The Timberwolves struck first with a touchdown pass from Kendall Sadberry to Abbey Griffin, taking a 7–0 lead with 42 seconds left in the first quarter.

Chiles kept the momentum going when Francesca Fernandes came up with an interception, giving them prime field position in Lincoln territory. They turned it into points with a touchdown pass to Gracie Gerteisen, stretching the lead to 13–0 early in the second quarter. Both teams traded possessions the rest of the half, but Chiles carried a 13–0 advantage into the break.

In the second half, Chiles extended their lead with a 30-yard strike from Sadberry to Charlotte Reynolds, making it 19–0. The Timberwolves later put the game away with another touchdown pass, this time to Katie Vernon, sealing a 26–0 win.

Stats

Chiles was led by quarterback Kendall Sadberry, who delivered an efficient and commanding performance through the air, completing 19 of 27 passes for 171 yards and four touchdowns. She also contributed on the ground with 48 rushing yards, giving the Timberwolves a steady presence in both phases of the offense.

In the passing game, Charlotte Reynolds made the most of her opportunities with 46 yards on two catches and a touchdown. Gracie Gerteisen added 41 yards and a touchdown, while Katie Vernon (33 yards, touchdown) and Abbey Griffin (31 yards, touchdown) each found the end zone as well, highlighting a balanced receiving effort.

Defensively, Francesca Fernandes stood out with a dominant performance, recording eight flag pulls and coming away with an interception. Ali Harllee contributed four flag pulls and a sack, while T. Vermillion also added a sack, helping anchor a strong defensive showing.

Lincoln did not enter stats for the district final.

Friday, April 24, 2026

Weather: Today, sunny, with a high near 86. Tonight, a low around 61. Saturday, high near 85. Saturday night, a chance of showers and thunderstorms with a low around 65. NWS

US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq -0.9%) (More).

Local & State News

The City of Tallahassee opened its first zero-emission electric vehicle fast-charging station. Details.

More than one month after ending the regular session without passing a budget, legislative leaders said Thursday they have a deal on top-line spending levels. Details.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills barring local governments from supporting those policies and programs at an event in Jacksonville on Wednesday. Details.

National News

The Justice Department yesterday reclassified state-licensed marijuana as a less dangerous drug, easing federal limits on approved medical products while keeping recreational use illegal.

Gunfight at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge kills one person, wounds five others; officials say fight broke out between two groups of people (More).

“With the opening of our first PowerTLH EV fast-charging station, we can see significant progress toward a cleaner, more connected Tallahassee. As we celebrate Earth Day, we’re proud to highlight how our strategic investment in innovative, sustainable services is vital to shaping a brighter future for our community,” Mayor John Dailey said.

The press release states that the “Modern and inviting, the City of Tallahassee’s first-of-its-kind electric vehicle charging station blends innovation with convenience. Located at 233-1 W. Van Buren Street, adjacent to Anita Favors Plaza, the station offers more than just a place to charge. Drivers can enjoy a stroll along the scenic Capital Cascades Trail, explore the History and Culture Trail along FAMU Way or unwind at Lake Anita and Cascades Park. A variety of local businesses are also just a short walk away, making it easy to experience the area while your EV powers up.”

“This is what tomorrow’s gas station looks like, built today. The City of Tallahassee continues to lead in innovation by advancing forward-thinking solutions that drive meaningful progress and set a lasting standard for sustainable infrastructure,” City Manager Reese Goad said.

Additional PowerTLH EV fast-charging stations are being constructed, including at the corner of Orange Avenue and Meridian Street and on West Tharpe Street near North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. To celebrate the first station opening, the community is invited to a ribbon cutting event on Wednesday, April 22, at 10 a.m. at the project site, 233-1 W. Van Buren Street.

TALLAHASSEE – Soon Florida cities and counties will be banned from funding or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and enacting net zero policies that cut down on greenhouse gases.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills barring local governments from supporting those policies and programs at an event in Jacksonville on Wednesday.

One measure (SB 1134) prohibits municipalities from funding or passing a resolution in support of programs deemed diverse or inclusive. It also bars cities and counties from having a DEI office or an inclusion officer and gives the governor the power to remove local officials who violate the law.

“What I’ve found in this business is when people know there’s accountability, they’re much more apt to toe the line and do what the law requires,” DeSantis said.

The sponsors of the anti-DEI bill, Jacksonville Republicans Sen. Clay Yarborough and Rep. Dean Black, said in a statement they saw “a need to preserve the American ideals of merit, individualism, and character in Florida’s institutions.”

Under the new law DEI is defined as “any effort to manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of employees with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender, identity or sexual orientation other than to ensure that hiring is conducted in accordance with state and federal antidiscrimination laws.”

The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

In recent years, the Legislature has passed laws limiting how race can be taught in K-12 schools and preventing higher education institutions from spending federal dollars on DEI initiatives.

“With DEI, the disfavored groups, number one obviously, would be white males, and I think they’ve been discriminated against,” DeSantis said Wednesday. 

The other bill (HB 1217) signed by DeSantis takes aim at “net zero emission policies by local governments. DeSantis dubbed it an “anti-carbon tax” bill.

Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, the bill sponsor, said the legislation would ban the “green new scam in the free state of Florida.”

When the proposal was before the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee in January, Miami Springs Republican Sen. Bryan Avila, the Senate sponsor, argued that net zero policies from local governments drove up costs for residents and businesses in pursuit of “some goal that they’re never going to reach.”

He added that policies pushing for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions amounted to an unseen tax that would discourage people and companies from relocating to Florida.

Several parts of the state have already adopted net-zero policies, as South Florida is one of the regions in the country most vulnerable to climate change.

Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties formed a compact in 2009, for example, to address climate concerns in the region. The resulting Southeast Florida Climate Change Compact issued a report in 2022 calling for a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“Now is the time for local governments to start looking within and getting their house in order to be fully compliant,” Jacques told the News Service of Florida. “They have plenty of time to start downsizing and phasing out any program that violates this new law.”

The law will take effect July 1.

TALLAHASSEE — More than one month after ending the regular session without passing a budget, legislative leaders said Thursday they have a deal on top-line spending levels.

The breakthrough means the House and Senate can enter formal negotiations on the final details of the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. But they won’t start right away.

Next week the Legislature will have a special session to consider redrawing congressional districts, installing regulations on artificial intelligence and expanding exemptions to vaccine requirements for children attending public K-12 schools.

In separate memos to members, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, stated the special session to hammer out the budget will run May 12-29, although the formal proclamation for the session hasn’t been issued.

During the regular session the Senate passed a $115 billion budget and the House passed a $113.6 billion spending plan. Perez, though, insisted on a budget that was less than the current year level of $115.1 billion.

The agreement reached Thursday involves top-line numbers, known as allocations, which is the amount of money in general revenue that will be spent in each area of the budget. The allocations don’t include money from state trust funds or federal funding.

The total allocations add up to nearly $52 billion, about $2.02 billion more than the current year. Once other state and federal funds are taken into account, however, Perez and Albritton stated the new budget will be less than the current spending plan.

“I am pleased to announce that, for the second consecutive year, our budget will reduce overall government spending while responsibly directing taxpayer dollars toward essential priorities,” Perez wrote in his memo.

The initial breakthrough is just the first step for budget talks between the chambers, which remain at odds on major issues.

When the House and Senate passed their budgets during the regular session, they were $300 million apart on K-12 schools funding and disagreed over whether to include the $4.5 billion for the state’s universal voucher program in the main school funding formula.

The Senate wanted more money for raises for state workers than the House, which also wanted to address a $362.2 million projected shortfall in the fund that pays for state employees’ health insurance.

There are also wide gaps between the chambers on land conservation programs, affordable housing programs and an emergency fund used by Gov. Ron DeSantis for spending related to states of emergency declared by him that aren’t natural disasters, including imprisoning undocumented immigrants and rescuing Floridians from global hotspots like Israel and Haiti.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”

“The SPLC allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups – even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal – and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”

The SPLC is a non-profit organization headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, whose mission, according to its website during the relevant time period, was to be a “catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.”

According to the indictment starting in the 1980s, the SPLC began operating a covert network of individuals who were either associated with violent and extremist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, or who had infiltrated violent extremist groups at the SPLC’s direction.  Unbeknownst to donors, some of their donated money was being used to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website.

The SPLC says the program, which reportedly began in the 1980s, was necessary to monitor threats of violence and kept relatively secret to protect informants. It has previously shared gathered intelligence with local and federal law enforcement. The FBI, however, severed decades-long ties with the center in October, with Director Kash Patel calling it partisan and criticizing the center’s map of anti-government and extremist groups (explore here).

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Weather: Today, sunny, with a high near 84. Tonight, mostly clear, with a low around 58. Friday, sunny, with a high near 86. Friday night, low around 62. NWS

US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.1%, Dow +0.7%, Nasdaq +1.6%), with S&P 500, Nasdaq finishing at record levels (More).

Local & State News

Steve Stewart discusses city spending growth.

The Griffin Heights neighborhood is one step closer to having its own grocery store at the corner of Alabama and Harlem Streets.

Florida’s migrant lockup in the Everglades doesn’t have to comply with federal environmental laws because it’s entirely state run and lacks federal funding, a three-judge panel has ruled in kicking the case back to a lower court. Details

Alex Vindman, who became a national figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, qualified Wednesday to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Ashley Moody, R-Tampa. Details

National News

Spirit Airlines reportedly nearing deal for $500M bailout from the Trump administration as it seeks to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy (More).

The NFL draft kicks off tonight at 8 pm ET in Pittsburgh, marking the first time the event has been held in Steelers Country since 1947. See mock projections here.

Florida’s migrant lockup in the Everglades doesn’t have to comply with federal environmental laws because it’s entirely state run and lacks federal funding, a three-judge panel has ruled in kicking the case back to a lower court.

“The environmentalists and [the Miccosukee] Tribe must prove both that the facility was federally funded and that it was subject to federal control,” Chief Judge William Pryor of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit wrote in the majority opinion handed down Tuesday, explaining how the plaintiffs trying to shut down the facility could have moved forward with their case against the state.

But “they failed to do so,” partly because “the facility is not federally controlled” and partly because Florida has yet to see one cent of the long-promised federal reimbursements for the South Florida detention site that the state is calling “Alligator Alcatraz,” the George W. Bush appointee wrote. 

“Until Homeland Security officials decide to fund the facility, no final agency action occurs,” Pryor added.

The ruling scathes a lower court for trying to shutter the tent camp and nullifies claims that officials violated the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to analyze potential environmental damage before undertaking projects.

The order falls amid the winding tale of the environment and the facility. 

For eight months, Florida officials went unreimbursed for $608 million for the center because the federal government hadn’t completed an environmental review.

Although the hold was lifted in March — months after the facility’s July opening date — Florida still can’t receive the federal dollars because the agency in charge of distributing them, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is off the clock amid the two-month partial government shutdown.

The case at hand was brought by the Miccosukee Tribe, Friends of the Everglades, and Center for Biological Diversity in June, days after the state announced plans to convert the largely abandoned Dade-Collier Training and Transition airport in the remote Everglades into “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The environmentalists sued to shut down the facility because a federal environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act wasn’t completed, and because they said keystone species could be endangered by human activity in the sensitive habitat.

In August, District Judge Kathleen Williams agreed with them. She issued a preliminary injunction ordering the site shut down. 

But a three-judge panel in the Eleventh Circuit — different from Tuesday’s grouping — reversed course a month later, halting the lower judge’s order.

Tuesday’s ruling vacated Williams’ injunction and sent the case back to her courtroom. Pryor and Trump appointee Judge Andrew Brasher had harsh words for her, claiming she “abused her discretion” in trying to shut down the center.

Judge Nancy Abudu, a Biden appointee, dissented. She defended Williams, arguing Pryor and Brasher were improperly accusing her of error.

“We are not supposed to redetermine the facts for ourselves,” she wrote. “The majority ignores the district court’s careful and extensive fact finding, attributing fault and error where there was none.”

As for the subject matter?

“So long as Florida remains a willing participant in the federal government’s immigration detention scheme, it subjects itself to the federal government’s substantial control over the parties’ joint efforts, which is the necessary trigger for NEPA’s application in this case,” she wrote.

Alex Vindman, who became a national figure in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, qualified Wednesday to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Ashley Moody, R-Tampa.

Vindman, 50, is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who in 2019 testified that while on the National Security Council he witnessed Trump attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden and his son. Biden at the time was poised to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

After paying the $10,440 fee on Wednesday at the Division of Elections office in Tallahassee to run as a Democrat, Vindman acknowledged he faces an uphill climb for a seat in a state that has tilted toward Republicans in recent years.

“This is not necessarily where you go to run for office as a Democrat, but again I keep thinking about wherever you go, you leave it better than you found it, right?” Vindman told reporters outside the R.A. Gray Building. “So, we’ve been here for a while. I see the state, you know, becoming increasingly unaffordable.”

Moody was twice elected Florida’s attorney general before being appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2025. She took over the role after Marco Rubio left the Senate to be Secretary of State under Trump, following his victory in the 2024 presidential election over Biden.

As of Wednesday afternoon Moody had yet to formally qualify. Her campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The qualifying period ends at noon on Friday for the U.S. Senate contest, along with the state attorney and public defender offices for the 20th Judicial Circuit, and judicial offices from justice of the Florida Supreme Court to district courts of appeal, circuit courts and county courts. Justices on the state Supreme Court and appellate judges face retention votes, not traditional elections against an opponent.

The Republican Party of Florida was quick to highlight Vindman as a non-Floridian who only moved to the state in 2023, and his role in the 2019 impeachment of President Trump.

“I’m glad he could find the Florida Department of State as an Arizonian,” RPOF Chairman Evan Power replied in an email on Wednesday. “Florida does not need a third Senator from Arizona nor someone who has betrayed his country and president.”

Vindman had announced his plans to run for the statewide office in January. He said he expects such attacks.

“They’re going to come at me with everything they have. I am not going to back down,” Vindman said. “I’m here to represent the people of Florida. It doesn’t make a difference what they throw at me. I’ve got a strong record that I’ve delivered for this country. I will stand on the fact that I fought corruption at the highest level, regardless of the consequences, and I will continue to do that regardless of what they throw at me.”

The Ukraine-born Vindman testified that while on the National Security Council he witnessed Trump on a call attempt to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden and his son.

Vindman’s twin brother, Eugene, was elected to the U.S. House in 2024 representing Virginia’s 7th congressional district.

In public polling since the beginning of the year, Moody has been ahead, with the gap ranging from 1 percentage point to 8 percentage points over Vindman, with her support between 43 percent to 50 percent.

The last Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in the state was Bill Nelson’s 2012 re-election. But in a sign the contest can be competitive, Vindman has drawn significant financial support.

For the first quarter, Vindman raised $8 million while Moody took in $2.6 million over the same period. 

Including previously raised funds, Moody had $7.13 million available on April 1, while Vindman had $6.2 million on hand as the second quarter began.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, is among those that have opened a campaign account for the office. The Division of Elections didn’t list any candidate for the office as qualified as of Wednesday afternoon.

This week was supposed to be the qualifying period for U.S. House candidates, but the period was shifted to the week of June 8 after Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a special session on congressional redistricting.

The start of the special session was pushed back to April 28 by DeSantis last week. No proposed line changes have been made public and DeSantis added legislation regarding vaccines and artificial intelligence guardrails that failed to advance in the regular session that ended March 13.

The winner of the U.S. Senate race will serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term before facing reelection in 2028.

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Weather: Today partly sunny, with a high near 83. Tonight, partly cloudy, with a low around 58. Thursday, sunny, with a high near 85. Thursday night, a low around 59. NWS

US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.6%, Dow -0.6%, Nasdaq -0.6%) (More).

Local & State News

An analysis shows that City of Tallahassee general funding spending growth form 2019 through 2026 outpaced the combined growth rates of population and inflation by approximately 19 percent. Details.

Marva Johnson officially assumed the authority as Florida A&M’s 13th president.

Florida’s inquiry into OpenAI’s involvement in the mass shooting at Florida State University last year is now a criminal investigation, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday. Details

Gov. Ron DeSantis was formally presented with a tranche of bills Tuesday, including measures to ban local governments from imposing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies or net-zero policies. Details

National News

The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted yesterday on federal fraud charges tied to its use of paid informants to surveil extremist groups. The Justice Department alleges the Alabama-based legal advocacy center misled donors by channeling millions of dollars to individuals affiliated with the groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.

Virginia voters accept redistricting map that could give Democrats up to four additional House seats in November (More).