SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — College football Hall of Famer Urban Meyer has been appointed to the board of trustees at a small public liberal arts college that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has transformed from a progressive institute into a staging ground for the Republican governor's war on “woke.”
DeSantis this week named Meyer to the board at New College in Sarasota, which the governor's allies took over two years ago by packing the board with DeSantis supporters and conservative figures.
Meyer currently is a college football analyst for FOX Sports. As head football coach at the University of Florida, Meyer led the Gators to two national championships in 2006 and 2008. Meyer also steered Ohio State's football team to a national championship in 2014. Meyer was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 during his only season leading an NFL team.
Urban's appointment, which is subject to confirmation by the state Senate, was announced Tuesday along with the reappointment of two other New College trustees.
DeSantis targeted the tiny school on the shores of Sarasota Bay two years ago as part of a campaign against what he calls “woke” ideology. The governor and his allies believed that New College, a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community, had been indoctrinating students with leftist teachings and should be revamped into a more conservative institution.
After DeSantis' allies took control off the school's board, they promptly fired the college president and replaced her with a Republican politician, the first of several administrators to lose their jobs. They also dismantled the office of diversity and equity. Students compared the changes to “a hostile takeover,” saying the governor was dismantling what had been a safe place for many LGBTQ+ students who felt marginalized at other schools.
FILE - Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer watches the first half of an NCAA college football game between Florida and Tennessee, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A strong earthquake rattled southern and central Mexico on Friday, interrupting President Claudia Sheinbaum ’s first press briefing of the new year as seismic alarms sounded.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and its epicenter was near the town of San Marcos in the southern state of Guerrero near the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco, according to Mexico ’s national seismological agency.
The state’s civil defense agency reported various landslides around Acapulco and on other highways in the state.
Residents and tourists in Mexico City and Acapulco rushed into the streets when the shaking began.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles (35 kilometers), 2.5 miles north-northwest of Rancho Viejo, Guerrero, which is in the mountains about 57 miles northeast of Acapulco.
Sheinbaum, who resumed her press briefing a short time later, said she spoke with Guerrero's Gov. Evelyn Salgado, who told her there was no serious damage reported.
José Raymundo Díaz Taboada, a doctor and human rights defender who lives on one of the peaks ringing Acapulco, said he heard a strong rumble noise and all the neighborhood dogs began barking.
“In that moment the seismic alert went off on my cell phone," he said, "and then the shaking began to feel strong with a lot of noise.”
He said the shaking was lighter than in some previous quakes and he had prepared a backpack of essentials to be ready to leave as the aftershocks continued.
He said he had been unable to reach some friends who live along the Costa Chica southeast of Acapulco because communications were cut.
A view of Mexico City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that originated in the Acapulco area. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A view of Mexico City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that originated in the Acapulco area. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
A couple walks their dogs after leaving their home due to an earthquake that was felt in Mexico City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, amid a magnitude 6.5 quake that originated in the Acapulco area. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
