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<\/a><\/p>\nThe timing of Hatch\u2019s departure led to Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried saying it was a way for somebody \u201cto take the fall\u201d for the DeSantis administration\u2019s SNAP screw-up.<\/p>\n
DeSantis\u2019 Press Secretary replied that \u201cnobody cares what Nikki Fried believes\u201d \u2014 which is an edgy response but is not a denial.<\/p>\n
Hatch was confirmed barely four months ago after the Senate spent more than a year refusing to confirm her due to her entanglement in the Hope Florida Foundation scandal. She waited a year for confirmation then lasted four months in the job and the Governor\u2019s Office wants us to believe she departed willingly and there\u2019s no other shoe to drop.<\/p>\n
Does that make any sense?<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s on to our weekly game of winners and losers.<\/p>\n
Winners<\/p>\n Honorable mention: Coney Island. While Florida was busy celebrating the 250th birthday of the republic, one of its own was in Coney Island defending a winning streak<\/a> that has now lasted 12 consecutive years.<\/p>\n Miki Sudo of Port Richey won her 12th straight women\u2019s title at the Nathan\u2019s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in an event that, unlike the Great American State Fair, actually pulled an impressive crowd.<\/p>\n Sudo put down nearly 39 hot dogs in 10 minutes at Coney Island on a day when the heat pushed temperatures toward 90 degrees and the humidity, per ESPN\u2019s announcers, was reportedly changing the consistency of the buns \u2014 which, to be frank, is not a sentence I ever imagined typing.<\/p>\n Sudo acknowledged the conditions afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cI just said I would have to rely on muscle memory,\u201d she said, \u201cand the crowd really carried me through to another belt today.\u201d<\/p>\n The 40-year-old dental hygiene graduate of Hillsborough College began her Nathan\u2019s run in 2014 and has not lost since, save for a single year in 2021 when she sat out the competition while pregnant. She and 18-time men\u2019s champion Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut, who ate 66 hot dogs Friday to reclaim the men\u2019s title, shared the winner\u2019s stand together \u2014 as they have done many times before.<\/p>\n Sudo\u2019s husband, Nick Wehry, had a notable day of his own, finishing fourth in the men\u2019s field with 45\u00bd hot dogs, a personal best at Nathan\u2019s and a number that would be the most impressive thing about almost any other household in America.<\/p>\n The couple met at the hotel gym during the 2018 Nathan\u2019s event. Wehry proposed in 2021 immediately after setting a world record by eating 50 boiled eggs in just over three minutes. They have a 4-year-old son who presumably has a very heavy lunch box.<\/p>\n Twelve straight titles. One year off for a baby. Back to winning. Port Richey, take a bow.<\/p>\n Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Orange County tourism. May 2026 tourist development tax (TDT) collections in Orange County reached $32,788,200 \u2014 a 9.3% increase over May 2025 and the highest single-month May total in the tax\u2019s history, extending the county\u2019s run of consecutive year-over-year growth to 14 straight months.<\/p>\n At the pace the county is running, the fiscal year \u2014 which closes Sept. 30 \u2014 could produce more than $400 million in total TDT revenue for the first time ever. The previous annual record, set last year, was $384.6 million.<\/p>\n The drivers behind the growth are many. Hotel occupancy in Orange County hit 73.4% in May, up 3.4 percentage points from May 2025. The average daily room rate climbed to $222.42 \u2014 roughly $25 higher than a year ago. Short-term rental demand rose 9% year-over-year, with average rental rates up 18%.<\/p>\n Visit Orlando CEO Cassandra Matej noted that forward bookings for July and August are running 2% ahead of 2025 levels, and that flight search volume for travel to Orlando during that same window is up 10% over last year\u2019s comparable period.<\/p>\n Epic Universe is the single largest factor. Universal\u2019s new fifth gate opened in May 2025, and its first full year of operation has rippled across the county\u2019s hospitality economy in exactly the way Disney\u2019s Animal Kingdom and Universal\u2019s Islands of Adventure did in their own early years. Comcast Corporation, Universal\u2019s parent, has made clear on multiple earnings calls that its Orlando parks are performing strongly since Epic opened.<\/p>\n The fiscal year ends with Halloween season on the horizon \u2014 typically one of Central Florida\u2019s strongest tourism periods, with Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld all running major seasonal events through late October. So May likely isn\u2019t the last month worth celebrating the region\u2019s tourism industry.<\/p>\n The biggest winner: FPL customers. More than 12 million Florida Power & Light (FPL) customers are getting money back on their electric bills.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s Public Service Commission (PSC) voted Tuesday to approve an $80 million refund<\/a> for FPL customers, stemming from what regulators determined was a \u201crevenue over-recovery\u201d on storm restoration charges imposed following the 2024 hurricane season. The refund will arrive as a one-month reduction in base rates \u2014 a direct credit rather than a check, but money back in customers\u2019 pockets either way.<\/p>\n After Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton collectively battered Florida in 2024, the PSC approved an initial $1.2 billion repair charge in December of that year, which translated to approximately $12 added to the average monthly FPL bill throughout 2025. The charge was designed to cover the cost of restoring power across FPL\u2019s 43-county service territory while replenishing a $150 million storm reserve fund.<\/p>\n Through negotiations between FPL and the state Office of Public Counsel \u2014 the office that represents the interests of utility customers in regulatory proceedings \u2014 the actual restoration costs were later tabulated at lower figures than initially projected: $774.4 million for Milton, $167.6 million for Helene, and $88.3 million for Debby.<\/p>\n That means FPL collected more than the work ultimately cost. The $80 million refund covers the gap.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commission\u2019s review helps ensure customers pay only the reasonable and necessary costs of restoring service while supporting a reliable electric system for all Floridians,\u201d PSC Chair Gabriella Passidomo Smith said.<\/p>\n FPL customers are not the only ones seeing money come back. Duke Energy Florida received a similar ruling in May, with the PSC approving a $90.5 million refund for Duke customers across 35 counties. Duke had collected slightly over $1 billion for storm-related costs that ultimately came to $915.3 million. That refund began showing up in June billing cycles and runs through September.<\/p>\n Florida utility bills have been a persistent household budget pressure for several years, driven by infrastructure investment surcharges, storm recovery charges, and rate increases that have outrun many household incomes in a state where electric demand runs high for most of the year.<\/p>\n An $80 million refund spread across 12 million customers is not a windfall for any individual. But anything helps these days.<\/p>\n Losers<\/p>\n Dishonorable mention: Andrew Gillum. Gillum, the former Tallahassee Mayor who came within 30,000 votes of defeating DeSantis in the 2018 gubernatorial race and was at that moment one of the most promising figures in national Democratic politics, has now been arrested on drug possession charges<\/a> in Alabama.<\/p>\n The news expands on one of the biggest downfalls in recent Florida political history.<\/p>\n Officers say they spotted a glass pipe on the center console of his vehicle, searched it, and recovered three packages of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine and several rolled marijuana cigarettes. Gillum was booked into the Baldwin County Jail on charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance \u2014 a felony carrying a potential five-year prison sentence \u2014 as well as marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.<\/p>\n The timeline of what has happened to Gillum since that November night in 2018 is one of the more painful arcs in recent Florida political history. In March 2020, Miami Beach police responded to a reported overdose at the Mondrian South Beach hotel and found Gillum inside a suite with two other men.<\/p>\n Officers documented suspected methamphetamine in the room, though prosecutors declined to file charges against Gillum specifically for lack of sufficient evidence tying him directly to the drugs. He withdrew from public life for months and entered treatment for alcohol abuse and depression.<\/p>\n In 2022, federal prosecutors indicted him on conspiracy and wire fraud charges over alleged diversion of campaign funds. A 2023 trial ended with a hung jury on most counts and an acquittal on the FBI-related charges.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t convicted, but he also hasn\u2019t recovered in any durable sense \u2014 professionally, legally or, apparently, personally. Byron Donalds, the man running to complete what DeSantis began in that 2018 race, said this week that the news was simply \u201csad<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Sad indeed.<\/p>\n Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: St. Johns County shenanigans. Two sitting members of the St. Johns County Commission \u2014 Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst \u2014 along with St. Augustine Beach City Commissioner and former Mayor Dylan Rumrell, political consultant Briana Jordan, and Jordan\u2019s employee Jamie Johnson now face criminal charges<\/a> stemming from a scheme to deceive Republican voters in the county\u2019s 2024 Primary.<\/p>\n Arnold, Whitehurst, Rumrell and Johnson each face two misdemeanor charges: one count of producing an unauthorized voter guide and one count of criminal conspiracy. Jordan faces those same counts plus a third-degree felony charge for allegedly tampering with physical evidence \u2014 specifically, destroying or concealing voter guides while knowing an investigation was underway.<\/p>\n Jordan, whose consulting firm managed the 2024 re-election campaigns for Whitehurst and former Commissioners Roy Alaimo and Henry Dean, organized what charging documents describe as a \u201csecret envelope stuffing\u201d operation at a house<\/a> she used as a campaign headquarters. The guides were designed to closely mimic the official voter guide of the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee (REC) and were mailed to Republican Primary super voters across the county.<\/p>\n Three sitting elected officials were allegedly in that house. Whitehurst is accused of being present with his mother \u2014 who helped label, stamp and mail envelopes. Arnold, who also knew the guides were fraudulent, per investigators, helped prepare the mailings alongside her children. Rumrell, for his part, said he was at the house to look at campaign materials for then-Commissioner Dean, not to handle voter guides. A Jordan intern told investigators otherwise, saying Rumrell helped place guides in envelopes.<\/p>\n The fake guide replaced the real REC endorsees \u2014 the candidates the party had actually selected in June 2024 \u2014 with the incumbents and their allies, closely tracking the preferences of the Trump Club of St. Johns County at a moment when the county\u2019s intraparty battle was fundamentally about development pace in one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation.<\/p>\n Alaimo and Dean both lost anyway. Whitehurst narrowly beat Evans \u2014 a result Evans says she believes was directly caused by the fraudulent mailer.<\/p>\n Commissioner Ann Taylor \u2014 who won her race despite the scheme \u2014 called on Arnold and Whitehurst to resign immediately. REC Chair Denver Cook<\/a>\u00a0said the affidavit describes \u201ca mass-scale deception\u201d and \u201ca shocking, calculated criminal conspiracy designed to subvert the democratic process.\u201d Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Power welcomed the charges.<\/p>\n None of the three elected officials will face voters soon. Whitehurst and Rumrell are in office until 2028. Arnold is not seeking re-election. DeSantis has the discretion to suspend them while the criminal cases proceed, though he has not announced any action.<\/p>\n The biggest loser: Jay Collins. Last week, Collins had a bad debate. This week, he got \u201cBurnergate<\/a>\u201d and a POLITICO expos\u00e9<\/a> on his fraying relationship with the Governor whose legacy he\u2019s running to preserve.<\/p>\n Start with the structural problem POLITICO reported on Monday. The premise of the Collins campaign has always been that DeSantis\u2019 appointment of him as Lieutenant Governor was an implicit endorsement \u2014 that when DeSantis called him \u201cDay 1 Ready,\u201d voters should read between the lines.<\/p>\n Never mind that DeSantis has now been asked point-blank on multiple occasions whether he will endorse Collins and has refused every time.<\/p>\n The POLITICO report may give some insight into why. Collins has been in the Lieutenant Governor\u2019s Office for less than a year and has spent much of it clashing with senior DeSantis staffers over the assistance \u2014 or lack of it \u2014 that the Governor\u2019s Office has been providing his political operation. The relationship that was supposed to be the foundation of his campaign has apparently eroded.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Burnergate. Multiple X accounts critical of DeSantis were deactivated within hours after DeSantis Communications Specialist Christina Pushaw publicly alleged the accounts may be operated by Layla Collins, the Second Lady and a DeSantis-appointed member of the State Board of Education. Jeremy Redfern also jumped in.<\/p>\n Then, the burner accounts disappeared. The Collins campaign said nothing for days.<\/p>\n The identity of the accusers matters as much as the accusation. Pushaw and Redfern are not random political opponents. They are former DeSantis Press Secretaries, the people who spent years working most closely with the Governor. Redfern now works for Attorney General James Uthmeier \u2014 DeSantis\u2019 former Chief of Staff, who endorsed Donalds over Collins.<\/p>\n The people from DeSantis\u2019 own inner circle are now aligned against Collins and doing so publicly, using his wife\u2019s alleged activity as the vehicle.<\/p>\n Layla Collins eventually broke the silence Sunday by posting phone records<\/a> showing the relevant number received no texts on July 2 and called claims that she operated the accounts a political hit job. Collins denied<\/a> his wife had anything to do with the accounts at a Tuesday press conference as well.<\/p>\n Even if that\u2019s the case, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis articulated the problem for Team Collins: \u201cEven BEST CASE for Jay and somehow the burner accounts aren\u2019t Layla\u2019s \u2014 which is highly unlikely \u2014 how on earth would he deal with a real crisis? A Governor can\u2019t take 96 hours to hide and panic and wonder how to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins aimed to right the ship by releasing an internal poll showing him at 20%<\/a>, claiming he was in \u201ca winnable two-man race with Byron Donalds,\u201d and holding a press conference. Take the reliability of that poll with a grain of salt<\/a>, however.<\/p>\n Donalds holds the endorsement of Trump, the entire Florida Cabinet, the incoming Senate President, the incoming House Speaker, and many more. He has $65 million. He leads every independent survey by 40-50 points.<\/p>\n Collins is running ads touting his relationship with DeSantis while DeSantis\u2019 own former Press Secretaries run opposition against his wife on social media.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to play catch-up against that many headwinds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Hatch is out as Secretary of the Department of Children and Families amid scrutiny over the state\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59493,28,30,29,12291,5187,138943,138944,5902],"class_list":["post-337538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-andrew-gillum","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-fpl","tag-jay-collins","tag-miki-sudo","tag-orange-county-tourism","tag-st-johns-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jake-Ad-July-2026-728-x-90-px72.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n