U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds doesn’t think President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the race for Governor will clear the field for him.

Donalds told Fox News host Bill Hemmer that he expects competition

“I do. I mean, look, I would love for things to be easy. But nothing’s ever easy, especially in politics,” Donalds said.

“It’s very, very early. We’ll see what happens, but I’m just happy to have the support of President Trump, glad to have his endorsement and his faith in me. And my job now is going to the people of Florida, not just earning their vote but earning their endorsement. And so I’m just going to be working hard at that while also making sure we get the President’s agenda done on Capitol Hill.”

Donalds sat impassively as Hemmer reminded him that Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting First Lady Casey DeSantis as his preferred successor.

Donalds, a Congressman from Naples, hasn’t had much to say about the DeSantis family positioning itself for a third term in Tallahassee. He has preferred to let the endorsement from Trump, who won by double digits over Kamala Harris in November, do the talking for him.

Gov. DeSantis has reined in his rhetoric promoting his wife for the job since Donalds formally entered the race this week.

“You have so much time between now and, heck, the filing is what, in 16 months? And the Primaries after that, and then a General Election,” DeSantis said Thursday, as he lumped the 2026 cycle in with things that are a “lifetime away in politics.”

Yet the Governor has previously let his real feeling be known, saying of Donalds that “he just hasn’t been a part of any of the victories that we’ve had here over the Left over these last years,” while saying the First Lady could take his administration’s accomplishments “to the next level.”

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Several Pinellas County Commissioners and Indian Shores Mayor Diantha Schear pleaded with property owners Thursday to sign documents needed to move forward with beach nourishment in Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores and Redington Shores.

The deadline to complete construction easement documents is Friday. Currently, documents for 170 easements remain unsigned. The easements are part of the Sand Key nourishment project, which includes coastline from North Redington Beach to about Sand Key.

Commissioners Dave Eggers, Chris Latvala, Kathleen Peters and Brian Scott, along with Schear and Sen. Nick DiCeglie, were on hand for a “Signing Day” in Indian Shores at the Indian Shores Municipal Center.

After Hurricanes Idalia, Helene and Milton brought destruction to much of the state, including Pinellas beaches, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is continuing to require all property owners to sign easements, which grants the Corps permanent access to that portion of their property.

While residents are frustrated with what they see as a sudden hard line in the sand — pun intended — the Corps policy has been in place since the 1990s, though officials acknowledge they’ve taken a less stringent approach in the past to enforcing the rule.

With strict adherence now in place, officials are finding it near impossible to gather the easement signatures needed to move forward with the project, with some residents refusing and others unable, as they live elsewhere in the country.

“Plain and simple, we need to get our beach nourishment projects done,” said Peters, who has helped lead the fight to get the Sand Key project authorized. “We need residents to sign their easements so we can do that. We need sand for storm protection, for property values, for tourism, and so our beaches don’t go back to the way they were in the 1980s, where they had seawalls and steps to get down to the water.”

Beach nourishment doesn’t just keep the beach full of sand and ready for recreation; it’s also a critical storm mitigation tool. A bit of erosion is normal as waves carry sand off the beach. But when storms hit, that erosion can be exacerbated, grabbing massive amounts of sand from the beach and carrying it back to the Gulf. Sandy beaches, dunes and sand berms all act as a barrier to the rest of coastal areas, including private properties where owners are being asked to provide perpetual easement access.

The Army Corps has taken its hard-line stance now because officials realize patchwork nourishment is ineffective.

“If we don’t get all the easements, and we can’t nourish the entire beach, basically what we have is a bucket with holes in it,” Scott said. “And we all know water is going to go where the least resistance is, and that is not a resilient solution for us long-term. So please come down and sign your easement so we can get this project going.”

The rule is also important to the Army Corps because federal law doesn’t allow spending on private beaches. Without the construction easement documents signed, some of the property that needs nourishment remains private. That disrupts the nourishment process, which allows the Army Corps to complete nourishment on the federal government’s dime.

Property owners within the Sand Key nourishment zone who still have not signed easement documents have through Friday to do so. To sign, or to ask questions, email [email protected] or call 727-464-7799.

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Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said.

Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.

Cuts at NOAA appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. That’s about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.

The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said. There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service — where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done.

The firings come amid efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to shrink a federal workforce that President Donald Trump has called bloated and sloppy. Thousands of probationary employees across the government have already been fired.

Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat, released a statement saying: “Today, hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including weather forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS), were given termination notices for no good reason. This is unconscionable.”

Meng added: “These are dedicated, hardworking Americans whose efforts help save lives and property from the devastating impacts of natural disasters across the country. This action will only endanger American lives going forward.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat and ranking minority member in the House Natural Resources Committee, also said “hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA” were let go.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said on social media that the job cuts “are spectacularly short-sighted, and ultimately will deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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