Saving taxpayer dollars by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse is a priority at all levels of government. Floridians can rest easy knowing Gov. Ron DeSantis is dedicated to good governance and fiscal responsibility. Federal spending attracts substantial media attention, but the scale of state and local spending—which handles the bulk of public services—requires systematic reviews to identify duplication and outdated programs and to hold budgets accountable. Under DeSantis, Florida has paid down over one-third of its debt, filled its rainy-day fund, and saved taxpayer dollars through prudent measures such as restricting environmental, social, and governance investments with public funds. Most recently, he vetoed $1.6 billion from Florida’s fiscal year 2026-27 state budget. To capitalize on this winning track record of fiscal accountability, Gov. DeSantis established the Florida Department of Government Efficiency in 2025 through Executive Order 25-44. The task force mirrors federal efforts, popularized by Elon Musk’s DOGE, by leveraging emerging AI technology to audit waste within state agencies, universities, and municipal governments. Eric Soskin, a graduate of Harvard Law and former U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, was appointed to lead FL-DOGE. The task force immediately identified $878 million in unused federal dollars that were then returned to the Treasury. The Florida Legislature supported efforts through Senate Bill 2502, which authorized FL-DOGE to request information from cities, counties, and state universities and allowed financial penalties for noncompliance. With this authority, the task force conducted broad data requests, on-site reviews, and analyses of public spending records. In January 2026, FL-DOGE released a report outlining wasteful spending by 12 local governments. The document contained jaw-dropping spending abuses varying from left-wing pet projects to poor stewardship of taxpayer dollars: Miami-Dade County budgeted a $9 million “art allowance” for a detention center and a $125 million climate-related shore power energy program for cruise ships. In Jacksonville, a capital improvement plan allocated $54 million more for bike lanes and sidewalks than for fire and rescue. Thirty million dollars in police and fire pensions were found to be invested with firms emphasizing DEI and ESG priorities. St. Petersburg taxpayers funded a chief equity officer and LGBTQ+ coordinator, making $219,000 and $87,000, respectively. The city even spent over $100,000 annually on LGBTQ+ Pride events. In Pensacola, “general government” spending grew by $2.58 million (up 40%) from fiscal year 2019-20 to 2024-25. One source is a taxpayer-funded city administrator making $200,000 annually, nearly four times the median salary. These public findings, among others, identified waste and prompted legislative responses. For example, Senate Bill 1134 banned local governments from funding, promoting, or implementing DEI programs. FL-DOGE additionally facilitated a series of AI pilot programs within local governments to help identify savings and further cut waste, making the case for public-private partnerships between firms and governments to promote efficiency. In Manatee County, government officials partnered with Promota.ai to perform systems and data analyses. AI agents sifted through roughly $5 billion in public transactions and spending budgets, spotting red flags and formulating plans to recoup money or close loopholes. Efforts led to between $15-$50 million in annual savings opportunities. Efficiency possibilities centered around identifying and canceling expired business licenses, duplicative software or licenses, and cases of blatant waste and fraud. This pilot program cost Manatee County only $4,900, meaning an average of $32 million in potential savings produces an outrageously good return on investment for taxpayers. The Lee County school system saw similar savings potential after partnering with AI vendor Echelon. The school board had already saved $26.5 million in administrative cuts under conservative Superintendent Denise Carlin in her first two years. In collaboration with FL-DOGE partners, $5-$10 million in additional savings is projected for the year ahead. These cases highlight viable public-private models for AI application within government to efficiently and inexpensively identify opportunities for fiscal savings. FL-DOGE’s work extends beyond initial efforts focused on weeding out waste within government spending, to newly revealed pilots working to actualize savings in all processes of government. Florida’s approach to fiscal responsibility has positioned itself as a leader among states pursuing DOGE-style reforms. By combining traditional oversight, AI, and legislative tools, the governor’s office has advanced transparency and accountability—consistent with the state’s broad record of prudent governance. For states seeking similar models to reduce budgetary waste, they should look to Florida and DeSantis for the DOGE playbook on how to win.

In 2024, a Tunisian biological male defeated a Chinese woman for Olympic women’s boxing gold. The spectacle shocked the world and renewed calls to protect single-sex women’s sports. Yet defending such boundaries in the U.S. under today’s civil rights regime is harder than it should be. Decades of Title IX enforcement have turned a seemingly modest anti-discrimination law into a powerful engine of feminist social engineering. Title IX, passed in 1972, was intended to prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. Early regulations were flexible, as I show in a newly released report. Schools had to “accommodate the interests and abilities” of both sexes. A wide range of activities—club sports, intramurals, exercise classes—could count toward compliance. Female participation grew rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s, largely through voluntary cultural shifts coupled with modest federal pressure. That changed in the 1990s. Regulations narrowed the definition of athletic opportunity to varsity competition only. A subsequent court cases, Cohen v. Brown University, led to an inflexible demand placed on schools. In order to comply with Title IX, schools had to demonstrate proportional parity between the percentage of female athletes and the percentage of female undergraduate enrollment. Federal courts and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforced this standard aggressively and consistently. Schools that failed to strive for proportional parity risked lawsuits. Such lawsuits are still ongoing. Concordia-Irvine has a sex ratio among undergraduates at the national average—59% female. Females are only 51% of the athletes, however. Concordia has two sports—beach volleyball and stunt/cheer—without male equivalents. When a budget crunch hit in 2025, Concordia announced that swimming and tennis for both men and women would be discontinued. Female athletes filed a class-action lawsuit against Concordia in August 2025, claiming that cutting women’s programs without first securing proportional parity violated Title IX. The federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against cutting the women’s tennis and swimming teams (but not against cutting the men’s sports). The female athletes have the current law on their side. The result of Title IX regulations has been two systemic distortions. First, Title IX has imposed a male-normed, high-intensity competitive model on women’s sports. Only varsity competition counts. Cheerleading, dance, yoga, hiking clubs, and recreational activities—offerings more aligned with many women’s preferences—do not. This approach sidelines broader, participation-oriented models of women’s athletics. Second, the drive for numerical parity has come at the expense of men’s non-revenue sports. Hundreds of men’s wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, and tennis programs have been cut or capped. Schools added niche women’s sports (rowing, equestrian, beach volleyball) primarily to pad rosters and meet proportionality targets. Men’s soccer and baseball grew far more slowly than women’s soccer and softball. These distortions wrongly assume that differences in competitiveness and interest between the sexes are merely stereotypes to be engineered away. Men and women differ in their spontaneous interest in rough, competitive, team-based sports. Boys outnumber girls by large margins in basketball clubs and recreational leagues. Cross-cultural data confirm that men participate far more in physical competition across societies. These patterns are partly natural and only partly cultural. A better approach is possible. True equality under Title IX does not require identical outcomes or the erasure of sex differences. It requires opportunity rooted in human nature. Proportionality mandates should be eliminated. Institutions should focus on genuine accommodation rather than engineered parity. Schools should be allowed to support different pathways for those who want them, including recreational, fitness, and lower-intensity options that match average female (and some male) preferences. Such reforms would expand real female participation, protect men’s programs, and promote healthier lifelong habits of physical activity. America’s experiment with Title IX social engineering has failed. It is time to accommodate reality instead of trying to remake it

If you sense that somebody’s watching you, you’re not paranoid; you’re a Virginian. The Web site Deflock.org allows readers to zoom in on a map of Virginia. It currently shows more than 5,500 surveillance cameras operating in the state. Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads are so thoroughly surveilled that they disappear under a blob of overlapping cameras. The map indicates that it would be impossible to drive on most of I-95, I-81, or I-64 without your vehicle’s information being captured. Flock cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPR). They capture images of passing vehicles and can store that information for law enforcement agencies to access. Rich Tucker/Daily Signal In a recent piece in the Daily Caller, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, warned that the cameras have been stitched together nationwide into “a privatized surveillance network operating with public authority. Congress must act to prevent the federal government from weaponizing these databases against American citizens.” For their part, Virginia lawmakers have taken steps to limit the ways information collected by the cameras may be used. Under a state law that took effect last year, such data must be deleted after 21 days, and the information can only be used in limited circumstances. Authorities may use data to investigate alleged criminal violations under state or local law, may use it as part of an active investigation into a missing or endangered person or a person associated with human trafficking, and may use it to help track a possible missing or endangered person, a person with an outstanding warrant, a person associated with human trafficking, or a stolen vehicle or license plate. However, a new law that took effect this month will allow local governments to use the cameras to catch drivers who run stop signs or fail to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks. Citizens have the right to ask police forces to release information collected by cameras. Last year, a reporter for Cardinal News set out on a 300-mile trip and tracked himself from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Along the way, he prevailed in court when the city of Roanoke wanted to withhold its records. The collection of this information can be controversial. Earlier this year, a federal judge set aside a lawsuit that claimed the cameras violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. In his decision, however, Mark Davis left the door open for future challenges on privacy grounds. “Surveillance could become too intrusive and run afoul of [constitutional privacy standards] at some point. But when?” Davis wondered in the 51-page ruling. “While a definitive answer to that question is elusive, what is readily apparent to this Court is that, at least in Norfolk, Virginia, the answer is: not today.” All the way across the state, many residents in Floyd County tried to raise concerns about the cameras with local government officials. “There was no general announcement to the community that these were going in,” resident Jacey Clay said about the cameras during a recent meeting of the board of supervisors. “This was all done through backroom conversations and agreements and contracts that were signed with private companies without public input.” The chairman claimed he was powerless. “The Board of Supervisors has no control whatsoever over those cameras,” said Joe Turman, insisting the devices are run by the sheriff’s office. A cluster of cameras raised concerns in Christiansburg. “It is a little shocking, the fact that they are so common. And it’s hard to have any idea that they’re there,” Justin Whitlock told WSLS. “I don’t feel like we have that much of an issue with crime here as much as some other places,” Jonica Hocker added. “So, I don’t really know. Is it necessary? We don’t know.” Nearby Martinsville is taking down many ALPRs, but it’s not because of citizen complaints. The city decided it was simply too expensive to operate its 80 cameras, so it will drop to nine. “They’re not going to be as effective, but we hope to keep them as long as we can,” Police Chief Chad Rhoads told WSLS. The city of Richmond found enough money in its budget to maintain its 99 cameras through 2027. After a number of speakers criticized the surveillance network during a May city council meeting, city lawmakers voted unanimously to spend $1.2 million to maintain the program anyway. In Roanoke, it isn’t cameras but rather gunshot detectors that have sparked controversy. City Council voted this month to remove all of the devices after lawmakers learned that many had been placed incorrectly. “Unfortunately, a preventable city process failure resulted in a rollout that fueled distrust about our use of public safety technology, and entangled the City of Roanoke in the larger, national privacy debate,” City Manager Valmarie Turner told WSET. The devices will not be relocated unless they are first approved by city council. Some angry Virginians have taken the law into their own hands. In Suffolk, 41-year-old Jeffrey Sovern is charged with 13 felony counts of destruction of property related to the damage of Flock cameras in 2025. Arlington County police said a pair of cameras were spray painted in late May. They haven’t identified a suspect yet. “You have every right to change the law and change the allowances, but you have no right to destroy public property,” Sean Kennedy with Virginians for Safe Families warned in an interview with WUSA. It’s a topic that will be worth watching in the years ahead.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is under attack by the Left for highlighting the contrast between the Trump administration and its predecessor when it comes to DEI. Recently, the Department of Transportation announced $1.73 billion in awards through the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant program, or BUILD grant program, and directed nearly 77% of that funding toward projects on roads and bridges. Duffy was quick to compare President Donald Trump’s approach to infrastructure and transportation to former President Joe Biden’s, whose DOT was led by Pete Buttigieg. “Remember when Biden and Boot-edge-edge used YOUR MONEY for DEI bike lanes and climate change?” Duffy posted on X. “THAT’S OVER” “I just redirected $1.73 billion in USDOT grants away from Biden-era DEI pet projects,” the post continued. “Now this funding is officially locked in to fix America’s actual backbone: ROADS, BRIDGES, AND SHIPPING PORTS.” Remember when Biden and Boot-edge-edge used YOUR MONEY for DEI bike lanes and climate change?THAT’S OVERI just redirected $1.73 billion in USDOT grants away from Biden-era DEI pet projectsNow this funding is officially locked in to fix America’s actual backbone: ROADS,… pic.twitter.com/J9PuCgTqAv— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 7, 2026 “America is fortunate to have a Builder in the White House who knows America is only as great as our infrastructure,” the announcement on the department’s website read. “That’s why this Department is investing in repairing critical roads and bridges that connect Americans to job opportunities, port infrastructure that bolsters our national security, and aviation and transit projects that move American families. The impact of these dollars will be felt in communities nationwide for years to come.” The announcement sparked pushback from leftist media outlets accusing Duffy of politicizing the funding. MSNBC’s Maddow Blog questioned why the transportation secretary was “complaining about ‘DEI bike lanes,” while The New Republic ran a piece titled “Trump Secretary Says Bike Lanes Are DEI.” But it was Biden and Buttigieg, not Trump and Duffy, that made bike lanes and DEI one and the same. The phrase "DEI bike lanes" should finally put to rest the question of whether "DEI" has become a generic slur unconnected to any concrete definition. https://t.co/nKAQRHO7LK— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) July 9, 2026 Through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant program, or “RAISE” grant program, the Biden administration invested $562 million in bike and pedestrian projects in FY 2023 alone, according to the Climate Program Portal. The funding supported 41 projects in 27 states. According to a 2025 poll by Statista Consumer Insights, 73 percent of American commuters use their own car to commute to work, while only 9 percent ride their bike. Buttigieg was not shy about connecting these projects to DEI, racial justice, and climate change. In 2021, Buttigieg said a $1 billion investment in RAISE was to “advance equity, and combat climate change.” That investment included $20 million for Seattle to “reconstruct a 1.1-mile segment of the East Marginal Way roadway” with a “separated bike lane.” In 2023, Buttigieg boasted the department was investing $1.5 billion to “address climate change, ensure racial equity, and remove barriers to opportunity.” A recent investigation by the New York Post found that the Biden-Buttigieg DOT spent at least $80 billion on DEI projects. In 2025, Trump and Duffy reverted the name and the mission of the grant program to BUILD. The $1.73 billion—77% of the BUILD grants—will be spent on improving ports, railroads, bridges, and more. Port infrastructure will receive a $136.8 million investment; $169.9 million is going toward transit projects, $11 million to aviation infrastructure, and $87.7 million to America’s railroads. Duffy’s investment secured funding for 127 projects across all 50 states and is even being celebrated by some Democrats. Virginia Democrat Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine celebrated the over $76 million investment from BUILD for transportation and infrastructure projects in Virginia. BIG NEWS: Virginia is getting more than $76 million in federal funding for transportation projects that will expand passenger rail, reduce traffic congestion, and strengthen our infrastructure!I’m proud to help deliver investments that make it easier for Virginians to get where…— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 7, 2026 Perhaps more Democrats will come out in favor of Trump and Duffy shifting the focus away from DEI and to delivering a better transportation system for Americans, but I’m not holding my breath.

That New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his embrace of Democratic Socialists would urge residents to set their air conditioners to 78 degrees wasn’t surprising. What was shocking, however, was that the city government of Columbus, in the red state of Ohio, would be causing utility issues for hundreds of customers. Incompetent city government is something you can encounter anywhere you go. However, I never thought I’d experience it to such a level in Columbus, where they shut off our water during the hottest days in years. It wasn’t just our family of seven, which includes young children and those with special needs. Hundreds of residents were affected. Why? To force compliance with new water meters. The move occurred during the recent heat wave, right before the holiday weekend. According to a report published by ABC 6 on July 1, Columbus Water & Power had shut off more than 300 customers’ water service by that point since the heat wave started. Between June 29 and July 1, 194 customers had their water shut off. Heat indexes in Ohio those days exceeded 100 degrees. Meanwhile, after turning off the water, Columbus had the audacity to still remind residents to stay hydrated. Residents were supposedly contacted via mail and door hangers informing them that they needed to replace their water meter as part of the Enhanced Meter Project. Such notices were no doubt likely perceived as junk mail. Customers were also supposed to be reached by telephone call and mailers, but we later found out from the department that we were contacted via a number that is not ours. So we never actually received notice in that manner. I can’t speak for other residences, but we never saw seven notices. That ABC 6 report included claims from the city that it had reached out to customers more than half a dozen times. “George Zonders with the City of Columbus said anyone who has their water shut off for failure to schedule an EMP appointment has at least seven notifications between the initial invitation to schedule an appointment and actually shutting off the water. The policy for turn-offs prioritize the ability to turn them back on swiftly,” the report mentioned. “Columbus Water & Power’s turn-off policy for water prioritizes the customer’s ability to address the cause of the turn-off and, more importantly, get their water service restored either later that day or the next day at the latest. This means no turn-offs are done on Fridays or the day before a holiday since our offices are closed,” Zonders said. “Swiftly” is subjective. While we were later told that customers were contacted when their water was shut off, we found out by our water suddenly not turning on. This included sinks, showers, and the toilet tank. Thankfully, we had enough water bottles to use for washing and drinking, though our supply was depleted. We reached out to the department upon the water being turned off. We were on hold over the phone for hours. We were eventually told that the water would be turned on hopefully that day by 5 p.m., or the next day. We were without water service from Wednesday afternoon until late Thursday morning. Thankfully, we are fortunate to have family nearby who did have water. I sent email on Wednesday evening, after 5 p.m. had come and gone, and it was clear that our water wasn’t being restored that evening. The department got back to us via a call the following Tuesday, a full six days later. Despite our demands, the representative who spoke to us said that they would not be issuing credits. I have yet to uncover any press releases or social media posts from the city acknowledging the severe incompetence and poor decision-making. The last press release on the website is from June 23, “Columbus Water & Power Encourages Drinking Tap Water on National Hydration Day.” There have also been Facebook/Instagram posts since then, but there appear to be none about shutting off water. A post from June 30 shared department representatives at Impact’s Beat the Heat event. Many chimed in to reply taking issue with the new monthly billing system. Another, from July 6, expressed hope that residents enjoyed their Independence Day celebrations and advertised a smart thermostat. We reached out to the mayor’s office for a comment on the appropriateness of such a decision to force compliance during the heat wave, but did not hear back before publication. I lived in New York over a decade ago. It’s a distant memory, and I feel blessed to not be subject to Mamdani’s reign. Even in a red state, though, incompetent government, to the point of creating a dangerous situation, seems to be par for the course. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.