De-Flocked in Florida and more news from the states

Good evening. Across Florida, the state and law enforcement officials are working quickly to remove Flock automated license plate readers, amid mounting concerns about surveillance — including from the governor himself. 

In Nebraska, the secretary of state approved an anti-transgender ballot question and knocked down an effort to require lawmakers to honor the results of voters’ petition efforts. 

Advocates in Springfield, Ohio, home to 15,000 Haitian immigrants, say the city is under siege by federal immigration enforcement agents. 

On the national scene, a judge refused to lift her order blocking a new U.S. Postal Service rule targeting mail voting, a summer of food recalls has raised fears of foodborne illness and federal regulators and 22 states sued Amazon, alleging a deceptive advertising scheme.

Sheriff’s departments in Florida are dropping the use of automated license plate readers as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis warns against the “surveillance state,” Florida Phoenix reports. 

DeSantis, speaking in Jacksonville on Monday, insisted no Florida governor had given law enforcement more tools to fight crime than he has, but he wants them aimed at criminals, not citizens who have done nothing wrong. 

His concern, DeSantis continued, is how the data can be misused. His comments came three days after he said he wanted the state to remove Flock-style surveillance cameras from state rights-of-way and after the Florida Department of Transportation said in a memo that it has revoked active permits for automated license plate readers.

Hours before he made those comments, three Florida sheriffs — in Liberty, Clay, and Putnam counties — said in separate statements that they have ordered discontinuation of the Flock system. Two other sheriffs announced plans to discontinue the cameras in the near future. 

More than 200 cities and counties across the United States have terminated contracts with Flock Safety, according to data compiled by Social Justice, a California civil liberties advocacy group.

Related coverage: 

A Nebraska voter is asking the state Supreme Court to block a measure from the fall ballot that would let voters decide whether to constitutionally limit sports participation in public K-12 schools and colleges to teams of biologically male, female or co-ed students, Nebraska Examiner reports. 

Last week, the state’s top election official, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen, announced that the petition effort had collected enough valid signatures to be on the November ballot. The lawsuit was filed Monday. 

If passed, the ballot question would constitutionally cement an existing anti-transgender state law requiring that all student-athletes who compete in public K-12 or college sports compete on a team that matches their sex at birth.

Meanwhile, Evnen ruled Monday that a ballot measure seeking to restrict certain legislation regarding voter-approved laws and petitioning is too broad. The group Respect Nebraska Voters said it will challenge the ruling at the Nebraska Supreme Court.

More than 40 Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, have been detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement after President Donald Trump revoked their legal status earlier this summer, Ohio Capital Journal reports. 

Haitian Support Center Executive Director Viles Dorsainvil had temporary protected status with an asylum case pending. He is one of about 15,000 Haitians who live in Springfield, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal status.

“I am calling out this administration to tell them that we deserve to be treated with dignity,” he said. “We deserve to be treated as human beings. We are not animals.”

ICE agents are detaining people in Springfield in shopping plazas, gas stations, and apartment complexes, advocates said.

“Springfield is under siege right now,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church.

More immigration coverage: 

Oklahoma: Federal wildlife officer David Taylor, 38, died Saturday while helping evacuate residents threatened by the Railroad South Fire in Comanche County.

Nevada: A federal appellate panel ruled in favor of the state, which is challenging prediction market Kalshi’s operations as illegal sports betting. The ruling sets up a potential showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

North Carolina: Laurie Buckhout, the Republican nominee for the state’s 1st Congressional District, was suspended from Kalshi for three years and fined $2,589.96 for betting on her own candidacy. Other politicians were also sanctioned; former New York U.S. Rep. George Santos received a lifetime ban and more than $70,000 in fines. 

Arizona: Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is calling for a statewide pause on new data centers amid rising energy costs and the federal government’s plan to cut 30% of the state’s Colorado River supply. 

New Mexico: Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives announced an investigation into allegations that federal drug enforcement agents knowingly let fentanyl cross into the state.

South Dakota: The state submitted a request to bar the purchase of soft drinks with government food assistance, after a June court decision vacated similar bans in five states and caused some other states to delay implementing their bans.

Rhode Island: Democratic state Rep. Julie Casimiro gave up her seat — and legislative salary — after questions about her move to South Carolina in July. 

North Dakota: Summit Carbon Solutions, which had been granted permits to store carbon dioxide underground in three designated areas in the state, has requested two of the permits be canceled. 

Maine: Despite being eligible for $300 “affordability checks,” which were a cornerstone of the latest state budget, state residents who are solely reliant on Social Security or disability will not receive them unless they file taxes, which they otherwise aren’t required to do. 

Kentucky: After two years of limbo, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has started implementing a 2024 law to help families who step in to raise a minor relative, known as kinship care families.

Federal and state officials view a bridge destroyed by flooding in Carmel, Indiana, during a tour on Aug. 31. (Photo by Tom Davies/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Cameron Hamilton said Monday that the agency’s staff would work to expedite financial assistance to communities across the state recovering after recent severe storms and flooding.

The storms that began Aug. 11 caused severe flooding that pushed the White River, which washed out the four-lane bridge, to record-high levels.

Widespread wind damage caused more than 350,000 power outages in northwest Indiana. Several thousand homes remained without electricity in Gary and nearby communities for more than 10 days.

Republican Gov. Mike Braun has requested federal disaster aid for 54 counties, with more than 30 counties still awaiting a decision.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is expected to start distributing emergency aid grants this week to residents with losses from the storms. 

Read more from Indiana Capital Chronicle.

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday declined the Trump administration’s request to overturn the temporary restraining order she signed last week that blocks the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out a rule placing new restrictions on mail-in voting, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The rule’s challengers say it is an inappropriate incursion of states’ power to administer elections, and would likely disenfranchise people who depend on mail ballots to vote. 

Trump has long claimed, without evidence, and despite his personal use of the service, that mail voting enables election fraud. 

A federal judge over the weekend allowed the Trump administration to force-feed the man charged with shooting two National Guard members in November, killing one of them, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

For months, Rahmanullah Lakanwal has refused to eat while incarcerated. 

The Department of Justice charged Lakanwal with first-degree murder in the shooting of 20-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and with the attempted murder of U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe. Lakanwal has pleaded not guilty. 

More federal court news:

LGBTQ+ adults are more likely than other adults to miss healthcare appointments due to cost or other reasons — with a third reporting their health worsened as a result, Stateline reports. 

A new survey by health policy research group KFF surveyed 2,640 LGBTQ+ adults and found those who are transgender, younger than 30 and those with lower incomes or without insurance were most likely to miss or forgo care due to cost.

More than three-quarters of uninsured LGBTQ+ adults reported missing needed healthcare, according to the survey.

A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness, Stateline reports. 

The recalls have focused attention on the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding and staff at several public health agencies, and prompted questions about whether those changes have made consumers more vulnerable.

More from Stateline: Feds and 22 states sue Amazon, alleging deceptive advertising scheme

Just over two months from midterm elections and four months removed from a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gutted Voting Rights Act protections for majority Black U.S. House districts, thousands gathered Friday at the Lincoln Memorial for the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

Organizers focused the anniversary march around a “Defend the Vote” message. 

The event, co-chaired by civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King Jr.’s son Martin Luther King III and daughter-in-law Arndrea Waters King, featured appearances from union leaders, interfaith organizers, people whose parents attended the iconic 1963 march.

From behind bullet proof glass, King Jr.’s granddaughter Yolanda Renee King, 18, told the crowd she never met her grandfather, or grandmother Coretta Scott King, but she is carrying their legacy forward.

“Sixty-three years ago, my grandfather told America, ‘I have a dream.’ Today, I want my generation to say something back — ‘We hear you,’” she said. “We know the dream was never finished, and we know you were never asking us to simply remember you. You were asking us to continue, so we will. We will pick up the baton.”

Yolanda King highlighted Civil Rights Movement icons, including John Lewis, who later represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death in 2020.

“This is a marathon, run as a relay,” she said. “That means nobody is expected to run the whole race. My grandfather did it. My grandmother did it. John Lewis did it. Fannie Lou Hamer did it. … The countless people whose names we will never know did it. They ran their leg.”