LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK

GROVELAND FOUR, Glenton Gilzean Jr., president/CEO, Central Florida Urban League: While our state has made great progress in exonerating the Groveland Four, including a posthumous pardon by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2019, one critical step remains: the dismissal of the criminal case. State Attorney William Gladson filed a motion to formally clear their names in court. If approved by a judge, his motion would vacate the convictions against Charles Greenlee and Walter Irvin and dismiss the indictments against Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas. The families of the Groveland Four have waited more than 70 years for their names to be cleared; hopefully this ruling by Judge Heidi Davis will bring closure.

ELECTION DAY, David Kay, chair, Interfaith Council of Central Florida: With so much focus on the 2022 midterm election, it’s important to remember that this Tuesday is Election Day, too. Not every county or municipality has officials to vote for, but several do. And they’re important. If you’re registered to vote in Orlando, for instance, three of the six City Council positions are on the ballot. And voters in Mount Dora and Oviedo are choosing a mayor. The late and legendary U.S. Rep. Tip O’Neill was known for citing the adage, “All politics is local.” Don’t let an off-year local election pass you by — if you’re eligible, vote.

CLIMATE SECURITY, Ken LaRoe, Founder, Climate First Bank:

The U.S. intelligence community officially identified the climate crisis as a serious security risk. Anyone with eyes could have seen this coming — as temperatures rise, vulnerable countries will demand more and more help from wealthier ones. The incoming geopolitical tensions should frighten everyone, so why doesn’t the right wing get it?

DESANTIS’ SCHOOL DICTATORSHIP, Muhammad Musri, president, Islamic Society of Central Florida:

According to OCPS Board chair Teresa Jacobs, several Florida public schools’ boards are at risk of being replaced by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for defying a state ban on mask mandates. The governor has called the Florida Legislature for a special session to give him the power to override Article 9, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution that gives local school boards the authority to decide. Should the governor have the power to simply replace school-board members who don’t follow one of his policies? Such replacement of a democratically elected board is unconstitutional and it’s simply a form of dictatorship.

CHILD-CARE RESOURCES, Pamela Nabors, president/ CEO, CareerSource Central Florida: A number of factors are fueling the labor shortage, including the lack of child-care resources for working parents. The child-care industry is experiencing its own crisis — low wages, ongoing COVID-19 concerns, long wait lists for families, and teachers leaving the profession at alarming rates. The Early Learning Coalition of Orange County is attempting to tackle this issue through the K-Ready Community Project Childcare is Essential Campaign to fund collective impact strategies. A recent workshop with key community partners laid out a timeline with ambitious goals for action. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this important initiative.

LOWER DRUG COSTS, Stephanie Porta, co-executive director, Florida Rising: President Biden’s proposed framework for reconciliation has policy highlights. The provisions include a half-trillion in climate investments, funding to construct, improve and rehabilitate 1 million affordable rentals and single-family homes, and expanded universal preschool for more than 6 million children. What’s missing is a crucial provision for Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate lower drug costs, which the CBO estimated would save the country nearly $450 billion in direct spending. Rep. Stephanie Murphy has to stop the pharmaceutical companies and the 1,500 lobbyists on Capitol Hill from preventing this. She won’t be alone: nearly 90% of her district is in support of the policy.

LEARN COMPROMISE, Rob Rosen, partner, Burr & Forman: I, like many, am tired of the rhetoric locally and nationally, whether from the news or politicians. Not everything is political or polarizing. Not everything needs to be seen as a victory or a loss. We seem to have forgotten that we are a democracy, and democracy works best when we put aside our differences and seek the greater good. We may not always get it right, but we have been at our best when we accept each other as we are, when we compromise, when we put aside pettiness, when we remember we are better and stronger as WE, not ME.

SLOW NEWS DAY, Michael Zais, political blogger for thedrunkenrepublican.com: In another example of hard-hitting journalism, the Orlando Sentinel recently reported a finding from some random political website exposing the existential threat of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis sharing some of the same hand gestures. The quintessential slow news day. Translation? In an attempt to resurrect the lone unifier of the severely fractured Democratic Party — hatred of the big, bad orange man — we will see endless attempts by the left and the media to wrap Donald Trump around the neck of every Republican (see the Virginia governor race). However, given the glaringly systematic destruction of the country by Joe Biden, this strategy is destined to fail.