Restitution for victims of infamous Dozier boys school hits snag
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. โ Legislation seeking to put in place a means of providing restitution for victims of the infamous Dozier School for Boys in Marianna has hit a snag in both chambers. Victims of the reform school came to the State Capitol on Wednesday in hopes of drumming up support for the effort. The state has already formally apologized for the atrocities that occurred at the Dozier School for Boys, a reform school run by the state for a century. MORE | Floridaโs Dozier School For Boys: A True Horror StoryNow the victims are asking the state to back its words up with action. In 2013 an excavation of the reform school led to the discovery of the remains of 40 boys.
Florida Senate looks to shield colleges from COVID-19 lawsuits
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. โ A Senate committee Tuesday will take up a bill that would shield colleges and universities from lawsuits over decisions to shut campuses because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill also would make pandemic-related changes in accountability requirements for schools in the kindergarten through 12th-grade system. The bill (SPB 7070), which will be considered by the Senate Education Committee, focuses in part on lawsuits that have been filed in Florida and other parts of the country against colleges and universities. Such lawsuits have sought tuition reimbursements because students were forced to take online classes when campuses closed last year to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For example, it would prevent using performance on standardized assessments this year to determine whether to retain third-grade students.
Clashes in English city of Bristol leave 20 police injured
A vandalised police van on fire outside Bridewell Police Station, in Bristol, England, Sunday March 21, 2021, as people took part in a protest demonstrating against the Police and Crime Bill. (Andrew Matthews/PA via AP)LONDON โ A protest in the English city of Bristol against new policing legislation turned into violent clashes that left at least 20 officers injured โ two of them seriously โ widespread damage to a police station and police vehicles torched, police said Monday. Seven people were arrested during the protest, which started Sunday afternoon and ran through to the early hours of Monday morning. The violence, which also saw several police vehicles damaged, was branded as โunacceptableโ by Britain's interior minister, Priti Patel. Under the terms of the legislation, which covers England and Wales, police will be handed new powers to tackle demonstrations.
Georgia GOP senators propose overhaul of stateโs election laws
Fulton County Georgia elections workers process absentee ballots for the Senate runoff election in Atlanta on Jan. 5. ATLANTA โ A group of Republican state senators want to make sweeping changes to how elections are carried out in the peach state. The bill comes after a large increase in mail voting, spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic, helped propel Democrats to victory in Novemberโs presidential election and in two Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoffs. State election officials have said unequivocally that there was no widespread fraud or irregularities in mail voting, despite relentless false claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies. Fair Fight, a voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams, slammed the proposals.
Jacksonville City Council members say โNOPE,โ call for salary freeze
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. โ Several Jacksonville City Council members are calling for a freeze on council salaries. Councilman Rory Diamond introduced a bill Wednesday that would get rid of built-in pay raises for council members and instead require them to pass standalone legislation to increase their salaries. This is not the time for an automatic pay increase.โDOCUMENT: View a copy of the proposed legislationThe City Council OKโd a $2,302 raise programmed into the 2020-21 city budget, bringing salaries for most council members to over $52,000. According to figures provided by Diamond, the city spends more than $1 million a year on council salaries and $595,000 more in benefits. Under his legislation, the City Council would fix annual salaries for council members at a rate equivalent to half the salary for a county commissioner in a county roughly the same size as Duval.
Effort to put Tubman on $20 bill restarted under Biden
With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is once again headed to the front of the $20 bill. Obama administration Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had selected Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the nations seventh president, on the $20 bill. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON โ With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is once again headed to the front of the $20 bill. Obama administration Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had selected Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, on the $20 bill. Under the schedule Mnuchin announced in May 2019, the redesigned $20 bill would not have come out until 2028 with final designs for the bill not announced until 2026.
Florida bill would criminalize vaccine scams
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. โ Floridians, especially seniors, are one step closer to being protected from scams related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Reports of vaccine scams are growing. Jared Moskowitz is the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and is in charge of the vaccine distribution network. Those are so egregious against people who are really vulnerable right now, and just wanting to get back to normal life,โ said Smith. โI think this bill sends a loud and clear message, that, hey, if you engaged in this type of activity, weโre coming after you,โ said bill sponsor Rep. Ardian Zika.
Trump says AG Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas
Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. ...Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he labeled โan outstanding person,โ will become Acting Attorney General. Barrโs break from Trump over election fraud wasnโt the first.
Trump says Barr resigning, will leave before Christmas
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, Attorney General William Barr speaks during a roundtable discussion on Operation Legend in St. Louis. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. โAs per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,โ Trump tweeted. Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he labeled โan outstanding person,โ will become acting attorney general. But Democrats have repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like the presidentโs personal attorney than the attorney general, and Barr had proved to be a largely reliable Trump ally and defender of presidential power.
Bill Bidwill, longtime Arizona Cardinals owner, dead at 88
Christian Petersen/Getty Images(CNN) - Bill Bidwill, whose family has owned the Arizona Cardinals for almost 80 years, has died, according to the football team. "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our owner, Bill Bidwill, has passed away today at the age of 88," the Cardinals said in a statement. According to the Cardinals website, Bidwill became sole owner in 1972 when he bought his brother's stake in the team. "Bill Bidwill was part of the NFL family his entire life, starting from his days as a ball boy through his time as an owner, " NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. We extend our condolences to Bill's family and the Cardinals organization, which along with his faith, meant so much to him."
'IT Chapter Two': James McAvoy and Director Andy Muschietti Discuss THAT Cameo
Stephen King has arrived in Derry. In IT Chapter Two, Bill (James McAvoy) and the rest of the Losers are called back to their hometown to once again face the villainous Pennywise (Bill Skarsgrd). According to Muschietti, King was worried that whenever he appears in an adaptation of one of his stories, it typically "bombed" at the box office. "There was improvisation in the scene," Muschietti recalled. "There's [also] something behind Stephen King in that scene that Stephen King fans will recognize," Muschietti plays coy.
'Mindhunter' Star Says Wisdom Comes at a Price in Season 2 (Exclusive)
Mindhunter, David Finchers thriller based on the true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit, returns for a second season on Netflix. The series follows special agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), who created the FBIs Behavioral Science Unit in order to interview and profile serial killers with the hope of applying this knowledge to ongoing cases. But things hit a little too close to home when its discovered a gruesome murder has taken place in his neighborhood, allowing for a bit of paranoia to creep in. Inevitably, they end up taking their work home with them because they become obsessed with trying to find these guys before they can kill again, McCallany says. Were all a little wiser by the end of season two, but there was a price to pay along the way.Mindhunter season two debuts Friday, Aug. 16 on Netflix.