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The independent voice for West Orange County news
When you're in the thick of child-rearing, folks are fond of saying that the days are long, but the years are short. And so it is with news publishing. 2025 flew by in an instant. Yet so much happened during our very long days of reporting, writing and editing.
There was the inauguration of a new president. New policies that impacted the undocumented and unsheltered. A municipal election in Ocoee and a special election in West Orange County that filled the state senate seat after we lost a titan of civil rights and social justice. And there was a herculean effort to redraw the Orange County map for greater representation, which ultimately left our corner of West Orange largely untouched.
As we at VoxPopuli looked back over our coverage for the year, these were the stories that captured key moments in the zeitgeist, explaining complex issues, exposing wrongdoing and charting the ongoing evolution of the place that we live, work and play.
Did your favorite story not make the list? Email info@wintergardenvox.com and tell us which of our stories resonated with you.
15 Minutes With … Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Paul Offit
As Florida pushes forward with the idea of lifting vaccine mandates for school entry, VoxPopuli called on pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Paul Offit to explain how Americans came to mistrust vaccine science and what the future could look like.
Tuan Le’s restaurant chain left trail of evictions, unpaid bills, tax liens, health code violations
Handpicked to run in the special election for State Senate District 15, the Apopka entrepreneur finds that opening businesses is easy. Running them is hard.
Liberty and justice for me but not for thee
Harassment of journalists for doing their jobs has been increasing, but we did not expect this unprovoked salvo from the Winter Garden mayor’s wife.
Why the CROWN Act needs to pass
Keisha Mulfort of the ACLU writes that for Black students in Orange County, in Florida and across the country, something as simple as wearing their hair in locs, twists, braids, or afros can lead to punishment, exclusion, and dehumanization. And it doesn’t stop after graduation.
How I tried to get Randolph Bracy on the record and ended up in his wife’s Facebook reel
Norine Dworkin details her attempt to get former State Sen. Randolph Bracy III to explain why he was trying to pass himself off as the “incumbent” in the special election for the seat held by Sen. Geraldine Thompson until her death.
Easily disproven by searching the more than 900-page document for "Ocoee" and coming up empty.
Workers on Grayson’s senate campaign say they haven’t been paid
Campaign staffers say that payments were delayed, and weeks after the election, some staff haven’t been paid at all.
Why are Florida veterans killing themselves?
Easy access to firearms is one answer. But experts say the reasons are far more complex.
LatinoJustice on Trump immigration policy
Many in the Hispanic community are avoiding school, church and shopping for fear of getting swept up in an ICE dragnet that's pulling in U.S. citizens along with the undocumented, according to Roberto Cruz, managing attorney for LatinoJustice.
Oakland makes buried election info more accessible after VoxPopuli inquiries
Elusive information about the qualifying period (now closed) has become readily accessible to anyone interested in the upcoming town election.
Winter Garden rescinds trespass warning given to far-right commentator
Right-wing provocateur Kaitlin Bennett stands her ground in Winter Garden over the right to conduct interviews in the city’s farmers market and scores a win for free speech.
Winter Garden mayor declares city a “faith-based” community
Research suggests that people gravitate to the charming small city for more secular reasons.
550 OCPS students are homeless in Winter Garden, Ocoee, Oakland, Windermere
Orange County currently leads the state in student homelessness, which experts describe as "disaster-level high." Only, there’s no natural disaster. Just high rents, low wages and a shortage of affordable housing.
Orange County redistricting committee begins to whittle seven maps down to final two
After a ballot measure mandated that two additional districts be carved out from the county’s current six, a committee was formed to devise and review new county maps. VoxPopuli followed the six-month process.
Ocoee steps up arrests of homeless people for sleeping outside
Following the anti public-camping law, Ocoee appeared to just be handing out warnings. Then, within a few weeks, five people were arrested for sleeping on public or private property.
Windermere boathouse lawsuit may hinge on who owns lagoon bottom
VoxPopuli checks in on the 2022 lawsuit filed by the Town of Windermere against the resident occupying five historic boathouses for breach of contract and eviction.
After a three-year legal battle over who owns the five boathouses in the Palmer Park lagoon, a Ninth Circuit Court judge ruled that the residents have always owned them and that there was “nothing equitable or fair” about Windermere’s attempt to take them “or the manner in which it is trying to achieve it.”
Winter Garden mayor won’t say if non-Christians are welcome in city
Avoiding a proclamation for a Winter Garden Day of Reason in Winter Garden to accompany the Winter Garden Day of Prayer, the city’s mayor refused to say whether followers of religions other than evangelical Christianity are welcome in the city.
Oakland Commission picks public favorite for Seat 1
An open seat. Resident support. A chance to watch local government in action.
Ocoee mayor, commissioner at odds over “term limits” definition
At stake is whether current mayor, Rusty Johnson, gets to run again in 2027, or retires.
Former State Sen. Randolph Bracy III, wife facing foreclosure on three fronts
He’s said to be worth millions. So why are all of Bracy's homes being foreclosed?
Anti-Homeless camping ban depresses annual PIT Count
Experts know the Point-In-Time Count is a gross underestimate of the number of people who are actually homeless in the region. With the new public camping ban depressing numbers further, does the count even matter?
After the FSU shooting, Barbie Harden Hall talks about common sense gun safety
At the time, the campus shooting was the sixth Florida mass shooting in 2025 alone. State Senate President Ben Albritton said that it wasn’t the time “for politics.” But Congressional candidate Barbie Harden Hall wasn't staying quiet.
The DeSantis administration threatened Orange County commissioners with removal if they did not vote to allow corrections officers to transport ICE detainees to federal facilities, so lawmakers staged a protest outside the Orange County Administration building to let constituents know they were voting under duress.
Ocoee hit with massive Orange County reclaimed water price hike
The city was blindsided by a 163 percent rate increase and an impossibly short time frame to enact measures to reduce the rate.
