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My mother, Lillian Mirmak, who has died aged 87, was a court reporter, political activist and lover of culture and the arts. She grew up in the US, where she was active in the civil rights movement, and then lived in London for more than 50 years.Born in York, Pennsylvania, Lillian was the eldest of three children of Katherine (nee Craiger), a shop assistant, and John Mirmak, a draughtsman in a factory. She went to John P McCaskey high school in Lancaster, graduating in 1953 and then worked for two years in the office of a local meat factory before enrolling at Millersville Teachers College. Continue reading...

The trouble with the monarchy is not that it is too powerful but that it is utterly useless, a worthless vacuum shrouded in ceremony“Not My King,” say the yellow T-shirts of the anti-monarchists TV cameras may swerve around in the coronation crowds. But he is our king, willy-nilly, like it or not, as he and his family are our dependants. The Guardian’s deep dive into the royal family’s finances shows our monarchy costs a fortune, more than anyone else’s in Europe.The Borbones of Spain cost a mere £7.4m a year, while we pay our Windsors a very pricey £86m. And that’s before we add in the roughly £40m a year in revenues from their Duchy estates – adding up to £1.2bn over the years. That’s not much really, monarchists may claim. Out of £1tn in annual government spending, the royals’ consumption of taxpayers money is a mere bagatelle, a fleabite.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Republicans control 22 of 33 senate seats, giving them necessary votes to impeach officials including Democratic governorWisconsin Republicans won a supermajority in the state senate on Tuesday, giving them the necessary votes to impeach statewide officials, including the state’s Democratic governor and potentially state supreme court justices.Wisconsin Republicans now control 22 of the senate’s 33 seats after Dan Knodl, a Republican, narrowly defeated Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin in a special election to represent a district that includes Milwaukee’s northern suburbs. Republicans also control 64 of the state assembly’s 99 districts. The Wisconsin constitution authorizes the state assembly to impeach “all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanor” by a majority vote. A two-thirds majority is required in the senate for a conviction. Continue reading...

For fitness fanatics it can be galling to see our physical powers wane. The solution is to choose exercises to suit our age, and to find new interestsIn a lot of ways, I feel bad for people who decided they hated unnecessary physical exertion during PE lessons and have given it a studied miss ever since. But in one important way, I don’t: if you avoid picking up a barbell or lacing up a pair of running shoes until hitting middle age, you could roll into your late 40s faster and stronger than you have ever been. Whereas – and don’t feel too sorry for me, because I’m going to start showing off in a minute – at 44, the best way to describe my gym regime is probably “managed decline”.Let’s get the showing-off out of the way first. In my 30s – I didn’t actually start going to the gym myself until I was 29 – I could do a squat with double my own bodyweight on my back, and run 5km in a shade over 21 minutes. I could pull a small van and do a no-handed (AKA aerial) cartwheel. I could, and I’m not exaggerating, hoist a Vauxhall Astra hatchback off the ground 11 times in 90 seconds. I did just that in a competition.Joel Snape is a writer and fitness expert Continue reading...

New Yorker Nicola Vassell, who wants to share 'the idea of what the future could and should look like', on opening a business in the midst of a pandemic, the 24/7 attention required to be a gallerist, and the life of aesthetics, beauty and the mind Continue reading...

Everything that followed his election has flowed into the moment when the glum ex-president glowered in a Manhattan courtroomTuesday was the day when Donald Trump – the former real estate hustler, reality TV star, twice-impeached president and 2024 GOP frontrunner – won a new sobriquet. Now and forever, the major-domo of Mar-a-Lago will be known as the Indicted One. In fact, in all likelihood, by the end of the year, Trump could be described as the Oft-Indicted One.The cliche on cable television, often expressed with funereal gravity, was that “this is a sad day for America”. In truth, the sad day was 8 November 2016, when Trump oozed his way into the White House. Everything that followed has inevitably flowed into the moment on Tuesday afternoon when a glum and slumped Trump was photographed glowering in a Manhattan courtroom during his arraignment on 34 felony counts. The surprising case brought by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg was more sweeping that just the $130,000 in off-the-books hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. It also involved the defrocked president’s sleazy alliance with David Pecker, then the aptly named publisher of the low-rent National Enquirer, to buy stories damaging to Trump and not publish them in what Bragg called a “catch-and-kill scheme”. Continue reading...

At its best, the US has strived to become a perfect union with equality and justice for all. At its worst, the elite have pursued the opposite goalsIf you actually believe the ringing words of the founding document of this country, that all men are created equal, then we must all be equal before the law, neither above it nor below it – neither immune to prosecution nor without the law’s protections.And yet, some have always been below the law since the Declaration of Independence was written. That document speaks of men in ways that exclude women, who in that era were largely controlled by fathers and husbands, and the Black people who were enslaved for another 87 years, and the Native Americans who faced genocide and dispossession into the 20th and, arguably, the 21st centuries.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses Continue reading...

Victory will have consequences for abortion and voting rights in the state as Democrats become serious about down-ballot racesJanet Protasiewicz’s victory in the Wisconsin supreme court race on Tuesday amounted to a political earthquake in Wisconsin, one of America’s most volatile political battlegrounds.Her victory underscores the continued political salience of abortion rights for Democrats. Her election to the court means that the Wisconsin 1849 abortion ban will be struck down (a case is already coming through the courts). Just as they did across the country in 2022, Democrats made it a central issue in the supreme court campaign and voters turned out. Continue reading...

I was reunited with my cousin in Canada. But knowing I may never see my family in Damascus again hurtsI would have to wait more than a decade to see my cousin Lujain again. That last time, we were teenagers; I was 16 and she was 19. It was the Easter holidays in 2010 and I was in Syria on holiday with my mum, dad and brother. My dad is Syrian and every few years we would go to Damascus to visit my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. I looked forward to seeing them and we were always able to just pick up where we left off. After the war began in 2011, my Syrian family became displaced around the world.Lujain and I began reconnecting online in 2020 during the pandemic. She now lives in Canada with her husband, Hasan, and their two little boys. Together, we began to explore our differing memories of Syria – mine full of nostalgia and Lujain’s fragmented and painful. A lot of families go through a natural separation over time; people emigrate in pursuit of a career or different lifestyle. The difference with our family is that this physical distance was never a choice – the decision to leave Syria was based on an instinct for survival.Laura Wadha is a Scottish/Syrian documentary film-maker and graduate of the National Film and Television School. Her film Born in Damascus was commissioned by the Scottish Documentary Institute and Screen Scotland and won the Berlinale Crystal Bear for best short film 2022 Continue reading...

In what was seen by many as a sombre day for the US and its judicial system, Donald Trump became the first US president to be indicted on criminal charges on Tuesday. He was briefly arrested as he surrendered and attended his arraignment in a Manhattan court, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.The Guardian summarises a historic day of media frenzy as news crews followed Trump's every step – from Trump Tower back to his Mar-a-Lago residence

Groups have created incubator of policies that would restrict ballot access and amplify election fraud claimsThree of the most prominent rightwing groups which spread election denial lies and advocate for restrictions on voting rights in the US have joined forces in a secret attempt to woo top election officials in Republican-controlled states.Led by the Washington-based conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, the groups have created an incubator of policies that would restrict access to the ballot box and amplify false claims that fraud is rampant in American elections. The unstated yet implicit goal is to dampen Democratic turnout and help Republican candidates to victory. Continue reading...

Despite everything, Trump now seems more likely to secure the Republican nomination. He’s still the sun around which the Republican party orbitsReporters were lined up outside overnight, hoping to get one of just a handful of press seats in the courtroom. Protesters arrived, too, both supporting and opposed to the former president, and the cops corralled them into separate pens. By mid-morning, the scene on Centre Street in lower Manhattan had become crowded, chaotic and carnivalesque. Anti-Trump liberal protestors chanted “Lock him up!”, mimicking Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan in a delighted display of sinking to your opponent’s level.Pro-Trump protestors donned aviator sunglasses and their trademark red hats, and led confused cries of, “USA! USA!” Someone had handed out whistles, transforming the scene into a discordant, echoing cacophony. There were cameras outside Trump Tower in Midtown to film when he got into his motorcade to go to the arraignment, and there were cameras there outside the courthouse, to watch him get out of the car and walk inside.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

And it’s just the first of possibly many charges against the ex-president, the only US head of state to be charged with a crimeFormer president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments he made through his allies to hide extramarital affairs in the weeks before the 2016 election.As prosecutors in the New York courtroom reiterated, the issue wasn’t just that Trump directed these payments that put him at fault, but that the timing of them likely changed the course of his campaign and paved the way for Trump to interfere with election results for two cycles. And the criminal charges were only part of the picture when it comes to Trump’s election meddling, and the threats he has posed to US democracy. Continue reading...

Beset by natural disasters, a pandemic and a steep drop in student population, the island’s schools look to the federal government for helpThis story on schools in Puerto Rico was produced by the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.There was little her family could salvage. Just a few plastic chairs, some photos, her school uniform. Continue reading...

Former president appeared subdued in New York, only to return to his inflammatory ways in Florida. Plus, the campaigners using using dating apps to boost voter turnout

The close ties between Poland’s ruling Law & Justice party and the church appear to be alienating votersThe Catholic church in Poland is close to an existential crisis. For one of the most Catholic countries in the world, and the homeland of Pope John Paul II, this is unprecedented. Poland is not becoming an atheist country overnight, but the trend is indisputably towards secularisation, especially among younger Poles. This will have significant political consequences for the ruling national conservative Law & Justice party (PiS), which has close ties with the church. Meanwhile, the country’s next parliamentary elections are due to take place this autumn.The Catholic faith has long been one of the distinctive pillars of Polishness, and played an important role in the nation-making process. In times of partitions, Nazi occupation and communism, the Catholic church portrayed itself as a bastion of resistance in the long quest for Polish independence. After 1989, it regained the land and property it had lost after the second world war, with a substantial increase, and returned to a primary role in the public sphere. There were often clergymen present at various secular celebrations (such as the opening of McDonald’s restaurants) or to introduce religion classes at schools.Dr Maria Skóra is a research associate at Institut für Europäische Politik, and a policy fellow at the Berlin-based thinktank Das Progressive Zentrum. She writes on politics for Social Europe and POLITYKA Continue reading...

Period poverty is widespread in the US, and Covid worsened the crisis. Yet it remains ‘shrouded in stigma and shame’Lynette Medley wasn’t usually shocked when a client divulged they’d done something illegal. As a sexual health therapist in Philadelphia, she focused on supporting vulnerable low-income people who engaged in risky and even criminal behavior. But she was appalled – and flooded with memories – when a young woman confided that she worked as a sex worker so she could afford to buy basic hygiene products, including tampons.“How is this still happening?” Medley thought to herself. “I had to go through this pain. My daughter had to go through this pain – and nothing seems to have changed.” Continue reading...

Kenneth Faried’s talent earned him a slot on the Team USA roster and a $50m contract. But he found himself on the outside as NBA tactics changedKenneth Faried is around 7,200 feet above sea level. At times, though, the former Team USA starter and Denver Nugget, he has felt much lower. His G League season with the Mexico City Capitanes concluded in late March, the team narrowly missing the playoffs. But Faried played well, averaging 11.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists on the year. Still, he remains far from his ultimate goal. Many NBA fans probably remember the “Manimal” and his ferocious blocks and dunks. From his rookie year in 2011, Faried defied expectations. At 6ft 8in, he rebounded in traffic like an 8-footer. But now, he’s working to get back to the league after the game changed under his feet. For a player known for his hustle, the question remains, can he chase down another chance? And can he do so ahead of 9 April, the last game of the NBA regular season and the final day to amend rosters? He’s trying. But the road can be unrelenting.“For me, it was the depression,” Faried tells the Guardian, speaking about the ups and downs he’s gone through since leaving the NBA in 2019. “You go into depression. I went into depression. I had to seek therapy.” Continue reading...

While there’s not even a theoretical bar to prosecuting a president once they leave office, Alvin Bragg has bravely taken a standTrump’s prosecution is a triumph. Not a shame. Not a tragedy. A triumph ⁠— one of the great events in American presidential history. The public and the pundits might disagree by the end of Trump’s trial in Manhattan ⁠— perhaps the first of a few ⁠— but the significance of what district attorney Alvin Bragg has managed to do will be wholly unsullied, in substance, by the outcome of his case.One of the major questions in American political and legal thought has been whether presidents may be allowed to commit crimes. As it stands, the position of the Justice Department is that they may ⁠— for half a century, it has held that a president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office. And while there’s not even a theoretical bar to prosecuting a president once they leave office, no one had ever tried it, leaving the question of whether criminal laws functionally apply to presidents at all, as a practical matter, a matter of speculation.Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

The former president appeared subdued in New York, only to return to his campaigning, inflammatory ways hours later in Florida

Many on the right liken the legal battle to an attack on democracy itself and have made threats to the district attorneyTo Republicans across the US, the charges unveiled in a New York courtroom against Donald Trump were not just the start of the latest legal battle in the life of a man who has known no shortage of them, but an attack on democracy itself.“Today is the day of the real insurrection,” tweeted Mark Levin, the conservative radio host whom Trump reportedly dined with after the indictment was announced last week. Continue reading...

Meanwhile, Stormy Daniels sells ‘#TeamStormy’ gear and sellers flood eBay and Etsy with novelty merchOn a day of non-stop news alerts offering minute-by-minute updates on Donald Trump’s arraignment, subscribers to Trump’s mailing list received one more breaking alert: “NEW ITEM, MUGSHOT.”An email sent to Trump supporters showed merchandise in the former president’s official store: a plain white T-shirt featuring a clearly doctored photo of the former president getting booked. A fake chart behind him gave his height as 6ft 5in. Underneath his photo were the words “NOT GUILTY”, printed in big block letters. Continue reading...

Tanner Cook, 21, was reportedly playing joke on man at Virginia mall when victim of prank shot him in abdomenA popular US YouTube creator who prides himself on making videos in which he displays odd behavior to put people off intends to keep at it, even after one of his targets allegedly shot him nearly to death.Tanner Cook – who regularly makes videos of himself pranking strangers for nearly 40,000 subscribers of the channel Classified Goons – was reportedly playing a practical joke on a man at a mall in the Washington suburb of Dulles, Virginia, at about midday on Sunday. A friend was recording him when things took an almost deadly turn, according to authorities as well as an interview Cook gave to the local TV station WUSA. Continue reading...

The problem is not moral decay. It’s the withering away of our living standards, security and wellbeingIf there is such a thing as an onward march of human progress, it has not just halted, but screeched into reverse. Last autumn, a little-discussed report issued by the United Nations noted that human development had declined in 90% of countries for two years in a row, a fall without precedent for more than three decades. The pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine played their role, but so too did “sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in political and social polarisation”.You may well be familiar with chatter about “the decline of the west”: it has tended to be the preserve of the reactionary right, who blame, variously, moral decay, multiculturalism and a reassessment of European history for our downfall. But it is not minority rights, diversity or acknowledgment of western crimes to blame. The turnaround in our collective fortunes has been dramatic. But it is driven by an economic system that promised personal freedom but instead delivered insecurity on a mass scale, and which has has hurt us in every conceivable way, from our emotional and physical wellbeing to our material circumstances.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Opponents say memoir The Courage to be Free, published in February, violates law governor signed last yearDemocrats in Florida are attempting to use a state law that censors books in public schools against the governor who signed it, Ron DeSantis, by asking schools to review or ban the Republican governor’s own book, The Courage to be Free.“The very trap he set for others is the one that he set for himself,” Fentrice Driskell, the Democratic minority leader in the Florida state house, told the Daily Beast. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on Trump’s arraignment here.After listing off a number of grievances, attacking those involved in the multiple investigations and criminal cases against him, and rambling a number of of-repeated falsehoods about the 2020 elections, he walked off stage.The speech was in many ways a standard performance, but shorter. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has delivered a 25-minute speech after his New York arrest where he listed long-held grievances and complaints about the several investigations he is facing before briefly addressing the indictment. Trump repeated falsehoods about the nature of the accusations he is facing, and personally attacked the prosecutors and investigators leading the cases

The former president’s appearance in a New York court house dominates front pages from Europe to Britain and the US on WednesdayDonald Trump’s historic appearance before a New York court on Tuesday has dominated global media, with the former president’s not guilty plea receiving wall-to-wall coverage across TV, newspapers and online.The Guardian says, “Trump pleads not guilty to 34 charges in hush-money case”, with the paper highlighting the judge’s order that the former president refrain from rhetoric that could cause civil unrest. Continue reading...

Abortion rights, redistricting and election rules were at stake in decision affecting key swing stateIn a historic election, the liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz is projected to win her race for a seat on Wisconsin’s supreme court. Her win will flip the ideological balance of the state’s highest court, which has been controlled by a conservative majority for 15 years.Elections and democracy observers have called this election the most consequential one of the year, with abortion rights, redistricting and election rules at stake. The race pitted Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee circuit court judge and former prosecutor, against Dan Kelly, a former Wisconsin supreme court justice with ties to election deniers and the far right. Continue reading...

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records before flying to Florida to address his supporters

Former president charged with falsifying business records in what prosecutors allege was a conspiracy to influence 2016 election

The conglomerate was prevented from offloading its liability to a subsidiary that immediately declared bankruptcyJohnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $8.9bn to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that talc in its iconic Baby Powder and other products caused cancer, the company said. The amount dwarfs J&J’s original offer of $2bn.The agreement follows a January appeals court ruling invalidating J&J’s controversial “Texas two-step” bankruptcy maneuver, in which it sought to offload the talc liability on to a subsidiary that immediately filed for Chapter 11. Continue reading...

State chair, Nikki Fried, and senate minority leader, Lauren Book, were charged with trespassing at the state capitol in TallahasseeThe chair of the Florida Democratic party and a Democratic state lawmaker were charged with trespassing after refusing to leave a protest in the state capital, Tallahassee, against a bill to ban abortions after six weeks.The Democratic party chairperson, Nikki Fried, and the state senate minority leader, Lauren Book, were among a small group of protestors arrested late on Monday near the state capitol building and charged with misdemeanor trespass. Continue reading...

The former presidential nominee was also the only Republican to vote to convict the ex-president in both impeachment trialsMitt Romney, the former presidential nominee, who as a Utah senator was the only Republican to vote to convict Donald Trump in both his impeachment trials, criticized the Manhattan district attorney’s office for its handling of the hush money case in which the former president pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” Romney said in a statement, as Trump was arraigned. Continue reading...

The ex-president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Below is the full text, along with a statement of facts in the case Continue reading...

Kristi Johnston, 26, is encouraging potential romantic partners to vote in Tuesday’s critical election – is it working?Kristi Johnston, like many young people, spends a good deal of time swiping left and right on various dating apps. But unlike most people looking for love, this is her job.Johnston, 26, is the national press secretary for NextGen, an organization dedicated to getting out the youth vote. Continue reading...

The former president had promised his fans would go wild when he arrived at court – but really, it was all a bit of an anti-climaxReally, it was all a bit of an anti-climax. Hundreds of pro- and anti-Trump protesters had gathered outside the Manhattan criminal court, and the crowds were expected to go wild as the former president arrived and was taken into the custody.But in the event, few knew Donald Trump had arrived until he was already in the building and under arrest. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has left the Manhattan criminal court, about two hours after arriving there to be arrested and arraigned over charges linked to an alleged 2016 hush-money scheme.The former president once again declined to speak to reporters as he left the courthouse, ignoring shouted questions about how he pleaded in the case. Multiple outlets have reported that Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree

Abortion, election rules, legislative maps at stake in most expensive judicial race in US historyVoters in Wisconsin are casting ballots on Tuesday in one of the most important elections of 2023 – a contest that will determine the ideological balance of the state’s supreme court.The court will probably determine the future of abortion in Wisconsin, as a lawsuit challenging the state’s 1849 ban is already winding its way through the courts. It is also poised to play a hugely consequential role in setting election rules for the 2024 presidential election in Wisconsin, a key battleground state. It could also get rid of the state’s legislative maps, which are so distorted in favor of Republicans that it’s nearly impossible for Democrats to ever win a majority. Continue reading...

Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin Bragg, confirmed that Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records ‘with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime’. At a press conference after Trump’s arraignment, Bragg said the scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels to suppress the story of her alleged affair with the former president ran afoul of multiple laws. He argued his office was obligated to pursue the case against Trump regardless of the former president’s reputation and resources

In the prosaic surroundings of Manhattan criminal court, the show that has enthralled America took its latest captivating turnHe hosted The Apprentice. He played The President. Now, at the age of 76, came the role that Donald Trump had spent his life avoiding: The Defendant.On Tuesday, a single photograph showed Trump sitting in a prosaic New York courtroom with two lawyers to his left and two more to his right. Behind him were two uniformed police officers wearing handcuffs on their belts. One had a police radio on his shoulder, the other a Covid-protective mask over her face. Continue reading...

Five-time champion at Augusta National has not given up hope of competing at age of 47 despite major physical limitationsWhy ask a scorpion why it stings, a lion why it eats red meat, or Tiger Woods whether he believes he can win? Woods has been answering that question in the very same way for the last 25 years now. But on Tuesday someone put it to him again. “This time last year, you said you definitely would not be here unless you thought you had a good chance of winning the tournament. Does that still stand?” And this time Woods’ answer was a little different to the one we’ve grown used to. In fact, for the first time in his life, he didn’t really have one.Woods very deliberately preferred to concentrate on the second part of the journalist’s question, about how his physical condition compared to this time last year, when he scored 71, 74, 78, 78, and finished in 47th place. “I think my game is better than it was last year at this particular time. I think my endurance is better. But my leg aches a little bit more than it did last year.” Continue reading...

Republican legislators introduce resolution to remove trio after they supported protest in wake of Nashville school shootingRepublican legislators in Tennessee have begun the process of expelling three Democratic colleagues from the conservative-controlled house over their support for a gun control protest at the state capitol days after a deadly school shooting in Nashville.On Thursday, hundreds gathered at the capitol to protest against the absence of gun control measures after three nine-year-old students and three staff members were killed at the Covenant school last week, according to a report in the Tennessean. Continue reading...

Donald Trump made his way to a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday to surrender and be arraigned on criminal charges stemming from 2016 hush money payments. Trump left Trump Tower in a motorcade amid a security lockdown to the court a few blocks away, escorted by the Secret Service. The booking and appearance before Judge Juan Merchan should be relatively brief — though hardly routine — as Trump is fingerprinted, learns the charges against him and may plead, as expected, not guilty. Merchan has ruled that TV cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom. Trump, who was impeached twice by the House but was never convicted in the Senate, will become the first former president to face criminal charges

We want to hear from readers in the US as Trump becomes the first former president to face criminal chargesDonald Trump is appearing in court on Tuesday to hear criminal charges over his involvement in a hush-money scheme during a critical election month. He is the first former US president to face criminal charges.We want to hear from people in the US about their views on the historic moment. What did you think when you heard the news of his indictment? How do you think this will affect his popularity? How does it make you feel about the 2024 presidential election? Continue reading...

CEO’s comments are latest round in bitter feud between governor and state’s largest corporate employer over ‘don’t say gay’ lawDisney’s chief executive, Bob Iger, has lambasted the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, as “anti-business and anti-Florida” in the latest round of a bitter public battle between the Sunshine state’s most powerful corporation and its top elected official.DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state legislature have targeted Walt Disney World, the Orlando-area entertainment resort that employs 75,000 people, since the company spoke out against the controversial Florida “don’t say gay” law curtailing classroom discussion of gender identity and sexuality amid mounting pressure from its employees to take a stand. Continue reading...