Voting rights advocates suing Florida over changes to the state’s elections laws are gearing up for trial. At a press conference today [Thursday], they laid out how a controversial measure that took effect last year makes it more difficult to cast a ballot. As Valerie Crowder reports, they’re especially concerned that it would unfairly restrict minority voters.
One thing the coronavirus pandemic has made clear is that Florida’s nursing shortage is nearing a tipping point. Turnover rates have spiked, hospitals are paying sky-high rates for nurses from staffing agencies and workers are facing exhaustion. But experts warn that shortage could be just the beginning. Regan McCarthy reports within the next 12 years experts say the state will need 60,000 new nurses.
It’s National School Choice week and in Florida, the movement to give parents more ways to educate their children continues to grow. Lynn Hatter recently spoke with Erika Donalds, a former Collier County School Board member, who has become a major voice in the state’s school choice movement. Donalds continues to branch out into more areas of choice—most recently, launching a virtual charter school to bring Virtual Reality into more homes.
Mary Ellen Klas, chief of the Miami Herald Capital Bureau, shares her insights on the first 3 weeks of this year’s Florida lawmaking session with Tom Flanigan.
The Space Force was the target of a brief and pun-filled discussion this week at the Capitol. As Gina Jordan reports, despite the bad jokes—a legislative plan would give Space Force a legit place in state law.