By Priscilla West On November 14th, Leon County School Board Chair Rosanne Wood moved to replace “gender” with “gender identity” in the district’s nondiscrimination statement. The amendment was approved in a 4-1 vote, with only member Alva Striplin in opposition. This seemingly innocuous change has important implications. While Florida law no longer allows classroom instruction […]
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The four day celebration combines family, friends, football, food, and traditions. The seasonal decorations and putting the leaf in the dinner table adds to to the anticipation of seeing friends and family together for the first time in months and in some cases, more than a year. Lately, one of […]
Whenever the Democrats suffered one of their humiliating routs at the polls, the late U.S. Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina would sometimes try to teach his party that “there is no education in the second kick of a mule.” Well, OK then, how about the seventh kick? How many whacks should it take for […]
Think about this simple fact for a second. Florida makes up just 10% of the nation’s property insurance market. But up until earlier this year, we make up 70% of the nation’s insurance lawsuits. When the governor and legislature passed the lawsuit reform bill this past April, over 100,000 lawsuits were filed in one week […]
Ahead of a Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency (IA) vote on a request for economic development funding by the developer of the SOMO Walls project, City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he believes “something criminal might be going on” with the project. However, what has not been reported amid these accusation […]
Hundreds of citizens have called for Leon County and the City of Tallahassee to review the erroneous decision to drawdown Lake Munson in light of the discovery of a Florida Department of Environmental Protection 2011 Lake Munson Drawdown Report which concluded drawdowns only address 20% removal of phosphorus, the main instigator of toxic harmful blooms (https://www.change.org/RestoreLakeMunson). […]
By Priscilla West Leon County Schools is making plans for a book-by-book permission system for library checkouts. Parental screening options are welcomed, but the plan sidesteps parents’ greater need for LCS to do the right thing: Please curate school library collections to be educational, enriching, and age appropriate. While school libraries do a great job […]
Letter to the Editor As a caterer, inflation, higher taxes, and higher insurance rates mean two things: I have to charge more, but I still make less money. And my customers are footing the bill. Because of this, I was really proud of Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature for taking steps to reform our […]
The City of Tallahassee is late in the process of considering a property tax increase to fund additional law enforcement investments in fiscal year 2023-24. The increase – from 4.1 mills to 4.5 mills – will raise approximately $7.5 million in new revenue. A 3-2 vote during the recent budget workshop indicated tentative support for […]
The continuing saga related to the future of the Northeast Park will be front and center again on June 15th, as the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency will meet and consider different park options. The park has fallen victim to questions about cost, equity, amenities, park access and yes, to politics. As a long time resident of […]