By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA, June 13, 2021 TALLAHASSEE – While Gov. Ron DeSantis is drawing praise from conservatives and pulling in campaign cash from across the nation, he also is attracting a crush of lawsuits spurred by the polarizing legislation he signed into law. Opponents say the outcome of the courtroom challenges will be pivotal not just…
By Phyllis Wojcik, Charlotte County Environmental Caucus, June 14, 2021 Betty Staugler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Harmful Algae Bloom liaison, Florida Sea Grant University of Florida and Nicole Iadevaia, Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP) presented “Seagrass Trends in Charlotte Harbor: Current Findings and Ongoing Efforts” to the Charlotte County Commissioners at…
By Emily Bloch, Florida Times-Union, June 11, 2021 A new rule in Florida that will place tougher guidelines on how teachers deliver U.S. history lessons was approved Thursday. Public officials have touted the law as a way to get critical race theory — a movement that examines the intersections of race, law and equity — out of…
Editor’s note: just a coincidence? I don’t buy it! By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Tuesday a controversial ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports at the high school and college levels, seizing on a trend coursing through conservative states. The Republican governor enacted the measure on…
By John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA, May 28, 2021 TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis is poised to declare victory on another front in what critics call a culture war – with his administration expected to approve new limits on how racial history is taught in Florida schools. The Republican governor has spent weeks ridiculing “critical race theory,”…
Opinion by Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist, May 29, 2021 Throughout her political career, Vice President Harris has never shied away from issues of race. In fact, the former senator from California, state attorney general and San Francisco district attorney has been very intentional about taking on problems that have their roots in our nation’s…
Editor’s comment: Charlotte County Dems showed up in force on May 25th to address an inappropriate comment made by the chair of our county’s Board of Commissioners. Be like CC Dem member Lenny Guckenheimer and others; speak out when our elected officials do something wrong. We’ll have your back! Watch the NBC-2 news coverage of…
The state’s elections supervisors called it poorly thought out legislation for a problem that didn’t exist.
Opinion by Lizette Alvarez, Washington Post Contributing columnist, May 24, 2021 When fighting Big Government, Republicans traditionally extol the virtue of going local: Let people decide what works best for their own communities. In Florida, where Latino-rich Miami sits a universe away from Pensacola’s Southern drawl, the argument often made sense. But that was yesterday. Today’s…
By Teresa Jenkins, Chair, Charlotte County Democratic Executive Committee George Floyd wasn’t the only black person to die at the hands of U.S. police officers. But the reaction to his death has clearly been different primarily because of the video that captured it. Within 24-hours of his death, the video taken by a passerby of…
NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA, Apr 20, 2021 TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed into law late Monday a bill that will cost Florida consumers who shop online an estimated $1 billion a year in sales taxes, with the money used to cut business taxes. The governor’s office announced the decision at 11:23 p.m. Monday in…
The Florida legislative session ended on Friday, April 30. After a tumultuous year and a challenging legislative session, we wanted to make sure you knew that the ACLU of Florida has been working as hard as ever to protect our civil liberties. Despite the onslaught of undemocratic legislation introduced this year that will impact our…
By Lenny Guckenheimer, Charlotte Dems contributing writer When I attended the May 11th Charlotte County Board of Commissioners meeting, I discovered two agenda items that had nothing to do with local government but are certainly part of the Republican agenda sweeping the nation. The commissioners found it necessary to pass resolutions declaring that Charlotte County…
By Laura Cassels, Florida Phoenix, May 11, 2021 Florida’s new anti-riot/protest law targets people of color protesting racial injustice in the United States and subjects them to harsh treatment at the hands of the police they are criticizing, asserts a major lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday. It is the second lawsuit filed against the “Combating…
On May 6, 2021, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee challenging Florida’s new law that greatly obstructs voting access. The lawsuit argues that S.B. 90 creates barriers and burdens that impact all Florida voters and disproportionately impacts the ability of Black voters, Latino…
President Joe Biden is preparing to unveil another tranche of tax increase proposals, including hiking the top marginal income tax rate and upping levies on capital gains. By BRIAN FALER, Politico, April 25, 2021 Everyone knows that Democrats want to raise taxes on the rich, but what hasn’t gotten nearly as much notice is how much…
BY THE MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD, MAY 02, 2021 State Sen. Shevrin D. Jones, right, hugs Sen. Randolph Bracy after addressing police-reform bill near end of legislative session. Halfway through Florida’s 60-day legislative session, this Editorial Board declared lawmakers were pushing an anti-people agenda. We’re not here to retract that statement. Lawmakers did, after all, wrap…
By Barrington Salmon, Florida Phoenix, April 30, 2021 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running scared. So fearful is he and his collaborators of the rising power of primarily Black racial justice protesters, they concocted and signed a sweeping bill into law that criminalizes the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest. Going forward, those who march in…
The bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign, is the latest Republican effort to restrict voting after the 2020 election. It will make Florida the first major swing state won by Donald Trump to pass such a law. By Patricia Mazzei and Nick Corasaniti, New York Times, April 29, 2021 MIAMI — Republicans in the Florida…
Florida Phoenix reporter Issac Morgan writes: “With just a few days left in the 2021 legislative session and COVID-19 still infecting and killing Floridians, the Legislature will not fully utilize federal coronavirus relief funds from the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan. About $3.5 billion will be used to bolster the state’s reserves rather than provide…