DeSantis's Disney feud is getting costly

Disney scraps roughly $1B campus amid DeSantis feud; Video footage shows Greece abandoning migrants.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Why Disney scrapped a $1 billion Florida project

 Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

• Disney on Thursday canceled plans to build a nearly $1 billion office complex in Florida, and relocate 2,000 employees, citing “changing business conditions.” [CNN / Allison Morrow and Natasha Chen]
• The decision is the latest salvo in a feud between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis that began last March after the company opposed Florida’s restrictions on elementary school discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. [Reuters / Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine]
• In February, Florida stripped Disney of special governing power over Walt Disney World and appointed DeSantis allies to replace its local governance board. [New York Times / Brooks Barnes]
• Disney then sued Florida, alleging DeSantis and other officials waged a “campaign of government retaliation” in violation of its right to free speech. [Associated Press]
• Disney’s scrapped plans have raised questions about DeSantis’s leadership on the national stage days before he’s expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid. [Vox / Nicole Narea]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox’s Ian Millhiser explains how Ron DeSantis’s attacks on Disney violate the company’s First Amendment rights. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

Greece pushes migrants back out to sea

• A New York Times investigation confirmed a video that shows the Greek Coast Guard abandoned 12 East African asylum seekers, including children and an infant, in Aegean waters on April 11. [NYT]
• An activist on the Greek island of Lesbos filmed masked men taking the migrants from a van and loading them onto a speedboat. The migrants were transferred to a Greek Coast Guard ship and left on an inflatable raft for Turkish authorities to rescue them. [Guardian / Helena Smith]
• The footage confirms allegations from journalists and human rights groups that Greece was participating in illegal “pushbacks,” which violate EU and international law. [Euronews / Giulia Carbonaro]
• The release comes ahead of Greek elections in which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has campaigned on hardline immigration policies. [Politico / Nektaria Stamouli]

Meta will reportedly begin another round of layoffs next week that could see thousands of employees lose their jobs as CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes his “year of efficiency.” [Vox / Shirin Ghaffary]

• New York City is sinking roughly 1-2 millimeters per year under the weight of its skyscrapers, while also facing flood risks from sea level rise, according to new research. [Guardian / Oliver Milman]
• The Arab League on Friday welcomed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to its summit 12 years after the bloc isolated him for Syrian civil war atrocities. [AP / Bassem Mroue]
• California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s deteriorating health is placing Democrats in a bind over the 89-year-old’s future in Congress. [Vox / Li Zhou]

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