Southern Republicans are pushing their states to formally embrace the name Gulf of America — the name President Donald Trump has bestowed on the Gulf of Mexico — and require its use on maps, textbooks and signs.

This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills requiring the use of “Gulf of America” in state law and textbooks. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry in March signed an executive order directing state materials to reflect the name change. The Louisiana Department of Education announced an update to state social studies standards to reflect the name change.

Republicans are looking to cement the use of the new name designated by Trump, saying it is a point of national pride. Some Democrats have criticized the efforts as a transparent political measure.

The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted 72-26 to advance legislation to require state and local government entities and their employees to use the name Gulf of America. It would also require state and local entities to make “reasonable efforts” to update maps, textbooks, websites, and other materials. The bill, which passed on a vote split along party lines, now moves to the Alabama Senate.

Republican Rep. David Standridge, the sponsor of the Alabama legislation, said he brought the bill to give clear direction to government entities on which name to use. He said there had been confusion about what to do.

“Right now, we have an executive order that the President issued. This bill will make it clear, when you buy maps, when you buy textbooks,” Standridge said.

Democrats criticized the measure as a political gesture that will cost money and end the use of a name that has been closely linked with Southern states.

“It’s time for us to stop doing foolish things, and start doing things that will move us forward,” Rep. Barbara Drummond, a Democrat from Mobile, said during debate.

Standridge said government entities would not be required to purchase new maps and other materials, but to make sure the new name is reflected whenever they purchase new materials.

One lawmaker questioned if Republicans were rushing to embrace a name that could fade when Trump leaves office.

“Are we going to change the name back to the Gulf of Mexico if we get another President in another four years?” Rep. Kenyatte Hassell, a Democrat, asked.

Standridge acknowledged that another President might change the name but added that he didn’t think it was likely.

“I really can’t myself imagine why a President would want to change from America to Mexico,” Standridge said after the vote.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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Several thousand students, staff and faculty packed a plaza at Florida State University for a vigil Friday evening, bowing their heads in a moment of silence honoring the two people who were killed and six others who were wounded in a shooting rampage the previous day.

The gunman, identified as the stepson of a sheriff’s deputy, arrived on campus an hour before the shooting Thursday and stayed near a parking garage before he walked in and out of buildings and green spaces while firing a handgun just before lunchtime, police said.

In roughly four minutes, officers confronted 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a Florida State student, and shot and wounded him, Tallahassee police said.

Officials have not identified the two men who died, but family members said Robert Morales, a university dining coordinator, was one of them. He worked at Florida State since 2015 and studied criminology there in the early 1990s, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The other was Tiru Chabba, 45, a married father of two from Greenville, South Carolina, who was working for food service vendor Aramark, said Michael Wukela, a spokesperson for attorneys hired by the family.

Police have said five others were shot, and another person was hurt running away.

Medical staff at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare said they treated six people for gunshots, including three who were operated on, and all were expected to survive.

They would not give any information about those people’s identities or say whether the suspect was among them. Police said earlier that he was taken to a local hospital.

Some of the wounded were students, according to university President Richard McCullough.

Classes were canceled Friday, but some students came to campus to retrieve backpacks and laptops they left behind when they barricaded classroom doors and eventually fled to safety.

Police believe Ikner used a former service weapon that belongs to his stepmother, an 18-year veteran of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Walt McNeil said. In recent years she has worked as a middle school resource officer and was the department’s employee of the month a year ago in March.

After the shooting she requested and was granted personal leave and also reassigned from her post at the school, said Shonda Knight, executive director of community and media relations for the agency.

The suspect was a longstanding member of the Leon County Sheriff’s youth advisory council, police said. The group was created to build communication between young people and local law enforcement while also teaching teens leadership and team-building skills.

He was a junior at FSU studying political science after earning an associates degree last fall from Tallahassee State College, university spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis confirmed.

Authorities have not yet revealed a motive.

When Ikner was a child, his parents were involved in several custody disputes with his biological mother, court records show.

In 2015, when he was 10, his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, said she was taking him to South Florida for spring break in 2015 but instead traveled to Norway. After returning to the U.S., she pleaded no contest to removing a minor from the state against a court order and was sentenced to 200 days in jail. She later moved to vacate her plea, but that was denied.

In the fall of that same year, Eriksen filed a civil libel-slander complaint against Jessica Ikner, along with several other family members. The complaint, which was later dismissed, accused them of harassing Eriksen and abusing Ikner’s position at the sheriff’s office.

In 2020, at age 15, the suspect received court approval to change his name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner, court documents show. His old name was a constant reminder of a “tragedy” he suffered, in the words of administrative magistrate James Banks, who approved the request, NBC News reported.

Banks observed that Ikner was a “mentally, emotionally and physically mature young adult who is very articulate” and “very polite” said he chose the new name as a representation of “rising from the ashes anew.”

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.

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