Central100 Florida
Our panel of 100 influential leaders discusses the most important issues affecting you.
TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK
HOUSING AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS, Martha Are, CEO, Central Florida Commission on Homelessness: On Thursday, we learned that math and reading test scores for the nation’s 9-year-olds fell precipitously during the first two years of the pandemic, especially for children of color. But we shouldn’t blame it solely on remote learning. In Central Florida, the number of homeless families with children has grown 28% over the past year alone — again, disproportionately among people of color. The lack of stable, safe housing is one of the biggest risk factors for academic failure. It’s hard to do homework when you’re living in a car.
UKRAINE DICHOTOMY, Ken LaRoe, Founder, Climate First Bank: I attended the Ukraine Relief ballet performance put on by the Ukraine Ballet at the Dr. Phillips Center on Aug. 27. I left the performance deeply moved and profoundly impacted. During the entire drive home back to Eustis I passed flag after flag of Trump 2024 and was tormented by the hypocritical, brainless disconnect of Trumpers who fly Ukraine flags and Trump flags right next to each other. Don’t they read the news? Doesn’t it bother them that Trump said Putin was a genius for invading Ukraine?
PRICE GOUGING, A.J. Marsden, assistant professor, Beacon College: Consumer price gouging has become commonplace in recent months as many companies hike up prices and yell “inflation!” While somewhat understandable, even the costs of basic necessities, such as electricity and water, have soared at rates that significantly outpace the current inflation rate. For example, although I decreased my utilities usage this month, my bill jumped nearly 20 percent. The utility’s explanation for the ridiculous hike: inflation. This type of price gouging not only affects Central Florida residents, but also our businesses and not-for-profits. Our wallets cannot afford such disregard for basic decency to continue.
SUING THE FDA, Muhammad Musri, president, Islamic Society of Central Florida:
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is suing the FDA to let Florida import some prescription drugs from Canada. DeSantis said Florida could save up to $150 million a year by importing some drugs which are sold in the U.S. for double the price. Florida filed an application with the FDA in late 2020, and last July President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the FDA to work with states to safely import prescription drugs from Canada, but Big Pharma has been delaying the FDA’s approvals. Drug prices must be regulated by the government to stop pharmaceutical companies from overcharging Americans.
SPACE EXPLORATION, Pamela Nabors, president/CEO, CareerSource Central Florida:
Despite the launch delay of NASA’s Artemis I rocket, this mission represents a critical milestone in the space agency’s quest toward establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon. It’s an unmanned flight but serves as a rehearsal for Artemis II to follow, sending humans to explore more of the moon’s surface for the first time since the ‘70s. Along with the fascinating and historical images of Jupiter coming from the James Webb telescope millions of miles away, it’s an exciting time for space exploration and inspiring future leaders to study for years to come.
A LITTLE READING TIME, Mark E. NeJame, founder, senior partner, NeJame Law: I don’t understand the uproar over the search warrant and seizure of classified and top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago. During his presidency, Trump was notoriously negligent and known for refusing and failing to read such briefings and critical documents concerning our country and national security. Now that he’d taken them home, finally trying to catch up on some long-overdue reading, everyone is all over him for jeopardizing lives and our country, hiding the documents, having them in insecure locations, and lying about their whereabouts. All the guy was trying to do was just get caught up on some reading material. Sheesh …
HELP FOR TENANTS, Sheena Rolle, senior director of strategy, Florida Rising: Orange County Commissioners have agreed to expand the second wave of the Emergency Rental Assistance funds to now include tenants whose rent has increased more than 10%. This comes three weeks after the Commission voted to place rent stabilization on the ballot in November. Having rental assistance funding is simply not enough. The tenants of Orange County need assistance AND solutions; you can’t have one without the other. A solution the County Commission should consider is having a tenants bill of rights and a landlord registry that would be an accountability measure so that landlords aren’t incentivized to continue bad behavior. There’s more work to be done, but this is a start.
LEGAL PARALLELS, Joanie Schirm, GEC founding president; World Cup Orlando 1994 Committee chairman: If you study the Nazis’ systematic destruction of the German independent judicial system, you’ll find undeniable similarities in Florida. Shortly after taking office, Hitler, seeking greater power, set up his own judicial system. Hitler, 1942: “I expect the German legal profession to understand that the nation is not here for them, but they are here for the nation ... I shall intervene in these cases and remove from office those judges who evidently do not understand the demand of the hour.” Subverting democracy and our Florida constitution, Gov. DeSantis’s tyrannical removal of elected Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren signals code red, and 115 nationwide legal and ethics experts agree.