WARNING: This story contains language some readers may find offensive.
Any time Will Larkins leaves the house, the soon-to-be college student has a long, hard think about what to wear.
In the suburban Orlando community of Winter Park in central Florida, Larkins says that at times it can feel unsafe living authentically as someone who identifies as gender fluid.
“The threat of violence is very real, very scary,” said Larkins, who uses they-them pronouns. In some public spaces, they say appearing “too queer” can be risky.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed multiple laws restricting LGBTQ rights, banned educational programs on racism, ended access to abortion after the six-week mark of pregnancy and made it easier for people to carry guns. He has also been credited with creating livelihood-saving pro-business policies, allowing the state to economically thrive during the pandemic. (Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press)
“I was walking with my sister down my own street, and a car pulled up next to me, rolled down the window and someone screamed out the window: ‘F–k you, f—–t.'”
While being bullied is not new for Larkins, 18, they say new anti-LGBTQ laws in the state have emboldened bigots.
“I’m not used to having the government back up my bullies.”
Life has become harder for Larkins under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He’s signed multiple laws restricting LGBTQ rights, banned educational programs on racism, ended access to abortion after the six-week mark of pregnancy and made it easier for people to carry guns.
In the suburban Orlando community where Will Larkins lives, they say that at times it can feel unsafe living authentically as someone who identifies as gender fluid. (Katie Simpson/CBC)
But DeSantis has also been credited with creating livelihood-saving pro-business policies, allowing the state to economically thrive during the pandemic.
In this moment, in Florida, DeSantis is widely seen as a polarizing figure, eliciting a strong response from both critics and supporters.
A different COVID strategy
DeSantis has been able to bring about so much change, at such a fast pace, for a fairly simple reason: he and his party won big in Florida’s 2022 midterm elections.
DeSantis earned a second term as governor by beating his nearest opponent by nearly 20 points. Voters elected enough Republicans to give him and the party a super majority in the state house, which makes it a lot easier to pass laws.
“I would say the reason for success on his re-election bid was absolutely how he handled COVID, and how he opened the stores as quickly as he did,” said John Louizes, owner of Zeno’s Boardwalk Sweet Shop, a small chain of candy stores in popular tourist areas.
John Louizes, the owner of a small chain of candy stores in popular tourist areas, said he’s usually supported Democrats. But in 2022, he decided to back DeSantis because of his pro-business policies. (Jenn Barr/CBC)
Louizes is a third-generation candy maker who also owns a factory in Daytona Beach that produces saltwater taffy and ice cream.
“He definitely saved our business,” Louizes said of the governor.
During the pandemic, Louzies defied the odds by growing his company. He went from four candy shops across the state to 10.
Demand surged after DeSantis lifted COVID-19 restrictions and tourists rushed back to the state. Despite intense criticism from public health leaders, Louzies thinks the governor made the correct call.
“Back then, it was the crazy thing to do … and it ended up being that he was right. To be on the right side of what I feel is the right side of history on this one felt really good.”
In past elections, Louizes said he’s usually supported Democrats. But in 2022, he decided to back DeSantis, the Republican, because of his pro-business policies.
“It’s hard not to pull for someone like that … someone who did such a solid for you.”
‘I am proud he is from Dunedin’
On the other side of the state, along the central Gulf Coast, there are more voters who feel the same way.
“Governor DeSantis is an individual who has been very successful at everything he’s done,” said John Tornga, the vice-mayor of Dunedin.
The city has deep Canadian connections and is perhaps best-known as the place where the Toronto Blue Jays play their spring training games.
John Tornga, the vice-mayor of Dunedin, Fla., says he is proud DeSantis is from that city. (Jenn Barr/CBC)
It also happens to be where DeSantis is from.
“I oftentimes don’t like to use the word proud,” said Tornga. “But I am proud that he is from Dunedin. Who wouldn’t be? Who couldn’t be?”
Tornga would not explicitly say whom he plans to support for president because his city council position is non-partisan. But he thinks DeSantis is doing a good job managing Florida’s finances and keeping the state safe through his immigration and security policies.
Any criticism of the governor’s social policies, he said, is typical political pushback.
“There are some laws that may get put into place that some people will disagree with. That’s always going to be the case.”
Fleeing the state
It is a mistake to dismiss concerns over Florida’s laws targeting marginalized communities, according to a wide range of DeSantis’s critics.
Partly in response to changes about how Black history is taught in schools and the banning of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) issued a formal advisory against travelling to the state.
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of colour and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the statement says, citing DeSantis’s “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”
Some members of the LGBTQ community say they’re ready to leave the state for good.
DeSantis has passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for trans kids and new restrictions for adults. Patients over the age of 18 are required to seek written consent from two medical oversight boards in order to obtain some elements of gender affirming care.
He also signed a law allowing medical practitioners to refuse care on moral or religious grounds, new restrictions around bathroom use and made it easier to ban books with LGBTQ content.
DeSantis also expanded what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which eliminates lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in all grades of public school.
“I have plans to move as soon as I can, but it sucks because Florida is my home…. I don’t want to leave my family behind, but it’s just not safe for someone like me,” said Dylan Orrange, a 20-year old from Orlando who identifies as non-binary and uses they-them pronouns.
Dylan Orrange, left, and Matty Joseph stand in front of the memorial at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. (Katie Simpson/CBC)
CBC News spoke with Orrange and their partner Matty Joseph in front of the memorial at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. In 2016, a gunman shot and killed 49 people at the gay nightclub. It stands as one of the worst acts of violence against the LGBTQ community in U.S. history.
“Seeing what [DeSantis] did with Florida, we don’t know what’s going to happen if he has the power over the whole United States,” Joseph said.
Disney drama
Florida’s largest employer, the Walt Disney Company, has become one of the governor’s loudest critics.
After being pushed by employees to speak out, Disney irked DeSantis by criticizing the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. It’s triggered a back-and-forth legal fight, with massive economic consequences.
Disney announced it’s cancelling plans to invest more than $1 billion in a new campus, which would have created 2,000 jobs.
Richard Foglesong, a political science professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., says there’s a lot to learn from DeSantis’s fight with the Walt Disney Company. (Jenn Barr/CBC)
“Florida needs Disney maybe more than Disney needs Florida,” said Richard Foglesong, a political science professor at Rollins College in Winter Park and the author of Married to the Mouse, a book on Disney’s relationship with Florida.
Foglesong said there’s a lot to learn from DeSantis’s fight with Disney. Mainly, it shows that he’s willing to abandon traditional Republican positioning, which helped carry him to overwhelming victory in 2022, in favour of a divisive fight.
“Historically, it has been the pro-business party in favour of low taxes and reducing government regulation … that is really what Walt Disney World represents,” Foglesong said.
“But he’s pursuing a different strategy, a culture war strategy. We’ll see whether that works out for him or not.”
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
TORSBY, Sweden (AP) — David Beckham and former England coach Roy Hodgson were among the soccer dignitaries who attended the funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson on Friday in the Swedish manager’s small hometown of Torsby.
Eriksson’s wooden coffin was covered in white flowers and surrounded by six tall candles and other floral wreaths as the ceremony began inside the 600-seat Fryksande church.
“It is a day of grief but also a day of thankfulness,” the priest, Ingela Älvskog, told those in attendance.
Beckham, who arrived by private jet on Thursday, greeted Eriksson’s 95-year-old father Sven and other family members with hugs inside the church before the funeral started.
Eriksson became England’s first foreign-born coach when he led the national team from 2001-06, and made Beckham his captain.
Eriksson, who also won trophies at club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden, died on Aug. 26 at the age of 76, eight months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had at most one year to live.
Some 200 seats in the neo-Gothic church from 1898 were reserved for his family, friends and players from his career in the football world, according to his agent. The remaining seats were open for the public, according to Eriksson’s wish, with a big screen set up outside the church where hundreds more gathered to watch the ceremony. The funeral was also broadcast live on some Swedish media websites.
The wooden coffin was wheeled in by pallbearers at the church Friday morning as fog wrapped Torsby — a town of about 4,000 people located about 310 kilometers (193 miles) west of Stockholm. Next to the casket was a photo of Eriksson on a small table. The floral wreaths included ones sent by FIFA and Lazio, the Italian team that Eriksson led to the Serie A title in 2000.
The ceremony began with somber piano and organ music, but later took on a more upbeat note with Swedish singer Charlotta Birgersson performing Elton John’s song “Candle In The Wind” and then “My Way” in a duet with Johan Birgersson, who later intoned the popular Italian song “Volare” after the family had gathered around the casket to lay flowers.
Beckham also visited Eriksson in Sweden in June to say goodbye. Others attending the funeral included the Swedish coach’s longtime partner Nancy Dell’Olio. Eriksson’s agent had said that guests from England, Italy and Spain were expected.
After the funeral, the casket was carried out of the church by eight men to the hearse. The guests then walked in a procession accompanying the coffin to a nearby museum where speeches and eulogies to the coach fondly known as “Svennis” were planned on an outdoor stage. A brass band played during the procession through Torsby, including the tune “You never walk alone” from the musical “Carousel” which has become the anthem of Liverpool, the club Eriksson supported since childhood.
The local soccer club Torsby IF, where Eriksson started his career in the 1960s, wrote on its webpage that “you also showed your greatness by always being yourself, the caring Svennis who talked to everyone and took the time, for big and small, asking how things were and how the football was going. We will miss you.”
