TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's environmental agency faced bipartisan backlash over a proposal to develop golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels at state parks. Now, a Republican lawmaker wants to make sure those ideas are squashed for good.
Sen. Gayle Harrell filed a bill Wednesday that would focus recreation at state parks on trails rather than courts and cabins instead of hotels. The bill would also require more public notice and ability to comment on park projects after the Department of Environmental Protection tried to quietly go forward with plans for the “Great Outdoors Initiative” in August.
The department had planned a single hour of public hearings near the nine affected parks. Opposition to the initiative transcended party lines, as top Republican legislative leaders and members of Congress, including U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, raised questions, along with Democrats and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Cleo Institute.
Harrell's bill would ban golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts, ball fields and similar sporting facilities at state parks in favor of “conservation-based public outdoor recreational uses" like hiking, boating, camping, swimming, kayaking and bird-watching.
It would also prohibit the construction of overnight facilities larger than a cabin that sleeps six.
DeSantis eventually backed off the development plans for parks.
FILE - Florida Sen. Gayle Harrell, right, chats with Sen. Jennifer Bradley during a Senate Committee on Reapportionment hearing in a legislative session, in Tallahassee, Fla., Jan. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
FILE - Bonnie, a seven-month-old dachshund, licks Alexandra Maxwell's face as they a protest against Gov. Ron DeSantis' plan to develop state parks with business ventures such as golf courses, pickleball courts and large hotels, during a demonstration at Oleta River State Park, Aug. 27, 2024, in North Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
BERLIN (AP) — Jürgen Klopp watched with a broad smile as Leipzig defeated Werder Bremen 4-2 to reclaim fourth place in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Klopp, the former Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz coach, took over his new duties as Red Bull’s head of global soccer on Jan. 1 and he took the first opportunity to see the energy drinks manufacturer’s German representative in competitive action.
Klopp can have had few complaints as he watched the 21-year-old Xavi Simons open the scoring and then cancel Mitchell Weiser’s response, before Benjamin Šeško, also 21, made it 3-1 with a brilliant strike from distance after the break.
Both Xavi and Šeško fit the profile of highly talented young players that Klopp will be expected to develop and attract to the growing Red Bull stable of clubs.
Leipzig substitute Christoph Baumgartner scored in the final minute before Bremen's Oliver Burke scored in stoppage time.
Klopp was in Paris on Saturday to see second-tier Paris FC beat Amiens 1-0. Among his tasks there is turning the club into one of France’s best under the ownership of the country’s richest family, the Arnaults of luxury empire LVMH. The family’s takeover of the second-tier club includes bringing Red Bull on board as a minority stakeholder.
Leipzig has struggled so far this season, losing all its games in the Champions League and dropping points in seven of its 16 games in the Bundesliga.
Germany forward Deniz Undav returned from injury to lead Stuttgart to a 1-0 win at Augsburg in the late game.
Undav had been out since Nov. 6 with a hamstring injury and then another muscular injury sustained in training. He went on as a substitute in the 61st minute in Augsburg and scored just four minutes later after being sent through by Angelo Stiller.
The win lifted Stuttgart – last season’s runner-up – to seventh in the 18-team division, one point above Borussia Dortmund.
Noahkai Banks, an 18-year-old American defender, made his Bundesliga debut for Augsburg when he replaced injured defender Maximilian Bauer in the 29th minute.
Bayern Munich leads defending champion Bayer Leverkusen by four points after 16 rounds, meaning it can’t be caught at the halfway stage, giving the Bavarian powerhouse the unofficial title of “Herbstmeister” or autumn champion.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Stuttgart's Ermedin Demirovic, left, and Augsburg's Chrislain Matsima in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart at WWK-Arena, Augsburg, Germany, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)
Stuttgart's Atakan Karazor, left, and Augsburg's Samuel Essende in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart at WWK-Arena, Augsburg, Germany, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)
Stuttgart's Deniz Undav, center, celebrates scoring a goal, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart at WWK-Arena, Augsburg, Germany, Sunday Jan. 12, 2025. (Tom Weller/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Managing Director Sport, Jürgen Klopp, center, watches the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Lois Openda controls the ball, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Lukas Klostermann, right and Werder's Marvin Ducksch vie for the ball, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Antonio Nusa, right and Werder's Derrick Köhn vie for the ball, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Antonio Nusa, left and Werder's Derrick Köhn vie for the ball, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Xavi Simons celebrates after scoring a goal, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Leipzig's Xavi Simons celebrates after scoring a goal, during the German Bundesliga soccer match between RB Leipzig and SV Werder Bremen, in Leipzig, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
