The GOP has for roughly 18 months targeted an Oct. 4, 2021 memo issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland instructing federal law enforcement across the U.S. to “open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response” on possible criminal threats to local school board members over politically charged issues that flared up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida
DeSantis Is Destroying Florida Universities’ Hard-Earned Respect in the Name of White Nationalism
Florida’s public universities have been gaining national prominence and respect, with U.F. and FSU ranked Nos. 5 and 19 among public universities. DeSantis’s assault on academic freedom in the name of a white-nationalist, America-first curriculum is demolishing that hard-earned respect and making an embarrassment of the state.
$700 Million Affordable Housing Package Bans Rent Control Measures
The bill would create tax incentives for developers to build more affordable housing and expand a program designed to help working Floridians purchase homes, but leaves out rent-control measures as a tool to help the poor pay housing costs.
Reclusive, 15-ft Beaked Whale, Likely Sick, Strands in Flagler Beach Near Water Tower
For the second time in only 10 weeks, a rarely seen whale beached on Flagler County’s sands and was put down hours later before it was to be removed from the surf and transported by truck to Orlando’s SeaWorld for a necropsy.
In less Than 24 Hours, an ‘Open Carry’ Bill Is Introduced then Re-Holstered, Disappointing Advocates
But a permitless carry bill proceeds. That bill, HB 543, would repeal the requirement that Floridians who carry a concealed weapon must get a license through the state. It would also mean Floridians would not have to take a gun safety and training course.
Proposed Law Would Keep DeSantis’s Travel Records Secret
The bill would create a public-records exemption for records held by law-enforcement agencies related to “transportation and protective services” provided to the governor, the governor’s immediate family, visiting governors and “other persons as requested by certain state officers.”
Senate Will Vote on Eliminating Need for Unanimous Juries in Death Recommendations
The Senate Rules Committee voted 15-4 to approve a bill (SB 450) that would allow death sentences to be imposed based on the recommendations of eight of 12 jurors — a standard that bill sponsor Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, described as being “the most aggressive of all 50 states.”
A1A Protection Plan in Flagler Will Rely on Beach Renourishment, and a Sea Wall at South End
The state Department of Transportation’s much-anticipated plan to protect State Road A1A will mostly rely on existing plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild 2.6 miles of beach and dunes south of the pier, plans by Flagler County to rebuild beaches north and south of that stretch, and a DOT secant wall along the shore straddling the Flagler-Volusia county line.
DeSantis Privately Called for Google to Be “Broken Up”
In previously unreported videos from a closed-door Teneo Network conference, Florida’s Republican governor takes his anti-big tech rhetoric, including targeting Google, beyond what he has said publicly.
15-Year Justice Polston Resigns, Giving DeSantis Seventh Pick for Florida Supreme Court
DeSantis has tended toward members of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy when selecting judges, which has made for a staunchly right-leaning court all too willing to reverse important precedents.