building where I wasn’t on the team, either as a player or a coach. It’s going to be awkward for me with regard to that, but I’m excited for my guys.”

The Knights are gearing up for the new season with an overhauled roster, bringing in 13 newcomers, including 11 players through the transfer portal. The only returning players are reserves Poohpha Warakulnukroh and Elijah Hulsewe.

Fifth-year guard Themus Fulks had 11 points, four assists and three rebounds for UCF, which was outrebounded 54-41.

UCF returns home to host LSU in another exhibition game on Sunday at Noon.

The Knights tip off the season against Hofstra (8 p.m., ESPN+) at Addition Financial Arena on Nov. 3.

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and COREY WILLIAMS

Daniel Naroditsky, a standard-bearer in the world of competitive chess that flourished in the COVID-19 pandemic, died Monday at the age of 29, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greats of the game who helped usher in its digital era.

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The American grandmaster won several championships and amassed hundreds of thousands of subscribers on YouTube, Twitch and other platforms, where he would livestream matches and explain strategy in real time. But he also struggled with the cyberspace he helped build.

High-speed games became wildly popular online during the pandemic, creating a chess community that was soon rife with cheating allegations as players gained access to sophisticated computer programs that could give them an unfair advantage.

Naroditsky’s untimely death has shined a spotlight on the dark underbelly of the game that fellow pros say brought undue criticism and hostility upon the chess star in his final months.

His cause of death has not been released.

Legacy of integrity

Naroditsky had been dogged by unsubstantiated claims of cheating from Russian grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, whom Naroditsky had called one of the “heroes” he looked up to as a young player.

The California-born pro had denied the claims as he excelled at blitz and bullet chess, where players have mere minutes to finish intense matches. He was vocal about how the allegations took a toll on him.

“Ever since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like if I start doing well, people assume the worst of intentions,” Naroditsky said Saturday in the last livestream he filmed before his death. “The issue is just the lingering effect of it.”

He ruminated about his legacy and hoped other top players would trust that he played with integrity.

Grandmasters and other chess pros from around the world have applauded Naroditsky as an honorable ambassador of the game who used his online platform to make chess accessible to everyone. His family said in a statement that they hope he will be remembered for the joy and inspiration he brought people every day.

Naroditsky became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from World Chess Champion, at the age of 18. He was consistently ranked in the top 200 worldwide for traditional chess, and he won the U.S. National Blitz Championship in August. He spent much of his time training young players in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This undated photo released by Charlotte Chess Center shows Daniel Naroditsky playing chess on the board. (Kelly Centrelli/Charlotte Chess Center via AP

“Daniel was an incredible teacher and explainer of chess and concepts and ideas,” said Daniel Weissbarth, co-owner of Silver Knights Chess Academy in Fairfax, Virginia.

Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the International Chess Federation, said the organization will establish a prize in memory of Naroditsky and his contributions to chess. Dvorkovich described the young grandmaster as brilliant, kind and a truly good person.

Blame game

Many pros this week called for an end to the constant finger-pointing that seemed to follow players like Naroditsky who thrived in fast-paced play.

Kenneth Regan, a chess international master and computer science professor at the University at Buffalo, said the opportunity to cheat has exploded as the cerebral sport has shifted online. There are ways to police the game online, but Regan said they are intrusive.

“The rate of cheating online is 100 to 200 times higher than the rate over the board,” Regan said. “From my point of view, there are five to 10 cases per year over the board.”

The popular internet chess server Chess.com shut down Kramnik’s blog on the site in 2023, saying he had used it to spread baseless cheating allegations about “many dozens of players.” At the time, the platform warned of “Kramnik’s escalating attacks” against some of the most respected members of the chess community and some promising young talents.

The speedy style of play popularized in chess’ digital arena is somewhat reliant on the honor system.

Top talents analyze the board so quickly and move with such precision that cheating allegations have become common. Bullet chess is so fast, Regan said, that it’s essentially “playing chess entirely with your gut.”

Nurturing young talent

Last week, Naroditsky posted a video on his popular Speedrun chess series on YouTube, telling viewers he was “back, better than ever” after a short “creative break.” His videos, in which he gave tips and discussed strategy, were great tools for chess players of various abilities, said Benjamin Balas, professor of psychology at North Dakota State.

“He would tell you ‘This is the kind of mistake you’re going to see at this level,’ and he would make mistakes, too, and talk to you how to manage them,” Balas said.

Other grandmasters such as Hikaru Nakamura and five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen are using social media to take chess to a wider audience, increasing its popularity around the world.

“People, they see Daniel or other streamers and they start to play online chess,” said John Hartmann, editor of Chess Life magazine. “The streaming personalities, they lead people into the chess world.”

Carlsen credited Naroditsky for his work in the streaming space, saying he was universally loved and “such a resource to the chess community.”

PORTLAND (AP) — A baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo had more tricks than treats to show when handlers gave it a small pumpkin to play with during an annual fall event where giant elephants smash half-ton pumpkins.

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Weighing just 775 pounds, eight-month-old Asian elephant Tula-Tu is about the heft of one of the giant pumpkins so is too small to smash them. Instead, zoo handlers gave her a small pumpkin to practice with. The little elephant dribbled the gourd around like a soccer ball, a video from the zoo shows.

Her elephant family at the Oregon Zoo enjoyed the large pumpkins on Oct. 16 at the annual “Squishing of the Squash,” a tradition that goes back to 1999 when a farmer donated a pumpkin weighing 828 pounds. The donated pumpkins have gotten bigger, around 1,000 pounds this year, thanks to competitive hobbyists at the Pacific Giant Vegetable Growers Club.

To break open the gargantuan gourds, zookeepers present them to Tula-Tu’s adult relatives like her brother and father who weigh slightly over 10,000 pounds. In a video from the zoo, they appear to delicately place one foot at the top, and gently press down. The pumpkins crack with a loud pop, sending rind and seeds flying.

Past years’ videos have shown midsized, young elephants putting both feet on top of the pumpkins but being too light — or lacking technique — so the giant vegetables don’t burst.

This year the adults elephants smashed the massive pumpkins in front of a cheering crowd of zoo visitors, and then the family of elephants ate the many tons of squash fragments.

Asian elephants like Tula-Tu and her family are considered highly endangered, according to Oregon Zoo officials. There is a fragmented population of around 40,000 to 50,000 such elephants in the wild in places ranging from India to the Malaysian island of Borneo. But there have been successful conservation milestones in recent years, including in Cambodia.

A professor at the University of Central Florida was arrested last week after chasing an Oviedo middle schooler onto school property and smacking the boy’s bicycle helmet off his head, according to his arrest report.

Shuo Sean Pang, 41, was arrested Oct. 14 on charges of battery and trespassing at Jackson Heights Middle School in Oviedo, the report shows.

Pang’s profile page on UCF’s website says he is an associate professor at the school’s College of Optics and Photonics who has won several awards since he joined the faculty. His arrest was first reported by The Charge, UCF’s student newspaper.

Oviedo police responded to the middle school around 10 a.m. that morning and were informed by a school resource officer about a chase involving a student and an adult man, who was later identified as Pang, the report said.

The student told police he was riding his bike to school when the man called out to him to slow down. The boy said “no,” and the man then followed him on foot as he rode to school.

Pang’s home address on his arrest report shows he lives about three miles from the middle school.

When the boy arrived on campus, he said the man also came onto school property, approached him and grabbed his arm, according to the report.

The boy said he asked the man to stop touching him. The man then yelled that the boy was not wearing a helmet and proceeded to smack the boy’s helmet off his head, the report said.

One of the student’s friends then got in between him and the man, trying to get the adult away. The friend told police the man then tried to push him, the report shows.

The friend’s mother told police she witnessed the incident and stepped in when the man put a hand on her son. She said the man continued to behave aggressively towards her son until school staff arrived and diffused the situation, according to the report.

The report said surveillance footage confirms the students’ stories. The parents of both boys want Pang prosecuted, it said.

When questioned by police, Pang admitted to chasing the student after telling him to stop riding his bike. He also admitted he followed the child to the school and requested he apologize.

A UCF spokesperson didn’t immediately respond Tuesday evening to a request for information about Pang’s employment status. Pang also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

His UCF page says Pang has a PhD in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and won awards at UCF for excellence in undergraduate teaching in 2019, among others. His research, the page says, focuses on “modeling and developing optoelectronic system for sensing, imaging and computing applications, including the application of AI in solving imaging and photonic design problems.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the federal government owes him “a lot of money” for prior Justice Department investigations into his actions and insisted he would have the ultimate say on any payout because any decision will “have to go across my desk.”

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Trump’s comments to reporters at the White House came in response to questions about a New York Times story that said he had filed administrative claims before being reelected seeking roughly $230 million in damages related to the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents and for a separate investigation into potential ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump said Tuesday he did not know the dollar figures involved and suggested he had not spoken to officials about it. But, he added, “All I know is that, they would owe me a lot of money.”

Though the Justice Department has a protocol for reviewing such claims, Trump asserted, “It’s interesting, ’cause I’m the one that makes the decision, right?”

“That decision would have to go across my desk,” he added.

He said he could donate any taxpayer money or use it to help pay for a ballroom he’s building at the White House.

The status of the claims and any negotiations over them within the Justice Department was not immediately clear. One of Trump’s lead defense lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, Todd Blanche, is now the deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. The current associate attorney general, Stanley Woodward, represented Trump’s valet and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in the same case.

“In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials,” a Justice Department spokesperson said. A White House spokesperson referred comment to the Justice Department.

Trump signaled his interest in compensation during a White House appearance last week with Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was part of Trump’s legal team during one of the impeachment cases against him.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during a Diwali celebration in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said: ‘I’m suing myself. I don’t know. How do you settle the lawsuit?’” he said. ”I’ll say, ‘Give me X dollars,’ and I don’t know what to do with the lawsuit. It’s a great lawsuit and now I won, it looks bad. I’m suing myself, so I don’t know.”

The Times said the two claims were filed with the Justice Department as part of a process that seeks to resolve federal complaints through settlements and avert litigation.

One of the administrative claims, filed in August 2024 and reviewed by The Associated Press, seeks compensatory and punitive damages over the search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and the resulting case alleging he hoarded classified documents and thwarted government efforts to retrieve them.

His lawyer who filed the claim alleged the case was a “malicious prosecution” carried out by the Biden administration to hurt Trump’s bid to reclaim the White House, forcing Trump to spend tens of millions of dollars in his defense.

That investigation produced criminal charges that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith abandoned last November because of department policy against the indictment of a sitting president.

The Times said the other complaint seeks damages related to the long-concluded Trump-Russia investigation, which continues to infuriate the president.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction started this week on the $250 million ballroom that President Donald Trump is adding to the White House as construction crews began tearing down the facade of the East Wing, where the new space is being built.

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The Republican president and top White House officials had initially said nothing would be demolished during construction.

The 90,000-square-foot ballroom will dwarf the main White House itself, at nearly double the size, and Trump says it will accommodate 999 people.

Trump said on social media that the ballroom won’t cost taxpayers a dime because it is being privately funded by “many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly.”

Here are some things to know about the newest White House construction project:

Why is Trump building a ballroom?

Trump says the White House needs a large entertaining space and has complained that the East Room, the current largest space in the White House, is too small, holding about 200 people. He has frowned on the past practice of presidents hosting state dinners and other large events in tents on the South Lawn.

Who is paying the $250 million construction tab?

Trump says the project will be paid for with private donations and that no public money will be spent on the ballroom. The White House promised to release information on which individuals and corporations have pledged or donated money and invited some of the donors to an East Room dinner last week, but has not released a comprehensive list and breakdown of funds.

Some $22 million for the project came from YouTube, a Google subsidiary, as part of a recent settlement for a 2021 lawsuit Trump brought against the company.

The White House also has not said how much of his own money Trump is contributing.

Why tear down part of the East Wing to build the ballroom? A window dangles from the East Wing as work continues on the demolition of a part of the East Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Washington, before construction of a new ballroom. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The East Wing is traditionally the social side of the White House and sits across East Executive Avenue from the Treasury Department. It’s where tourists and other guests enter for events.

The president and his chief spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, said over the summer that the White House itself would remain intact as the ballroom was going up.

“It’ll be near it but not touching it,” Trump said. “Nothing will be torn down,” Leavitt added.

That turned out not to be the case.

The White House said some demolition was needed because the East Wing, the traditional home for the first lady and her staff, is being modernized as part of the ballroom project.

People watch as work continues on the demolition of a part of the East Wing of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Washington, before construction of a new ballroom. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Can Trump build a ballroom?

He’s moving ahead with construction despite the lack of sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, the executive branch agency that has jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region.

Trump named a top White House aide, Will Scharf, to head the commission. Scharf has made a distinction between demolition work and rebuilding, saying the commission was only required to vet the latter.

What happens to the East Room?

By Trump’s telling, it will become a space where guests will mingle, sip cocktails and eat hors d’oeuvres until they are called into the ballroom for dinner. Trump said a set of windows in the room will be removed to create a passageway to and from the ballroom.

What will the new ballroom look like?

Renderings released by the White House suggest a strong resemblance to the gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club and home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The project also has grown in size since it was announced, going from accommodating 650 seated guests to holding 999 people, big enough to fit an inauguration if needed, he said at a recent White House dinner for donors. Windows will be bulletproof, he said.

When will the ballroom be completed?

The White House has said the ballroom will be ready for use before Trump’s second term ends in January 2029, an ambitious timeline.

Has Trump made other changes to the White House?

Yes. He has heavily redecorated the Oval Office by adding numerous portraits, busts and gold-toned adornments. He converted the Rose Garden into a stone-covered patio, installed towering flagpoles on the north and south lawns, and decorated an exterior wall with portraits of every president except his immediate predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

Gold colored ornaments and decor are seen as US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on September 25, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump also said he renovated the bathroom in the famous Lincoln Bedroom in the private living quarters and laid down marble floors in a passageway leading to the South Lawn.

How has construction changed the White House over the years?

Presidents have added to the White House since construction began in 1792 for a host of reasons, and Trump aides say his decision to build a ballroom follows that long tradition.

Many of the prior projects were criticized as being too costly or too lavish, but eventually came to be accepted, according to the White House Historical Association.

Thomas Jefferson added the east and west colonnades.

Andrew Jackson built the North Portico on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House, aligning with the South Portico that James Monroe added after the original mansion was rebuilt after the British burned it during the War of 1812.

Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing to provide dedicated space for the president and key staff, while Franklin D. Roosevelt added the East Wing, which over time became the home base for the first lady’s staff and social functions.

One of the most significant White House renovations happened under Harry Truman, when the mansion was found to be so structurally unsound that he ordered a complete gutting of the interior that lasted from 1948 to 1952. The project, including Truman’s addition of a balcony to the second floor of the South Portico, was highly controversial.

Other changes include the creation of the Rose Garden during John F. Kennedy’s administration and Richard Nixon’s decision to convert an indoor swimming pool that was built for FDR’s physical therapy into a workspace for the growing White House press corps.

A woman, a firefighter and a police officer were taken to hospitals Tuesday evening after a fire erupted inside of a 10th floor unit in an apartment building on Hollywood beach.

Firefighters were called to the building in the 300 block of North Surf Road and found the unit ablaze, fire rescue spokesperson Chai Kauffman said.

Live video from WPLG-Ch. 10 showed flames spreading through the windows and the rear sliding glass doors toward the balcony of the apartment, which is a corner unit situated beneath the building’s rooftop pool.

The three people were taken to hospitals for evaluation, Kauffman said. Additional information about their conditions was not available late Tuesday.

Hollywood firefighters battle a blaze on the top floor of a high rise on New York Street and Surf Road in Hollywood on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Firefighters had extinguished the blaze as of shortly after 6 p.m., Kauffman said. The man who lives in the apartment was out of the unit on a bike ride when it erupted and was not injured.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — An immigration enforcement sweep targeting vendors on New York City’s famed Canal Street turned chaotic on Tuesday, as droves of bystanders and protesters surrounded federal agents and attempted to block them from carrying out the operation.

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The confrontation between the agents and hundreds of angry New Yorkers took place along a busy commercial thoroughfare that has long been a hub of the city’s not-so-underground market for knock-off designer handbags, watches, perfumes and sunglasses as well as phones and other electronics.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the agents were carrying out an enforcement operation against sellers of “counterfeit goods” when “rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement.”

At around 4 p.m., an Associated Press reporter observed dozens of federal agents as they made one of a number of arrests in the area, detaining a street vendor who appeared to be selling bedazzled smartphone cases.

A contingent of protesters then surrounded the masked officers, attempting to block their vehicle from driving off as they shouted “ICE out of New York” and other chants.

The agents, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and other federal offices were seen pushing protesters to the ground and threatening them with pepper spray, before detaining several of them.

As more New Yorkers joined the fray, some of the federal agents retreated on foot, followed by jeering protesters and honking vehicles. Additional federal agents, armed in combat gear and carrying long guns, also arrived with a military tactical vehicle known as a BearCat and made additional arrests.

• Federal agents walk down Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow behind after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
• A woman stands in front of an armored vehicle operated by federal agents on Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow along after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
• Federal agents walk down Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow along after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)
• Federal agents walk down Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow along after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

Show Caption1 of 4Federal agents walk down Lafayette Street as demonstrators follow behind after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz) Expand

At least one person was arrested for assaulting an officer, the DHS spokesperson said. The spokesperson didn’t say how many vendors were detained in the operation.

In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams said the city had no involvement in the action and was still gathering details.

“Our administration has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue their American Dreams should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals,” he said.

The sweep came just two days after a conservative influencer shared video on X showing the bustling sidewalk bag vendors, urging the official ICE account to “check this corner out.”

TALLAHASSEE — In what could be Florida’s 17th execution this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of raping and murdering a Putnam County convenience-store manager in 1988.

Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 20 for the murder of Minnie Ruth McCollum, who was beaten, stabbed and raped at a Handy Way store in East Palatka. Randolph was a former employee of the store, and McCollum interrupted him as he tried to steal money or lottery tickets, according to a 1989 sentencing order issued by then-Circuit Judge Robert Perry.

“When Minnie Ruth McCollum interrupted the defendant in the process of stealing from the store, he brutally beat her about the head with his hands and fists, kicked her, strangled her with a ligature and stabbed her with a knife, inflicting wounds which medical evidence showed caused her death on August 21, 1988,” Perry wrote. “The defendant went back to the victim on four or five separate occasions while trying to murder her. His statements reflect that she was much tougher than he thought and that he had to repeat the beatings and/or strangulations.”

Randolph took McCollum’s car and cashed stolen lottery tickets elsewhere, according to the sentencing order.

If the death warrant is carried out, it would add to a record for executions in a year in Florida — and could continue a recent pace of two executions a month. DeSantis on Oct. 10 signed a death warrant for Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, to be executed Nov. 13 in the 1979 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl in Brevard County.

The state on Oct. 28 is scheduled to execute Norman Grim, 65, in the 1998 murder of a Santa Rosa County woman. Samuel Smithers, 72, was put to death by lethal injection Oct. 14 in the 1996 murders of two women in Hillsborough County.

Florida also carried out two executions in May, two in June, two in July, two in August and two in September.

Richard B. Randolph is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 20, 2025, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant. (Florida Department of Corrections/Courtesy)

DeSantis has said little publicly about the rapid pace of executions, but the previous modern-era record in a year was eight in 1984 and 2014. The modern era represents the time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling halted it.

Typically, the signing of a death warrant begins a flurry of legal activity about whether the execution should be carried out.

In addition to Smithers, inmates executed this year were Victor Jones on Sept. 30; David Pittman on Sept. 17; Curtis Windom on Aug. 28; Kayle Bates on Aug. 19; Edward Zakrzewski on July 31; Michael Bell on July 15; Thomas Gudinas on June 24; Anthony Wainwright on June 10; Glen Rogers on May 15; Jeffrey Hutchinson on May 1; Michael Tanzi on April 8; Edward James on March 20; and James Ford on Feb. 13.