Miami Beach broke up with spring break last year and city leaders still aren’t interested in couples counseling.

Officials recently announced they were bringing back enhanced security measures for practically the entire month of March, including parking restrictions and increased fees for nonresidents.

The new rules were introduced last year after three consecutive years of spring break violence. The city is again warning visitors to expect curfews, bag searches at the beach, early beach closures, DUI checkpoints and arrests for drug possession and violence.

“Last year’s spring break was a success on any level you measure it,” Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said. “We had zero fatalities, zero shootings, zero stampedes. The majority of our businesses did very well and actually thanked us for the measures we took.”

Most spring break activity centers around a 10-block stretch of Ocean Drive known for its Art Deco hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. Before spring break last year, city officials launched a marketing campaign that said, “Miami Beach Is Breaking Up With Spring Break.” A video featured residents “breaking up” with spring breakers and warning them to expect restrictions if they decided to come anyway.

This year, officials followed up with a “Reality Check” video featuring a group of young people on a fictitious reality show having their spring break ruined by the city’s enhanced rules.

“We broke up a spring break,” Meiner said. “Some people ask, are you getting back together? No, we’re done.”

City leaders want visitors to come and enjoy the beaches, hotels and restaurants, as long as they behave, Meiner said, noting that overall hotel occupancy actually increased in 2024 over 2023.

“And that’s because when you walked around Ocean Drive and South Beach, you felt welcoming, you felt safe,” Meiner said.

Miami Beach isn’t the only Florida city bracing for spring breakers this year. Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Tampa are among the top 10 domestic spring break destinations, according to AAA booking data.

Following a particularly rowdy Presidents Day weekend in Daytona Beach, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood recently announced plans to crack down on bad behavior from spring breakers.

“They don’t bring any financial benefit,” Chitwood said. “All they do is bring chaos, and if they want to bring chaos, I am going to bring chaos in return.”

Some Miami Beach business owners see the restrictions as necessary to ensure public safety, while others are concerned that driving away spring breakers could irreparably damage Miami Beach’s status as an iconic tourist destination.

Louis Taic, owner of the Z Ocean Hotel, said he welcomes visitors to Miami Beach any time of the year, but he understands why city officials have taken to actions that they have.

“What we don’t like is people that take advantage of Miami Beach, that take advantage by doing things here that they would never do at home,” Taic said.

David Wallack, owner of Mango’s Tropical Cafe, said Miami Beach has thrived as an entertainment destination for nearly a century, even through Prohibition and the Great Depression.

Instead of trying to scare people away, city officials need to organize events such as concerts, art festivals and sporting events to attract people who will spend money, Wallack said.

“Miami Beach is magical, but you’ve got to still give customers what they want,” Wallack said.

Some civil rights advocates believe the restrictions are racially motivated.

South Beach became popular among Black tourists about two decades ago as promoters organized Urban Beach Week during the Memorial Day weekend. Many locals have complained about violence and other crime associated with the event, which led to an increased police presence. But the event’s continued popularity correlates to a bump in Black tourism throughout the year.

Stephen Hunter Johnson, an attorney and member of Miami-Dade’s Black Affairs Advisory Board, said city leaders are using a brief spike in violence as an excuse to discourage Black visitors.

Most of the problems experienced by Miami Beach in recent years began during the pandemic, when Florida remained open while other popular tourist destinations around the U.S. were locked down, and officials are unfairly crediting the new spring break restrictions with decreasing violence last year, Johnson said.

“Arrests were down, and no one was shot,” Johnson said. “Those things were going to occur anyway, because the farther we get away from COVID restrictions, the more normalized things are.”

Meiner has repeatedly rejected the notion that the restrictions are racially motivated. He always hates the idea of anyone getting injured, but as an elected official he feels an additional sense of responsibility when people are shot and killed in the city he serves, he said.

“We are going to keep people safe,” Meiner said. “Law and order is the number one priority in our city. There is no compromising on that.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday he does not see the U.S. as an unreliable ally, but Europe must continue to provide funding for Ukraine to put it in a stronger position if peace is negotiated.

Wrapping up a security summit in London with other European and world leaders, Starmer said that nobody wanted to see the breakdown in talks that happened Friday at the White House but that the U.S. remains an important ally.

“The U.S. has been a reliable ally to the U.K. for many, many decades and continues to be,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries.”

Starmer said the plan he is working on for peace in Ukraine is intended to receive U.S. backing. The U.K. will use 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) in export financing to supply 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine, he said.

The meeting comes two days after U.S. support for Ukraine appeared in greater jeopardy after President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he wasn’t grateful enough for U.S. support.

And he warned that Europe had to do the heavy lifting in defending itself.

The meeting has been overshadowed by the extraordinary scolding of Zelenskyy by Trump, who blasted him Friday at the White House as being ungrateful for U.S. support against the invasion by Russia.

Starmer said he’s focused on being a bridge to restore peace talks, whose collapse he used as an opportunity to re-engage with Trump, Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.”

The London meeting has taken on greater importance in defending the war-torn ally and shoring up the continent’s defenses.

Sunday’s summit is likely to include talks on establishing a European military force to be sent to Ukraine to underpin a ceasefire. Starmer said it would involve “a coalition of the willing.”

Starmer told the BBC he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin but does trust Trump. “Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes,” he said.

Starmer said there are “intense discussions” to get a security guarantee from the U.S.

“If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended, because the worst of all outcomes is that there is a temporary pause and then (Russian President Vladimir) Putin comes again,” Starmer said. “That has happened in the past, I think it is a real risk, and that is why we must ensure that if there’s a deal, it is a lasting deal, not a temporary pause.”

The three essentials Starmer listed for a successful peace deal were: arming the Ukrainians to put them in a position of strength; including a European element to guarantee security; and providing a “U.S. backstop,” to prevent Putin from breaking promises.

“That’s the package. All three parts need to be in place, and that’s what I’m working hard to bring together,” Starmer said.

Starmer hosted the meeting at Lancaster House, a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace, following a charm offensive last week to persuade Trump to put Ukraine at the center of negotiations and tilt his allegiances toward Europe.

Leaders from Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania were at the summit. The Turkish foreign minister, NATO secretary-general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council were also in attendance.

Zelenskyy received broad support from leaders across Europe after the White House fiasco, an exceptional attack on an ally broadcast on live television.

Starmer embraced Zelenskyy as he arrived at the meeting Sunday.

Europe has been anxious since Trump initiated direct peace talks with Putin, who had been isolated by most Western leaders since invading Ukraine three years ago. The scramble to remain relevant and protect European interests as their once stalwart ally appeared to be cozying up to Putin was even more troubling when Trump called Zelenskyy a dictator and falsely said Ukraine started the war.

Meetings in recent days had provided some hope — until Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House.

Visits to the Oval Office by Macron, who had declared his visit a “turning point,” and Starmer were seen as steps in the right direction. The meetings were cordial and Trump even took a gentler tone toward Ukraine, though he would not commit to providing U.S. security guarantees and maintained Europe would need to provide peacekeeping troops.

Within 12 hours of Starmer’s return from Washington, the talk of peace seemed to collapse as Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy for challenging Trump’s assertions that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trusted.

“Starmer did an impressive job of asserting Europe’s agency in the war on Ukraine and conveying to President Trump that Europe is willing and able to take a leading role in implementing any credible peace deal,” said Rachel Ellehuus, director-general of Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank. “Unfortunately, Friday’s White House meeting was a major step backward.”

Ukraine can no longer count on military or political support from the U.S. after Trump declared himself neutral in negotiations, Ellehuus said. She said Europe needs to step in and could release some 200 billion euros ($207 billion) in seized Russian assets to help fund that effort.

“The immediate goal of the meetings in London must be to keep Ukraine in the fight so it can negotiate from a maximum position of strength,” she said.

Starmer pledged this week to boost military spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027. Other European nations may follow suit.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Saturday that Europe faces a historic test and has to look after itself. He said European countries have to increase their arms spending to reach at least 3% of GDP.

“If we don’t increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won’t end up well,” he said.

Macron, who said it was legitimate for the U.S. to shift its focus to dealing with China and Asia, also called for more defense spending as he called for unity.

“We should have woken up earlier,” Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Furious Democrats filled Republican town halls across America last week to protest President Donald Trump’s power grab in Washington.

But in recent days, the activists behind those protests have turned their anger toward elected officials in their own party, who they believe are not fighting the Republican president and billionaire adviser Elon Musk with the urgency, aggression or creativity that the moment deserves.

“Are we in a constitutional crisis or not?” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the anti-Trump resistance group Indivisible, which encouraged progressives to attend town halls and protest outside Tesla dealerships.

Of Democratic leaders, he added, “There’s zero tactical or innovative leadership.”

Indeed, as Trump moves to consolidate control in Washington with little regard for precedent or judges ruling against him, the nation’s most powerful Democrats are offering mixed messages while struggling to break from the rules and norms that have long governed U.S. politics.

Key Democratic governors have spoken out with varying levels of concern, but they have also promised to work with the Trump administration to ensure resources flow to their states.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has taken heat for spending part of last week’s congressional recess promoting a children’s book he wrote about democracy. Asked about activists’ frustration, he pointed to his party’s united opposition to the GOP budget bill and to the more than 100 lawsuits brought against the president.

“We have to continue to push back aggressively in every way possible in defense of the American people,” Jeffries insisted, acknowledging voters’ “concern, fear, shock and anxiety.”

Republicans have control of the House and Senate. Some Democrats think they are nearing the limit of what they can do to stop Trump, and so the party should stand back.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said as much out loud earlier in the week in a New York Times opinion piece in which he encouraged his party to embrace a “strategic retreat” to let Trump and his Republican allies take the blame for the chaos they create.

“It’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead,” Carville wrote.

The piece infuriated Democratic activists. But some officials in Washington quietly welcomed Carville’s call for Democrats to get out of Trump’s way.

“The Carville point was that there’s got to be an opportunity for people to start experiencing and coming to their own conclusion,” said Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont.

“What’s easier said than done on Carville is that people are freaked out and they do want us to do something and we want to do something,” Welch added. “That’s the dilemma.”

In Trump’s first month in office, he and Musk have moved with extraordinary speed to cut tens of thousands of jobs from the federal workforce. The president is trying to eliminate entire agencies established by federal law. He has signed dozens of executive orders and begun to exact retribution against perceived political enemies across the government, firing independent inspectors general, federal prosecutors and FBI agents involved with his previous prosecutions.

Trump and his allies have lashed out against judges and threatened to defy court rulings.

So far, neither Jeffries nor Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has been willing to employ perhaps the most dramatic tool at their disposal to stop Trump: their vote — and the ability to withhold their vote in protest — even if it means shutting down the government.

There are some Democrats who want their party to pursue a shutdown on March 14 when current funding expires. But historically, shutdowns have been a Republican strategy only. Democrats generally see themselves as the political grown-ups in the room.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Democrats “need to be more imaginative and ingenious and aggressive in our tactics.”

“But that should not mean that we depart from basic values,” he said in an interview. “Court orders should be obeyed. We have to respect the rule of law. But we also have to be more nimble and agile in the tactics and tools we use, and be exhaustive in every legal means of fighting back.”

Democratic governors — and 2028 presidential prospects — have spoken out with varying levels of concern.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer dined at the White House with Trump last week as part of the National Governors Association annual meeting. Afterward, she told Michigan media that she continues to look for “common ground” with the president.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who this past week announced a new podcast featuring Trump’s “Make America Great Again” allies, has softened his stance on Trump in an effort to ensure the Republican administration doesn’t block disaster funding for the state’s devastating wildfires.

Whitmer and Newsom have also been sharply critical of Trump throughout their careers. At the same time, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his recent State of the State address to liken Trump’s power grabs to the conditions that preceded the Holocaust.

“It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic,” Pritzker charged. “All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.”

Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, took to the Senate floor last week to call on his colleagues to “wake up.” In a subsequent interview, King described what he called Trump’s “assault on the Constitution — the most serious in the history of the country.”

The Senator said Democrats cannot simply assume that the courts will rein in Trump. But he also acknowledged that they had relatively few tools to push back as the minority party in both chambers of Congress.

“We’re in uncharted territory. There’s no playbook for this,” King said. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what’s effective.”

The Democratic base is not in a patient mood.

Lori Goldman, who leads the Michigan-based activist group known as Fems for Dems, was enraged when asked for her assessment of Democratic leaders.

“We need all hands on deck, and we’re not getting it,” she said. “There’s no room or time or space to act like we’re in normal times.”

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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