Florida testing AP class alternative
Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Republican leaders are exploring alternatives to the College Board’s AP classes and tests. The Times/Herald reports that top state officials have been meeting with the founder of an education testing company that supporters say is focused on the “great classical and Christian tradition.” The Classic Learning Test is used primarily by private schools and home-schooling families and is rooted in the classical education model, which focuses on what it calls the “centrality of the Western tradition.” The founder of the company, Jeremy Tate, said the test is meant to be an alternative to the College Board-administered SAT exam, which he says has become “increasingly ideological.” He says that in part that’s because it has “censored the entire Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition” and other “thinkers in the history of Western thought.”
Minor gender-affirmation care nears halt
Florida’s pending ban on gender-affirming care for minors has not taken effect yet. But treatment has already become harder to find across the state. Some providers have stopped accepting new patients under the age of 18 for hormone therapy, while others are continuing to do so. A transgender woman and office manager of Spektrum Health in Orlando said, “There’s a lot of fear, especially in the health care field.” Last November, the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine approved rules that will forbid doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to treat new patients younger than 18 for gender dysphoria. The state Department of Health had urged the medical boards to enact the restrictions, arguing that the care was “experimental” and no evidence proved it was effective. But Florida’s rules are at odds with existing treatment standards that have been endorsed by major medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society.
Former president enters hospice care
Well-wishes and fond remembrances for former President Jimmy Carter are pouring in after he entered hospice care at his home in Georgia. Among those paying homage was his niece, who noted the legacy of the 39th president at the small Baptist church in Plains, Georgia, where Carter taught Sunday school for decades. Kim Fuller says she doesn’t know who will continue his legacy. In Atlanta, people arrived at The Carter Center to reflect on Carter’s life. James Culbertson drove his sons an hour to pay their respects. He also wanted to teach them “a little bit about how great a humanitarian he was, especially in the later stages of his life.” Carter is 98 years old. No other US president has reached that age.
Florida committee proposes medical-marijuana amendment
A political committee has started moving forward with a proposed Florida constitutional amendment that would allow medical-marijuana patients and patients’ caregivers to grow cannabis at home. The WISE & Free Florida committee is seeking to get the proposal on the 2024 ballot. That’s according to newly posted information on the state Division of Elections website. To do so, it would need to submit more than 890,000 valid petition signatures. A summary of the proposal said it would allow “caregivers and adult qualifying patients 21 years or older to cultivate marijuana for medical use” and that cultivation would be “limited to the cultivator’s home.” The proposal comes as a committee known as Smart & Safe Florida tries to get a different amendment on the 2024 ballot to allow recreational use of marijuana. That committee had submitted 292,000 valid signatures as of Friday. In 2016 Florida voters approved an amendment that authorized the use of medical marijuana.
New Florida Republican party leader elected
Former Sarasota County Commissioner Christian Ziegler will lead the Republican Party of Florida into the 2024 elections. Ziegler, who has served as vice chair of the party, was elected GOP chair on Saturday in Orlando. He will succeed outgoing Chair Joe Gruters, a state senator from Sarasota who did not seek another term as party leader. According to a tweet by the Republican Party of Florida, the vice chair will be Leon County Republican Chair Evan Power.
Iowa caucus eyes GOP possibilities
After a slow start, Republican presidential prospects are streaming into Iowa, the leadoff presidential caucus state. Notably absent from the lineup, at least for now, is former President Trump. Few of the White House hopefuls face the lofty expectations in Iowa that Trump does. He finished a competitive second to devout social conservative Ted Cruz in 2016. Trump went on to carry the state twice, by healthy margins, as the Republican presidential nominee in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Many potential GOP candidates are waiting to see whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proceeds with a White House bid.
Tracking technology allows researchers to locate invasive species
Wildlife researchers studying mammals in the Florida Keys have discovered a potentially groundbreaking way to locate and kill invasive Burmese pythons, especially the big ones. The team was tracking raccoons and opossums near the Crocodile National Wildlife Refuge and fitted dozens of the mammals with GPS collars. One of the collars sent out a mortality signal, triggered by lack of movement. But then, a few hours later, the collar started moving again. The researchers had a hunch that the possum was eaten by a snake. They determined that the invasive python stopped to digest the opossum, and then started moving again.
Guns in US airports
The Transportation Security Administration is concerned about the number of guns being intercepted at US airports.
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