With an uncertain outlook of COVID-19 and political connotations surrounding masks, classrooms could become a checkerboard, with some students wearing masks but others showing their faces.
Rights & Liberties
Bill Criminalizing Or Increasing Penalties for Certain Protest Activities Heads to Gov. DeSantis
The sweeping proposal, titled “Combating Public Disorder,” would create a new crime of “mob intimidation,” enhance penalties for riot-related looting and violence and create an affirmative defense for individuals who injure or kill violent protesters.
Citing Aesthetics and Law, Palm Coast Will Not Loosen Signage Ban, Whether for Realtors or Anyone Else
A majority of the Palm Coast Council rebuffed an attempt by Councilman Ed Danko to loosen the ban on Realtors’ open house and other signs in rights of way, saying both the city’s focus on beauty and a Supreme Court ruling on such signs leave no room for a shift away from current rules.
Anti-Trans Bill Clears Florida House, Barring Transgender Girls from High School and College Sports Teams
The Republican-dominated Florida House on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban transgender females from playing on girls’ and women’s high-school and college sports teams, with Democrats arguing the measure is purely political.
Court Rejects Challenge by Cities and Counties of State Law Banning Stricter Local Gun Regulations
In a win for Republican lawmakers and the National Rifle Association, an appeals court upheld a 2011 state law that threatens tough penalties if city and county officials approve gun-related regulations.
Bill Cracking Down on Protests Heads for Senate Floor Amid Outcries Over Free Speech and Discrimination
With critics warning that the bill would chill free speech and have a disparately negative impact on Black people, a key Senate committee Friday approved a controversial measure that Republicans argue is needed to crack down on violent protests.
Martin Luther King Jr’s Vision of Democratic Socialism Is Still America’s Best Guide to Realize the Dream
Martin Luther King Jr.’s democratic socialism in the authors’ view is the fusion of King’s prophetic social vision, fully including his radical critiques not only of racism but also of capitalism and militarism, with his revolutionary methods of social change.
Stop Calling It a ‘Border Crisis’
Children are being jailed in deplorable conditions where they are susceptible to heightened and enduring trauma. Meanwhile our border remains largely shuttered to adult survivors fleeing rape and horrific gender-based persecution because the new administration has yet to repeal an illegal policy implemented under the last one.
Ban on Transgender Girls in Sports, Requiring Genital Proof in Disputes, Heads for Florida House Vote
The proposal would make participation in athletics contingent on determining a student’s “biological sex,” including the requirement, in disputes, of proof of a student’s birth genitalia as certified by “a health examination and consent form.”
Matanzas Student Who Wrote Song Threatening Dean’s Life Pleads to Deal That May Erase the Charge
Joseph Washington, 18, was arrested in January after Matanzas High faculty learned of a song he’d uploaded, threatening Tom Wooleyhan, a dean, by name. He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation on a third-degree felony charge, a plea deal the judge found surprising for its leniency. The charge will be dropped if Washington fulfills its terms over the next 18 months.