5 September 11-17, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Baptist Health Fit Fest Sunday, September 14 10 a.m.-2 p.m. FIU Ocean Bank Convocation Center 1180 SW 113 Ave., Miami Register at BaptistHealthFitFest.com FREE Admission services for Ingoglia. “Blaise just spent $30,000 in taxpayer dollars on a film crew contract to follow him around and help him look pretty in front of cameras ,” Sen. Guillermo Smith tweeted. As detailed on the Florida Accountability Contract Track- ing System website, the department paid $30,000 on August 13 to Electric Eye Photography for “video production ser- vices. The line item description states, “Chief Financial Officer Media Coverage Rate includes photo and video coverage, along with post production and editing. Hourly rate: $50.00.” The database does not have any documents listed under the purchase order. Last week, Ingoglia’s office issued subpoenas to 16 Orange County employees after the state alleged that the county did not cooperate with the state’s local government DOGE au- dits. The state is primarily focused on reviewing county spending and supposed “woke DEI initiatives in their com- munities.” “Orange County taxpayers deserve better,” DeSantis added in the press release. “I applaud CFO Ingoglia for issu- ing subpoenas to Orange County employees involved in grant decisions, fiscal operations, and divisional management. Al- tering public records and trying to cover up reckless spend- ing decisions is unacceptable, and we will continue working to uncover the truth.” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings denied the allega- tions and said no employee was instructed to alter, change or delete any documents. “Orange County government fully cooperated with the Florida DOGE audit team, providing all the data and docu- ments requested,” he said in a statement. ▼ EVERGLADES BUNNY MONEY TOP PYTHON SLAYER HAS THOUGHTS ABOUT FLORIDA’S ROBOT RABBIT ARMY. BY B. SCOTT McLENDON F lorida has deployed a new weapon in the Everglades’ ongo- ing crusade against the invasive and prolifically deadly Burmese python: an army of robot rabbits. This summer, the University of Florida spread 120 robot rabbits to the Florida Everglades near West Palm Beach to lure out the serpents for an expert to remove, spending about $4,000 per robot, ac- cording to NBC News. While officials say it’s too early to determine how successful the traps will be, Florida’s reigning py- thon-slaying champion Taylor Stanberry tells New Times she’s skeptical about the $480,000 price tag. The Naples woman won the annual Florida Python Challenge after vanquish- ing 60 Burmese pythons during the ten- day event in July. The snake-wrangling social media influencer, who runs an ex- otic animal rescue in South Florida, beat more than 900 snake-slayers during the event, vanquishing 60 of the record-set- ting 294 pythons removed, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conserva- tion Commission (FWC). Stanberry claimed $10,000, FWC’s top prize in the competition, and tells New Times that she thinks the $480,000 could be better spent. “That’s crazy how much they’ve spent on it,” Stanberry said in a written statement. “I would have to do more re- search on it, but I don’t see how it would be that effective. I think having paid contractors look for pythons is more ef- fective, and with that kind of funding, some contractors could do the job full- time if they got paid more instead of the small wage we get now.” The South Florida Water Management District financed the furry arsenal and helped university researchers deploy the robot rabbits throughout the Everglades. NBC News described the robots as sim- ple toy rabbits that researchers Franken- steined to smell, move, and emit heat like a live rabbit. They’re solar-powered and can be turned on and off remotely. The rabbits sit inside small transpar- ent boxes that send an alert when a py- thon approaches, prompting experts to move in for re- moval. You can almost hear python conspiracy theorists screaming, “The rabbits aren’t real! They abducted my cousin!” Burmese pythons are widely considered one of South Florida’s most destruc- tive invasive species. They prey on native species like birds, rodents, and reptiles, according to FWC. As they spread through Ev- erglades National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a science- based bureau of the federal government, reports that native mammal populations have sharply declined. Between 1997 and 2012, raccoon populations in the Ever- glades decreased by 99 percent, opos- sums by 99 percent, and bobcats by 88 percent, according to a USGS study. “Ironic” from p 4 University of Florida researchers developed an army of 120 robot rabbits to help detect Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades. Photo from University of Florida
