TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK

Lauren Book, member, Florida Senate. Gov. DeSantis has once again, with his inaugural speech, doubled down on his Orwellian claim that Florida is the “freedom state.” Of course, he means it is free only for those who agree with him; “free” for those who want to ban books, limit access to abortions, limit peaceful protests or brandish unlicensed and unregistered weapons in public. The governor’s so-called “freedoms” — to be perfectly clear — are not freedoms at all but are gross overarching restrictions on the rights of those who have a different worldview than he does.

Mike Caruso, member, Florida House of Representatives. Earlier this week, we witnessed Gov. Ron DeSantis take the oath of office administered by Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. In the same ceremony, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and new Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson were sworn in. I was honored to attend and celebrate at the Inaugural Ball with our governor, his wife Casey and his three beautiful children. It was great to gather with my fellow House members before our committee week. Excited for what lies ahead of us and continuing to work with DeSantis to keep Florida prosperous, safe and free.

Dr. Michael Dennis, chair, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) currently affects more than 2 million Americans. Normally transmitted sexually, its flu-like symptoms are usually brief, but its greatest potential impact is the lengthy reduction of effective resistance to other bacteria and viruses. Fortunately, the FDA has approved Sunlenca, an injectable form of new capsid inhibitors. These block the reproduction of the virus by disrupting formation of its protein shell. The treatment involves oral tablets initially and then biannual injections. Sadly, the medication is very expensive: $42,250 per year. This is another example of the need for new drugs to be added swiftly to insurance plans.

Dan Gropper, dean, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University. The Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and their individual contentiousness and failure to come together to elect a new speaker stands in contrast to the monolith that is the House Democrats. While this story gets most of the headlines, of far greater consequence and threat to our American system is what has been revealed in the “Twitter files.” The pattern of government pressure to silence certain reporters, real journalists with “inconvenient truths” that threatened the narratives of those elected and unelected government officials in power are the real threat to democracy.

Jason Hughes, executive director, ArtServe. If you’ve been scammed by bad business practices like price gouging or deception, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission through their reportfraud.ftc.gov website. While federal regulators can’t resolve individual reports on the spot, they do use them to investigate and stop bad actors through a network of more than 3,000 law enforcers nationwide. The data is then used to ultimately initiate action and often prosecution. By contributing your information, you can help everyone be safer from common scams like impersonators, fake job or money-making opportunities, telecommunications abuse, online shopping, credit, health or auto and repair-related fraud.

Frank Ortis, mayor, Pembroke Pines. We lost the life of a talented, beautiful 19-year-old to shed light on a problem and get a law passed. Miya’s Law is now in effect, and people will be safer under their own roof. Miya Marcano, from Pembroke Pines, was murdered by a maintenance worker at her Orlando apartment complex in September 2021. Miya’s Law now requires apartment complexes to conduct background checks on anyone with access to a master key, record who gets access to master keys, and when, and the time apartment complexes must provide notice for entry to an apartment has increased to 24 hours.

Tina Polsky, member, Florida Senate. Now that 2023 has arrived, I wanted to share that SB 292, which I filed last year, went into effect on January 1. The new law requires hospitals to test newborns for congenital cytomegalovirus if they initially fail a hearing test. This virus can cause hearing loss in newborns if not detected within 21 days after birth. This legislation will save the hearing of countless babies in our state by treating those diagnosed with antiviral medicines. I will continue to seek ways to expand this law to include universal testing for all newborns, not just those who fail the initial hearing test.

Nora Rupert, member, Broward School Board. Rickey Ferguson, Jr., a 16-year-old Deerfield Beach student and football player, and a Fort Lauderdale 15-year-old minor were both shot to death this week. We are in a major crisis; gun violence has been the leading cause of death for U.S. children since 2020, and it continues to annihilate our children, showing no slowing down or mercy. In Florida, more than 3,000 people died by gun violence in 2020. In May 2022, the CDC reported firearm death rate increased by 35%. Now is the time for sensible gun control, not open carry.