Florida biologist fired over Charlie Kirk post after his death wins $485,000 settlement

Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.

The state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn't care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.

Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.

Fish and Wildlife officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brown was among a wave of workers in both the public and private sector who lost their jobs over comments about Kirk's assassination on a Utah university campus. Lawsuits are pending over many of those firings.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.

Kirk's supporters combed social media after the Sept. 10 shooting for posts they viewed as celebrating his death. Influencers like Laura Loomer pledged to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing, and the conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared the identities and workplaces of many who posted with its audience of millions.

Libs of TikTok posted about Brown, and she was fired the next day, according to her lawsuit. Brown said someone then alerted Libs of TikTok about her termination only about 10 minutes after it happened and before it was made public.

In a rare instance in Tennessee, a retired police officer was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post joking about Kirk's assassination. Tennessee officials agreed Wednesday to pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the man, Larry Bushart. While behind bars, Bushart lost his postretirement job and missed the birth of his granddaughter before authorities eventually dropped a felony charge against him, he said in the lawsuit.

Before her termination, Brown worked for Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years and studied shorebirds and seabirds on the panhandle, according to court documents.

Carrie McNamara, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, called Brown’s settlement deal “a hard-won vindication” that sends a message to Florida officials that they cannot punish speech they dislike.

“The First Amendment does not disappear when someone accepts a government job,” McNamara said.

Brown's former supervisor at the agency, Habitat and Species Conservation Director Melissa Tucker, had claimed that Brown's post generated hundreds of formal complaints and caused significant disruption. Discovery in the case later revealed that the agency only received about 50 complaints.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker imposed sanctions against Tucker last week for exaggerating the amount and then not correcting the record.

FILE - An attendee holds a poster of Charlie Kirk during a Turning Point USA rally, Sept. 30, 2025, in Logan, Utah. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Playing at home hasn't provided much comfort for WNBA teams this season.

Through nearly the first two weeks, home teams have only won about 29% of games. Out of the 15 teams, only New York has a winning record at home.

This is the worst percentage to start a season by home teams in the league's 30-year history, according to Elias Sports Bureau stats provided to The Associated Press by the WNBA.

Through an equivalent number of games, the previous worst was 41% in 2021 — when fans weren't allowed to attend games early on because of the COVID pandemic. Home teams won 43% of their games to start the 2016 season. Both those years the number reached over 50% by the end of the season. There was nearly a 54% home advantage in 2021 and 55% in 2016.

There are a lot of factors that go into the poor start at home so far, including scheduling. The expected top teams Las Vegas and New York have been on the road for most of the start of the season. That said, Chicago, which was near the bottom of the standings last year, went 3-1 on the road to begin this season.

“It’s bizarre and interesting, but I don’t think it signals a trend that will continue,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “We just need to have the better teams to have more home games.”

Golden State coach Natalie Nakase agreed she didn't think the early trend would continue.

“I don't put much stock in it,” said Nakase, who's team visits New York on Thursday night. “I think it gives players that out to say that we have more advantage at home or we have more advantage away. I just say there’s two hoops, there’s a court, there’s a couple refs, and we got to play. At the end of the day, when you step on the court, you got to be ready to fight.”

One thing it’s not caused by is a lack of fans in the buildings. Attendance is up 25% so far this season as compared to this point last year, according to the WNBA.

The second-year Valkyries have established quite a homecourt advantage. They led the league in attendance last year and so far have drawn well in their first two games at home.

“You also don’t want to take it for granted, you know, and take advantage of it,” she said. “But we do have the love of support that is, you know, amazing. But at the same time, you have to be able to handle the noise. So we try to prepare as best as we can.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Fans arrive for an WNBA basketball game between the Golden State Valkyries and the Phoenix Mercury at Chase Center in San Francisco, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)