Local community activists gather to speak up after a 7-year-old fell victim to gun violence
Days after a 7-year-old was killed during a 4th of July gunfire exchange, Tampa activists are speaking up against gun violence by engaging their local neighborhoods at a community outreach event over the weekend.
Mayor Welch announces allocation of millions to create community support hubs
St. Petersburg has allocated 8.6 million dollars to a new mental health initiative. The city’s mayor made this announcement Friday at the “Healing While Black” summit at Eckerd College.
Decision to pause search for new leadership at FAU leads to accusations of political games
Late on Friday, the chancellor of Florida’s university system put a stop to the search for a new president at Florida Atlantic University. The surprising announcement came days after FAU named three finalists, but the list did not include state Representative Randy Fine, who is an ally of Governor Ron DeSantis. The university system’s chancellor is another supporter of DeSantis, Ray Rodrigues. That led opponents to slam the move and accuse DeSantis and his allies of one more example of politicizing the state’s universities and colleges.
The future of abortion rights will again be in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court
On Friday the Florida Supreme Court said it will hear arguments on September 8th in a case that could play a major role in the future of abortion rights in the state. The court issued an order scheduling a hearing in a challenge to a 2022 law that prevented abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The outcome of the case also will affect a law passed this year that would bar abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — and could determine whether a privacy clause in the Florida Constitution will protect abortion rights. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office is asking the Supreme Court to back away from more than three decades of legal precedents that have said the privacy clause applies to abortion rights.
Information from the Florida Public Media, News Service of Florida, and Associated Press was used in this report.
