Fired bird conservationist settles with state of Florida over Charlie Kirk dispute for $485,000

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