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Gov. DeSantis reappoints Bill Heavener to UF Board of Trustees

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Gov. Ron DeSantis has reappointed Bill Heavener to the University of Florida Board of Trustees.

DeSantis announced this week that he reappointed Heavener, a private investment banker who is steeped in the arts and has a history of connections to high-ranking academia. The appointment comes as Heavener completed his most recent term Tuesday as a member of the UF Board.

Heavener was the subject of a federal lawsuit into complaints of fraud lodged against some of his interests. Heavener has extensive business connections and interests in academia. He is the CEO of The Heavener Co., an investment firm, co-Chair and CEO of the for-profit school in Winter Park Full Sail University, and co-Chair of the Los Angeles Film School, the Los Angeles Recording School and the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

Several media reports in 2025 detailed allegations in a lawsuit that said two former employees accused Heavener of engaging in fraud at the Los Angeles schools and Full Sail University. Those complaints accused the institutions of engaging in fraud over the past decade by overstating figures about job placement in order to receive financial assistance from federal agencies.

Full Sail officials said the claims were unfounded and the two people making the allegations never actually worked for Full Sail.

“To be clear, at no time did Full Sail University engage in any of the improper conduct as described in their complaint. The lawsuit simply discusses what they believe to be activities at The Los Angeles Film School and attempts to associate it to Full Sail solely due to our relationships with the school,” a Full Sail statement said, adding the Los Angeles schools hold similar positions.

Heavener and others filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in December.

The UF Board oversees the strategic direction of the school and financial well-being of the institution.

Heavener’s reappointment still needs confirmation from the Florida Senate.



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President pushes to cap credit card interest at 10% as banks balk

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Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street and the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and to support his second-term agenda.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump’s proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives,” the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long.”

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump’s post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Anna Paulina Luna have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.



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Gov. DeSantis appoints, reappoints 5 to Florida Gaming Control Commission

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Five seats on the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC) have been tentatively settled after Gov. Ron DeSantis made appointments and reappointments this week.

DeSantis announced Julie Brown has been appointed as Chair of that board that oversees gambling issues in the state while Peter Cuderman and William Spicola were appointed as general members of the panel. DeSantis reappointed John Michael D’Aquila and Tina Repp as returning board members, a  news release said.

Brown is being elevated on the gaming board as she currently serves as Vice Chair of the panel. Brown is well versed in Florida government service and was the former Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. She’s also a former Commissioner on the Florida Public Service Commission.

Cuderman is also experienced in government work as he’s the previous Director of Legislative Intergovernmental Affairs for the Florida Governor’s office. He’s also the Founding Partner of Fidelis Fund, a Florida-Based private equity company involved with Main Street businesses. Cuderman was also a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corp.

Spicola is a lawyer at the law firm Komisar Spicola, based in Tallahassee. He’s also a member of the Second Judicial Nominating Procedures Committee and a member of the Florida Bar Judicial Nominating Procedures Committee.

Returning to the board is D’Aquila who is the owner and accountant at D’Aquila Advisors based in Jacksonville Beach. He’s also a member of the American and New York Institutes of Certified Public accountants and was a previous member of the Sawgrass Country Club Finance Committee and the Northeast Florida Society of Financial Professionals.

Repp’s return to the board comes as she is a health care fraud investigator for Qlarant. She’s also been a Special Agent for the FBI as she was an investigator of financial crime, government fraud, elder fraud and transnational organized crime.

The FGCC is composed of five members and is tasked with establishing executive and regulatory standards for gambling in Florida. It’s an area that has been elevated in profile in the past couple of years.

The FGCC recapped its 2025 operations and confiscated some $14.47 million in illegal gambling funds and another 6,725 illegal slot machines from illegal gambling operations, according to a news release issued by the agency. Those figures are significantly higher than in 2024.

In that previous year, state gambling regulators confiscated 1,287 illegal slot machines and some $7.11 million in cash associated with those unlawful gambling operations that were seized.

The appointments adn reapppointments by DeSantis still need final approval by the Florida Senate.



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Greenland leaders see red over Donald Trump takeover bid

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NATO allies split.

Greenland’s party leaders have rejected President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the U.S. to take control of the island, saying that Greenland’s future must be decided by its people.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night.

Trump said again on Friday that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region that’s part of NATO ally Denmark, “the easy way.” He said that if the U.S. doesn’t own it, then Russia or China will take it over, and the U.S. does not want them as neighbors.

“If we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump said, without explaining what that entailed. The White House said it is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss the renewed push by the White House for the control of the island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.

The party leaders’ statement said that “the work on Greenland’s future takes place in dialogue with the Greenlandic people and is prepared on the basis of international laws.”

“No other country can interfere in this,” they said. “We must decide the future of our country ourselves, without pressure for quick decision, delay or interference from other countries.”

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.



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