TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK

Our panel of 100 influential leaders discusses the most important issues affecting you.

Lauren Book, member, Florida Senate. The proposed laws to enact a completely nonsensical ban of young transgender athletes from participating in sports is not based on compassion, understanding or science. It is based on anecdote, fearmongering and irrational phobias. Trans youth should be supported, not marginalized. We must support trans youth as they seek to live their authentic lives, understanding that these young people suffer higher incidences of bullying, violence and suicidal ideation than their peers. Florida should be seeking ways to empower, include and accept them, not promote discrimination in the form of state-sponsored bigotry.

Paul Castronovo, host, Paul Castronovo Show on Big 105.9. I’m trying to figure out why the governor is so dead set against a vaccine passport. Would someone really feel like their civil liberties are at stake because they were asked to prove they were vaccinated? It’s about choices: if you choose to not get vaccinated, I can choose to not let you into my theater, sporting event, restaurant, airplane, whatever. Also, you have the right to wear nothing but Speedos, some flip flops and a barn owl on your head, and business owners have the right to (laugh at you and) deny you entry. Now go get your vaccine.

Frank Ortis, mayor, Pembroke Pines. Amid the many controversial items being discussed during this year’s legislative session, one bill that passed unanimously through the Early Learning and Elementary Education Subcommittee should be applauded by all. This bill requires schools to provide mental health and suicide prevention hotline numbers to be included on the back of student ID cards beginning this summer. This gives easily accessible help to students in need. Especially during this challenge pandemic, such information is important. Students in Broward actually proposed this bill and should be commended for their insight and determination to help all students.

Harold Pryor, state attorney, 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County. This week we reflect on the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt as we commemorate Passover. The path to freedom is a common pursuit in every generation of oppressed communities. Like each generation before us, we struggle to live up to the promise of being a more perfect union. Hate crimes persist in our world and are appalling. The Broward State Attorney’s Office and I have a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism and hate crimes against any member of our community. I proudly stand with our Jewish and Asian brothers and sisters as we work to break the cycle of hatred.

Nan Rich, member, Broward County Commission. The Republican Legislature is destroying two vital trust funds! The Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Lawton Chiles Endowment were created because previous legislators understood the importance of dedicated funding for the critical needs of Floridians. The idea of permanently earmarking two-thirds of the Sadowski funds for other projects, leaving a third for housing, hurts Floridians desperately needing affordable housing. Eliminating the Lawton Chiles Endowment and transferring its $1 billion to state reserves would no longer require funds from the landmark 1997 Tobacco Settlement to be used for health care and biomedical research. Let’s stop the reckless dismantling of these funds!

Laurie Sallarulo, CEO, Junior Achievement of South Florida. Take me out to the ballgame! This week, we officially recognized the start of the 2021 baseball season with all the usual makings of an exciting Opening Day. No other opening day of any sport has the grandeur of baseball. As in past seasons, the sight of the freshly groomed turf, clean white lines and perfectly raked clay provoke the hopes of a great season and the dream of a World Series. But with limited capacity and other CDC guidelines in place, will the experience be the same? Maybe not exactly, but there’s still nothing like a seventh-inning stretch.

Eleanor Sobel, former member, Florida Senate. Why are Republicans distrusting of the people of Florida instead of serving the people who elected them? Why has Republican leadership made the passage of citizen-led initiatives more difficult? Initiatives such as felons’ voting rights, which passed with 64.55% of the vote, would fail under a new proposal (HJR 61/SJR 1238) needing a 66.67% threshold to succeed. Another bill (HB 699/SB 1890) would reduced to a maximum of $3,000 the amount of money one could contribute for petition circulations.

Ann Marie Sorrell, founder and CEO, Mosaic Group. A $20 bill alleged to be counterfeit led to a human being gasping for air while his cries of “I can’t breathe … mama, mama, mama” were disregarded by the officer who pinned his neck until his body laid limp. The pain I felt last May was exacerbated as I watched witnesses, new video footage and evidence presented in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin. What have we done differently since George Floyd’s death? Did we go back to business as usual? No one should die over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill or for being a “sizeable guy.”