REEDY CREEK IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

As DeSantis prepares to run for president, Disney is likely to follow him in the campaign too, and the feud may influence how people see him.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has thrown the latest punch in his ongoing feud with Florida's largest employer, Walt Disney World, by signing a bill aimed at voiding the former Reedy Creek Improvement District's development deal with the theme park and media giant.

Despite tensions between the Walt Disney Company and Florida’s governor, Disney’s CEO says he would be glad to meet with Governor Ron DeSantis and hash out their differences.

It was an emotional start during the first meeting of the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District—the newly renamed Reedy Creek Improvement District—Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his appointment of five members to the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, formerly the Reedy Creek District.

As Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to reinstate and modify the special district that provides some government services to the Walt Disney World resort, two separate Disney-controlled municipalities continue to operate using governmental powers the state granted them more than five decades ago.

Florida House Lawmakers in Tallahassee passed a bill Thursday that will change the governing body that runs Walt Disney World property in the latest chapter of the fight between Florida Gov. DeSantis and Walt Disney World.

The Florida House is ready to take up a proposal that would shift control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and give it a new name.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District board met amid a special session that could give Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis control over the Disney district.

Disney’s government in Florida has been the envy of any private business, with its unprecedented powers in deciding what to build and how to build it at Walt Disney World.

Florida lawmakers are meeting to complete a state takeover of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district and expand a migrant relocation program.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could take control over the board of a special governing district Walt Disney World operates over its theme parks in the state.

Florida’s lawmakers will go to Tallahassee next week for a special session to handle a number of issues, including reforming Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The Florida Legislature will get Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to remake the special taxing district for Walt Disney World in the upcoming legislative session, according to a notice filed in Osceola County.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office on Friday pushed back against a published report that claimed state lawmakers were working to reinstate Disney’s own government.

Less than 11 months before the Reedy Creek Improvement District is scheduled to be abolished, there are still no announced plans to replace any of the governmental services the special taxing district currently provides to the Walt Disney World resort property.

You likely know John Morgan from billboards across Florida or from his commercials featuring the popular tagline "For The People."

The man who deemed the recent fight between Disney and Florida politicians “like a really ugly middle school ugly middle school break up” sat down to talk with Florida’s Fourth Estate hosts Ginger Gadsden and Matt Austin about the Reedy Creek Improvement District debacle.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to hold a news conference Tuesday at the University of Miami Health System.

Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated his promise that Florida's taxpayers will not take on Walt Disney World's debt when and if the Reedy Creek Improvement District dissolves in 2023, teasing that he may have some legislative measures in place to prevent that from happening.

While the company touted its gains to investors, it did not say anything about the dismantling of the special district that governs Walt Disney World.

Democratic state lawmakers are set to hold a news conference Monday morning to address the new Florida law which will dissolve six special districts in the state, including the Reedy Creek Improvement District which allows Walt Disney World to self-govern.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubles down on Disney paying taxes.

Christina Pushaw said Disney would pay its fair share of taxes, no Floridians would be “on the hook” and a plan would be made available in the next few weeks.

The Board of Supervisors for Reedy Creek will meet for the first time since the state legislature voted to strip Disney of its self-governing power.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has called a second special legislative session, this time with the goal to address Florida's property insurance crisis which has seen many homeowners lose their insurance or see their premiums skyrocket.

If dissolved, the Reedy Creek Improvement District's debt obligations, revenues and responsibilities would be transferred to Osceola and Orange counties and the small cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that eliminates special districts created before 1968, including Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District.

The Florida Legislature has passed a bill to dissolve a private government controlled by Disney that provides municipal-like services for its 27,000 acres in the Sunshine State.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday held a news conference at Destin Harbor Boardwalk in Okaloosa County to highlight an upcoming 57-day Gulf red snapper fishing season in Florida.

The Florida Senate already approved the special district bill on a largely party-line vote Wednesday, with one Republican joining all Democrats against the bill.

Dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District would be a financial burden on the county, according to Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph.

The idea was presented to Florida lawmakers in a movie house outside Orlando 55 years ago: Let Disney form its own government and in exchange it would create a futuristic city of tomorrow.

The Florida Senate voted Wednesday to eliminate Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, alongside districts populated by Black Democrats, backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed redistricting plan.

Mayor Jerry Demings said leaders in Orange County are closely watching developments in Tallahassee after Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would strip Walt Disney World of its special governing powers.

A new piece of legislation could see the Reedy Creek Improvement District, along with five other special districts, dissolved if it passes.

The bill falls in line with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to expand the redistricting special session to include the special districts bill.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday the state legislature would be taking up a bill during their special session that would look to dissolve six special districts in the state, including the Reedy Creek Improvement District which governs Walt Disney World.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking the Legislature to repeal a law allowing Walt Disney World to operate a private government over its properties in the state.

News 6 political expert Jim Clark weighs in on a special session in Florida that could do away with the Reedy Creek District at Disney World.

Florida lawmakers currently debating congressional maps proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in a special session will now also consider getting rid of special districts enacted before 1968, which includes Disney’s Reedy Creek district, the governor announced Tuesday at a news conference in The Villages.

The rights of Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney's own government, are now being discussed among some Florida lawmakers following controversy surrounding the company's response to Gov. DeSantis' "Don't Say Gay" bill.

A Reedy Creek representative said the timeline for Grants illness doesnt fall into the accepted CDC guideline of two to 17 days because he started showing symptoms 24 hours after contact with the paramedics. The Reedy Creek communications manager told News 6, We did pull all the EMS reports from June 23 (a week prior to the first person showing symptoms). Reedy Creek paramedics Steven Provost and Brian Astleford were on the June 29 call to Disney Springs and tested positive for the coronavirus four days later. Were on the front lines dealing with COVID everyday, Grant told News 6. They are a lot of employers in Florida simply saying you cant prove you contracted this disease on the job.

ORLANDO, Fla. First responders with the Reedy Creek Improvement District have launched a legal battle to collect workers compensation benefits after being tested and diagnosed with COVID-19. Michael Grant, a paramedic with Reedy Creek since 2018, tested positive with the virus on the job on July 3 and quarantined at home for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended 14 days. I have a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old and obviously they were my biggest concern.Before working with Reedy Creek, Grant worked for the city of Palm Coast and the Seminole County Fire Department. Records confirm he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on July 3, one day after he was on his shift with Reedy Creek. Despite his contention that he was infected on the job, he was denied workers compensation benefits and because of a unique policy, was forced to use his own personal sick leave.

For the second year in a row, the agency that provides governmental services to Walt Disney World's property has approved a multi-million dollar spending increase to hire Orange County sheriff's deputies.

Federal prosecutors now confirm that Mateen was also considering an attack at the resort’s Disney Springs entertainment district, which was formerly known as Downtown Disney. The government believes Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, assisted her husband in carrying out the terror attack at Pulse nightclub. A News 6 investigation recently revealed an unprecedented surge in outside law enforcement presence at Walt Disney World. The Reedy Creek Improvement District has allocated $5.6 million to pay for off-duty deputies throughout the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. That new budget nearly quadruples the $1.5 million the Disney-controlled government allocated for off-duty deputies annually from 2011 through 2016.

Shortly before visitors arriving at Walt Disney World caught their first glimpse of Cinderella Castle last week, their parking lot tram passed several marked Orange County Sheriff patrol cars.

DISNEY SPRINGS, Fla. – Firefighters and emergency service providers working for Reedy Creek Improvement District, protested a stalled contract negotiations Sunday by picketing at the Disney Springs reopening. "The new parking garage built for Disney Springs by the Reedy Creek government cost much more than treating their employees fairly," said Tim Stromsnes, president of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association. Stromsnes heads the labor association representing the firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, and fire inspectors who provide fire protection and emergency medical services for all Disney owned properties, including the parks and resorts. "If the Disney owned government does not want to work with us, they can impose the contract they want on us with no repercussions from actual voters." Disney World controls around 17,000 votes on its own, well over the 50 percent threshold to win any election.