Brickbats to the Florida Department of Transportation

Brickbats to the Florida Department of Transportation for agreeing to a settlement with a billboard company that illegally removed some $2 million in trees. The state agency agreed to accept just $100,000 from Milton-based Salter Advertising for cutting down 2,132 trees, The Florida Times-Union reported. The state agency said the settlement “was in the best interest of the public.” A grand jury determined permits for cutting the trees were “in flagrant violation of the law.” Former House member Greg Evers, (R-Crestview,) now a member of the state Senate, and then-Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Kopelousos, now Clay County manager, aided the giveaway.