It’s wind-down time for the Citrus County Hospital Board.

Created by legislative act in 1949 to oversee health care through what would become Citrus Memorial Hospital, the CCHB has outgrown its usefulness.

If a bill filed by Inverness Rep. JJ Grow becomes law, the CCHB will cease to exist on Oct. 1, 2026.

HB 4043 requires the hospital Board to dissolve and turn its remaining assets over to the Citrus County Board of County Commissioners.

The county would also oversee the 50-year lease with Hospital Corporation of America, which has operated what is now HCA Florida Citrus Hospital since 2013.

“We’ve been talking about this for six years,” hospital Board Chair Dr. Mark Fallows said in October when the Board voted to seek legislative dissolution.

Attorney William Grant, who has represented the CCHB for two decades, said a smooth transition will take several months.

“We want to be able to sunset in a way that’s consistent with the mission and the good work that all of you have done,” Grant said.

The CCHB existed in relative anonymity as a low-level taxing district for years. In 1987, its members, Governor appointees, created a separate nonprofit foundation Board to oversee hospital operations.

Those two boards eventually splintered when the foundation amended its bylaws in 2006 to increase its size, effectively placing hospital Board members in the minority.

Detailed reviews of the hospital’s finances showed significant instability.

“The hospital started getting deeper and deeper in debt,” Fallows told Citrus County Commissioners.

The CCHB and the Foundation Board agreed to seek bids to either sell or lease the hospital. They received bids from three for-profit hospitals and one nonprofit and, in 2013, decided with HCA on a 50-year, $131 million lease.

The CCHB stopped collecting taxes in 2013, but its role did not end. Lawmakers in 2014 created the Citrus County Community Charitable Foundation to disburse interest payments from lease proceeds to meet the medical needs of Citrus County citizens. Its members represent a cross-section of Citrus County, including two elected officials.

More recently, the CCHB settled a dispute with the Agency for Health Care Administration. AHCA sought $5 million in Medicaid overpayments to CMH over 10 years; CCHB reduced that amount to $650,000.

Ben Sasse, a former U.S. Senator from Nebraska and onetime President of the University of Florida (UF), has been diagnosed with metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

He announced the diagnosis in a statement posted to X, saying that the disease is terminal and he is now “on the clock.”

“This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” Sasse said.

He described advanced pancreatic cancer as “a death sentence,” while also reflecting that mortality is a universal condition.

“I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do,” he said.

Sasse, 53, has long been a distinctive figure in American public life, blending conservative politics with academic training and an emphasis on institutions, civic culture and constitutional norms.

Raised in Plainview, Nebraska, he earned degrees from Harvard and Yale, completing a doctorate in history with a focus on American political development. He served in former President George W. Bush’s administration as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation, focusing on long-term entitlement and demographic issues. He later became President of Midland University in Nebraska.

Sasse entered the U.S. Senate in 2015 after winning Nebraska’s 2014 race as an outsider candidate critical of Washington dysfunction. He became nationally prominent for his willingness to publicly challenge President Donald Trump, despite voting conservatively on most policy matters.

Notably, he was among a small group of Republican Senators who voted to convict Trump during impeachment proceedings, a stance that made him a polarizing figure within his party.

In 2022, Sasse resigned from the Senate to become UF President, returning to academia amid intense debate over politics and public higher education. He stepped down from the role in 2023, citing health-related reasons involving his family, and largely withdrew from public life.

After his departure, it was revealed that while President, Sasse tripled his office’s spending, with most of it covering lucrative consulting contracts and high-paying positions for GOP allies.

Sasse wrote Tuesday that his time away from politics allowed his family to establish “new rhythms.”

Much of his cancer announcement focused on his wife, Melissa, and their three children. He described milestones including his daughter Corrie’s commissioning into the U.S. Air Force and flight training, his daughter Alex’s early college graduation while teaching advanced science courses, and his 14-year-old son Breck learning to drive.

“This is hard for someone wired to work and build,” Sasse said, “but harder still as a husband and a dad.” He praised his siblings and close friends, quoting one who told him, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.”

He called death “a wicked thief,” but emphasized gratitude for the time he has.

The statement was deeply rooted in Sasse’s Christian faith. While acknowledging the severity of his diagnosis, Sasse said he plans to pursue treatment and is not surrendering quietly, citing advances in immunotherapy and adding, “I’m not going down without a fight.”