Disney sues Gov. Ron DeSantis in fight over autonomy, corporate free speech
Disney filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday, claiming that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers cut off Disney World’s autonomy over its political speech. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and seeks the overturn of the laws that ended Disney’s special privileges under the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The entertainment giant says the laws represent the “unlawful taking of Disney’s property rights without payment of just compensation in violation of the (U.S. Constitution’s) Takings Clause.” Disney also says it was goaded by the move by the new DeSantis-appointed board members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to void existing development contracts that “laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs.” The company says in the lawsuit that these contracts are worth $17 billion and would create 13,000 new Disney jobs. Download PDF The company says in the lawsuit that DeSantis has mounted an “orchestrated campaign” against the company for its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education bill that he signed into law in 2022. The law prohibits Florida schools and teachers from discussing “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” with students in kindergarten through third-grade classes. DeSantis called a special session that year to address the issues surrounding the Reedy Creek Improvement District – a special privilege that had given Disney taxing and regulatory autonomy over hundreds of acres of land in central Florida since 1967. The district has the ability to pay for infrastructure improvements using municipal bonds and to condemn and acquire land outside the district’s boundaries. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Alabama Book Festival attendees first to see state’s bicentennial children’s book
Attendees of the Alabama Book Festival at Montgomery’s historic Old Alabama Town on Saturday received a special treat: they were the first to see the brand new book, Alabama My Home Sweet Home, by Charles Ghigna. Ghigna, also known as Father Goose, is an award winning author who lives in Homewood, Ala. He wrote Alabama My Home Sweet Home as a bicentennial book for young readers; the book features a bear cub named Camellia who accompanies readers through the book as they come across famous Alabamians like Helen Keller, Rosa Parks and Jesse Owens during their own time and place in history. “We are thrilled to have a bicentennial book especially for young readers,” said Alabama Bicentennial Commission Executive Director, Jay Lamar. “What better time than the celebration of the state’s 200th birthday to introduce them to important Alabama people and places.” Another Alabama native, Michelle Hyde provided illustrations for the book. A graduate of the Ringling College of Art & Design, her work has appeared in The Birmingham News and several other publications. Hyde and her family reside in Birmingham. “It is even more special that Alabama My Home Sweet Home was written and illustrated by two people who call Alabama home,” said Lamar. “Father Goose is, of course, a beloved Alabama children’s writer. Michelle Hyde’s cheerful illustrations clearly show how well she knows the state. They make a great team.” Ghigna is the author of 5,000 poems and more than 100 books from publishers such as: Random House, Time Inc., Disney, Scholastic, and Highlights magazine. He is a former poet-in-residence and chair of creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Art, who currently serves as an instructor for creative writing at Samford University.
Alabama theater refuses to show ‘Beauty and the Beast’ over gay character — ‘We need to take a stand’
Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast will feature the company’s first ever openly gay character, and not everyone is excited by the prospect according to The Hollywood Reporter. After learning about the sexual orientation of LeFou, the sidekick to villain Gaston who is played by Josh Gad, the Henagar Drive-In Theatre in Henagar, Alabama, announced on Facebook it would not screen the film. “It is with great sorrow that I have to tell our customers that we will not be showing Beauty and the Beast at the Henagar Drive-In when it comes out,” the post reads. “When companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand. We all make choices and I am making mine.” The business cited an announcement from film director Bill Condon which pointed to LeFou as Disney’s first homosexual character and also said there would be a “surprise for same-sex couples” at the end of the movie. “I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision. That’s fine. We are first and foremost Christians,” the business said. “We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches. We will continue to show family oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language.” The theatre opened in 1999 and has consistently screened family-friendly movies at the venue. The current line-up at the theatre includes: The Eagle Huntress, rated G, and A Dog’s Purpose, rated PG. Beauty and the Beast is set to hit theaters March 17 and has been rated PG. In its review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter said of Gad’s character that “rabid red-state homophobes may be incandescent with fury to see how things end up for him in the finale.”
In Orlando, Mike Huckabee takes a shot at Disney regarding H-1B visa situation
In discussing immigration at the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit on Friday afternoon in Orlando, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took a shot at the nearby Disney organization for their involvement in an embarrassing situation regarding foreign workers. “Let’s not have an immigration policy that displaces Americans,” Huckabee said during the middle of his speech. “For example, under the H-1B process, it wasn’t long ago that Disney — yes, I know that I’m in Orlando, I know it’s the happiest place on Earth — but it wasn’t very happy for the Disney workers who were replaced by foreign workers under an H-1B visa because they were willing to work for a lot less money, and to add insult to injury, the Disney workers were required to train their foreign replacements, before they were ultimately shoved out the door. America can treat its people better than that!” The incident he was referring to took place last fall, when approximately 250 Disney employees were told that they would be laid off, with many of their jobs transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, The New York Times reported, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost. Only 85,000 H-1B visas — designed so foreigners with specialty skills can fill job vacancies left by a domestic skills gap — are granted each year. But critics — including Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson — have complained that U.S. employers exploit loopholes in the system to hire cheaper labor from abroad at the expense of American workers, and there has been talk in Congress about scaling back that program. In a Q&A period with reporters after his speech, Huckabee disagreed with the notion that the GOP was hurting itself with the intense recent rhetoric about immigration. “I think the American people want to make sure that we have control of our borders,” he said. “A country without borders isn’t much of a country anymore, and so it’s not a matter of being more conservative, it’s a matter of being more practical and having more common sense to recognize you have to manage your borders. It’s not so much because you want to keep people out, it’s that you want to make sure that the people that you are allowing in are coming to help make your country better.” He also disputed the notion that he was out of the running to win the nomination, despite his low poll numbers that have relegated him to the early “kiddie-table” debates. He repeated the well documented fact that Herman Cain was leading the GOP presidential race at this time in 2011, as was Rudy Giuliani back in 2007.
