Shevrin Jones

A man shot in the neck by a Lakeland police officer more than two decades ago and a woman who was critically injured and later died after a Florida Highway Patrol officer used a stun gun on her are among the subjects of 10 newly filed “claim” bills in the state Senate.

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ lawmakers feel as if they are under personal attack, and that they need to continually defend their community’s right to exist.

It comes as a similar bill, HB 999, is primed to go before the full House.

The Republican-majority Florida Legislature has followed the governor's lead by introducing legislation this year to rein in DEI programs at each of the state's 12 public universities.

A backlash is brewing in Florida higher education over a bill that could alter the way certain subjects are taught and discussed. It hasn't yet passed the legislature but is already roiling academia.

The Senate version of the measure also no longer includes a ban on majors and minors in critical race theory, intersectionality and certain gender studies. Yet, that language remains in the House version of the bill.

Florida's original name, image and likeness law bans colleges and universities from steering deals to athletes. State lawmakers will soon lift that ban.

On this week's Florida Roundup, we examine the state's decision to reject an Advanced Placement African American course as teachers cover up their classroom libraries, fearing they’ll run afoul of new state standards on what books students can access.

"One Governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history," Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said of GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' move to ban the Advanced Placement course.

The state’s rejection of the course has drawn national attention, including a rebuke from the Biden administration.

Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat, says the proposed course "wasn't indoctrination, it wasn't ideology, it was facts." He fears blocking it will harm students in Florida and beyond.

Activists are set to rally outside the Capitol to oppose the plan, which some Black Democrats are calling a “racist tactic.”