ICYMI

A multimillion-dollar cocaine bust in Winter Park, Joan Jett gives a damn about bad breeding programs, UCF will join the Big 12 and other news you may have missed last week.

» Florida had more COVID-19 deaths than anywhere else in the country last week

According to data from John Hopkins, 262 people have died since the Florida Department of Health released their bi-weekly COVID data reports on June 3. Overall, Florida had the highest death toll in the whole country last week, when 219 people died. That was well ahead of other populous states such as Texas (76 deaths) and California (195). Even so, the death rate in Florida has massively decreased from previous spikes. During the most recent variant-fueled outbreak in September 2021, 2,468 died in one week. The Sunshine State has now lost a total of 74,886 people due to COVID-19, and reports from state auditors note that that number is off by at least 3,000.

» Gov. Ron DeSantis calls protesting outside Supreme Court justices’ homes ‘insurrection’ on Fox News

Rather than addressing, say, the state’s dueling crises of housing affordability and environmental collapse, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was in the Fox News studios last week calling protesting outside a public official’s home “an insurrection,” as the U.S. Congress held hearings on the rioters that stormed into the halls of the capitol on Jan. 6, 2020. “I think that we have a rule of law in this country and you don’t get to just have a mob descend on a Supreme Court justices’ house or try to impede the operations of government because there may be a decision you don’t like,” he said. “That would be considered an insurrection, to stop a court from functioning, and yet they seem to get away with a lot more than if the shoe were on the other foot.”

DeSantis has already passed a law in Florida barring protest outside of homes, reacting to neighbors of SCOTUS Justice Brett Kavanaugh protesting outside his home following the leak of a draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. During his Fox News stop, DeSantis was referring to abortion rights activists who planned a blockade of intersections around the Supreme Court in an attempt to halt a process which would overturn fundamental reproductive rights protections in the U.S.

The fact that conservative actors attempted much of the same with traffic-snarling convoys in D.C. earlier this year doesn’t matter. There is no hypocrisy when your only political goal is to poke the other side in the eye.

» Millions of dollars in cocaine found by authorities after failed hand-off at Winter Park restaurant

Investigators found millions of dollars in cocaine after witnessing the handoff of a duffel bag full of the stuff outside a Winter Park restaurant. According to a government affidavit, investigators from the Department of Homeland Security were following Wayne Stout Jr. as part of an investigation into money laundering. In the process of tailing Stout, they say they watched him pull several coolers and bags out of an Orlando storage unit on Edgewater Drive and hand one bag off to another man in a parking lot. When they followed that man, identified by authorities as 55-year-old Avery Lans, he began driving erratically. At some point, Lans tossed the bag out of the car. The bag was found to have nearly 12 pounds of cocaine inside it. Further investigation of the storage unit found 109 additional kilograms of cocaine. The police value each brick at around $30,000. Both Stout and Lans have been arrested.

» Joan Jett questions SeaWorld breeding program on behalf of

PETA at annual shareholder meeting

Rock legend Joan Jett questioned SeaWorld’s ongoing practice of breeding marine mammals in the parks during the company’s annual general meeting Monday. At the virtual meet-up, Jett disparaged the park’s continued breeding of dolphins and beluga whales on behalf of the animal rights organization PETA before calling on SeaWorld to end the practice. Jett’s question to the executive group of the theme park chain was shared ahead of the event.

“SeaWorld has caused public outrage by continuing to forcibly breed bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales in order to create generations of animals who then suffer in cramped tanks, deprived of any semblance of a natural life. In the park’s breeding program, unwilling female dolphins are taken from the water and sometimes even drugged so they can’t fight back while SeaWorld staff thrust tubes filled with semen into their uteruses,” Jett said. “We can all agree that sexually abusing dolphins and whales who must carry out their forced pregnancies is disrespectful to these forms of intelligent life, heedless of these wonderful animals’ rights, and just plain wrong. My question is this: When will SeaWorld end its sordid breeding program?” » Orlando Pride head coach Amanda Cromwell temporarily suspended during investigation

Orlando Pride’s head coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant coach Sam Greene have been placed on administrative leave. The recommendation that both coaches be temporarily sidelined came from the National Women’s Soccer League and NWSL Players Association joint investigation team, according to a statement from NWSL. The investigation came about because of an “alleged retaliation that comes into violation of the NWSL Policy to Prevent and Eliminate Workplace Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying.” In the meantime, Seb Hines, who is assistant coach and been with the team since 2020, has stepped in to be the interim head coach. Assistant coaches Michelle Akers and Aline Villares Reis will continue in those positions. The roster for Pride has been put on hold so no player can leave the team until the investigation is over. Cromwell and Greene’s standing in the club will not be known until after the investigation is over.

» University of Central Florida Knights will join Big 12 in July 2023

The future will contain a lot less asterisks. The UCF Knights have announced the official date that they’ll leave the American Athletic Conference and join the Big 12 conference on July 1, 2023. UCF Athletic Director Terry Mohajir announced the Knights’ transition to the major conference on June 10.

“UCF teams in [the AAC] have produced many championships and other memorable moments. The 2022-23 athletics seasons will conclude a full decade for UCF in the AAC, and we are proud of the contributions we’ve made to grow and enhance the stature of the conference. We’re proud to participate and compete in this very competitive league for one more year,” Mohajir said. UCF reached an agreement with the American Athletic Conference to compete for one more season before transitioning its membership to the Big 12 next year. Joining UCF in the move from the AAC will be the University of Cincinnati and the University of Houston.