Daniel Robert Graham, who never used his given name, was born in Coral Gables, Fla., on Nov. 9, 1936, to Ernest R. “Cap” and Hilda (Simmons) Graham. By a previous marriage, to Florence Morris, Ernest Graham had three children, Mary, Philip and Bill Graham, half-siblings of Robert. Phil Graham and his wife, Katharine (Meyer) Graham,…
Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a hard-right Republican from Florida, has proudly described herself as a “pro-life extremist.” “My husband is a byproduct of rape,” she told a conservative student group in 2022, explaining her support for abortion bans with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. Nobody, she said, deserves “to be the…
The idea came to Pete Melfi, a radio personality turned podcaster in St. Augustine, Fla., last year after he organized “the laziest race in the history of races,” a .5-kilometer beer run, and the participants had a grand old time. Wouldn’t it be fun, Mr. Melfi thought, to hold another race, this time with a…
A single-engine plane crashed into a waterfront mobile home park in Clearwater, Fla., on Thursday evening after the pilot reported an engine failure, killing several people, damaging four homes and setting the area on fire, officials said. The plane slammed directly into one home, causing “several fatalities, both from the aircraft and within the mobile…
Students can no longer take sociology to fulfill their core course requirements, Florida’s state university system ruled on Wednesday. Instead, its board of governors approved “a factual history course” as a replacement. The decision by the 17-member board of governors came after fierce opposition from sociology professors in the university system, which includes the University…
When the Florida Legislature begins its annual session on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis will be on hand — fleetingly. After giving his State of the State address, he will leave for Iowa, where he has a packed campaign schedule ahead of the Republican presidential caucuses on Jan. 15. Few in Tallahassee expect to see much…
The embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida was censured and stripped of his duties and salary on Sunday, decisions that all but ousted him from the party’s top post as he faces a criminal investigation into an accusation that he sexually assaulted a woman. In an emergency meeting in Orlando, Fla., the party’s…
Moms for Liberty, a national right-wing advocacy group, was born in Florida as a response to Covid-19 school closures and mask mandates. But it quickly became just as well known for pushing policies branded as anti-L.G.B.T.Q. by opponents. So when one of its founders, Bridget Ziegler, recently told the police that she and her husband,…
The elected school board in Sarasota, Fla., took the rare step on Tuesday of calling for the resignation of one of its own members, the latest development in an ongoing scandal involving a power couple in state Republican politics. With a 4-to-1 vote, the school board rebuked Bridget Ziegler, a member for nine years, saying…
The metaphorical white puffs of smoke sent up by the College Football Playoff selection committee on Sunday signaled that the panel had chosen the four teams that would vie for this season’s championship — and that Florida State, unbeaten champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was not among them. This caused smoke of a different…