TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK

Robin Bartleman, member, Florida House of Representatives. Last week, I filed House Bill

359 because it is time to take a pause from the pressure and penalties of highs stakes testing. This pandemic has added a tremendous amount of stress by completely changing our education system overnight. There was nothing typical about this school year; our teachers and students have lost family members, faced housing and food insecurity, were quarantined, battled

COVID-19, and many students are dealing with mental health issues. Now is not the time to use the test results punitively. Data from the test should be used to drive instruction and remediate students who have regressed.

Paul Castronovo, host, Paul Castronovo Show on Big 105.9. Dear Tampa, speaking as a Miami Dolphin fan, congratulations — you won a Super Bowl! (Granted, you hired mercenaries like Brady and Gronk, but if that’s how you felt you needed to do it.) Trust me, we watched in envy as you guys put away the Chiefs. Then, we started seeing the videos of the mask-less celebrations downtown and in Ybor City and thought, “Well, that’s Tampa being Tampa.” Your mayor begged you to be responsible, how’d that work out for ya? So, in one week, you went from being Super Bowl Champs to Super Spreader Chumps. To quote President Biden, “C’mon, man.”

Joseph Cox, president and CEO, Museum of Discovery and Science. Think traffic is bad on Earth? Now Mars is catching up! After venturing hundreds of millions of miles through space, this week, the United Arab Emirates’ orbiter reached Mars, followed swiftly by China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter-rover combo. The UAE and China are now the fifth and sixth countries, respectively, to get a probe to Mars. NASA’s Perseverance rover is scheduled to arrive on Feb. 18 to begin its mission of collecting samples and searching for evidence of ancient Mars life. To celebrate these accomplishments and to inspire future space explorers, MODS is hosting Mars Landing Day on Feb. 20.

Bobby DuBose, minority co-leader, Florida House of Representatives. This week in Tallahassee, Democrats introduced a broad range of police reform bills to make Florida a fairer and more just place for everyone. We need to acknowledge that our current policies aren’t working for every community, but we can build a state where both our officers and our communities feel supported. If you want to improve policing, support good officers, and build safer communities, then we ask that you consider supporting these ideas. We can reimagine a stronger, safer Florida. It will be a challenge to pass these ideas in the Republican-controlled legislature, but it’s a fight worth having.

Debbi Hixon, member, Broward County School Board. For most people, this Sunday is Valentine’s Day. For our family, it is the day that marks the third anniversary of the most devastating day in our lives. I still struggle to understand how this happened. My husband went to work at a school, and he was executed, along with 16 others. The light of our lives was taken from us because someone was consumed by darkness and evil. It must stop! Our country must step up and put more resources into addressing mental health and identifying at-risk individuals so that they get help before the point of no return.

Norm Kent, publisher, South Florida Gay News. Broward County’s new state attorney, Harold Pryor, has kept his commitment to end four decades of injustice, announcing he will no longer prosecute inconsequential misdemeanor cannabis cases, freeing Floridians to exercise their civil liberties without fear of arrest, posting bonds and criminal records impacting their lives in thousands of adverse ways.

Philip Purcell, CEO/President, Marine Industries Association of South Florida. U.S. Coast Guard on a routine patrol discovered three people shipwrecked on uninhabited Anguilla Cay. Weather conditions did not permit immediate rescue, but supplies and a radio were dispatched, and the team returned the following day to recover the castaways after 33 days on the Bahamian island. Over that time, they survived on coconuts and conch and were in good health considering the situation. This is a dramatic example of the valuable service provided by USCG to keep our water borders secure and the lives of all mariners safe, honoring their motto, Semper Paratus — always ready.

Robert Weinroth, member, Palm Beach County Commission. Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz, Holocaust survivors in our community are being vaccinated. Within a week of contacting the governor’s office, these treasures in our community began receiving their shots. However, we still have pockets of residents who cannot gain access to the reservation system. Consequently, I have asked the state Department of Health to establish a reliable hotline for our most vulnerable seniors who have limited computer access and/or skills. The sooner we get our seniors and frontline healthcare workers vaccinated, the sooner we can expand the criteria for others to receive the vaccine.