Bill to change Bright Futures scholarships postponed
A contentious proposal that would reshape Florida’s popular Bright Futures scholarship program and other aspects of student financial aid was abruptly postponed ahead of its first public hearing on Tuesday amid growing opposition from student groups.
The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Baxley, is a massive rewrite of the Bright Futures program that currently benefits roughly 112,000 Florida students. It would take away scholarship funds for any credits that students earned through Advanced Placement and related programs they took in high school — something the state has encouraged them to do over several years.
The bill further would limit the types of degrees for which students could receive state financial aid. But it does not specify which ones. Student groups have mounted opposition campaigns on social media, launched online petitions, and bombarded lawmakers with emails and phone calls urging them to kill the bill. Their efforts appeared to have paid off — at least temporarily.
Less than 24 hours before its first scheduled hearing, the bill was pulled from the Senate Education Committee’s agenda. That’s often a sign the bill might not have enough support as currently written.
More at www.MiamiHerald.com.
In an attempt to rid Americans of the tedious task of refreshing websites for hours on end, a team of 21 medical advisers, technology experts and business people are running a site that matches COVID-19 vaccine providers with leftover doses to people who want one.
The free service, coined Dr. B, was designed to make access to COVID-19 vaccines “more efficient and equitable,” the group’s website says.
The site is available in English and Spanish, and will expand into more languages in the future.
“Leftovers happen. People miss their appointments. Vials come with extra doses. Any thawed vials must be used within 6 hours, or they get thrown out. … Join the standby list to get connected with local providers with extra doses,” the website says.
Its founder, tech entrepreneur Cyrus Massoumi, told several news outlets that he silently launched the site in January and dodged early interviews with mainstream media to ensure groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic, such as nonwhite communities, received word of the program first.
Instead, Massoumi went on Zoom calls with representatives from Black churches and Native American community groups, for example, The New York Times reported.
“It was really important for him to let these communities have potentially a place at the front of the line, or to get the information early,” Brooke Williams, who is a member of the Resistance Revival Chorus in New York and was a part of one of the Zoom calls with Massoumi, told the outlet. “Hearing about shots that were getting thrown out was just heartbreaking and infuriating.”
Only two vaccine providers, one in Little Rock, Arkansas, and another in Queens, New York, are currently working with Dr. B, according to Insider. But more than 200 additional sites are set to join the effort.
People who want to join the waiting list must provide their name, birthdate, ZIP Code and email address, as well as any health conditions they have and what their living situation is like.
They will receive a text message when a vaccine provider in their area reports it has extra COVID-19 vaccine doses, in which “you will be given a certain amount of time to respond and claim the dose before you start traveling to the provider,” according to the Dr. B website. “If you decline or do not respond, we will reassign that dose to another person … (and) assume that you no longer wish to receive alerts and will remove you from the vaccine waitlist unless you respond to rejoin.”
Once a confirmation is sent to Dr. B, the site may “send your information to that provider who may verify your eligibility in person. We will not sell, share or transfer your data to any third-parties, other than as set forth in our privacy policy.”
More than 764,000 people have joined the waiting list as of Tuesday afternoon.
Massoumi declined to tell Time how many people have been vaccinated through his site so far, but said the more than 200 other providers willing to join forces “range everywhere from individual pharmacies in rural settings to homeless shelters, academic medical centers.”
Dr. B was named after Massoumi’s grandfather who became a doctor during the Spanish flu and “dedicated his life to removing obstacles between patients and care.”