Florida

Governor DeSantis Signs Unprecedented Anti-Protest And Anti-Public Safety Law

April 20, 2021 The Black Collective. Educate! Florida, Freedom of Assembly, Racism, State Government

Tallahassee, Fla. - This morning, just days after the Republican-led Florida Senate voted to pass an unprecedented, costly and racially charged bill (House Bill 1) to censor protest, preempt local policing budgets and preserve symbols of white supremacy, Governor DeSantis is signing it into law. The bill passed despite widespread opposition by Floridians of all political ideologies and diverse sectors, after Governor DeSantis made it his number one legislative priority and lobbied behind doors to make sure it passed both Chambers as early as possible. The new law, which does nothing more than silence dissent and criminalize peaceful protestors, will disproportionately censor, incarcerate, and kill Black Floridians simply exercising their constitutional rights, setting a dangerous precedent of criminalization and repression.

The Real Threat To Free Speech? Florida’s Courts

February 24, 2021 Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. Educate! Environment, Florida, Free Speech, SLAPP Suits

Gov. Ron DeSantis and some other Florida Republicans are worked up over a perceived threat to the freedom of speech of politicians, but they’re ignoring a more significant threat to the public’s right to speak. They’re upset that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have begun to suppress posts they deem flagrantly false or socially offensive, particularly those from their favorite ex-president. But that isn’t a First Amendment issue. Those are private corporations, not government entities. The legitimate First Amendment threat they are ignoring is the misuse of Florida’s courts to suppress and punish attempts by citizens to influence government agencies on issues involving public versus private interests.

Florida Teachers Face Setback In Fight For Safe Schools

January 28, 2021 Ari Odzer, NBC Miami. Resist! Florida, Labor Union, School reopening, Teachers

The Broward Teachers Union’s fight to secure work-from-home orders for about 1,100 teachers seems to have ended with an arbitrator’s decision. The BTU filed a lawsuit against Broward County Public Schools, demanding those teachers with health concerns be allowed to keep special accommodations which were granted in October. The district said only the most seriously ill teachers, about 600, would be allowed to teach from home as the rest were needed in the classroom. The arbitrator sided with the district. “This is a win for our students,” said Superintendent Robert Runcie. “We recognize the health concerns of our teachers and will continue to balance their needs with the needs of students who are struggling and must be back in a safe and healthy school for face-to-face learning.”

UF Students Announce Boycott Against Aramark

January 23, 2021 Juliana Ferrie, Alligator.org. Resist! boycott, Florida, Prison Labor, Student Activism

Four organizations are taking a stand against UF’s official food service provider to protest its use of prison labor. The Gainesville Chapter of the Dream Defenders, UF NAACP, the UF Black Student Union and the Coalition to Abolish Prison Slavery at UF launched a monetary boycott against Aramark, the food service giant, Tuesday. The goal is to pressure the university to contract a new food supplier that doesn’t use prison labor, Dream Defenders member Ava Kaplan wrote in an email. UF Graduate Assistants United also announced its support for the Reitz Union Boycott Thursday through a Facebook post. Aramark has been UF’s official food provider since 1995...

Arrest Warrant Issued For Ex-Florida Data Analyst Rebekah Jones

January 18, 2021 Josh Fiallo, TampaBay.com. Educate! COVID-19, Florida, Legal System, State Violence

The state has issued an arrest warrant for ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones. Jones announced Saturday on Twitter that she learned of the warrant and plans to turn herself in on Sunday. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed there is a warrant for Jones’ arrest but said it cannot disclose what charges she faces until she is in custody. Agency spokesman Gretl Plessinger said in an email to the Tampa Bay Times that “agents have been working with her attorney to have her turn herself in.” Jones once managed Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard. Then she was fired in May from her position as the geographic information system manager for the Florida Department of Health’s Division of Disease Control and Health Protection.

Stop Government Attack On COVID-19 Whistleblower

December 10, 2020 Socialist Equality Party, WSWS.org. Resist! COVID-19, Florida, State Repression

Florida state police barged into Jones’ home Monday with guns aimed at her and her family. They seized her phone, computer and several hard drives, preventing her from continuing to publish data on COVID-19 outbreaks. After the raid Jones tweeted: "They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids... This was DeSantis. He sent the gestapo." Jones tweeted Friday that she has learned that Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes was appointed by Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in September, and one of his first acts as a judge was to sign the search warrant that led to the seizure of her technology.

Ocean Seismic Blasting Halted

October 26, 2020 Abigail Mercer, Daytona Beach News Journal. Resist! Florida, Ocean drilling, Right Whales, Seismic blasting

Florida - After years of advocacy and legal back-and-forth, environmental conservation groups are celebrating a victory: The government will prohibit the use of sonic blasts in the ocean this year, which could help save the lives of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales. During an Oct. 1 conference, officials from the seismic blasting industry announced they won’t pursue efforts to employ seismic blasting to search for offshore oil, a move that dozens of environmentally-focused conservation groups and coastal communities, including New Smyrna Beach and Flagler County, have signed resolutions against.

BLM Activists Hospitalized After Police Kneel On Her Neck

August 14, 2020 Khaleda Rahman, MSN. Educate! Black Lives Matter (BLM), Florida, Police violence, Rebellion2020

Protesters said Jae Passmore had been leaving a demonstration in downtown Tampa on Wednesday night when she was detained by police, The Tampa Bay Times reported. In on video shared on Instagram, Passmore is seen being pinned to the ground by several officers as protesters shout at them to free her. "Stop! Get your knee off her neck!" A protester can be heard repeatedly yelling. Another is heard screaming: "Get off of her like that!"

Supreme Court Stopped One Million Floridians From Voting In November

July 17, 2020 By Mark Joseph Stern, Slate. Educate! Democracy, Florida, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights

The Supreme Court all but guaranteed that nearly 1 million Floridians will be unable to vote in the 2020 election because of unpaid court debts in a shattering order handed down on Thursday. Its decision will throw Florida’s voter registration into chaos, placing a huge number of would-be voters in legal limbo and even opening them up to prosecution for casting a ballot. The justices have effectively permitted Florida Republicans to impose a poll tax in November. Florida’s ex-felons have a right to vote under both the state and federal constitutions. In 2018, a supermajority of residents approved a constitutional amendment that abolished a Jim Crow-era law permanently disenfranchising convicted felons. GOP lawmakers promptly sabotaged this amendment by passing a law that compelled formerly incarcerated people to pay all fines and fees associated with their sentence. Florida imposes a mind-boggling array of fees on defendants to fund its criminal justice system, and the new law would disenfranchise almost a million of the roughly 1.4 million voters who were poised to regain their voting rights.

Live And Let Die: The Data Manipulation Begins

May 8, 2020 By Marcy Wheeler, Emptywheel. Educate! COVID-19, Florida, Georgia, Trump

Now that Trump has fully committed to reopening the economy before the shut down has its desired effect, he and allied governors are engaged in more aggressive data manipulation to hide the stupidity of what they’re doing. Now, after taking the full hit of shutting down, Republicans are insisting on reopening — bolstered by their fraudulent charts and graphs — before the shutdown has any lasting epidemiological value. We’ll have the medical impact of a herd immunity approach, with the economic impact of a badly executed mitigation strategy. The worst of both options.

Court: Florida Can’t Bar Felons From Vote Over Fines, Fees

February 20, 2020 BobCaina Calvan and Curt Anderson, AP News. Educate! Elections, Florida, Prisoner rights, Voting

Tallahassee, FL — Florida cannot, for now, bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that a state law implementing Amendment 4 amounted to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of the released felons. “We disagree with the ruling,” said Helen Ferre, chief spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. She said the state would immediately ask the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider. The case is one of several now before judges amid high-stakes legal skirmishes over Florida elections, which have drawn national scrutiny because of the state’s perennial status as a political battleground and the razor-thin margins deciding some high-profile contests.

Court Upholds Poll Tax For Convicted Felons In Florida To Vote

January 18, 2020 Staff, Aclufl.org Resist! Electoral Politics, Florida, Voting Rights

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The Florida Supreme Court’s advisory opinion does not — indeed, cannot — alter what the U.S. Constitution requires. A federal court has already held that the state cannot deny people the right to vote because of their inability to pay financial obligations. The U.S. Constitution also prohibits making voting rights contingent on the payment of taxes, and it requires Florida to provide due process to citizens before taking their voting rights away.

Protesters ‘Shed Light’ On Florida Detention Center For Migrant Children

April 11, 2019 Monique O. Madan, Theledger.com Resist! Detention Centers, Florida, Immigration, Protests, Undocumented

Binoculars in hand, Joshua Rubin stood atop a concrete barricade just a few feet away from the Homestead migrant shelter’s property line. It’s the only vantage point that could give the protester any glimpse into the life of the thousands of unaccompanied minors detained there after crossing the Southern border without their biological parents. For weeks, Rubin, along with dozens of other immigration advocates, put together large signs and wedged them between tree branches in a nearby wooded area—signs big enough for the children to see.

Miami Bans The Use Of Glyphosate In A Step To Improve Water Quality

March 6, 2019 Ashley Curtin, Nationofchange.org Create! Florida, glyphosate, Water

Miami, Florida voted unanimously to ban the use of glyphosate by city departments and contractors. The controversial herbicide is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s – now Bayer after an acquisition took place over a year ago – popular weed-killer, Roundup. But concerns surrounding the safety and proliferation of glyphosate continue to grow and the city of Miami took it upon themselves to effectively enact the resolution right after passage, The Miami Times reported.

Finally, A Shred Of Good News As Former Felons Register To Vote In Florida

January 10, 2019 Samantha Grasso, Splinternews.com Create! Electoral Politics, Florida, Voting

This time next year, as Republicans work overtime to convince their constituents to stick with Donald Trump and Democrats compete in a battle of who can puff the biggest vape cloud on Periscope, one group will finally have their right to vote restored in time for the election in Florida. As of Tuesday, Florida’s more than 1.4 million former felons with nonviolent convictions became eligible to vote, a result of the state’s passage of Amendment 4 in November. While some residents’ whose voting rights were restored registered online after the measure went into effect at midnight, others celebrated their registrations in person.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 »

Daily movement news and resources