Politics

Donna Deegan administration cleared in State Attorney gun registry probe

Published

4 hours ago

December 31, 2025

The 4th Circuit State Attorney’s Office says that while Jacksonville officials were guilty of “poor communication” regarding a registry of people carrying guns into City Hall and the Yates Building, there is no ground for criminal charges related to the practice.

“The logbook incident stemmed from poor communication and a lack of legal review — not from deliberate misconduct. Once identified, the City acted responsibly to end the practice, cooperated fully with investigators, and implemented corrective measures,” the investigative memo released New Year’s Eve said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and others have pilloried the gun registry as a violation of constitutional rights by the Donna Deegan administration. The “Check Points and Perimeter Security” memo from Facility Manager Mike Soto was drafted June 30, 2023, during the transition between the outgoing Lenny Curry administration and Deegan’s incoming group. It was revised in July after Deegan was sworn in.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s Office notes that the city “stopped the practice immediately once it was discovered,” but not before “more than 140 entries recording the names, birthdates, ID numbers, and firearm types of over 100 individuals” were memorialized.

In the course of the investigation, the State Attorney’s Office issued subpoenas to Roy Birbal, former public safety chief Lakeisha Burton, Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling, Steven Long, Pat McCollough, Kelli O’Leary, former acting General Counsel Bob Rhodes, Facilities Manager Mike Soto, and former city lawyer and current City Council lawyer Jason Teal.

The SAO concluded that “sanctions only apply when a registry is created ‘knowingly and willfully.’” The Public Works manager who created the registry did so because “he wanted data about how many people carried firearms into City buildings — believing it would improve preparedness in case of an emergency, not realizing it created a legal problem.”

Indeed, the General Counsel and senior officials in the administration did not review the practice that was in place for nearly two years.

Florida Statutes 790.335 bans registries under threat of criminal and civil penalties, including potential “felony of the third degree” charges and “a fine of not more than $5 million” via a civil action from the Attorney General. But the SAO’s conclusion that no crime was committed insulates the administration and its members from any such sanction.

“The City of Jacksonville fully cooperated with State Attorney Nelson and her office from start to finish, and we thank them for conducting a careful and thorough review,” read a statement from a Deegan administration spokesperson.

“They confirmed that the policy in question was implemented by an individual employee concerned with building security unbeknownst to Mayor Deegan or her leadership team. This practice immediately ended when it was brought to the administration’s attention. Jacksonville will always follow the law and support constitutionally protected rights.”

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Politics

CFP quarterfinals get started with defending champion Ohio State against Miami in Cotton Bowl

Published

33 minutes ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

Defending national champion Ohio State is back in a familiar spot at the Cotton Bowl, taking on College Football Playoff first-timer Miami in the first of the four quarterfinal games.

The third-ranked Buckeyes (12-1, CFP No. 2 seed), again without a Big Ten title but still with a first-round bye, had 3 1/2 weeks between their 13-10 loss to undefeated No. 1 Indiana in the conference championship game and the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.

No. 10 Miami (11-2, CFP No. 10 seed) didn’t even make the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, but the Hurricanes have a five-game winning streak since an overtime loss Nov. 1 at SMU, less than 25 miles from AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys where the Cotton Bowl is played. They also made their CFP debut in the Lone Star State, winning 10-3 at No. 7 Texas A&M in the first round on Dec. 20.

Ohio State is in its third consecutive Cotton Bowl. The Buckeyes lost the first of those to Missouri when the bowl wasn’t a playoff game in 2023, but they beat Texas 28-14 in a CFP semifinal there last January. They then beat Notre Dame for the national title.

It was also at AT&T Stadium where Ohio State won the first national championship game of the CFP era, over Oregon at the end of the 2014 season when there were only four playoff teams. When the field expanded to 12 last season, all four teams that had first-round byes lost in the quarterfinal round after their extended breaks.

The other three quarterfinal games this postseason — the Orange, Rose and Sugar bowls — are Thursday.

Next for the Cotton Bowl winner is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl.

There are five first-team AP All-Americans in the Cotton Bowl, four from Ohio State: Miami native and sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith, defensive lineman Kayden McDonald, linebacker Arvell Reese and safety Caleb Downs, who was a CFP starter for Alabama in 2023 before being part of Ohio State’s title last season. Miami’s first-team All-America pick was offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.

Both quarterbacks have been part of national championships but neither as a starter. Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin was a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State last season. Miami QB Carson Beck, the transfer from Georgia, was part of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Donald Trump says he’s dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now

Published

1 hour ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

Trump’s push to deploy the troops has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks hung up the effort.

Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that he’s removing the Guard troops for now. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” he wrote.

Troops had already left Los Angeles after the President deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration. They had been sent to Chicago and Portland but were never on the streets as legal challenges played out.

Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.

The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area as part of its crackdown on immigration. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.

In the nation’s capital, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen.

In Oregon, a federal Judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there.

California National Guard troops had already been removed from the streets of Los Angeles by Dec. 15 after a court ruling. But an appeals court had paused a separate part of the order that required control of the Guard to return to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order. That paves the way for the California National Guard troops to fully return to state control after Trump federalized the Guard in June.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Department of Justice is reviewing more than 5.2 million documents related to Jeffrey Epstein

Published

3 hours ago

December 31, 2025

May Greene

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has expanded its review of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to 5.2 million as it also increases the number of attorneys trying to comply with a law mandating release of the files, according to a person briefed on a letter sent to U.S. Attorneys.

The figure is the latest estimate in the expanding review of case files on Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that has run more than a week past a deadline set in law by Congress.

The Justice Department has more than 400 attorneys working on the review, but does not expect to release more documents until Jan. 20 or 21, according to the person briefed on the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The White House did not dispute the figures laid out in the email, and pointed to a statement from Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General who said the administration’s review was an “all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Blanche said Wednesday that lawyers from the Justice Department in Washington, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern District of New York are working “around the clock” to review the files. The additional documents and lawyers related to the case was first reported by The New York Times.

“We’re asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain,” Blanche said. “Required redactions to protect victims take time but they will not stop these materials from being released.”

Still, Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing pressure from Congress after the Justice Department’s rollout of information has lagged behind the Dec. 19 deadline to release the information.

“Should Attorney General Pam Bondi be impeached?” U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who helped lead the effort to pass the law mandating the document release, asked on social media this week.

Democrats also are reviewing their legal options as they continue to seize on an issue that has caused cracks in the Republican Party and at times flummoxed President Donald Trump’s administration.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media that the latest figures from the Department of Justice “shows Bondi, Blanche, and others at the DOJ have been lying to the American people about the Epstein files since day one” and pointed out that the documents released so far represented a fraction of the total.