Looking ahead to this week

Perry Thurston, member, Florida Senate

There is no disputing the legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune, the founder of Bethune Cookman University and the National Council of Negro Women. Her impact as an educator and a leader in the civil rights and women’s rights movements should not be forgotten, which is why I am urging the Florida Legislature to ask the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress to put her statue in the U.S. Capitol. The move means replacing the statue of Edmund Kirby Smith, a general in the Confederate Army. However, I believe Bethune’s accomplishments better reflect the aspirations and diversity of today’s Florida.

Katy Sorenson, past president, Good Government Initiative, University of Miami

The Starve-the-Beast Republican Legislature is at it again — this time aiming to eviscerate our public education system. They’re implementing cuts to our K-12 schools’ already inadequate capital budgets in order to give money to for-profit charters whose buildings the public will never own. Draconian cuts to our colleges, the lifeblood of many of our neediest students, cutting off the possibility of many to live the American Dream — all of this is happening at a time when we have a surplus. What better investment is there than education? Where is the vision in Tallahassee? Small minds are making colossal mistakes.

Cary Glickstein, mayor, Delray Beach

Six years removed from the pill-mill crisis that killed seven people a day, we face its deadlier progeny with heroin killing 10 people a day. Mental health funding is required to address addiction, as is identifying more deceptive reasons we face a public health emergency: a highly profitable, unregulated “recovery” or “relapse” industry. Unchecked proliferation of sober homes linked financially to treatment providers engaging in felonious patient brokering and vulnerable sober home occupants lured through deceptive marketing make for easy targets. While no silver bullet, more accountability from HB-807 and SB-788 will reduce the body bags we send back home.

Richard Barkett, CEO, Greater Fort Lauderdale REALTORS

A recent study from FIU finds more Miami residents looking to live elsewhere because they’re struggling to find affordable housing. As a result of the stagnant income/higher-home-prices problem, Miami has the most millennials living at home of any major American city. On the other hand Fort Lauderdale has become the new home of many businesses, bringing more jobs to the area and making it a better place to live. However, as residents and businesses continue to move a bit farther north, Fort Lauderdale may soon see some of the housing cost problems currently associated with Miami and Key West.

Michael De Lucca, president, Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Inc.

Saturday will mark four years since the Boston Marathon bombing attack. We must always keep in memory the lives that were taken, the resilient survivors, and all of the first respondents who worked quickly and efficiently to save as many lives as possible. There were more than 5,600 runners that day — three people died, and over 260 were severely wounded. This year the Boston Marathon will be held on April 17. I wish all participants, family, friends and first responders a safe and happy day. #BostonStrong!

Ted Deutch, member, U.S. House of Representatives

Sexual assault almost always happens in private. That’s why recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month is so important. We need every member of our society to face the awful fact that an American is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. We cannot let this tragic statistic shame us into ignoring it. We must be ready to listen when a friend or loved one reports sexual violence. We must dedicate law enforcement resources to investigate and process rape kits, and we must prosecute those who commit assault in our military.

Anna Fusco, president, Broward Teachers Union

This week is Spring Break Week in Broward. It’s time for your kids to get away from “test-testtest” and just be kids. Turn off their tablets. Put away your own smart phone. Make some memories. Go to the beach. Watch a Marlins game. See Butterfly World. Visit the Young at Art Museum. Ride the water taxi. Stroll with nature in Holiday Park. Find a book in the public library. Walk the boardwalk at Ann Kolb Nature Center. Enjoy your favorite ice cream parlor. Go fishing. Stop by that park you always drive by. Give them something to remember.

Tracey Grossman, chairperson-elect, Florida Anti-Defamation League

Starting Monday evening, Jewish families will gather for Passover and its traditions. One tradition is to tell the story of four children — one wise, one wicked, one simple, and one who does not know how to ask. We possess all of these qualities. In this age of news, analysis, and “fake news” though, many of us don’t know how — or what — to ask. Our ability to make informed decisions has been incapacitated. Move beyond opinions you already agree with. Allow yourself to differentiate between opinion and fact. Only then can you confidently stand up for what you believe.

Marlon A. Hill, partner, Hamilton, Miller & Birthisel

As President Trump approaches the end of his first 100 days, I expect more reflections and adjustments to the realities of governing. Unless President Trump balances the promises of his bold campaign pronouncements with the humilities of statesmanship, he will find it increasingly difficult to build credibility for his agenda. Self-restraint and discipline will be the markers of whether he can make the art of a deal with himself.

Ron Klein, former member, U.S. House of Representatives

President Trump and Speaker Ryan are hinting that they are back on the case to pass a health care bill. To satisfy the Freedom Caucus, they are offering to dump limits on pre-existing conditions and require sick people to have to pay more. As a result, they have effectively cut off support from moderate Republicans, all Democrats, and most Americans. When are they going to learn? Americans want to fix what’s broken and keep everything else intact. Focus on how to stabilize the market and bring the price of insurance down. It is doable. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Clarence V. McKee, president, McKee Communications

Will Florida Democrats allow radical leftist billionaire George Soros to take over their party and candidates in 2018? Through political committees, Soros spent millions in support of Democrat district attorneys in several states who agree with his progressive agenda. This includes successful Orange-Osceola county State Attorney Aramis Ayala who declared she would not seek the death penalty in the case of a cop killer — or any other case. After his big win in that race, Soros and his son have given Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum a total of $150,000 in the Democrat governor’s race. What office will he target next?

Frank Ortis, mayor, Pembroke Pines

There are consequences to actions. If bills in the Florida House and Senate pass, the consequences from causing a car crash while illegally passing a school bus will be much more severe. The bill would require motorists who injure people while illegally passing stopped school buses to serve 120 community service hours in a trauma center or hospital, participate in a victim’s impact panel or attend an approved driver-improvement course, pay a $1,500 fine and have their license suspended for a year. Currently the violator is fined $100 with moving violations. I’m hoping these stiffer penalties will deter future tragedies.