Month: September 2025

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo have announced that they will work to phase out all childhood vaccine mandates in the state.

Ladapo declared at a press conference, “every single one of them. They’re all wrong,” which drew a standing ovation from the audience. Ladapo questioned the government’s authority to make personal health decisions, saying “who am I—or anyone else—to tell you what has to go into your body? Who am I to say what your child must take? That’s not my right.”

Ladapo described mandates as an “immoral” intrusion on people’s rights bordering on “slavery,” and hampers parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children. He said: “People have a right to make their own decisions, informed decisions. They don’t have the right to tell you what to put in your body. Take it away from them.”

The Florida Department of Health will move forward on this plan in coordination with the governor’s office, according to Ladapo, adding that the state Health Department can scrap its own rules for some vaccine mandates, but others would require action by the Florida Legislature.

Currently, Florida law requires children attending public schools to be vaccinated against several diseases, with those guidelines listed on the state health department’s website. Ladapo emphasized, however, that the state is not banning vaccines: “If you choose to get vaccinated, that’s your decision, and I hope it’s an informed one. If you choose not to, that’s also your decision. That’s how it should be.”

Gov. DeSantis also announced on Wednesday the creation of a state-level “Make America Healthy Again” commission modeled after similar initiatives launched at the federal level by President Trump, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The commission will be led by First Lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, with members including Ladapo, Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris, and Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch. According to DeSantis, the commission will “prioritize reforms that give Floridians more control over their health, cut red tape, hold bad actors accountable, and promote healthier lifestyles and innovation.”

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A New York judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors can present DNA evidence they say connects Rex Heuermann, the suspect accused of being the Gilgo Beach serial killer, to six of the seven women he is charged with murdering.

Suffolk County Judge Tim Mazzei made his ruling that prosecutors can use DNA evidence generated by Astrea Forensics in their case against Rex Heuermann. Astrea Forensics uses new techniques to analyze old and highly degraded DNA samples, like the ones collected from the bodies of the victims. Defense attorneys had fought to block the evidence, arguing that it was obtained through a relatively new method called whole genome sequencing, which had never before been admitted in a New York courtroom; however, prosecutors have said they have a trove of other evidence, including a “blueprint” for the killings and cellphone tracking data, that ties Heuermann to the case.

The defense quickly filed a motion on new grounds in an effort to block the evidence. saying the DNA evidence violates New York public health law that states a for-profit lab cannot submit evidence in criminal cases in the state. Prosecutors countered that the approach is rooted in widely recognized scientific principles. In filings ahead of previous court hearings, they said the defense request to dismiss the evidence should be denied because the method is “well established in the scientific community” and already applied in a range of forensic and research fields.

Heuermann, a New York City architect, was arrested in July 2023 and charged with the killings of three women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. Their bodies were among 10 found along Long Island’s Gilgo Beach when police set out in 2010 to search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old aspiring actress from New Jersey.

In 2024, Heuermann was charged with the killings of four more women: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack.  He has pleaded not guilty to killing seven women whose bodies were discovered on Long Island between 1993 and 2011, several of them along Gilgo Beach.

The defense had specifically sought to exclude DNA evidence from hairs recovered from six of the victims: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack. Investigators say they also discovered newspaper and magazine clippings about the Gilgo Beach murders inside his Massapequa Park home.

Prosecutors previously said that hairs found on some of the victims matched Heuermann’s family members through mitochondrial DNA testing, linking them to his wife and daughter. The defense is still awaiting a separate decision on its request to split the charges into multiple trials. Judge Mazzei said he expects to rule on that motion at the next hearing, scheduled for September 23.

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