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Group tours, what is a group tour.

We define a Group Tour as 10 or more prospective students visiting campus to learn more about the college experience and Florida State University's campus culture. Group Tour Experiences can vary depending on the size of the group and the date of the visit. To begin planning your group's visit to Florida State University, please read the Group Tour Request information below.

Request a Guided Group Tour

Please complete our Group Tour request form at least two weeks prior to your requested visit day and time. Once you have completed the form, you will receive an email confirming receipt of your request.

Based on the information provided on the Group Tour Request Form, we will determine our ability to accommodate your group at the date(s) and time(s) requested. We cannot guarantee your request will be approved but will include any relevant inquiries or additional options in our reply. Group Tours are approved on a first-come, first-served basis and may be restricted during peak visitation seasons. Please allow for 3-5 business days for processing of your request.

Resources for Groups Visiting Campus

All groups are welcome to visit campus. Below, we've provided a few resources you may find helping in planning your trip to Tallahassee.

Virtual Tour & Self-Guided Tour Options

Prior to your visit, we recommend exploring our online Virtual Tour . This desktop version of our self-guided tour makes it easy to explore the areas of campus you may want to see during your visit.

We also have a self-guided tour app which you can download for easy use on campus. Choose one of our premade tours or create a personalized tour based on your group's interests.

Our online campus map has a variety of features to help your group get around campus during your visit. Find Seminole Dining locations, labels for on-campus Housing, accessibility information, and more using the map's main menu.

Admissions Information

Our guided Group Tours do not include an Admission Information Session. The Office of Admissions offers both First-Year and Transfer Admission information sessions virtually. Registration for these events is available through our Virtual Tour registration calendar .

Admissions brochures are available at the Visitor Center. Groups can inquire about publication availability at the Visitor Center front desk upon check in. We also have digital publications available for easy access and sharing.

Bus Parking on Campus

Buses are welcome on campus however roads are narrow and access to the center of campus will not be possible by bus. The best place for unloading, loading, and parking a bus on campus is the University Center surrounding Doak Campbell Stadium. From here, groups can walk to their destination on campus. FSU is very pedestrian friendly allowing groups to access most areas of campus on foot within a 15 to 25-minute walk.

For detailed information regarding bus parking on campus, please visit our Group Tour Directions & Parking Information page .

On-Campus Dining Options

Our Seminole Dining website will help you learn more about restaurants and dining locations on campus. If you would like to make a reservation at one of our on-campus dining locations, please contact Erin McDonald with our Seminole Dining Office.

Seminole Dining [email protected] (850) 644-3663

Erin McDonald [email protected]

Seminole Dining is 100% cashless. Guests may use credit and debit cards, Apply Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay at dining locations on campus. Invoicing your school or organization is possible when reservations are made in advance through Seminole Dining.

Guest Wi-Fi

FSUGuest is a free, easy-access, public Wi-Fi to guests on FSU campuses. You'll find step by step instructions on how to connect to this network on our Information Technology Services website .

Please note that this network is to be used responsibly only to enhance your visit to campus. We have recently updated our campus policies for the use of Wi-Fi on campus.

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Florida State University Virtual Tour

Are you considering florida state university take a virtual tour of the campus below..

A visit to Florida State is ideal, but virtual tours can act to refresh your memory or as a preview for your on-site tour.

Why a Virtual Tour?

Inevitably, on-campus tours of classrooms, libraries, dorms, and dining halls will start to blend. Jog your memory using the virtual tour and even explore the area surrounding the campus using the interactive mapping tool. If you're just beginning your college search, a virtual tour can be a great way to get a feel for a campus before your visit. Remember, when you do go, be sure to ask current students about their college life. A student perspective can be the most helpful way to gauge your future experience at Florida State University.

Use the resources below to start your virtual tour.

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Click and drag the little orange person to a location on the map. Locations with panoramas appear as blue lines or blue dots when moving the orange person. The blue dots are panoramic views that you may swivel. The blue lines are paths that you can navigate along.

Panoramic View

You can "pan" or "swivel" the camera around by clicking on the image and dragging your mouse or finger. If you see a white arrow on the picture, you can click or tap on it to move in the direction of the arrow. This will also update the location of the little orange person on the map so you can get a better sense of where you are and what direction you are facing.

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Business | Money to harden your home? My Safe Florida Home…

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Business | Money to harden your home? My Safe Florida Home program is changing. Here’s how.

TALLAHASSEE — Good news for Florida homeowners: The popular state program that awards up to $10,000 to harden your home is being renewed this year, and it now includes condominiums.

But now, older and low-income homeowners are the priority.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday approved another $200 million for the My Safe Florida Home program, which was revived by state lawmakers in 2022.

He also signed legislation creating a pilot program expanding My Safe Florida Home to coastal condo owners.

In the last two years, the program has been so popular that funding has dried up quickly. Here’s how the program is changing, and when to apply for the money.

What’s My Safe Florida Home?

It’s a program designed to harden homes, saving homeowners (and insurance companies) from costly repairs after hurricanes and storms.

Applicants can get a free home inspection to identify ways to harden their houses and townhomes. They can also apply for a grant of up to $10,000 to upgrade windows, exterior doors and garage doors and strengthen roofs. (Townhomes are not eligible for roof upgrades.)

For every $1 a homeowner spends on qualifying upgrades, the state will provide $2, up to $10,000. It applies to homes valued up to $700,000 with homestead exemptions.

Since 2022, the state has conducted more than 104,000 home inspections and approved more than 38,000 grant applications, according to the Department of Financial Services, which administers the program.

DeSantis said the program has helped “stabilize and in some cases reduce insurance rates as a result of those improvements.”

Homeowners can apply online at mysafeflhome.com . The money often goes fast. The portal is currently closed because of demand, and July 1 is the next chance to apply.

Prioritizing older, low-income Floridians

Instead of a first-come, first-served program, lawmakers this year decided to prioritize older and lower-income homeowners.

Beginning July 1, applications will be staggered in 15-day increments, starting with low-income homeowners age 60 and older.

The law defines “low-income” as households making less than 80% of the median household income. The state couldn’t immediately say how it plans to calculate those income levels, but federal data shows it would be about $70,800 across the state.

The next phase is for “moderate-income” homeowners, defined as 120% of the median household income, or $106,300, according to federal data.

Here are the timelines for when to apply:

Low-income homeowners 60 and older: July 1–July 15

Low-income homeowners of any age: July 16–30

Moderate-income homeowners 60 and older: July 31–Aug. 14

Moderate-income homeowners of any age: Aug. 15–29

All other eligible Florida homeowners: Aug. 31

It’s not immediately clear how the state plans to enforce the age and income restrictions. Homeowners who have completed an inspection and are waiting for the grant portal to reopen should be hearing from the program about those requirements within the next 30 days, a spokesperson said.

Once the money runs out, the portal will be closed until more funding is assigned.

What about condominiums?

For the first time, lawmakers and DeSantis are extending the program to condo owners, who have struggled to afford new inspection and maintenance costs required after the 2021 Surfside collapse.

The My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program will function differently than the homeowner program.

Instead of individual owners applying for inspections and grants, the condo association or board will have to vote to apply. The program only applies to condos within 15 miles of the coastline.

The condo grants can apply to upgrading exterior doors, garage doors, windows and skylights and strengthening roofs.

Like the home program, the condo program also matches $2 in state money for every $1 owners spend. But it has more restrictions on how much money can go to specific upgrades. The total grant award is up to $175,000 per association. More details can be found in the legislation, HB 1029.

Since it’s a pilot program, funding is limited.

Legislators have assigned $27.6 million for grants, which should go fast. If successful, the program could be expanded in future years.

“I think it is going to work, but we will see as we get into that,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Redington Shores on Wednesday.

Times/Herald staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.

©2024 Tampa Bay Times. Visit tampabay.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Campus Visits

Campus tours are offered on weekdays throughout each semester excluding holidays and some blackout dates. If you would like to visit in the spring, particularly during the months of March and April, please schedule well in advance as these dates fill up quickly.

• Schedule Your FAMU Campus Visit Today! Campus tours are offered on weekdays throughout each semester excluding holidays and some blackout dates. If you would like to visit in the spring, particularly during the months of March and April, please schedule well in advance as these dates fill up quickly.

• Schedule An Engineering Campus Visit Today! The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering was established as a joint program serving two universities in Tallahassee, Florida: The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and The Florida State University. The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is situated in Innovation Park approximately three miles between the campuses of the two universities it serves. If you would like to visit the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, you must schedule a separate tour.

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New citizen oversight board legislation enacted to support police, 'worrisome' to critics

Public safety experts and advocates for law enforcement transparency are expressing concern over two pieces of new legislation — bills HB 601 and SB 184 — written to support Florida’s law enforcement but that critics worry will erode the public’s ability to hold police agencies accountable after HB 601 takes effect July 1. 

The pushback grew louder with the April 12 signing of the bills by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in St. Augustine as both critics and public officials from across the state spoke to the Herald-Tribune  about what the new citizen oversight board legislation could mean to communities and how restricting oversight committees could weaken public safety.  

The citizen oversight board legislation ( HB 601 ) is set to impose limitations on the powers of these committees. After July 1, “county sheriff or chief of a municipal police department may establish a civilian oversight board to review the policies and procedures,” the bill reads. 

ICYMI: DeSantis signs bills limiting police review boards, creating buffer for first responders

Essentially, HB 601 would limit what citizen police oversight boards can do, including investigating complaints of officer misconduct. The bill would require these citizen-led panels to be re-established under county sheriffs and municipal police chiefs. Law enforcement administrators will be tasked with appointing members of law enforcement to newly established review boards. They will soon be able to review cases of alleged misconduct within their agencies. 

The forthcoming change has ignited a wave of criticism from community leaders, who say the legislation will undermine transparency and accountability efforts. However, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Mark Glass backed DeSantis's bill, adding that police are already held accountable by the FDLE and agencies' internal affairs departments. 

"These men and women do not need to be scrutinized again and again by a committee that has no idea what they're talking about," Glass said at the press conference after the signing. 

Critics around the state, however, are refuting the FDLE commissioners' comments. 

Oversight leaders speak out

In Miami, approximately 2,000 Miami Police Department officers work under the watchful eye of the city of Miami's Civilian Investigation Panel (CIP). The oversight panel is led by Executive Director Rodney Jacobs, a former military intelligence officer for the United States Army Reserve, lawyer, and adjunct professor. He’s worked in the oversight industry for a decade and took over the Miami CIP in 2022. 

Jacobs has followed the recent HB 601 legislation and criticized the bill and lawmakers last week .  

“It's unfortunate that they’ve taken the approach they have. There is a large misconception about officers being critiqued, but we simply do our investigation. We don’t have the power to discipline police officers,” Jacobs explained.  

“I understand the police officer's sentiments. In some other agencies, it happens. Agencies can get co-opted by bad actors and it can be vicious ... but just because there may be a few bad actors in one part of Florida that doesn't mean that the whole state should be punished.” 

Miami’s CIP is the leading oversight entity in the state, Jacobs said. Beyond reviewing complaints, Jacobs and his team service Miami-Dade's 500,000 citizens through its first-of-its-kind community police mediation program, investigations, audits, and review services. The CIP also provides standard operating procedures for smaller agencies within the Sunshine State. 

“Right now, we're still reviewing the law and figuring out how it affects us. In some ways it, maybe, affects our ability to do investigations, but we still will likely have the ability to audit cases,” Jacobs said. 

The investigation panel was enacted in 2000 via a local vote following a string of violent crimes around lower-income communities in central Miami. At the time, the panel was heavily supported by the city's Cuban-American voters, in addition to its Black citizens, f ollowing a federal indictment of 13 Miami officers who planted weapons at a crime scene involving the police shooting of a Black man and mistreatment of Cuban residents by local police.

Previous coverage: Trial begins for officers accused of planting guns

Initially, the city's CIP was created to investigate police officers' misconduct; however, over the past 25 years, Miami's CIP has become a prototype for Florida law enforcement accountability efforts. 

Sarasota law enforcement and leaders lean optimistic

Sarasota’s police department runs a high-visibility agency that has worked to build trust between the agency and citizens over the past several years through its many community engagement initiatives .  

The agency has two separate entities that provide oversight for complaints against the SPD or its 190 sworn officers— the Police Complaint Committee (PCC) and the city’s Independent Police Advisory Panel (IPAP). 

Sarasota’s PCC serves as an independent oversight component and assists the chief of police with the policies, practices, and procedures concerning the processing of complaints against SPD police officers.  

The IPAP was formed in 2011 and consists of five civilian volunteers appointed by the City Commission. Its main goal is to build transparency and accountability for the community to boost the public’s overall trust in the law enforcement agency and its administration. 

Maintaining transparency and accountability for its officers and the agency is vital to the agency, its leaders say, and the new bill will take some navigating, Sarasota city officials admitted at an IPAP meeting on April 19. However, SPD staying on the right side of legislators and aligning with HB 601 is a priority for the city’s leaders.  

“We don’t want to run afoul of the new law,” said Assistant City Attorney Joe Polzak. “That’ll be our primary consideration, following the law.” 

A 20-year veteran of the Sarasota Police Department, now deputy city manager Pat Robinson, echoed Polzak's statement and said he was confident that city leaders would want to maintain both the PPC and IPAP. However, city leaders, including the city attorney, SPD Chief Rex Troche, and PCC director Heather Salazman, are working on reviewing the legislation’s effects before it becomes law in the state on July 1. 

"I can assure you that our commission is very interested in maintaining what we have, and we're going to see if we can work through the law to see if we can maintain both of our boards,” said Robinson.  

Robinson said during a recent IPAP meeting at City Hall that the makeup of the advisory panel may change but that he believes it will stay intact following the July 1 legislative change. 

“The challenge at this point is what will happen at the PCC and how that comes out, but I do not see this going away.  We're definitely going to work through it and we're going to make sure that it's legislative and statutorily sound before we make a determination.” 

In an interview, Trevor Harvey, president of the Sarasota County Chapter of the NAACP, spoke candidly about his concerns with HB 601. Harvey noted the efforts by SPD in the city’s historically Black neighborhood of Newtown, along with a strong relationship with SPD’s Chief Rex Troche. 

Harvey’s concerns, he said, are more about the high-level legislation than the local agency’s efforts to serve effectively its community members. 

“This is a bad decision (of) Florida government ... what it does is pull that connection or relationship with accountability away from the community. Law enforcement will now police law enforcement and that’s the kind of thing we’ve been trying to get away from,” he said.  

“I just feel, based on what I personally know about the individuals in the city, the stakeholders, I think they're going to make sure that the door is open for us to remain at the table. If not, I know I will be the first one in line to be saying ‘Hey, this isn’t right. You all have to keep us at this table.’” 

Biden to speak about abortion in Tampa. Everything to know about Florida’s abortion laws

President Joe Biden will be in Tampa on Tuesday, April 23, to talk about the increasingly restrictive abortion bans in Florida and other GOP-led states. Meanwhile, his opponent in this year's presidential race is on trial in a New York City courtroom over whether he falsified business records to hide a hush money payment to porn star  Stormy Daniels  ahead of the 2016 election.

Biden's campaign, coming to former President Donald Trump's backyard this way, may be taking advantage of a perceived weakness in Trump's attempt to regularly take credit at his rallies for Roe v. Wade getting struck down while trying to avoid the backlash to abortion bans that GOP candidates have received in races since then. But he'll also be taking on Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis signed Florida's 15-week abortion ban in 2022. Then, while it was challenged and ultimately pushed to the state Supreme Court for a decision, he signed a 6-week ban passed by the Florida Legislature last year.

When the Florida Supreme Court ruled the 15-week ban was constitutional , overruling 34 years of precedent that had held that a privacy provision in the state constitution protected a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, the more restrictive 6-week ban was triggered.

"When Florida’s ban takes effect, it will severely restrict reproductive health care access across the entire Southeastern United States, including neighboring battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina," Biden Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo released Tuesday, adding: "Many women in the Southeast desperately in need of care will have to drive for a day or more to reach the closest clinic."

When the 6-week ban goes into effect, nearly all abortions after six weeks will be illegal in Florida. But, six months later, voters will have the chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to bring Florida's abortion laws back closer to what they were when Roe v. Wade was still in force.

Florida abortion rulings: A win for both sides, but voters have last say with Amendment 4

What were Florida's abortion laws before?

Before the 15-week ban, the Roe v. Wade standard had applied across the country for decades. Abortions were legal:

• To the end of the first trimester (up to 12 weeks) for any reason
• During the second trimester (up to 24 weeks) to protect the health of the pregnant person
• During the third trimester if necessary to preserve the pregnant person's life or health

A full-term pregnancy is considered to be 39-40 weeks.

Protection for abortion travelers: Biden's new HIPAA rule shields medical records for out-of-state abortions

What abortions are legal in Florida now?

At the moment, abortions are legal in Florida up to 15 weeks and illegal after that .

The only exceptions are if carrying the pregnancy to term would result in serious injury or death for the pregnant person or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. Two physicians must certify, in writing, that one of those conditions warrants the procedure. The physicians risk penalties for doing so. There are no exceptions for rape, incest, trafficking or mental health .

The 2022 law also redefined "gestation" from "between fertilization and birth" to "as calculated from the first day of the pregnant woman's last menstrual period."

Abortions in Florida: Now that Roe v. Wade is gone, here's what's legal and what's not

How many people got abortions in 2023? New report finds increase despite bans

Does Florida have a waiting period for abortions?

Yes. As of April 2022 , the state requires anyone seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours after an initial doctor’s visit before returning to undergo the procedure.

What does the Florida 6-week abortion ban do?

Under the new law, all abortions (with a few exceptions) would be illegal in the state of Florida after a "physician determines the gestational age of the fetus is more than 6 weeks," a time when many pregnant people don't yet know they're pregnant. People may have as little as two weeks after missing a period to find out and get both appointments at the state's overworked clinics, which leaves an extremely narrow window for a pregnant person in a potentially traumatic situation to take action.

However, while the law reduces the amount of time pregnant people have to get an abortion, it does provide some exemptions for rape and incest that the 15-week ban lacked, something that drew criticism even from some supporters.

When do most people find out they're pregnant?

According to a  2021 study from ANSIRH  (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health) at the University of California San Francisco, about one in three people confirm their pregnancies after six weeks, and one in five after seven weeks.

"Later confirmation of pregnancy is even higher among young people, people of color, and those living with food insecurity," the study's summary said, "suggesting that gestational bans on abortion in the first trimester will disproportionally hurt these populations."

Does Florida's 6-week abortion law include exemptions for danger to the mother?

Yes, but only for extreme cases. Two physicians must certify, in writing, that in their judgment an abortion is necessary "to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function." One physician may certify it if another is unavailable at the time.

This requires physicians willing to risk possible fines, loss of license and even imprisonment to go on record against oversight committees and the state. Attempts by Democrats to  clarify the conditions  under which a physician may make that call without risking their medical license were struck down.

Does the 6-week abortion ban in Florida include exemptions for a fetus that has died or is going to die?

Yes. If two physicians have certified in writing that in reasonable medical judgment, the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality, the pregnancy may be terminated. However, the bill included new language requiring that the pregnancy must not have "progressed to the third trimester," which could be interpreted to mean that abortions for fatal fetal abnormalities are banned after 27 weeks.

Does the 6-week abortion ban in Florida include exemptions for rape or incest?

Abortions are permitted in the case of rape, incest or human trafficking but only up to 15 weeks, and only if the pregnant person has copies of "a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation" to provide evidence that they are a victim of rape or incest.

If the pregnant person is a minor, the physician must report the incident of rape or incest to the central abuse hotline.

Abortion rights battle: Abortion rights inspire these young voters like no other issue. How they're fighting ahead of 2024.

Does the 6-week abortion ban in Florida ban abortion pills?

For anyone except licensed doctors administering them to you in person, yes.

So-called "abortion pills" — actually two pills, mifepristone and misoprostol , taken up to 48 hours apart — which cause a person’s cervix to dilate and their uterus to contract, emptying the embryo from the person’s uterus, have dramatically risen in popularity in the last few years both for the relative convenience compared to surgical abortions and to get around abortion bans. Access to them has been challenged and will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court .

The 6-week abortion law clearly states that abortions may only be performed by a physician in the same room.  Telehealth sessions are specifically banned.

Can I go to jail for getting an abortion after 6 weeks in Florida?

Anyone willfully performing or actively helping someone get an abortion outside of the restrictions will be committing a third-degree felony, punishable by fines and imprisonment of five years. It is unclear if the pregnant person is also liable.

When does Florida's 6-week abortion ban go into effect?

May 1, 2024, 30 days after the Florida Supreme Court's ruling.

What would Amendment 4, Florida's abortion amendment do?

The proposed amendment submitted by Floridians Protecting Freedom that will appear on November's ballot reads:

“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

Fetal viability has been put at about 24 weeks.

For the amendment to pass it must win by a supermajority, or at least 60% of the vote. According to an exclusive USA TODAY/Ipsos poll of more than 1,000 Floridians, half said they would vote in favor.

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A year later, Florida businesses say the state's immigration law dealt a huge blow

PLANT CITY, Fla. — It's early morning in this small agricultural town in Central Florida and the pickers are already hunched over the bushes, plucking strawberries, the main crop out here.

Fidel Sanchez instructs his workers to get rid of the fruit that fell and rotted on the ground.

There's a lot of it.

Like other farmers out here, Sanchez is worried about how long he will be able to keep his business going.

About a year ago, Florida Governor and then presidential candidate Ron DeSantis passed one of the toughest crackdowns on immigration in the country.

SB1718 punishes employers who use undocumented labor and forbids undocumented people from having a driver's license.

Many local Florida businesses say the new law has led to workers leaving the state, hurting their bottom line. "A lot of people are scared," says Sanchez. "A lot of people went north and never came back. "

The Federal government estimates that nationwide over 40% of farmworkers are undocumented.

Sanchez says the effect of the law was immediate.

Families he'd worked with for 20 or 30 years were gone from one day to the next. "The government doesn't seem to care," he says. "Maybe they think the crops are gonna pick themselves."

The Florida Policy Institute estimates this immigration law could cost the state's economy $12.6 billion in its first year. That's not counting the loss of tax revenue.

A spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told NPR, "Governor DeSantis signed the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration law in the country to protect Floridians." They also stated that Florida can "still maintain a robust economy."

Ron Hetrick, a senior economist at Lightcast , a labor market analytics company says the problem is the state has a serious labor shortage.

The Pew Research Center estimates there are close to one million undocumented people .

Even if just a fraction of them were to leave, Hetrick says, "how do these cities get built? How do the houses get built? We all know very well how these things are being built."

Hetrick says what Florida is facing is symbolic of the larger reality in the country — where there is an aging population and politicians framing immigration as a threat rather than fixing a broken system.

"The future ... if you look at census projection for the growth of this country, once this boomer population goes through in the next, you know, 15 years ... without immigration, we shrink."

A spokesperson for DeSantis told NPR that businesses are still free to hire immigrants, as long as it's done legally.

In 2023 Florida hired thousands more H-2A guest workers than the year before. But farmers NPR spoke to said the bureaucracy, and the cost of applying for these work permits, is crippling. There have also been widespread reports of lack of oversight and exploitation of H2A workers.

"The H-2A system is absolutely broken," says Gary Wishnatzki, head of Wish Farms, also in Plant City.

This is one of the largest strawberry growers in the nation. His field harvesters in Florida are on H-2A visas.

"It's the only means of getting workers at the farm right now", says Wishnatzki. "But it's totally outdated."

Even for a company as large as it is, the cost has become crushing, he says.

It has to pay a recruitment company, visa fees, housing workers, pay for meals, and transportation.

Unless something changes soon, he says, "berries are going to become an item that's going to be a luxury, not something people buy every time they go to the grocery store like they do now."

The shortage of workers is not just impacting agriculture.

NPR spoke to hoteliers, construction business owners, and restauranteurs who said Florida's labor shortage, combined with arthritic national immigration policies, is hurting the bottom line.

"Years ago, you'd put an ad in a newspaper, you'd have you'd have a bunch of applications filled out. You'd have people lined up outside your door," says David Crowther, owner of CFS Roofing Services in Fort Myers.

Because Florida is in the path of hurricanes, roofing is in high demand here. In recent years, Fort Myers has been especially hard hit and Crowther says it's been a challenge to find workers at all levels, from management to roofers.

Crowther's company lost about 10 percent of its workers after Florida passed the SB1718 immigration bill in 2023. These workers were scared for the safety of their undocumented family members, he says.

Crowther says if he could hire more immigrant labor, it would ultimately trickle down into more jobs for American workers.

"If I knew I could get an unlimited supply of labor, I then would start hiring estimators and salesmen over to start promoting more work. It's a domino effect."

Crowther, along with the National Roofing Contractors Association, has been petitioning for an expansion of the H2B program, which provides temporary non-agricultural visas.

Crowther says business is good. But it could be so much better if only he could find more workers.

For others in Florida, SB1718 brought a hard hit and threw the labor market into turmoil.

The law created a climate of fear that many had no option but to leave the state.

A few miles north, at a fruit market, a woman sitting in the cool shade of her fruit stand says, she dreams of leaving.

Ana Maria Perez got to Florida 20 years ago, but things have changed.

As a Latina and a business owner, she says it makes no sense to stay.

"It's real," she says. "Farms don't have the workforce they used to. So now the cost of fruit rose for us."

Perez started as a fruit picker when she came from Mexico. She says it was physically exhausting, so she stopped after she became a legal resident.

The fruit stand was supposed to be a step up, but once the law went into effect, "you should've seen it. The mangos and mameys falling to the ground. No one to pick."

Perez says next year, when her kid graduates college, she's planning to leave Florida. She's done. She shakes her head and gets back to packing some limes.

"We all lost out here," she says. "We all lost." `

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

FSU vs ACC lawsuit returns to Florida court. What's the case about? Here's what to know

It's back to court Monday for the case of Florida State vs. the ACC .

Will this give FSU what it needs to leave for the Big Ten or SEC ?

The two contentious parties have been at each other for a while now. The Seminoles , upset with the conference and its money issues for years, sued the ACC in December over its media rights deal and the exorbitant penalty they said it would cost to jump ship. The league countersued in North Carolina, where a judge ruled last week that the case could proceed . Now Clemson and ESPN have gotten involved, too.

The FSU-ACC fight returns to Leon County court after their first hearing April 8 . Here's what you need to know about the ongoing legal case and what it means for college football.

WATCH LIVE: FSU vs ACC lawsuit heads back to Leon County court

Why is FSU leaving the ACC?

For years, Florida State leaders have been vocal in their displeasure over the conference's revenue sharing plan. Most complaints circle around the ACC's TV contract with ESPN, which extends through 2036 even as  the network makes substantial cuts . The Big Ten signed a seven-year,  $8 billion deal  to air games between  Fox, CBS and NBC  that went into effect last season. For the 2024 season, the SEC starts a 10-year,  $3 billion deal  to move from  CBS to ESPN .

Those deals include huge payouts for the schools. Florida coach Billy Napier said projections show each SEC school would get millions more from the new deal, rising from $55 million to  potentially more than $70 million . FSU athletic director Michael Alford said Big Ten schools will receive about $80 million each year from its TV contract, whereas  FSU currently receives $42 million .

What happened in FSU-ACC lawsuit last time? What's happening today?

Judge John Cooper denied the ACC's motion to stay FSU's lawsuit in Florida. He called the ACC's pre-emptive countersuit in North Carolina a form of "forum shopping," adding the case should be a concern at the state level for every state with a school in the conference.

Cooper is expected to hand down his decision Monday.

Are Florida State and Clemson leaving the ACC? Are they joining the Big Ten?

The final straw for Florida State might have been the FSU football team going undefeated and winning the ACC championship but still being left out of the College Football Playoff. Outrage from all over Florida ( and beyond ) started immediately after the CFP announcement December 3, and on December 22, the FSU Board of Trustees voted to sue the conference over its media right deal.

Clemson entered the mix in March with its own lawsuit against the ACC. Both schools show intent on exiting the ACC, with FSU stating it outright in a filing March 27. While the two could leap to either the Big Ten or the ACC, it's the Big Ten that seems to constantly circulate in the rumor mill for the Seminoles. Nothing is official yet, however.

Is FSU suing ACC over exit fee?

FSU's biggest contention  with the conference is over its  grant of rights , the media deal that all schools within a conference have to sign. The restrictive deal lasts until 2036, and the proceeds Florida State gets from it pales in comparison to its rivals in the  Big Ten and SEC  after their latest blockbuster TV deals.

By signing the grant of rights in 2013, schools agreed to transfer their media rights through the end of the contract, regardless of whether they are still in the ACC. "That means FSU or any other school looking to jump ship would not receive annual revenue distributions from the ACC or their new conference for more than a decade,"  explained Brooks Holton of the Louisville Courier-Journal .

The school amended its lawsuit January 29, alleging  former ACC commissioner John Swofford  cost member schools $82 million per year because of the conference's deal with regional sports network Raycom, for which his son Chad Swofford is an executive. John Swofford played a key role in launching the ACC Network in 2019.

How much will it cost Florida State to leave the ACC?

FSU said when it announced its lawsuit that breaking the grant of rights deal would cost $572 million . Here's what Florida State's lawyers said they were charging about the contract:

• It violates Florida law.
• There's an unenforceable penalty on the grant of rights penalty. Ashburn said the court can invalidate the fee or set a new, smaller fee for an exit.
• It's a breach of contract. "So first and foremost, the ACC has failed to appropriately give FSU the value of its athletic program media rights back being diluted those agreements those rights going forward," Ashburn said.
• It breaches fiduciary duty. "It tracks in many respects the contractual obligations and the ACC does have fiduciary duties to its members."
• There's a fundamental failure of contractual purpose.
• There's unconscionability and violation of public policy.

Who is the judge overseeing FSU-ACC lawsuit in Florida?

Circuit Judge John C. Cooper will be presiding over the Florida State vs. ACC lawsuit in Leon County court. In 2021, Cooper ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis' executive order that public schools could not mandate masks during the COVID pandemic, a decision later overturned by an appellate court.

Cooper earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Florida State in the 1970s.

What part does ESPN play in the FSU vs. ACC lawsuit?

The day before FSU announced its lawsuit in Leon County, the ACC filed its own in Charlotte, North Carolina. On February 22, ESPN filed a motion of support for the conference in that case, saying the grant of right deal contains  "textbook trade secrets"  and that publicly disclosing the terms of the media deal would be "destabilizing and harmful."

ESPN came out hot, calling itself "the Worldwide Leader in Sports" in the opening sentence and claiming the details of the agreement between the network and the ACC should remain sealed. FSU has argued that the figures should be released as it tries to break off the deal set to expire in 2036.

What happened with the FSU-ACC lawsuit in North Carolina?

The ACC's lawsuit  filed December 21 against FSU claims that "Florida State explicitly agreed that it would not 'take any action, or permit any action to be taken by others subject to its control ... that would affect the validity and enforcement' of the Grant of Rights." Florida State filed a motion to dismiss the case , saying the ACC's suit was premature and did not come with the required vote of member schools.

On Thursday, April 4, Judge Louis A. Bledsoe ruled the North Carolina case could proceed and also denied FSU's motion to stay the case. He did rule in favor of FSU on one count, dismissing the ACC's claims that the school breached its fiduciary duties to the conference.

Why is Clemson leaving the ACC?

On March 19, Clemson filed its own lawsuit against the ACC in Pickens County, South Carolina, taking aim at the ACC's claim that it "irrevocably owns the media rights of member institutions to home games played through 2036, even if an institution ceases to being a member" and "paying an exorbitant $140 million penalty to leave the conference, where members owe the conference fiduciary duties."

The ACC countersued Clemson the following day in North Carolina, similar to what happened in the FSU case. The Clemson-ACC case remains on hold, likely until Florida State's lawsuit plays out.

When can Florida State leave the ACC?

That depends on the outcome of the dueling cases in Florida and North Carolina. If FSU can get out of the grant of rights deal without penalty, the Seminoles could start immediately looking for a new conference, either the Big Ten or SEC.

That could happen as early as 2025 if everything goes quickly enough. Last year, a host of teams announced they would leave the Pac-12 for various conferences, including Stanford and California to the ACC. Those changes are set to take effect August 1, 2024.

When did FSU join the ACC?

Florida State was an independent team until 1990, when it agreed to become the ninth school to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Under coach Bobby Bowden, the FSU football team instantly became the class of the ACC, which until then had been known as strictly a basketball conference.

In 1992, their first season as an official member, the Seminoles went 11-1 and finished No. 2 in the AP poll. The following season, they went 12-1 and won the national championship. Florida State won its first 29 conference games, finally falling at Virginia on Nov. 2, 1995.

Why did FSU join the ACC? Why didn't Florida State join the SEC?

For decades before joining the ACC, Florida State had wanted to join the college football powerhouse known as the Southeastern Conference. In 1990, it finally had its chance during a major nationwide upheaval across the college football landscape. Penn State became the 11th school in the Big Ten; the Southwest Conference was years away from merging with the Big 8 to form the Big 12; and the ACC, SEC and Big East were all looking to add teams, as well.

But FSU opted instead for the ACC. The official reason may have been academics, but Bobby Bowden told Paul Finebaum in 2015 that he felt "it was too difficult to win through the SEC to win a national championship." He also said to 247Sports in 2019 that he thought FSU would choose the SEC but "the administration — the president and others — wanted the ACC, which really was better for us. It would have been hard wading through that SEC.

In-state rival Miami would then join the Big East before joining the Seminoles in the ACC for the 2004 season.

Tallahassee Democrat sports editor Jim Henry and Florida State rep