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Florida biologist fired over Charlie Kirk post after his death wins $485,000 settlement.Florida biologist fired over Charlie Kirk post after his death wins $485,000 settlement Advertisement Read this article for free: or Already have an account?Log in here » To continue reading, please subscribe: Digital Subscription One year of digital access for only $75* - Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com - Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper - Access News Break, our award-winning app - Play interactive puzzles *Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks.After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks.Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only.Cancel any time.Monthly Digital Subscription $4.99/week* - Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com - Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper - Access News Break, our award-winning app - Play interactive puzzles *Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks.Cancel any time.To continue reading, please subscribe: Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional $1 for the first 4 weeks* - Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com - Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper - Access News Break, our award-winning app - Play interactive puzzles *Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks.After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.Read unlimited articles for free today: or Already have an account?Log in here » Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms.She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs.She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.Fish and Wildlife officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Brown was among a wave of workers in both the public and private sector who lost their jobs over comments about Kirk’s assassination on a Utah university campus.Lawsuits are pending over many of those firings.Before his death, Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.Kirk’s supporters combed social media after the Sept.10 shooting for posts they viewed as celebrating his death.Influencers like Laura Loomer pledged to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing, and the conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared the identities and workplaces of many who posted with its audience of millions.Libs of TikTok posted about Brown, and she was fired the next day, according to her lawsuit.Brown said someone then alerted Libs of TikTok about her termination only about 10 minutes after it happened and before it was made public.In a rare instance in Tennessee, a retired police officer was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post joking about Kirk’s assassination.Tennessee officials agreed Wednesday to pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the man, Larry Bushart.While behind bars, Bushart lost his postretirement job and missed the birth of his granddaughter before authorities eventually dropped a felony charge against him, he said in the lawsuit.Before her termination, Brown worked for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for about seven years and studied shorebirds and seabirds on the panhandle, according to court documents.Carrie McNamara, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, called Brown’s settlement deal “a hard-won vindication” that sends a message to Florida officials that they cannot punish speech they dislike.“The First Amendment does not disappear when someone accepts a government job,” McNamara said.Brown’s former supervisor at the agency, Habitat and Species Conservation Director Melissa Tucker, had claimed that Brown’s post generated hundreds of formal complaints and caused significant disruption.Discovery in the case later revealed that the agency only received about 50 complaints.District Judge Mark Walker imposed sanctions against Tucker last week for exaggerating the amount and then not correcting the record.