Florida is crazy land

[Olde Hornet]

A Florida city fired her for reporting sewage in drinking water. They owe her $818,000

The water was “making people and pets ill,” a federal complaint said.

www.yahoo.com

A Florida city fired her for reporting sewage in drinking water. They owe her $818,000​

Instead of promoting the experienced inspector who detected why the city’s drinking water was sickening people and pets, the city of Delray Beach harassed her and fired her, an OSHA investigation found.

Last week, 15 months after marching Christine Ferrigan out of her office in front of co-workers, Delray Beach ratified a settlement to a whistleblower lawsuit that will pay Ferrigan $818,500.

That’s on top of the $1 million in civil money penalties Delray paid the Florida Department of Health-Palm Beach County, as per a 2021 consent order, for failing to monitor and report issues that Ferrigan uncovered.

“The City of Delray Beach’s actions toward this worker and its response to concerns about the municipal drinking water supply are deeply troubling,” said Lily Colon, assistant regional administrator for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“Our investigation showed that the city harassed and ultimately fired an employee sworn to protect the public for doing their job,” she said. “No worker should fear being punished by their employer for reporting legitimate safety and health concerns, and OSHA will work vigorously to defend courageous people like this inspector.”

 

[Jaguar05]

Man, that is absolutely insane! Adds brand new meaning to, "must be something in the water down there". Only God knows what else has been/is being covered up if this poor woman was fired for actually doing her job!

 

[Olde Hornet]

‘A dangerous trend’: Florida Republicans poised to pass more voter restrictions​

MSN

Florida Republicans are on the verge of passing new restrictions on groups that register voters, a move voting rights groups and experts say will make it harder for non-white Floridians to get on the rolls.

The restrictions are part of a sweeping 96-page election bill the legislature is likely to send to Governor Ron DeSantis’s desk soon. The measure increases fines for third-party voter registration groups. It also shortens the amount of time the groups have to turn in any voter registration applications they collect from 14 days to 10. The bill makes it illegal for non-citizens and people convicted of certain felonies to “collect or handle” voter registration applications on behalf of third-party groups. Groups would also have to give each voter they register a receipt and be required to register themselves with the state ahead of each general election cycle. Under current law, they only have to register once and their registration remains effective indefinitely.

Groups can now be fined $50,000 for each ineligible person they hire to do voter canvassing. They can also be fined $50 a day, up to $2,500, for each day late they turn in a voter registration form.

Those restrictions are more likely to affect non-white Floridians. About one in 10 Black and Hispanic Floridians registered to vote using a third party group, according to Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida who closely studies voting rights. Non-white voters are five times more likely to register with a third-party group in the state than their white counterparts, “a fact likely not lost on those pushing the legislation”, Smith said.

 

[Tpop33]

‘A dangerous trend’: Florida Republicans poised to pass more voter restrictions​

MSN

Florida Republicans are on the verge of passing new restrictions on groups that register voters, a move voting rights groups and experts say will make it harder for non-white Floridians to get on the rolls.

The restrictions are part of a sweeping 96-page election bill the legislature is likely to send to Governor Ron DeSantis’s desk soon. The measure increases fines for third-party voter registration groups. It also shortens the amount of time the groups have to turn in any voter registration applications they collect from 14 days to 10. The bill makes it illegal for non-citizens and people convicted of certain felonies to “collect or handle” voter registration applications on behalf of third-party groups. Groups would also have to give each voter they register a receipt and be required to register themselves with the state ahead of each general election cycle. Under current law, they only have to register once and their registration remains effective indefinitely.

Groups can now be fined $50,000 for each ineligible person they hire to do voter canvassing. They can also be fined $50 a day, up to $2,500, for each day late they turn in a voter registration form.

Those restrictions are more likely to affect non-white Floridians. About one in 10 Black and Hispanic Floridians registered to vote using a third party group, according to Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida who closely studies voting rights. Non-white voters are five times more likely to register with a third-party group in the state than their white counterparts, “a fact likely not lost on those pushing the legislation”, Smith said.

Do Republicans do voter registration drives?
Won't this hurt them as well?
What's the saying, cut's off your nose to spite your face!

 

[Olde Hornet]

Do Republicans do voter registration drives?
Won't this hurt them as well?
What's the saying, cut's off your nose to spite your face!

Republicans are counting on older people voting (historically they do) and others not voting (historically they dont).

 

[Olde Hornet]

Ron DeSantis signs bill allowing Florida to shut down Disney World's monorail​

Ron DeSantis signs bill allowing Florida to shut down Disney World's monorail

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed S.B. 1250, a general transportation bill that subjects Disney World’s iconic monorail to inspections and possible shutdowns. The newly signed law is just the latest move that the DeSantis administration has made against Disney over the media corporation’s opposition to the state’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The bill allows state officials to inspect and shut down the company’s monorail and “fixed-guideway transportation systems… to ensure safety and welfare” for passengers and inspectors.

 

[bernard]

Disney scraps $1 billion campus in Florida — and more than 2,000 jobs that were set to move. It's escalating the fight with Ron DeSantis.

The decision to scrap the campus outside Orlando appears to be another development in Disney's battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Olde Hornet]

Florida school district restricts inauguration poem

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/23/us/miami-school-moves-biden-inaugural-poem/index.html

Amanda Gorman is ‘gutted’ by school district’s decision to restrict her poem after a parent complained it contained ‘hate messages’​

The acclaimed poem written by Amanda Gorman for President Joe Biden’s inauguration was moved from the elementary section of a Miami-Dade County public school after a parent complaint and school review, the district confirmed Tuesday.

A parent of a student at Bob Graham Education Center – a kindergarten through eighth grade school in Miami Lakes – objected to Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb,” for which they erroneously listed Oprah Winfrey as the author/publisher, according to documents obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.

It “is not educational and have (sic) indirectly hate messages,” the complaint said, adding that the poem would “cause confusion and indoctrinate students.”

The same parent made similar complaints about “Love to Langston,” a poetry-based biography of Black poet Langston Hughes; “The ABCs of Black History” and two books about Cuba, complaints obtained by the nonprofit group show.

A materials-review panel at the school declined to remove the books from the school entirely but did decide to move the Gorman poem and two other disputed items to the library’s middle school section, which is for grades six through eight, according to minutes of an April meeting of the committee that were obtained by the nonprofit.

The poem’s removal is the latest consequence of a Florida law that requires the approval of books in classrooms and grants any parent the power to complain about specific works. Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican set to run for president, Florida has used this and other “parental rights” laws to ban works on LGBTQ issues, social justice and even math textbooks.

 

[unknown1]

My own personal theory is that these southern states know that the new generations aren't fuckin with em at all and are trying to do everything they can to stop the flow of northern and western folks to the south. Pretty much every major metro in the south is being swarmed by folks looking for cheaper living... Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, etc. Even their ridiculous gerrymandering is having a hard time stopping it. Eventually, Georgia, NC and Texas will go blue and this is their last hoorah.

 

[Olde Hornet]

SHOCKING!

Florida Mom Behind Amanda Gorman Book Ban Has Proud Boy Links

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettyThe parent who got a Florida school to ban Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem has ties to the far-right Proud Boys and conservative firebrands Moms For Liberty, The Daily Beast has confirmed.The links, first highlighted by the Twitter...

www.yahoo.com

Florida Mom Behind Amanda Gorman Book Ban Has Proud Boy Links​

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-mom-behind-amanda-gorman-005257841.html#
The parent who got a Florida school to ban Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem has ties to the far-right Proud Boys and conservative firebrands Moms For Liberty, The Daily Beast has confirmed.

The links, first highlighted by the Twitter account Miami Against Fascism, follow an exposé on Florida mom Daily Salinas by the Miami Herald. In an interview with the Herald, Salinas said she “is not for eliminating or censoring any books,” but wants materials to be appropriate and for students “to know the truth” about Cuba.

Salinas’ complaints led a Florida school to restrict access to The Hill We Climb, a book adaptation of the poem Gorman recited at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, Florida also pulled two other titles—The ABCs of Black History, and Love to Langston—from its elementary school section after a single complaint from Salinas, who has two children at the school, the Miami Herald first reported.

The complaints, reviewed by The Daily Beast, reveal that Salinas reported the books for things like “CRT and gender idiology [sic],” and “indoctrination.”

 

[Fiyah]

View: https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1662443538791952384?s=20

 

[Olde Hornet]

Florida Man Pointed Gun At Woman's Head After Her Friend Backed Into His Driveway: Sheriff​

Florida Man Pointed Gun At Woman's Head After Her Friend Backed Into His Driveway: Sheriff

“I was going to tell them ‘stay the hell out of my driveway,’" the man told police.

www.yahoo.com

Police arrested a Florida man who they say pointed a handgun at a woman’s head and threatened to kill her after her friend backed into his driveway in Palm Coast on Saturday.

Terry Vetsch, 60, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

The incident began around 2 p.m. when a man briefly backed his vehicle onto Vetsch’s driveway, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Vetsch, who was watching on his security camera, went outside with a handgun to confront the man, police said.

Security camera footage taken from Vetsch’s home and obtained by The Daytona Beach News-Journal shows the confrontation. In the video, a woman can be seen walking out of the home across from Vetsch’s to confront the man, who then pulls out a gun and points it at her head.

After he lowered the weapon, the two continued arguing before Vetsch returned home, according to police.

Vetsch later told police that he pulled the hammer back on the gun when he pointed it at the woman, according to a police affidavit obtained by the News-Journal. He told police he thought the man who backed into his driveway was a different neighbor.

“I was going to tell them ‘stay the hell out of my driveway,’ they’ve been told this before,” Vetsch told a police officer, body camera footage obtained by the News-Journal shows. “I didn’t realize it was a different car.”

 

[Olde Hornet]

Hundreds gather at Florida school board meeting over Disney movie controversy: 'Your policies are not protecting us from anything'

Hundreds gather at Florida school board meeting over Disney movie controversy: 'Your policies are not protecting us from anything'​

Florida teachers and community members packed a Hernando County School Board meeting amid national furor over an investigation into a fifth grade teacher who showed a Disney movie in her classroom.

Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, said Hernando County School Board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to the Florida Department of Education for showing her students the 2022 movie "Strange World" – one of the first Disney films to have an openly LGBTQ character in a central role.

The school board and state department of education opened an investigation into Barbee, who has argued that the Disney movie related to a class Earth science lesson and did not show sexually inappropriate content. The animated movie follows a family of explorers on an adventure to save a plant that is their society’s source of energy.

 

[Olde Hornet]

'Backlash to the backlash' is seeing reddest parts of Florida rise against DeSantis' right-wing crusade: columnist​

'Backlash to the backlash' is seeing reddest parts of Florida rise against DeSantis' right-wing crusade: columnist

The wave of right-wing populism that carried Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) to a decisive reelection victory in November appears to have hit a wall.

A Tuesday night school board meeting held in a county DeSantis won handily saw furious teachers, students and parents railing against right-wing efforts to reshape the Sunshine State’s educational system – a clear sign of an emerging “backlash to the backlash, Washington Post columnists Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman wrote Thursday.

“By now, it’s obvious that the reactionary culture warriors who want to reshape American education are inspiring a serious liberal counter-mobilization in response,” Sargent and Waldman write in an opinion piece for The Post published under the headline “In a deep red Florida county, a student-teacher revolt shames the right.”

“No one is teaching your kids to be gay,” Alyssa Marano, a math teacher who has resigned from the district, said at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Sometimes, they just are gay. I have math to teach. I literally don’t have time to teach your kids to be gay.”

 

[Olde Hornet]

Verdict means Miami voters are paying millions for the stupidity of electing Carollo. Again | Opinion​

Verdict means Miami voters are paying millions for the stupidity of electing Carollo. Again | Opinion

Commissioner Joe Carollo’s trial and verdict and Mayor Francis Suarez’s conflict of interest scandals place Miami back in the familiar spotlight of corruption, Fabiola Santiago says.

www.yahoo.com

Guilty!

With its verdict, a federal South Florida jury delivered to Miami voters Thursday a hefty dose of what should be eye-opening truth: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo is a bully who violated the First Amendment rights of two Little Havana businessmen when he tried to shut them down using city resources to harass and damage them.

Thuggish, corrupt behavior from a powerful elected official is costing taxpayers a pretty penny while Carollo — the culprit without the ability to pay huge sums — may not endure much more than a bruised ego and acid indigestion.

But it’s a win, nevertheless.

Despite a multi-attorney defense team, which included former City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and has cost the city already more than $1.9 million, Carollo’s actions against political opponents were indefensible, and he lost the case. After a prolonged trial that exposed the city’s underbelly, the Fort Lauderdale-based jury of six awarded $63.5 million to his victims.

 

[Olde Hornet]

Has the left gone after the bible in Florida school districts? If they have not, why not! It should be on the banned book list for the reasons articulated in the video in the article below.

Utah District bans Bible in elementary and middle schools “due to vulgarity or violence”​

Utah District bans Bible in elementary and middle schools "due to vulgarity or violence" - WAKA 8

A 72,000-student school district in Utah has removed the Bible from elementary and middle schools after a parent complained that some Bible versus are too vulgar or violent for young children.

www.waka.com

A parent in Utah who was reportedly frustrated by efforts to ban materials in schools has convinced a suburban school district that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for younger children.

The 72,000-student Davis School District north of Salt Lake City removed the Bible from its elementary and middle schools while keeping it in high schools after a committee reviewed the scripture in response to a parental complaint.

The district has removed other titles, including Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes “sensitive material.”

On Friday, a complaint was submitted about the signature scripture of the predominant faith in Utah, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church. District spokesperson Chris Williams confirmed that someone filed a review request for the Book of Mormon but would not say what reasons were listed. Citing a school board privacy policy, he also would not say whether it was from the same person who complained about the Bible.

Representatives for the church declined to comment on the challenge. Members of the faith also read the Bible.

 

[Olde Hornet]

Not woke roads!!! ​

Florida bill allowing radioactive roads made of potentially cancer-causing mining waste signed by DeSantis​

Florida bill allowing radioactive roads made of potentially cancer-causing mining waste signed by DeSantis

Phosphogypsum is a material known by the EPA to contain a "potentially cancer-causing, radioactive gas," that's the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.

www.cbsnews.com

Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis signed a bill Thursday that would allow for roads across Florida to be made with "radioactive" mining waste that has been linked to cancer.

The measure, brought forward by the state House, adds phosphogypsum to a list of "recyclable materials" that state officials say can be used in road construction.

The list already included ground rubber from car tires, ash residue from coal combustion byproducts, recycled mixed-plastic, glass and construction steel, which officials had previously determined are "part of the solid waste stream and that contribute to problems of declining space in landfills."

 

[Olde Hornet]

This is crazy!

A Florida school district banned 'furry attire.' It's a response to claims students identify as animals. They do not.​

A Florida school district banned 'furry attire.' It's a response to claims students identify as animals. They do not.

Florida's Brevard Public School District board banned attire mimicking "non-human characteristics," a move associated with concern about "furries."

news.yahoo.com

• Public schools in Brevard, Florida, have banned clothing and accessories that imitate "non-human characteristics."
• The move is the latest response to conservatives claiming that kids identify as animals.
• Reuters fact-checking suggests students do not identify as animals or use litter boxes at school.

A school district in Florida voted unanimously last week week to ban attire associated with "furries" — the culmination of multiple meetings revolving around the debunked myth that schools are creating accommodations for students who identify as animals.

Florida's Brevard County Public School District's ban on clothing items of "non-human characteristics" was added to the new policy after board member Katye Campbell said students raised concerns about "furries" in a dress code survey, according to reporting by Florida Today.

The term furries refers to a small community of people interested in or identifying with anthropomorphic or animated animals. Under these new guidelines, items like cat ears, tails, and collars are not allowed at Brevard schools, according to Florida Today.

 

[Tpop33]

So what happens if the school mascot is an animal, like a lion, tiger, panther, or some other feline?

 

[Olde Hornet]

Traveling to Florida? These out-of-state licenses may no longer be valid in the state​

Traveling to Florida? These out-of-state licenses may no longer be valid in the state

The restriction is part of a larger immigration law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

news.yahoo.com

These are the five invalid licenses and learner’s permits with the conditions:

▪ Connecticut, “Not for Federal Identification”

▪ Delaware, “Driving Privilege Only” or “Not Valid for Identification”

▪ Hawaii, “Limited Purpose Driver’s License,” “Limited Purpose Provisional Driver’s License” or “ Not Valid for use for official Federal purposes”

▪ Rhode Island, “Not for Federal Identification,” “Driver Privilege Card” or “Driver Privilege Permit”

▪ Vermont, “Not for REAL ID Purposes Driver’s Privilege Card”

 

[Olde Hornet]

How Hot Is the Sea Off Florida Right Now? Think 90s Fahrenheit​

How Hot Is the Sea Off Florida Right Now? Think 90s Fahrenheit.

Florida’s coral reefs are facing what could be an unprecedented threat from a marine heat wave that is warming the Gulf of Mexico, pushing water temperatures into the 90s. The biggest concern for coral isn’t just the current sea surface temperatures in the Florida Keys, even though they are the...

www.yahoo.com

Florida’s coral reefs are facing what could be an unprecedented threat from a marine heat wave that is warming the Gulf of Mexico, pushing water temperatures into the 90s.

The biggest concern for coral isn’t just the current sea surface temperatures in the Florida Keys, even though they are the hottest on record. The daily average surface temperature off the Keys on Monday was just over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.4 Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The real worry, scientists say, is that it’s only July. Corals typically experience the most heat stress in August and September.

 

[Olde Hornet]

Florida is hurting as it becomes 'where empathy, decency and kindness go to die': columnist​

MSN

Younger Floridians are fleeing the state in record numbers and business dollars are drying up as the state is increasingly seen as the place “where empathy, decency and kindness go to do,” a columnist wrote Friday.

“Gov. Ron DeSantis and his obedient Republican legislature have made bullying and attacking the vulnerable the hallmarks of their goverance,” wrote Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post.

And it’s having a demonstrably negative impact.

Along with tax payer’s dollars being lost on the governor’s “right-wing stunts” frequently being defended – often unsuccessfully – in courts, Florida is losing business and is suffering a brain drain, she said.

The American Community Survey showed in June that 674,740 people left Florida for another state in 2021, Rubin said. More than any other state.

She wrote, “In February, USA Today reported, “Florida may be the most moved to state in the country, but not when it comes to Gen Z. They are the only generation that chose to exit Florida, with an outflux of 8,000 young adults."

 

[Olde Hornet]

Turmoil in Florida’s New State Guard, as Some Recruits Quit​

MSN

Early last summer, complaining that Washington had failed to provide adequate staffing for Florida’s National Guard, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that for the first time in 75 years he was activating the State Guard, a force of volunteers that could respond to hurricanes and other public emergencies.

But the deployment this spring has been mired in internal turmoil, with some recruits complaining that what was supposed to be a civilian disaster response organization had become heavily militarized, requiring volunteers to participate in marching drills and military-style training sessions on weapons and hand-to-hand combat.

At least 20 percent of the 150 people initially accepted into the program dropped out or were dismissed, state officials acknowledged, including a retired Marine captain who filed a false imprisonment complaint against Guard sergeants with the local sheriff after he got into a dispute with instructors and was forcibly escorted off the site.

Several of those who left and spoke to The New York Times said they objected to the direction the organization was taking and either quit or were fired when they tried to voice their concerns.

 

[skyvolt2000]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/19/florida-black-history-standards/

The Florida State Board of Education approved new rules Wednesday for how Black history will be taught in public schools that critics are decrying as a “step backward.”
The updated standards include noting that enslaved people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit,” and that in teaching about mob violence against Black residents instructors should also note “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

“These standards are a disservice to Florida’s students and are a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994,” the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said in a statement.

 

[Olde Hornet]

Florida Middle Schoolers Will Now Be Taught That Slavery Had ‘Personal Benefit’ for Enslaved People​

MSN

New academic standards slammed as "a big step backward" will require teachers to instruct that enslaved people "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit"

Newly approved academic standards from Florida’s Board of Education will require middle schools to teach that enslaved people "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit" — a line that has ignited significant controversy among teachers' groups.

The standards, which were approved Wednesday, come in response to the state's 2022 "Stop WOKE Act," which stated that race must be taught in "an objective manner" that does not "indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view." The measure pushed far-right lawmakers' rhetoric that teaching Black history makes White people feel ashamed, instructing that no student should be made to feel "guilt" or "responsibility" for actions previously committed by members of the same race.