• Randa’s Market in the Mission debuted its new cat named “Shadow” who reportedly likes to stay indoors. The store’s first cat “KitKat” was killed by a Waymo last year, and its second cat “Coco” was taken to a special needs shelter in Santa Rosa following a feline leukemia diagnosis. [Mission Local]
• President Donald Trump unleashed an all-caps tirade against Anthropic Friday following the company’s refusal to allow the Pentagon unrestricted access to its technology, referring to them as “leftwing nut jobs.” [Associated Press]
• The Bay Lights on the western span of the Bay Bridge are currently being illuminated 24/7 while the project undergoes a stress test, and artist Leo Villareal is reportedly camping out at various locations writing new code for the project. [Chronicle]

National:

• Swiss-based drug company Novartis has settled a lawsuit out of court with the family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black mother whose cervical cells were taken without permission in 1951 prior to her death, which the company reproduced and used without her family’s knowledge, generating millions in revenue from major medical advances, including the polio vaccine and the development of genetic mapping. [Huffington Post]
• Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is forcing Scouting America, formerly the Boy Scouts of America, to out trans kids and reassign them to troops based on their birth certificates, reversing over a decade’s worth of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies developed by the organization. [Boing Boing]
• A missing Florida man was rescued Thursday after he became trapped up to his shoulders in “quick sand”-type mud earlier this month — thereby reigniting every GenXer’s and Millennial’s biggest fear. [NBC News]

Video:

• Over 100,000 attendees celebrated Black History Month at last Sunday’s Black Joy Parade in Oakland, as featured in these lovely vignettes.

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

I truly hope the billionaires all someday have to perform elaborate mea culpas — or be brought up on charges! — for colluding and sucking up to Trump in this era. And notably this week, former liberal Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly seeking a new piece of real estate in Miami.

Is Zuckerberg just the latest billionaire to make a panic purchase and call a lawyer to have his official residence changed ahead of a possible "billionaire's tax" that isn't even on the ballot yet? Or has he just taken to Indian Creek, the posh enclave north of Miami Beach where Ivanka Trump has a home, a short drive from Mar-a-Lago, where Zuck has been a repeat guest lately?

Regardless of the reason, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have been house shopping on the man-made island in Biscayne Bay that's been nicknamed "Billionaire's Bunker," which is also home to Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos, among others.

The home, on the waterfront of Indian Creek, is reportedly newly constructed, and a transaction is underway if not already complete.

This adds to the Zuckerberg-Chans' multiple real estate holdings, all of them essentially bunkers/compounds of their own, in Palo Alto, on the western shore of Lake Tahoe, and on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where the couple added 1,000 acres to their compound last year.

With three school-aged daughters, how many places can this family logistically live in during the course of a year?! We shall see. But perhaps these are all decent places to park pieces of Zuckerberg's estimated $240 billion fortune.

We don't know how much the Miami house is going to cost the couple, but it could be a significant sum. As Bloomberg notes, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is in the process of buying a home on Biscayne Bay worth $50 million, and fellow co-founder Larry Page has bought a three-house compound in nearby Coconut Grove for a cool $190 million.

Do they know something we don't about future hurricane patterns, or...?

In any event, this certainly could be a play toward pretending that the Zuckerberg-Chans don't primarily reside in Palo Alto, should a billionaire's tax actually come to pass. And/or Priscilla is just dying to have Ivanka and Jared over for dinner while Zuckerberg practices his golf swing to play with the prez.

Previously: Palo Alto City Council to Take Up Legislation to Clamp Down on Billionaire Compounds

Top image: Priscilla Chan (L) and Mark Zuckerberg attend WSJ. Magazine 2025 Innovator Awards at MOMA on October 29, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by TheStewartofNY/WireImage)

On the same day that California, Oregon, and Washington announced a new pro-vaccine coalition, offering a three-state vaccine guidance program in the absence of sane, scientific advice from the CDC, Florida's anti-vaxx surgeon general announced the state would drop all its vaccine mandates.

We live in truly insane times. The far left and far right both wrap around and touch each other back in the far-far ether on the issue of vaccination — conspiracy theories and pseudoscience don't descriminate, politically. But now, Florida's controversial surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, is announcing that Florida plans to be the first state to end all vaccine mandates, full stop.

So, children won't need to get vaccinated for diseases we solved decades ago, like measles and polio, in order to go to school. And Florida's school system could, thus, become ground zero for outbreaks of these deadly diseases, all because of some cukoo crazy adults like Dr. Ladapo — who was also a very vocal enemy the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?” said Ladapo at a press conference Wednesday alongside Governor Ron DeSantis, per the New York Times. "Your body is a gift from God."

Ladapo, who was born in Nigeria, penned a book in 2022 — when the pandemic was not even really over — that has a forward by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., titled Transcend Fear: A Blueprint for Mindful Leadership in Public Health. In it, he argues that the majority of public health officials were driven too much by fear in making stay-at-home orders, and subsequently, vaccine mandates.

Ladapo has been widely criticized in the public health field for his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine. As far back as December 2023, in his role as Florida's surgeon general, he was calling for a total halt in the use of the mRNA-based vaccines, spreading fear that they could cause damage to human cells, cancer, and "chromosomal instability," none of which are supported by the medical community.

The call to end vaccine mandates completely in Florida seems aimed at aligning with RFK Jr., and perhaps inspiring other states to take this dangerous step.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the governors of California, Oregon, and Washington issued a joint statement Wednesday announcing a three-state "health alliance" that will issue its own vaccine information and guidance, which will inevitably contradict what will come out of the Centers for Disease Control and the FDA under Kennedy.

The move follows the mass resignation last week of high-ranking officials at the CDC, who say that Kennedy is uninterested in heeding scientific advice, and that they are thus unable to effectively do their jobs in service to the public.

Per the Times, the West Coast "health alliance" intends to "provide residents with scientific data about vaccine safety and efficacy, and to issue guidance on vaccines for respiratory illnesses like Covid and the flu, as well as an array of childhood immunizations."

The governors' joint statement, which you can find here, argues that the CDC has become "a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences."

"Through this partnership, the three states will start coordinating health guidelines by aligning immunization recommendations informed by respected national medical organizations," the joint statement says. "This will allow residents to receive consistent, science-based recommendations they can rely on — regardless of shifting federal actions."

The polar-opposite actions by Florida and the three West Coast states portend a potential health crisis in the coming years, as we could see more outbreaks of measles, mumps, polio, and other diseases that have long been seen as erradicated in the US — all because of conspiracy theories, fed by the internet, that have now become a dominant force via RFK.

Florida already faced a measles outbreak in the Fort Lauderdale school system in 2024. Rather than recommend that children stay at home to avoid exposure, Dr. Ladapo said he was "deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance."

Last week, thanks to RFK, the FDA went against CDC's earlier recommendations, limiting COVID vaccination eligibility to people age 65 and older, and those with documented health conditions — excluding those who might want the vaccine for any other reason, like they live with someone elderly or otherwise vulnerable.

Sane Republican lawmakers could of course do something about this slowly moving crisis, but the 52 senators who confirmed RFK to his post in February, and Ron DeSantis, apparently see their political futures tied to staying loyal to the vaccine crazies. Only Mitch McConnell, a childhood survivor of polio, joined Democrats in voted Nay when it came to confirming RFK.

Related: CDC Clarifies COVID Guidelines, Reverses RFK Jr.'s Broader Rollback Claims

Top image: Xerius Jackson, age 7, gets an MMR vaccine at a vaccine clinic put on by Lubbock Public Health Department on March 1, 2025 in Lubbock, Texas. Cases of Measles are on the rise in West Texas as over 150 confirmed case have been seen with one confirmed death. (Photo by Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images)

Three East Bay men are in custody in Florida after an alleged robbery attempt Friday at a seller of Apple products that ended with a chase and a police shooting.

A trio of alleged would-be thieves from the Bay Area have likely gotten themselves in more trouble by flying to Florida to commit a robbery than they would have if they'd done the same thing here. And it sounds like the cops in Sweetwater, Florida have no problems shooting at robbery suspects who are trying to flee.

The attempted robbery happened on Friday just after 10:45 am, at an industrial park in Sweetwater, Florida. According to the FBI, the three suspects had all flown into Miami two days earlier, and investigators say they flew there specifically to commit this crime.

A van with a still unidentified driver dropped the three men off at the unnamed business, where they allegedly confronted an employee standing outside. Brandishing weapons — which turned out to be non-lethal airsoft guns — and wearing white rubber masks like Michael Myers in the Halloween franchise, they allegedly forced the employee into a garage space that is part of the business, where five other employees were working.

The trio then allegedly zip-tied the employees and began loading Apple products into a bedsheet.

According to authorities, one of the suspects obtained the keys to a van belonging to the business, and the trio was getting into the getaway vehicle when police arrived on the scene and began shooting. As WPLG/Local 10 reports, a bullet hit one of the suspects, 42-year-old Eric Chase of Oakland, in the leg.

The thieves were in such a hurry to leave, in fact, that they left behind the bedsheet, which reportedly had about $170,000 worth of apple products in it.

The trio then allegedly took off in the van, leading police on a chase to the town of Medley, another suburb of Miami, about eight miles away. There, the van became disabled, and all three men were arrested.

Authorities say that while fleeing, the suspects tossed a mask and a black, police-style vest out of the van.

The other two suspects are identified as Aaron Brown, 35, of Oakland; and Ranier Landry, 27, of Hayward.

The FBI noted that surveillance footage from the scene showed Brown's pants "significantly sagging" and showing some distinct, neon green underwear — which he was found wearing upon his arrest, linking him further to the crime.

The three now face charges of Hobbs Act robbery — a federal crime that typically involves crossing state lines and disrupting interstate commerce — in addition to carjacking and other charges.

They were being held in Miami-Dade County, but were expected to be moved to the Broward County jail to be held on behalf of the US Marshals Service.

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Fresh off having his clock cleaned by Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is still seeking attention with his new “Don’t Allow Florida to Become San Francisco” campaign.

You can certainly argue that failed 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ran the worst campaign in the history of presidential politics. Between he and his Super PACs, they spent $170 million on DeSantis’s campaign for president. But DeSantis dropped out after just one Iowa caucus, in which he received 23,420 votes. Several media organizations did the math and pointed out that means DeSantis spent a staggering $7,000 for each vote he got.

So maybe that obsession with calling out San Francisco did not work well for DeSantis. But in a furious bid for relevance, DeSantis had a press conference Monday at a dais with a sign reading “Don’t Allow Florida to Become San Francisco.” The press conference was on the seemingly unrelated matter of security measures over the upcoming Spring Break crowds coming to Florida.

"I mean, you look at places like San Francisco where you can rob the stores blind and they don't do anything. I've met people who've moved to Miami Beach from San Francisco who had their homes broken into and the perpetrators weren't prosecuted, even though they were caught, they weren't prosecuted,” DeSantis told reporters Monday, according to CBS News. “How's this supposed to be happening? People are, sometimes when they're charged with crimes, they just get released back onto the street. It's like a revolving door.”

He wasn’t done with San Francisco there, and appeared to make a dig at his junior varsity foe, California Governor Gavin Newsom.

"We're the third most populous state in the nation, but we don't have any of the 10 highest homeless for cities. Those are primarily congregated on the West Coast, places like LA, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, even Denver as you get into the Rockies, of course, New York City has that," he said of his state of Florida."We had over the last 10 years, homelessness has gone down in Florida, it's gone up in some of these other states.”

Okay, yes, homelessness in Florida is down in Florida compared to 2014. But it is still increasing, in a way about which Ron DeSantis is not being honest. The Florida Council on Homelessness noted a few months back that “over the past five years, Florida has seen an 9% increase in the rate of Floridians experiencing ‘literal homelessness’ (28,328 to 30,809 individuals from 2019 to 2023)."

And that date range starting in 2019 is significant. Why? Because Ron DeSantis was sworn in as governor of Florida on January 9, 2019.

Related: Ron DeSantis Shoots Campaign Video In the Tenderloin, Complains About 'So Much Riff-Raff Running Around' [SFist]

Image: MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 05: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference on February 05, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. Among other topics, he addressed the upcoming influx of spring breakers and assured the public that law enforcement officials and resources were available to maintain order if needed. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida man Ron DeSantis, perhaps unaware of his own state’s punchline status in oddball news stories, calls San Francisco a “dumpster fire” in his ongoing spat with Gavin Newsom.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are both up for reelection this coming November 8. This may have something to do with why they keep making political hay out of taunting one another from 3,000 miles away.

Newsom has been going out of his way to pick fights with the Florida governor for more than a year now, throwing shade at Florida in a New York Times interview last June, and pointing out on The View last December that there were “53% more deaths per capita in the state of Florida” than in California. In the wake of the fallout from Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and resulting spat with the Walt Disney Co., Newsom took another unprovoked swipe.

“Desantis’ Disney/Don’t Say Gay retaliation bill could increase a million Floridians' property tax bill by 25%,” Newsom tweeted a week ago. “But go ahead and keep telling us about 'fiscal responsibility' & your 'business-friendly climate.'”

Earlier this week, DeSantis shot back on a panel where he was discussing California companies relocating out-of-state, and eventually turning those states’ voting bases bluer. “Those employees would vote the exact same way they voted that turned San Francisco into the dumpster fire that it is,” DeSantis said. “It is a problem because I do think there's a class of voters who would come to Florida and they would continue to vote the same way.”

Both governors probably find that attacking the other polls well, and is good for fundraising. Both are rumored to want to run for president, so it helps improve their standing in the party to attack the other party’s standard-bearer. But Newsom is effectively running unopposed for governor this November, while DeSantis might have a fight on his hands with state agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried.

And on that front, DeSantis flexed today by proposing he would allow Floridians to carry guns without a permit, according to the New York Post. Fried pushed back, pretty cleverly, by yanking the gun permits of Floridians accused of participating in the January 6 insurrection.

Related: Gavin Goes on ‘The View,’ Takes Pot Shots at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Over COVID [SFist]

Images Left, Gage Skidmore; Right, U.S. Secretary of Defense, via Wikimedia Commons  

Apparently In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson — the evangelical Christian heir to the company founded by her grandparents — had a phone call with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis because In-N-Out has become a hero of the anti-vaxx right.

In-N-Out's futile fight with California public-health agencies over vaccine mandates for indoor dining has of course attracted much praise from Fox News and the right wing. And while Republican voters across the country continue to die in far greater numbers from COVID because they've been tragically misinformed about the dangers of the disease and the efficacy of vaccines, cynical politicians like Ron DeSantis continue to pin their political futures on anti-vaccine-mandate fights because they have no moral compass.

As Orlando's WKMG first reported, DeSantis's press secretary proudly announced Tuesday that In-N-Out "could expand to Florida" in the future after a "productive" phone call Monday between the governor and Snyder-Ellingson.

DeSantis was one of a number of Republican governors who were quick establish laws barring vaccine mandates and vaccine passports — something he did at a time when Florida's COVID case numbers were skyrocketing and the hospital situation looked dire.

Now DeSantis is trying to score more political points with the vaccine-ignorant by courting In-N-Out and inserting himself into the story about the chain's fight with several California cities.

As SFist previously reported, the only San Francisco location of In-N-Out was forcibly shuttered by the San Francisco health department after it was found to be in violation of the city's mandate that vaccine cards be checked for all indoor dining. The restaurant quickly reopened for takeout only, but this scenario repeated itself a week later in Contra Costa County, with the company digging in its heels and issuing statements about how it wanted nothing to do with being the "vaccine police" for customers.

This is reflective of Snyder-Ellingson's politics, of course, and for all we know she hasn't been vaccinated herself.

"Vaccination should be a personal choice to protect oneself from serious illness, not a mandatory condition of participating in society," said DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw in a statement to WKMG. "There is no reason for a fast food restaurant to be forced to require proof of vaccination from customers."

Ms. Snyder-Ellingson, who has been solely in charge of In-N-Out since 2017 and has been the company's president since 2010, apparently explained to DeSantis that the only reason the company had expanded east of Texas was because its suppliers were all on the West Coast.

"Of course, Florida also has some of the highest quality farms and cattle ranches in the country," Pushaw said, "and the governor discussed this with the president of In-n-Out." Pushaw explained that DeSantis wanted to help In-N-Out identify some local suppliers so that it could soon expand to Florida.

Pushaw added that DeSantis "would welcome this great company to Florida, the best state to do business, where freedom has a home."

Update: In-N-Out's chief legal and business officer Arnie Wensinger issued a statement Wednesday tamping down speculation, which had ballooned to include the idea that In-N-Out might even move its headquarters out of California to Florida. "The phone call was at the request of Gov. DeSantis and the primary purpose was to establish a business relationship," Wensinger said. "During that call, Gov. DeSantis graciously invited In-N-Out Burger to do business in the state of Florida. While we are thankful for the gracious invitation, In-N-Out Burger has no plans or intention to expand operations or move its corporate headquarters to Florida."

Next up in In-N-Out's California skirmishes will likely be a showdown in Los Angeles, where a vaccine mandate for indoor dining took effect on November 1. As CBS Los Angeles reports, no In-N-Out restaurants they visited in LA were asking for proof of vaccination this week — but the battle has not come to a head yet because restaurants have been given a 30-day grace period in which to comply with the law, so fines and shutdowns won't begin until after November 30.

In-N-Out's five Contra Costa County restaurants have all reopened for takeout and drive-thru only, which is the company's compromise because it refuses to check customers' vaccination status.

Related: SF's Health Department Is Trolling In-N-Out on Twitter Now

Ron DeSantis photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Two years after the founder of an elite private school allegedly absconded with over a million bucks from the Marin County institution, authorities have tracked the suspect down at her Florida home and arrested her.

According to its website, the elite Mount Tamalpais School in Mill Valley was founded in 1976 to serve students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Not currently mentioned on its about page is its founder, 70-year-old Kathleen Marie Mecca, who "allegedly diverted $1,054,042 from a Mount Tamalpais School Director’s Office account at Westamerica Bank," KRON 4 reports, between June 1, 2008, and Aug. 21, 2015.

The Marin Independent Journal reports that Mecca, who led the school until her retirement in August of 2015, "has been under a cloud of suspicion" since she stepped down. It was only after her departure that financial irregularities came to light, and a subsequent investigation revealed the alleged diversion.

In addition, KRON reports that Mecca allegedly "used 93 checks from the school’s account for her personal credit cards, and at least $32,240 was spent on purchases in Kona, Hawaii, the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay and at a resort where she was married in 2015."

According to the IJ, the stolen funds came from "school applications, tuition and donations."

Eventually, the school reached a settlement agreement with Mecca, in which "She agreed to pay about $650,000, much of it from her share in a Hawaii residence she owned with her ex-husband, Andrew Mecca." According to CBS 5, she's paid $548,460 of that, but "Two parents of children who attended the school asked the Marin County District Attorney’s Office on June 10, 2016, to investigate Mecca for embezzlement."

The IJ reports that prosecutor's investigators interviewed Mecca at yet another of her homes, in Santa Barbara. According to the investigator's report, Mecca “confirmed she had paid personal expenses out of the account because she erroneously believed the personal expenses were balanced out by other expenses she was making on the school’s behalf."

“Defendant said she fully understands her own mistakes and stupidity in making some of the decisions she has made, but she has also learned people are quick to believe the worst and there is no loyalty.”

Fast forward to Tuesday, and officers with the Indian River County Sheriff's Department arrived at Mecca's Vero Beach, Florida home to arrest her, according to their website. She posted $150,000 bond, and was released on Wednesday. Accoding to the Chron, "it was uncertain whether she would be extradited to California."

After George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, several rallies sparked up shortly after the not-guilty verdict was read. In San Francisco, authorities temporarily shut down Valencia after hundreds of protesters marched in disgust, chanting "Justice for Trayvon Martin."

Peta Lindsay, a Party for Socialism and Liberation member who snapped the above shot during last night's protest, had this to say:

"When I heard the verdict, I cried. Then I asked myself- but what am I going to do? What do you do when the whole system is racist, when the cops, the court, the media tells you that your life and the life of any child that looks like you can be taken without consequence? Right away my comrades showed me the answer- you fight back. [...]"

A protest will be held today, Sunday, at Powell and Market at 4p.m. and is expected to draw an even larger crowd.

In Oakland, a little over a hundred gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza near Oakland City Hall and marched downtown. According to The Chronicle, the group started small fires and smashed windows at the Wells Fargo Bank at 12th Street and Broadway and at several locations, "including the Dogwood Bar, the Oakland Tribune, the Foot Locker shoe store and the Sears store."

Joanna Rohrbach of Prancercise LLC is winning the internet this week, obviously, though we were a bit concerned that as she achieved web-wide viral fame in the last 48 hours, she was not profiting any from it because her website had gone offline. Well, it is back, and we need to point you to her marvelous book, a few testimonials, as well as to her very sensible diet tips.

First of all, as we mentioned yesterday, Prancercise dates back to 1989, and Joanna has been a Coral Springs, Florida-based wellness coach and aerobics instructor for two decades now. She has a degree in Health Services from the University of Miami School of Nursing, and advocates a mostly vegetarian lifestyle — not unlike that of a horse! Because, you see, she really digs horses, and strives to imagine herself as one, prancing and galloping her way to health.

To wit:

[One of the components of Prancercise® is] Using imagery to imagine ourselves as a beautiful animal that’s a symbol of beauty, strength and endurance while we’re exercising in order to free our minds of any self image that may be less appealing.

[And] allowing ourselves to fulfill our own sense of self-expression instead of imitating others like monkeys.

...

[Also] I personally strive to feel light [so] I want to spring off the ground like an antelope!

She has a description of her own diet regimen, which will be familiar to many pescatarians. She eats mostly vegetables and fruits and drinks mostly water, avoiding all processed foods, and eats "small amounts of salmon."

The tagline for the entire Prancercise enterprise: "It’s about Self-Expression. It’s about Non-violence. It’s about Conservation." [Editors' note: What?]

As for testimonials, we have the real ones (in all caps) from her various clients and friends posted on the Prancercise website. (E.g. FLORA STRAUSS, TAMARAC, FL. RETIRED PUBLIC RELATIONS AND FUND RAISING EXECUTVE “JOANNA HAS HELPED ME SUCCEESSFULLY WITH WELLNESS COACHING AND WE SMILE A LOT!”)

And there are the various reviews for her book on Amazon, all posted since Tuesday's explosion on Reddit and everywhere else, which include mostly mock-sincere testimonials about the benefits of Prancercise, but are worth a read nonetheless. (E.g. "I am not going to even prance around the point -- I am a brony. What's a brony? An adult, male fan of My Little Pony. But not just any fan, I am a serious fan... The one thing that the new My Little Pony franchise has not really taken into consideration is the health of their fanbase... That is where Prancercise comes in.")

Lest you want to mock Joanna, or lessen the import of the Prancercise® phenomenon currently sweeping the nation, please enjoy the remixes below, and understand that they make the world a better, and more springy, place.

Previously: Video: Prancercise, Failed '80s Fitness Craze, Rediscovered

Tonight at the stroke of midnight, Florida State Senator Nan Rich's anti-bestiality bill goes in to effect in that dangling, backwards state. It took Senator Rich three attempts to get the bill passed - apparently because her colleagues thought she was wasting their time attempting to ban something that never happens anyway. Which is sort of funny, in a terribly tragic way, because the Florida New Times has a startlingly lengthy list of recent interspecies mating attempts that ended in simple animal abuse charges.

There's also a chance Florida lawmakers might have accidentally banned normal ol' people sex with some ambiguous wording in their bill, but what's certainly not ambiguous is their definition of "sexual contact". That medically precise description might not be safe for work (or any other time, really), but it does make San Francisco's butt legislation seem downright prudish by comparison.

[FloridaNewTimes]
[Gawker]

While California looks for additional funding to cover the $43 billion price tag on our high-speed rail project, Florida Governor Rock Scott recently turned down $2.4 billion in federal dollars for a similar project in his state. We're going to go ahead and assume Florida's non-retired population is perfectly happy traveling by swamp boat or whatever it is they do. As for the snowbirds - well, they probably realized they won't be around long enough to see the project come to fruition anyway. No skin off our back though, Florida's funds will be divvied up amongst the 15 other states with HSR projects and $300 million of it will land in California's coffers.

The new funds bring the project up to $6.33 billion - more available funds than any other state according to the Examiner, but still a long way off of the $43 billion goal. Because these new funds were unexpected, the High-Speed Rail Authority has yet to decide what to put them towards - either extending the initial section of track in the Central Valley closer to the Bay Area or South past Bakersfield, but if all goes according to plan, the trains could be scooting you off to LA at 220mph as early as 2020.

[Chron]
[SFExaminer]

George Alan Rekers is your average far-right Christian leader. Some of his notable achievements include testifying as a state's witness in favor of Florida's gay adoption ban, co-founding the Family Research Council, ("a D.C.-based, rabidly Christian, and vehemently anti-gay lobbying group that has become a standard-bearer of the nation's extreme right wing"), and publishing the suicide-promoting heaping pile of shit, Growing Up Straight: What Families Should Know About Homosexuality.

George Alan Rekers also has a penchant for sex with men, preferably an escort with a "smooth, sweet, tight ass" and "perfectly built 8 inch cock (uncut)." This is what Miami New Times reveals about Rekers this week in an all-too-familiar story; that he's one in a long line of far-right thugs who, now and then, secretly like another man's penis inside of him.

See,Rekers recently purchased an escort on rentboy.com. Got caught. Now he's busted. His career is in shambles. But, in his defense, Rekers claims that he sought the young man's services in order to lift heavy luggage. (Guffaw.) Read it and weep.