Florida lawmakers pass bill allowing more armed teachers By CURT ANDERSON Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — More Florida classroom teachers could carry guns in school under a bill passed Wednesday by state lawmakers. It’s the latest response to last year’s mass shooting at a Parkland high school. The Republican-led House voted 65-47 on Wednesday… Read more »
Bill to allow arming teachers passes Florida Senate
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28 students “die-in” outside Marco Rubio’s Tampa office to protest inaction on gun violence
At noon today 28 people – most of them high school students – laid silent and motionless on the sidewalk in front of the Federal Building in downtown Tampa. The demonstration in front of the building where Senator Marco Rubio’s office is located is part of a nationwide series of die-ins to protest inaction on… Read more »
Find out where your kids can get free meals this summer
During the school year, many kids who don’t get enough to eat at home can get free or reduced-price lunches at school. But where do they turn during the summer months? Well, you can find dozens of locations across the Tampa Bay region free meals and snacks are handed out this summer by plugging your… Read more »
Moms Demand Action after latest mass school shooting
Another mass school shooting prompts us to take another look on WMNF’s MidPoint at the epidemic of gun violence in the United States; our guests in the studio are part of a group looking for solutions, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. On Friday in Santa Fe, Texas, the suspect in a school… Read more »
Hillsborough County School District officials believe a discussion about a referendum is due
School districts across Florida this year are increasingly looking at the idea of raising taxes to make up for budget deficits. Manatee County voters approved a measure earlier this spring raising property taxes to give raises to teachers and other employees, and officials in districts as diverse as Broward and Hernando County have also recently discussed… Read more »
Plant High students upset at last-minute change to walkout rules
Students from Tampa Bay and across the country streamed out of their schools Friday in the latest round of gun-safety activism following the February shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland. At a West Tampa town hall meeting about gun safety Thursday night, Plant High School students expressed frustration to a Hillsborough School… Read more »
Andrew Gillum gets the most cheers as the Democratic gubernatorial candidates speak in Tampa
Fighting to lead their party in November and reversing two decades of Republican rule in Tallahassee, the four Democratic candidates for governor in Florida spoke in Tampa on Saturday night in front of several hundred members of the Hillsborough County Democratic Party. Philip Levine, Gwen Graham, Andrew Gillum and Chis King all gave their relatively… Read more »
SDS plans May Day and USF sanctuary campus rallies; plus, listeners react to airstrikes on Syria
On MidPoint we asked listeners their thoughts about the latest U.S. / allied missile strikes on Syria. We also spoke about some upcoming actions by Students for a Democratic Society – a May Day rally in Ybor City and a sanctuary campus event at USF. SDS rallies: at USF for sanctuary campus and in Ybor… Read more »
Study: South’s native talent suffers without better schools
The Southerners with college degrees are more likely to be transplants than natives. Do we need better schools to reverse that? By JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — The South’s increasingly diverse homegrown talent won’t share in the region’s economic growth unless state leaders commit to spending more on public schools and higher education,… Read more »
Students organizing March for Our Lives in Pinellas
This Saturday, students from across the country are converging in Washington, D.C. for what they’re calling a March for Our Lives to draw attention to gun violence and school safety; dozens of local marches are planned across the country as well, including several in the Tampa Bay area. Here are links to student-led demonstrations in… Read more »
Hillsborough school board member criticizes Florida education bill
Many school districts in Florida oppose an education bill and the public school budget passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Rick Scott; they say the education budget is only going up by 47 cents per student and that’s not nearly enough to keep pace. April Griffin is a School Board member in… Read more »
Student walkouts planned across US to protest gun violence; FLA donor launching Americans for Gun Safety Now
By COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press. Associated Press writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report. Follow Binkley on Twitter at @cbinkley From Maine to Hawaii, thousands of students planned to stage walkouts Wednesday to protest gun violence, one month after the deadly shooting inside a high school in Parkland, Florida. Organizers say nearly 3,000 walkouts are… Read more »
Teachers’ union opposes Florida Legislature’s school safety & guns bill
The Florida Legislature’s is voting this week on what’s being described as a school safety bill. There’s a lot of gun legislation in there as well. The Florida Senate discussed the school safety legislation Monday after a weekend session. On Saturday the Republican-dominated Senate rejected nearly fifty amendments from Democrats. Some of them were: banning… Read more »
Florida teachers union opposes education bill; decertification is back in bill
A massive education bill is moving through the Florida Legislature and the Senate has added back in a provision that would decertify teachers unions if the number of dues-paying members falls below fifty percent. That’s just one of the many reasons Joanne McCall, president of the Florida Education Association, opposes the bill called HB 7055…. Read more »
