Gov. Ron DeSantis this week vetoed nearly $19.5 million from the state budget that would have benefited a range of programs in Northeast Florida, from nursing training to drainage improvements, traffic control, career programs and youth sports.

The money was among $1.35 billion that DeSantis stripped from the 2025-26 spending plan approved by the Florida Legislature, including $567 million in line-item vetos. The governor signed a $117.4 billion budget Monday.

The vetoes included $6.25 million meant to kick-start plans to return the Ocklawaha River to its natural state by removing the Rodman Dam in Putnam County.

DeSantis’ veto pen also marked through several multimillion-dollar appropriations that would have come to Jacksonville.

He cut $2.66 million of the $4 million lawmakers approved for Jacksonville University’s GROW program, which stands for Graduate, Retain and Optimize a Workforce of Florida Nurses. JU has been expanding its program for accelerated bachelor’s and graduate degrees in nursing since 2021 through partnership with The Mayo Clinic, Baptist Health and Flagler College.

Sen. Clay Yarborough and Rep. Wyman Duggan, both Jacksonville Republicans, originally pushed for $4.5 million to be included for the GROW program in the state budget.

In an emailed statement to Jacksonville Today, the school’s senior director of communications, Matt Harris, said Jacksonville University is “grateful for the continued support from the state and the $1.34 million received for GROW.”

The governor also rejected state funding for two infrastructure projects in Jacksonville requested by Duggan and Democratic Sen. Tracie Davis — $2 million to improve drainage along Armsdale Road, and $1.42 million to cover design and construction costs for a new traffic signal at Edenfield Road and University Boulevard.

DeSantis’ broader vetoes slashed $4.44 million in state funding for local public television stations and $1.3 million for public radio outlets in Florida. David McGowan, president and CEO of WJCT Public Media, said the cut will take about $470,000 in annual state funding from the Northeast Florida PBS and NPR affiliate.

“I am extremely disappointed with the governor’s decision to use his veto authority to eliminate funding for the Community Service Grants which have supported the work of local public television and radio stations across the state, including WJCT Public Media in NE Florida, for decades,” McGowan said in an email Tuesday. “Our work in communities has enjoyed broad bi-partisan support from the Legislature, Department of Education, and the Governor’s Office — including Governor DeSantis.

“Florida’s investment in public media and in WJCT has been a highly effective public/private partnership since the 1970s, yielding impressive returns in early childhood education, public safety, access to local arts and culture, and nonpartisan local news. For WJCT Public Media, the loss will represent approximately $470K per year — funding which has served as part of the foundation of support for our local public service in Jacksonville and beyond.”

(Disclosure: Jacksonville Today is independent and locally owned and operated by WJCT Public Media.)

Here’s a list of other projects and programs vetoed from the state budget:

• Northeast Florida Career Readiness Catalyst Project for Future Economic Success, Duval, multiple counties (Sen. Jennifer Bradley, Duggan) — $975,000.
• Walk-Off Charities — Expansion of Youth Baseball & Softball Development Programs, (Sen. Tracie Davis, Duggan) — $750,000. 
• Reach Out and Read: A Children’s Literacy Program Through Pediatric Primary Care, statewide (Duggan) — $500,000.
• Increasing Employee Retention at the Florida Department of Corrections, statewide (Yarborough, Rep. Jessica Baker) — $488,295.
• Girl Scouts of Gateway Council Camp Kateri Capital Project, Alachua, multiple counties (Bradley, Rep. Jason Shoaf) — $400,000.
• Mitigating Food Insecurity for Older Adults in Northeast Florida, Duval, seven-county Northeast Florida region (Yarborough, Duggan) — $400,000.
• NAMI Family and Peer Support, Duval County (Yarborough, Rep. Kiyan Michael) — $350,000. 
• Stop Now and Plan — Service Members (SNAP Heroes), Duval County (Bradley, Duggan) — $350,000.
• The Arc of Bradford County Rural Workforce Capacity Building and Infrastructure, Bradford County (Bradley, Rep. Robert Brannan) — $300,000.
• Construction Inspection Training Program, Duval County (Yarborough, Daniels) — $250,000.
• Elevate Jacksonville: Expanding Mentorship and Life Preparation for Urban Youth, Duval County (Duggan and Yarborough) — $250,000.
• Episcopal Children’s Services Flagship Center, Duval County (Yarborough, Duggan) — $250,000.
• First Coast Technical College — Firefighter & EMT Program Enhancement/Expansion, St Johns County (Sen. Thomas Leek, Rep. Kim Kendall) — $250,000.
• Florida Lighthouse At-Risk Youth Mentorship Program, Duval, multicounty (Sen. Corey Simon, Rep. Michelle Salzman) — $250,000.
• HAPCO Music & Culinary Education Programs, statewide (Davis, Rep. Bruce Anone) — $200,000.
• Historic Eastside Community Development — Preventive Health and Wellness Initiative, Duval County (Daniels) — $200,000.
• The Giving Closet Project — Essential Angels — Removing Barriers for Students, Duval County (Davis, Duggan) — $150,000.
• Amour Creations by G’Bre — Piloting Our Youth, Duval County (Duggan) — $100,000. 
• Striving for Excellence, Duval County (Yarborough, Rep. Kimberly Daniels) — $100,000.
• FCO — R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Duval Independent Affordable Housing Project, Duval County (Yarborough, Rep. Dean Black) — $100,000.
• First Coast Technical College — Industrial Agriculture Program Enhancements (Leek, Rep. Kim Kendall) — $92,308.
• The Sowing SEEDS Project, Duval County (Davis, Rep. Angie Nixon) — $80,000.
• Switzerland Vocational & Community Center, St. Johns County (Leek, Kendall) — $70,000. 
• Enhancing Literacy and STEM for Home Schooling Families, Duval County (Nixon) — $50,000.
• Planet Swim Foundation: Promoting Water Safety and Accessibility, St Johns (Rep. Judson Sapp) — $45,000.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a case over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.

Just two weeks after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the justices said they will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia. The case will be argued in the fall.

The nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls on girls sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some policies have been blocked in court.

At the federal level, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits and launched investigations over state and school policies that have allowed transgender athletes to compete freely. This week, the University of Pennsylvania modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.

Separately, Senate Democrats in March blocked a Republican push for a national ban.

Republican President Donald Trump also has acted aggressively in other areas involving transgender people, including removing transgender troops from military service. In May, the Supreme Court allowed the ouster of transgender service members to proceed, reversing lower courts that had blocked it.

A recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults think transgender female athletes should not be allowed to participate in girls and women’s sports at the high school, college or professional level. That view was shared by about 9 in 10 Republicans and roughly half of Democrats.

West Virginia is appealing a lower-court ruling that found the ban violates the rights of Becky Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade. Pepper-Jackson sued the state when she in was middle school because she wanted to compete on the cross country and track teams.

This past school year, Pepper-Jackson qualified for the West Virginia girls high school state track meet, finishing third in the discus throw and eighth in the shot put in the Class AAA division.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Pepper-Jackson in two areas, under the Constitution’s equal protection clause and the landmark federal law known as Title IX that forbids sex discrimination in education.

“It’s a great day, as female athletes in West Virginia will have their voices heard. The people of West Virginia know that it’s unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that’s why we passed this commonsense law preserving women’s sports for women,” Attorney General John McCuskey said in a statement.

Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson, who had urged the court to reject the appeal, said they stand ready to defend the lower-court rulings.

“Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status. Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do–to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,” the American Civil Liberties Union’s Joshua Block said in a statement. Lambda Legal, which advocates for LGBTQ rights, also is representing Pepper-Jackson.

Idaho in 2020 became the first state in the nation to ban transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities.

The ACLU and the women’s rights group Legal Voice sued Idaho on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, who hoped to run for Boise State University. A Boise-area athlete who is not transgender also joined the lawsuit because she fears the law could force her to undergo invasive tests to prove her biological sex if someone questions her gender.

The state asked for Supreme Court review after lower courts blocked the state’s ban while the lawsuit continues.

The justices did not act on a third case from Arizona that raises the same issue.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday waded into the legal fight over state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s school and college sports, taking up cases from West Virginia and Idaho.

The court will hear cases involving two transgender students, Becky Pepper-Jackson and Lindsay Hecox, who challenged state bans in West Virginia and Idaho, respectively.

Both won injunctions that allow them to continue to compete in sports. Pepper-Jackson, now 15, takes puberty blocking medication, while Hecox, a 24-year-old college student, has received testosterone suppression and estrogen treatments.

The court’s decision to hear the case comes two weeks after the conservative majority delivered a major blow to transgender rights by upholding a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for young people. In doing so, the court left various legal questions about transgender rights unresolved.

“Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth,” said Joshua Block, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, who is part of the legal team representing both students. “We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”

West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey welcomed the Supreme Court’s intervention.

“The people of West Virginia know that it’s unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that’s why we passed this commonsense law preserving women’s sports for women,” he said.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, who is defending that state’s law, echoed those sentiments, saying that “women and girls deserve an equal playing field.”

Oral arguments will likely take place later this year, with a ruling expected by June 2026.

The states both enacted bans that categorically bar transgender students from participating in girls’ or women’s sports. More than half the 50 states now have such laws, but legal challenges have not been decisively resolved.

The fight for and against the expansion of transgender rights has become a flashpoint nationwide and was an issue in the recent presidential election, with Donald Trump denigrating Democrats for supporting the effort. His administration has begun to roll back measures taken by President Joe Biden to expand protections for transgender people.

In February, the National Collegiate Athletic Association also changed course, announcing a new policy to limit women’s sports to “student-athletes assigned female at birth only.”

In Pepper-Jackson’s case, a federal judge initially ruled in her favor but concluded in January 2023 that the law was most likely legal and allowed it to be enforced against her. Pepper-Jackson appealed, and the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked West Virginia officials from enforcing it against her.

The Supreme Court in April 2023 rejected the state’s attempt to enforce the law against Pepper-Jackson while the litigation continues, meaning she has been able to continue to participate in school sports, namely cross-country and track.

Hecox, who plays soccer and also runs, similarly obtained an injunction from a district court judge against Idaho officials. She also won on appeal at the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pepper-Jackson and Hecox both failed to qualify for running teams at their respective schools, according to court papers. Pepper-Jackson did place third in the state for middle school discus and sixth in middle school shot put, losing out to cisgender girls. She finished 67th out of 68 in a cross-country event in eighth grade.

In barring transgender girls from participating in girls sports at the middle school, high school and college levels, the West Virginia law enacted in 2021 says gender is “based solely on the individual’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” As such, it says, a female is a person “whose biological sex determined at birth as female.”

The Idaho law, passed in 2020, states that sports “designated for females, women, or girls should not be open to students of the male sex.”

Both cases concern whether such laws violate the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which requires that the law apply equally to everyone. Pepper-Jackson’s case also raises a claim under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

The Biden administration unveiled proposals on how Title IX applies to transgender athletes, saying that blanket bans would be unlawful but concluding that it may be lawful to limit involvement in competitive sports.

But the the Trump administration has reversed course, with the White House issuing an executive order titled: “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.”

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that federal law barring sex discrimination in employment protected LGBTQ people, a ruling that angered conservatives. The court is yet to rule on whether the same reasoning applies to Title IX.

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Lt. Josh Coil recently became the newest member of the East Liverpool Youth Academy Board of Directors. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

EAST LIVERPOOL — Josh Coil, a lifelong East Liverpool resident, who is a Lieutenant with the East Liverpool Fire Department, the coach for girl’s wrestling at East Liverpool High School, a member of the Historical Society, volunteer with Friends of Beaver Creek State Park, owner of Italo’s in Glenmoor with his wife Megan and director of the Museum of Ceramics, has added another position to his list of community service with his recent appointment to the East Liverpool Youth Academy (ELYA) Board of Directors.

Coil’s appointment to the ELYA board came from his work at the Moore Street Park which he has been taking care of for the past three years since he observed the grass at the park was growing very high while running medical calls. Coil said he saw the top of a little girl’s head over the grass and decided that was unacceptable and started mowing it.

When Coil ran into Stu Wallace, one of the creators of the ELYA and the Community Force — a program under the ELYA working with youth in the community — Coil thought he would like to get the youth involved in what he was doing as well.

“This is something the kids could do and be like ‘hey I fixed that and take pride in it’ and hopefully other people catch on,” Coil said. “It becomes kind of contagious when you start fixing stuff up. People want to join in and then the community is better. So, I went to one of his (Wallace’s) events and he asked me if I would like to be on the board. I was like ‘absolutely. I would love to join what you guys are doing and combine it with what I’m already doing, and we could do something great.’”

According to Coil, the ELYA was originally started to get the area youth involved with sports. The organization started with football and transitioned into cheerleading with approximately 50-70 cheerleaders and recently added softball.

Coil noted that since he is already into sports with his coaching, he is hoping being a part of the ELYA will allow him an opportunity to bridge the gap between the older and younger youth in the area and broaden the community projects they can do.

Wallace started the Community Force to get the youth involved with the community with projects such as cleaning up the playgrounds, picking up trash, weeding and other stuff to beautify the city and give them the opportunity to take pride in their community.

Coil said that Wallace is one of those people who loves the community and the kids and has a drive that is contagious which will work well with Coil’s ‘let’s do it, not talk about it ‘attitude and hopes to see great things come about from working together.

Coil, who attended his first ELYA board meeting several days ago, believes the ELYA has a great thing going and is excited to see what ideas they have, what he can bring to the table and how they can work together to improve everything.

“This community is about teamwork,” Coil said. “It brings everything together and when everybody come together with different ideas you can build something great.”

The ELYA is a year-round program geared towards fifth through 12th grade students.

Coil said he loves community service, and he lives and dies for this community, even though his wife sometimes tells him to slow down. Still, she supports him.

Coil and his wife are parents of two boys, Sawyer, 2, and Oliver, 3 months. Coil said he is going to lead by example when it comes to his children and teach them work ethic, dedication and to have pride in their community.

Coil noted that there is a stigma attached to East Liverpool being run down with nothing here and nothing to do. He said people just need to walk around the town to see that the town is coming back slowly. He and others working to revive the community keep at it, keep fixing stuff up, beautifying the city and keep drawing people in.

“It will catch on and all of a sudden we are not that town that is dying, we are the town that is thriving, and I think we are almost to that point,” Coil said. “There are millions of dollars being spent downtown on fixing it up and people need to buy into that the town coming back and do things.”

Coil pointed out people don’t have to spend money to make a difference –they can simply pick up a piece of trash they see lying around or fix something knocked over. It doesn’t have to be big things to make a difference. A lot of lot little things will add up and make a big difference.

Coil sees the opportunity to work with the youth on cleaning up the park as one of those little things that will add up. The youth will be working at Klondike in the East End on July 6 cleaning up the park and hanging the new swings Coil purchased himself for the park. If time permits, they will move on to work at St. George Park.

Coil and the youth of the ELYA Community Force also be working at the Moore Street Playground, Bank Street and Orchard Grove.

The youth have already worked to clean up around the YMCA and the Clock Tower. There were approximately 40 youth who turned out at the Clock Tower to help set up the Tri-State Pottery Festival.

“You’re taking care of your own community so the kids can take pride in their community because they live there,” Coil said. “They tell their friends ‘I did that’ and then they can get friends involved. So, you get these kids doing this stuff when they have nothing to do. ”

Coil said he believes that starting the youth out helping and building that pride up in themselves and their communities is a lifelong lesson. That lesson is ‘take pride in what you’ He also said that learning this lesson could lead these youths to do bigger, better things.

He is also hopeful that through his new role with the ELYA that he can serve as a positive role model, especially to children from broken homes who might be missing that and help keep them on the right path.

Coil noted that the city is in a predominantly poverty area with a lot of broken homes and where work is scarce and unfortunately some of the youths do come from drug families, and he wants to give the youths something that will keep them out of trouble.

“We are hoping to give them that role model and say ‘hey you can be all you can be and you can do a lot.’ We want to give them that courage and confidence and build them up so they can thrive as adults and make impacts on other people’s lives,” Coil said.

Coil wants to extend an invitation to any area youth in fifth through 12th grade who wants to be involved and be a part of something bigger join the organization’s Facebook group and reach out to him or Wallace through the group.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com