TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK

Lori Berman, The Purple Alert (SB 184) was signed into law last week, legislation that has been filed and worked on for three years. This bipartisan bill establishes the first ever alert of its type, activated when an individual with a mental, cognitive, intellectual or developmental disability goes missing and whose disappearance is a credible threat of immediate danger or serious bodily harm to themselves. The legislation was filed in honor of Joshua Marshall, a young man who tragically wandered and drowned. This is a giant step forward in improving public safety and disability rights in Florida and will hopefully save lives.

Lois Frankel,

This week, the House, Senate and White House came together to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Juneteenth is a day to celebrate the end of slavery and freedom for all Black Americans, and a day to remember that the fight for equality and justice continues. The creation of this federal holiday will ensure that every year we celebrate, commemorate and take the time to learn more about our history and work toward achieving the ideals of liberty and justice for all.

Sheldon Harr,

I do not understand how the Republican Party can abide the presence of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green. And I do not understand how the Democratic Party can abide the presence of its Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Both representatives, based on their disgusting utterances, their nationally embarrassing remarks and their political stances, do not deserve their seats in our House of Representatives. Both political parties need to step up to the plate and expel them from Congress.

Shelly Petrolia, Delray Beach installed a PRIDE intersection in support and recognition of the LBGTQ community. Days later, the art installation was vandalized by vehicle skid marks. Julie Seaver, director of Compass, a LBGTQ community center, said it best, “What the vandalists don’t realize is how powerful and resilient the LGBTQ community is. We have to deal with this type of hate every single day, but we know how to stand side by side, even in the face of hate.” Even if a very few have not yet accepted it, Delray is an inclusive community. And we are all stronger for it.

Alissa Jean Schafer,

The Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved the “Dolphin Expressway” SR-836 Project, a 14-mile highway extension that would go through wetlands in the Kendall area. The decision happened despite ongoing concerns from residents and advocates and an order against the project by Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk. This project is in direct conflict with attempts to protect the Everglades, wildlife, farm land, crucial water sources and the larger ecosystem of South Florida as a whole. We need to prioritize a sustainable future for Florida as we continue to grow, not more highways in the Everglades.

Nick Sortal,

An important-but-underreported story in South Florida is the disinformation campaigns permeating on Spanish-language radio. Program hosts and guests continue to spread falsehoods of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election, that socialism and communism would replace democracy under the Biden administration and that “Chinese communists” were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanish radio had a major effect in Miami-Dade, where two Democrats lost their U.S. House seats and Donald Trump’s showing was about 20 points better in 2020 than in 2016. Download a report of the specifics at nomasdisinfo.com.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz,

It’s time for the GOP to end its war on health care. Despite a decade of Republican sabotage, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that protecting people with preexisting conditions, Medicaid expansion and access to quality, affordable coverage is the still the law of the land. Now let’s build on what Democrats fought for by lowering prescription costs and tackling racial health care disparities. Republicans must stop bullying the 20 million Americans who secured coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and the 135 million of us who rely on its preexisting protections. Let’s build on this vital American law, not destroy it.

Gordon Weekes,

Exaggerations, misleading statements and outright lies used in criminal investigations are not fictional tactics reserved for TV drama. Baldfaced lying is actually a common technique for extracting confessions. Illinois has now banned this tactic with children. The “Deception Bill” aims to prevent false confessions, resulting from promises of leniency or lies about evidence, which cause approximately 30% of all wrongful convictions. Children are far more likely to succumb to officers’ lies and confess to crimes they didn’t commit. False confessions don’t solve crimes or make our communities safer. Children must not be locked up based on lies from law enforcement.