The Florida Roundup - Local heat ordinances, the 2024 hurricane season, and fact-checking claims from session

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we look at a bill moving through the legislature that would prohibit local governments from enacting heat ordinances with reporter Valerie Crowder (05:04). Then Meteorologist Megan Borowski gives us an early look at the 2024 hurricane season (22:54). Plus, PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman tests the truthfulness of some claims made this legislative session (27:41). And later, an update on the measles outbreak at a South Florida school (37:20) and a push to ban children 16 and under from creating social media accounts moves ahead in the Florida Senate (40:00). Finally, we look back at Muhammad Ali’s big win in Miami 60 years out (43:04).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for being along with us this week. This is why we call this place home, right? Into tomorrow afternoon. Oh, look at that. All right, we're talking 70s. It's going to be beautiful. Luckily, we're going to see plenty of sunshine for the day ahead. An overwhelmingly beautiful day in store. Look at these highs over the next five days. We keep warming from here until Friday. Beautiful out there. Another cool start this morning, but loads of sunshine. It will warm up, though the bright sunshine, the dry air all working together to send these temperatures from the thirties and forties up to the middle and upper sixties by this afternoon for a really delightful afternoon from Jacksonville to Tallahasse Some chilly mornings have spectacular afternoons, b in the sixties and sevent state living up to its ni

just eight months ago whe through what would be a h across the state. I want to show you the temperatures. We also have the heat advisory in effect. That is through tomorrow at 7 p.m. Heat advisories were issued starting in early June as the sun and humidity mixed, pushing up the heat index to at least 100 degrees in many areas. And it stayed dangerously hot through June and into July. Downright hot with highs

going to feel more like t hundreds and it just cont hot nights, hotter days, As you move into tomorrow does extend into sunday e be a day 13 in a row of 13 in a row of those heat days in a row. The heat i County, for instance, was

It's like this heat wave had heat alerts for almo hottest year on record he in august set records as ever recorded. A heat advisory is back. And look at this. It covers most of the state.

In fact, an excessive heat warning for parts of the panhandle. So we may be comfortable now, but listen to what the state's climatologist, David Zierden, out of Florida State University, said earlier this month. Warmer ocean and gulf temperatures are part of the reason that Florida experienced such a warm summer this past year. So it's too early to predict those, but some early indications are that we might be dealing with similar conditions this year. If the heat comes as it did last year, it's only about three months away before we start to sizzle again. So as another summer approaches, how will you beat the heat? What about the roles that the state and local governments play when temperatures rise?

What about the cost of staying cool? 305-995-1800 is our phone number. 305-995-1800. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Now, it may seem odd that we're talking about the heat of the summer during what is just a gorgeous, quote-unquote, winter here in Florida. But you see, lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban local governments from requiring companies to protect workers from extreme heat. The bill is in response to an effort in Miami-Dade County to protect workers outdoors during heat waves. It would have required companies give

workers regular water breaks in the shade if the heat index rose above a certain temperature. In October, migrant agricultural workers staged what organizers called a water strike in South Florida, hoping to build support for the mandated breaks in the heat. Karen Madrel is a fruit nursery worker in Homestead. Well, it would change a lot because a lot of lives can be saved. Many lives would be more comfortable. There would be less sick people. There would be more comfort in our homes with our family and children without having the fear of not knowing whether you're going to make it home or not,

if they'll find you dead in a field if you don't have the help that's necessary. GEOFF BENNETT, One month later in November, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins worried that rules singled out two types of businesses, construction and agriculture. EILEEN HIGGINS, Miami-Dade County Commissioner for Environmental Protection, Miami-Dade County This is not a heat standard. This is an overreaching and an egregious heat sanction on only two industries. This goes so much farther when you actually dive into the substance of this proposed ordinance. This ordinance could potentially kill industry. After months of debate and lobbying, the county commissioners punted on the issue and will bring it up again next month. But they nor any other

local government in Florida may be able to put in place so-called heat ordinances under a bill gathering support among the Republican dominated legislature. So do you work outside? What precautions do you take when the temperatures rise? And they will rise in the months ahead. Maybe you employ people working outside. What kind of precautions do you take? 305-995-1800. 305-995-1800. We're taking your phone calls now. Or send us a quick email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Reporter Valerie Crowder has been following this bill in Tallahassee and joins us now from the capital city. Valerie, welcome back to our program.

This is a preemption, so-called preemption bill. What do supporters, why do supporters say it's needed for the state to step in? Yes. Hi, Tom. Thanks for having me. And supporters are basically saying that this, any sort of local government protections put in place for outdoor workers would place an unnecessary burden on those employers. They say that many employers are already protecting their workers from heat-related illness while on the job. And this would just, that's basically unnecessary for any local government to put these rules in place.

So they say that employers already provide protections. Those protections are voluntary? Are they required? Are there specific rules that they have to follow? No. So there's no specific rules that they have to follow. The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a general duty requirement that requires employers to protect their workers from, you know, hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm while on the job. And heat exposure is listed as one of those hazards. However, there are no federal, state, or local rules that are specific to protecting workers from heat exposure. Senator Jay Trumbull is the state sponsor of this measure. Here's how he explained his support in a committee hearing just a couple weeks ago. The point is, is that there are lots of businesses that have employees that operate

in all corners of our state. And the intent is to make sure that we don't have a patchwork of regulation, that there are, there's a uniform standard. And that uniform standard in this bill says that we're going to follow OSHA's rule. OS'Shea is, as you mentioned, Valerie, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration agency, the federal agency that oversees workplace safety. So the senator there says that this bill has a uniform standard. What is that uniform standard? Well, they're referring again to that rule that I just mentioned that is, you know, very broad, very general, that just requires employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees. And that's the rule that he's referring to.

Now, the legislation would require the state to adopt statewide protections for outdoor workers in 2028 if OSHA has not updated its rules and they they say supporters of this bill say that they're anticipating some additional changes and maybe some more concrete rules to come down the line but if that doesn't happen there would be some sort of statewide protections put in place but again those protections would follow the recommendations that OSHA has already put in place. But again, those protections would follow the recommendations that OSHA has already put in place. Yeah, we are talking about the heat in Florida. We may not be experiencing it now or this weekend or even in the next few weeks, but it will be coming back

after an historically hot summer in Florida. At least one local government has been debating whether or not or how it could put in some protections for workers who have to work outside. It has been really focused on the construction and agriculture industry. 305-995-1800, our phone number, as we're talking with reporter Valerie Crowder, who's with us from Tallahassee. Valerie, Joe has been listening in from Lakeland. Go ahead, Joe. You are on the radio. Thanks for calling. Yeah, guys, thank you for this topic. I'm a manager of a roofing company here in Florida. I've also roofed in the Midwest. And I just find it funny that the and I'm assuming this Republican, this senator is Republican. But I find it funny that they choose to defer to the OSHA standard when typically they want to run their own course and do their own thing and write their own standards and go away from government standards. This is obviously mimicking or falling in step with Texas.

falling in step with Texas. I have friends who roof in Texas, and in this industry and agriculture industry, construction, we have a large migrant force. And I can bet you apples to oranges that this is really targeted towards that force. And here's what I also find, you know, just very concerning, that a party who says that they are, you know, a Christian-based party do some of the most anti-Christian things in their proposals and in their bills. And again, I'm assuming that this senator is a Republican. Senator Trumbull, who we just heard from, yes, Joe, is a Republican senator. But let me ask you, you say you own a roofing company, is that right? No, sir, I'm a manager for a roofing company. A manager, yes, sir.

Throughout the state of Florida. Yeah, yeah. We employ all kinds of employees, and we adhere to the OSHA standards. We have the safety harnesses. You know, when we're on a project that has a certain high standard or, lift, you know, all those things we have to adhere to. And we do have water on location. If we're remote, we have to have urinals, the outhouses on stations. So all these things we adhere to. So these are already scented, but the heat is causing unusual and extreme issues on a roof, guys.

I don't know if you know this, but roofs are extremely hot. Yeah, a lot of those shingles are dark in color and just absorbs that sun all day long as you folks are up there. Yeah, metal as well. And metal reflects. Yeah. And so I just want to point out that in that industry, construction, agriculture, that we should be doing the utmost to add to the OSHA standard, not defer to it. And so here's what I would say if I was the president of the United States.

Let's adjust the OSHA standard. Let's upgrade that standard to look out for these heat extremes. And I thank you guys for taking my call. Joe, I appreciate you sharing your experience there as a manager of a roofing company in Lakeland here as we're talking about heat exposure, outdoor workers in Florida. Certainly the construction industry is one of those that has been squarely focused on this measure. The agriculture industry also has been talking about this. Democrat Representative Ashley Gant spoke about her support of the heat rules.

We talk about our agriculture here. These people are providing us with food. And at the very least, we can provide them with human dignity and have the ability to pass laws that will protect them so they could go back home to their families, too. So still speaking with Valerie Crowder, a reporter in Tallahassee, these two industries squarely and focused, how have they been responding during this legislative process in Tallahassee? in Tallahassee? Well, as you could probably imagine, those industries are very much in support of this bill that would basically do away with any local efforts to put in place heat protection measures. You know, they're basically saying that, again, that employers are already doing the right thing and that this would place an unnecessary burden on them. But I wanted to kind of add to that, that back in 2022, just a couple years ago,

there was actually a bill that would put in place, would have put in place statewide heat and protection measures for outdoor workers. And it got unanimous support. That means there were some Republicans who supported it in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Now that bill after it passed that committee stop was actually withdrawn. And that happened after there was pushback from those industry groups. So I just thought that was an interesting thing to know

when we talk about whether this is a partisan this is, you know, a partisan issue or not. I mean, this, this, you know, statewide protections did get bipartisan support once upon a time. Now that has obviously changed. Yeah. And so it's interesting, right? Because among the things that have changed was this incredibly hot summer we all just experienced in Florida and Miami-Dade County declaring a heat season and going so far as putting in, writing a proposed heat ordinance, which, as I mentioned earlier, Valerie, the commissioners decided not to enact or not to even vote on, waiting for the legislature to act. What rules are being considered?

I mean, we're talking about these heat ordinances, the possibility of heat rules. What are we really talking about? What could these rules be? What are some of the proposals like? Yeah. So with the Miami-Dade County ordinance, that would have provided workers or guaranteed them access to water. It also would have provided or required employers to provide 10-minute breaks in the shade every two hours on days when the heat index equals or exceeds 95 degrees. It would have also required training so that workers are aware of what the hazards are working out in the heat. That they would also know what the signs and symptoms are of heat-related illness and what they can do to protect themselves. So that was the local ordinance that was proposed.

And, of course, the enforcement would have been any sort of employer that violates those standards or is found to have violated them would get a warning and then fines of up to $2,000 per day per violation. warning and then fines of up to $2,000 per day per violation. Now, the state proposal from a couple of years ago would have actually gone further than that and would have put in place similar requirements on any day that the temperature exceeds 90 degrees. It would have also required access to shade when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees and a whole host of other standards that would have come through the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Ian has been listening in to the conversation from Coral Gables. Ian, go ahead. You are on the radio. So two things before I get to my main point.

One, heat index is great. Everyone knows what the heat index is, but the heat index really only matters in the shade, right? As soon as you're in the sun, that affects things a lot more. only matters in the shade, right? As soon as you're in the sun, that affects things a lot more. So if anyone, you know, you ever played high school sports,

you might have heard of the wet bulb global temperature. It's basically the same thing as heat index. It just also factors in how strong the UV index is. And so that's a big factor, and that's why I didn't, you know, originally like the Miami-Dade County Ordinance because I don't think go far enough. You know, it can be really hot, but if the sun's not out and it's windy, it's not that bad.

Sure. But then also, you know, in 2020, there was the Zachary Martin Act after, I believe it was a high school kid who unfortunately passed away. And, you know, that sailed through, right? You know, mandating, you know, that schools monitor heat stress and everything. I'm not familiar with that act, Ian, but I suspect it probably was directed at high school athletes. Yes, correct. And basically what I'm getting at is that, you know, when it comes to things that everyone can agree on, right, you know, athletes should be protected. It's the

same science, right? Heat stress is the same. It's a choice. It's regulatory capture by these industries. And the Florida legislature picks and chooses, you know, whether it wants to defer to OSHA or, you know, make up their own stuff like the previous business owner caller had said. Ian, I appreciate you adding some of that color and context there from Coral Gables joining our conversation here, talking about heat ordinances and the possibility of the Florida legislature, Florida Republicans pushing a bill now that is making its way through the Capitol that would preempt local governments from putting in kind of rules around heat and working outside. Valerie Crowder, reporter in Tallahassee. Valerie, what is kind of the next step for this legislative process as this bill is making its way through? Sure. So the bill now has passed all of the committee stops in the House and is awaiting a vote by the House, the full chamber. The Senate version of the bill has one more committee stop, which is scheduled for Monday.

And after that, it will also be awaiting a vote by the Senate. Valerie Crowder, reporter joining us from Tallahassee. Thanks for keeping an eye on this. And I know more reporting is to come. And you will have it here on Florida Public Radio next week. Much appreciated, Valerie. Thanks, Tom. You can still join our conversation if you want.

305-995-1800. We've got a couple of minutes left on this on the other side of our quick timeout. You can send us a note also, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We've got plenty more to come on this topic as well as some fact-checking in politics as the Florida legislative law writing session is coming to an end over the next couple of weeks. We're going to put some of the claims that have been happening to the fact-check coming up with our news partner, PolitiFact, here on Florida Public Radio. 305-995-1800, radio at thefloridaroundup.org is our email. You're

listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is The Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks, as always, for being along with us. Next week on our program, the trouble with getting around Florida. Almost all of us complain about traffic, right? It can be downright dangerous at times.

One study from Forbes Advisor says drivers in Jacksonville and Tampa are among the top 15 for worst drivers in the nation. Another study ranks I-4 as the most dangerous highway in America. So we want to hear from you. Do you drive in Jacksonville? Are you a Tampa driver? Do you think you're one of the top 15 worst drivers in the United States? Maybe you commute regularly along the I-4 corridor.

How do you feel about that highway and that interstate? There's also a new bill in Florida that would ban drivers from cruising for miles after miles after miles in the left lane. So how do you solve Florida's bad and dangerous driving reputation and reality? How would you untangle our traffic? Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We may share some of those stories next week on our program. Now let's get back to the hot weather that is to come here in Florida in the months ahead. We asked some Floridians how they handle the heat of Florida summer. Michael O'Leary in Lutz, Tampa, in Lutz outside of Tampa works in apartment maintenance. Make sure you drink plenty of water and be informed on signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

I usually wear like a fishing shirt that blocks the sun, a long sleeve shirt, and then on the face, sunscreen. It does help. Just make sure you wear your protection when you're out in the sun. If not, you end up having damage in the long run. Yeah, it's the fundamentals that work. We got to go back. Always wear sunscreen. Richard Taylor, an Alabama native,

he now works in flooring in the Tampa area. And when it gets hot during the work time for Richard, he doesn't really see an alternative. I can't work in the dark, so it is what it is. I keep a cooler on me, and I have a hat and truck. Yeah, cooler, hat, and dash into the truck for a is what it is. I keep a cooler on me and I have a hat and truck. Yeah cooler, hat and and dash into the truck for a little bit of shade. Victor Jorge is a landscaper in Lutz that's north of Tampa. Make sure like you have plenty of water that's first. Make sure you have a hat, glasses protect the

sun and you know make sure like everybody around you they're safe. Yeah the heat is likely to come certainly will be coming in the months ahead here so let's enjoy these beautiful temperatures as we can and we will have more reporting on the heat preemption effort heat ordinance preemption effort in the and next week here on you radio station. Meantime, about whether hopefully y for this supercharged blo

Well, that's how accu wea its early prediction for season. Accu weathers's long range expert team here is really sounding the alarm bells about what this upcoming hurricane season could become. That was the group's chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter, this week. Now, one of the most recognized predictions

about the storm season from Colorado State University does not come until April. Well, so let's try to put all this together early in the season. It's not even the season yet, right? But we know it's coming. We spoke with our chief meteorologist for the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, Megan Borowski. So Megan, what's the very early read on the upcoming storm season? So Tom, you know, this far out, we really look at the big players, the ingredients that could impact hurricane season. So we're going to look at sea surface temperatures and really, you know, what is the read going to be on things that impact the upper level winds?

So the El Nino Southern Oscillation. So right now, in terms of sea surface temperatures over the tropical Atlantic, we're running about one to two degrees above average for this time of year. And if that continues, you know, that's, that's not the greatest sign going into hurricane season. And then also, we're looking at transitioning out of an El Nino into a La Nina, which could impact the upper level wind patterns such that it's supportive of at least keeping tropical systems alive and not kind of strangling them out. So let me take those two pieces apart here regarding El Nino, La Nina. Remind us what those are. And the National Weather Service has this forecast out increasing odds of a La Nina during the summer months.

Yeah. So right now we're in El Nino and really what we're talking about here is circulation over the tropical or the equatorial Pacific Ocean. So far away, it's off the coast of South America, but it's all about the trade winds. So during an El Nino, our typical pattern of trade winds reverses. And so that pushes warmer waters off the coast of South America. And what that does is during El Nino, that can increase vertical wind shear in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, and that can help to scramble up thunderstorm activity and create chances for a quieter tropical season. However, we're in an El Nino right now. The forecast is

for us to transition from El Nino to La Nina during the hurricane season. During La Nina, our trade winds are stronger over the tropical Pacific Ocean. That translates to decreased vertical wind shear in the tropical Atlantic. And that decreased shear, again, can help keep our thunderstorms organized. So there's always a recipe here. So with the La Nina means that perhaps less wind shear, that's way up in the atmosphere. Meantime, at sea level, those water temperatures, as you just mentioned, were already one or two degrees above normal. Exactly. And, you know, the warm surface temperatures can help to fuel our

thunderstorm activity. So you need some sort of a disturbance. And usually those come off of off of the coast of Africa. Once that disturbance gets over those warm surface water temperatures, ocean temperatures, that can help to fuel thunderstorm growth. So we need that warm water to help to fuel the growth. And then, then of course the decreased shear helps to keep those thunderstorms organized so it's it's the recipe for a tropical system so now there are a few different ways to measure a storm season right when we're talking about the strength of a storm the number of storms that a season produces the strength of those storms and then this ace measurement the accumulated cyclone energy. How should us pedestrians be thinking about the storm season ahead here in now late February? So, you know, I really wouldn't focus too much on the nitty gritty of the science like ACE and things like that.

That's more for data keeping and also the prediction side of things. I would say, you know, as, you know, as we get closer to hurricane season, I think we're less than 100 days out now. The main thing to focus on is preparing, you know, your home, preparing your family, reviewing the needs that your property would need if you had to shelter in place or if you had to evacuate. Focus on your family, focus on what you would do if just one storm threatens your area because that's all you need is just one storm to come through your neighborhood and you need to be prepared for it. So that's what I would focus on.

I'll let you know we looked at the expiration date of the food that was in the hurricane supply closet just a couple of weeks ago to cycle some things out, shall we say. That is a smart thing to do. Look through that, go through it, prepare it, and go through your evacuation plan as well. Thankfully, the chocolate has a long-dated expiration, so I took care of that. Megan Borowski, Chief Meteorologist for the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Thanks, Megan. Thanks, Tom. And when I earlier introduced a couple of voices who spoke to us about how they deal with the heat in Florida, those folks, Michael and Victor, are from Lutz, Florida, not Lutz, Florida. My apologies to the good citizens of Lutz, Florida.

Well, Florida lawmakers are just two weeks away now from the scheduled end of their legislative session. So we thought it would be a good time to do some fact checking on a few bills and one law from last year that continues making news this year. And let's start with that law. It's the parental rights and education law. It was passed two years ago and then expanded last year. Among its requirements is for schools to get a parents OK for field trips, extracurricular activities, and supplemental programs. Now, a K-8 school in Miami sent home a permission slip for parents to ask their permission for students to, quote, participate and listen to a book written by an African American. Now, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz called it a hoax that the state requires permission slips to teach African-American history. And Governor Ron DeSantis responded this way. You had this incident in Miami where they did some permission slip.

It was absurd. It was there's nothing in state required that. The State Board of Education immediately wrote a letter to the principal, said knock it off. Stop with the nonsense. Well, let's get to what happened here. Sam Putterman is back with us, reporter for our news partner, PolitiFact Florida. Sam, welcome back to the program. Nice to have you. Hi, Tom. Thanks for having me. So what do we know about where and why this permission slip was sent home with a student?

Yeah, so the permission slip was sent home from Coral Way K-8 Center, a bilingual school in Miami, and the school district told us that the wording on the form may have caused some confusion, but that it was sent home because guest speakers would be participating in an event, not because it involved a book by a Black author, and that they did this to comply with a rule in that parental rights and education law that has to do with extracurricular activities and guest speakers. And so we mentioned that the education commissioner, Manny Diaz, tweeted that, called it a hoax that the Florida law does not require this.

But what did the education department say or do in a more official capacity about all this? Right. So they confirmed what Mr. Diaz said and said that permission slips, you know, aren't required for students to receive ordinary instruction on African-American history and that that is actually a required subject to teach in Florida. And that there was this letter that DeSantis had mentioned that was sent to the school's principal by Board of Education Chair Ben Gibson, who characterized the state's policy as a way to keep parents informed of the extracurricular activities that their children are participating in, but said that it

appeared that the school had misinterpreted this as applying to ordinary instruction so how about this these phrases that are being used here uh the a phrase that's in the law extracurricular activities and supplemental programs that require a permission slip or parental notification and then this this idea of ordinary instruction uh i mean are we talking about semantics and are there definitions for school districts, for parents, for teachers to understand the difference? Yeah, it seems like the, at least the Miami school district is going to be reaching out or has reached out to the Florida department of education to kind of get a little bit of consensus on, on what they're talking about. It really just says field trips, extracurricular activities, supplemental programs. It doesn't,

the rule that, you know, the permission slip policy is based on doesn't talk about any particular subject, including black history, that that requires permission. And then there was some other phrases that you reported on with PolitiFact about activities outside the curriculum or outside the classroom versus curriculum that was happening in the classroom. Right, right. And in this particular permission slip talked about this happening in the library. So perhaps the teacher or, you know, staff member that filled out this form was like, you know, this is an extracurricular activity. It's not happening in the classroom.

There's a guest speaker. And that's what the Miami-Dade district was talking about, that there was a guest speaker there, that that was a very clear part of their policy. But it does seem like there is some confusion about what kind of events kind of count in this situation and which ones don't. Of course, all of this, you know, has raised eyebrows because of actions that the State Department of Education have taken around an African-American AP course, for instance, and this parental bill of rights and, you know, book restrictions and the big focus, of course, on what is taught and how it is taught in Florida. So what are the rules around teaching African-American history in Florida public schools? Right. So it is required instruction. According to state statute, public schools, you know, must teach students about,

quote, the history of African peoples, the passage to America, slavery and abolition, and the contributions, you know, of Americans of the African diaspora to society. The Holocaust is another example of required instruction in Florida. Sam Putterman is with us, reporter for our news partner, PolitiFact Florida. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Sam, let's talk about a bill that would reverse one of the few gun restrictions passed in Florida over the past many decades. It was after the Parkland school shooting six years ago. A new law raised the minimum age here in the Sunshine State to buy rifles and long guns, moved it from 18 to 21 years old. But now there's a bill that would lower that

back to 18, and it's headed for a full vote in the Florida House in the days ahead. Jaden D'Onofrio is the chairman of the Florida Future Leaders Organization and spoke at a Florida House Criminal Justice Subcommittee hearing about this legislation back in late January. I think it's dangerous and reckless that we're looking at this law and hoping to repeal it back, especially as though we consider the facts that 18 to 20-year-olds are three times more likely to commit gun homicides. And here we are moving backwards. Sam, the statement of fact in that statement, that 18 to 20-year-olds are three times more likely to commit gun

homicides. What does the data show about that claim? Yeah, so experts we spoke with agreed that the data does show that people ages 18 to 20 are likelier, sometimes three to four times likelier to commit deadly shootings than other age groups. For example, one criminologist who looked up homicide data from 2016 to 2020 found that while 18 to 20 year olds make up about 4% of the US population, they committed 17% of gun homicides. And any research on why this age group is more prone to committing these shootings? Yeah, so they experts have long said that have studied this, that the primary driver behind it is a lack of brain development. You know, the human brain doesn't finish developing until people are in their mid to late twenties and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible, you know,

for skills like planning and making well-reasoned decisions is one of the last parts to mature. So experts we spoke with, you know, they pointed to laws that raised the legal drinking age to 21 because the data showed that there was an inherent riskiness in allowing 18 to 20 year olds easy access to alcohol for example you and i have spoken in the past sam about crime data can be a bit messy to put it kindly at times so how does this data what does this data consider a firearm when it's capturing this information right uh yeah in most data sets firearms include both long guns and handguns but many opponents you know of lowering the age for long guns um you know which includes rifles shotguns and submachine guns um say that putting more guns in the hands of younger people is a step you know in the wrong direction and they

cite mass shootings by 18 to 20 year olds using these long guns like parkland and the 2022 um elementary school shooting in uvalde for example. So the Florida legislature is considering this bill that would lower the long gun legal purchase age back down to 18. What's the federal law about buying long guns? Yeah, so the federal law only requires people to be 21 to buy handguns, but it only requires people to be 18 to buy long guns. One more issue I want to ask you about, Sam. The state agency that issues driver's licenses here in Florida has changed its policy on genders. What was this change? license as long as they had had a medical provider's letter. Now they say that's prohibited. It also warned that fraud charges could be applied to people who misrepresent their gender during the license application process. So on my Florida driver's license, it does not have a gender field. It says it lists a sex field, but not a gender field. Right. And the DMV memo claimed

that the term gender quote doesn't refer to a person's internal sense of their gender role or identification, but instead is synonymous with the word sex, which they say is determined by innate biological characteristics. And, you know, many experts have said that this is the DMV attempting to redefine terms. And the DMV also didn't answer our questions about its source of the definition. So what does the change mean for people who've already changed their gender on their Florida driver's license? Right. The department said that the new policy only applies to replacement licenses, but it's really unclear how this change would affect new license applications or Floridians, as you said, who have already changed their licenses to reflect their gender identities. And, you know, a lot of LGBTQ plus advocates say that the change could risk trans people's privacy, you know, and open them up to discrimination or prejudice.

For example, by having to present an ID that doesn't match how someone appears or refers to themselves, they might face invasive personal questions in job interviews or questioned by police at a traffic stop about whether their ID is fraudulent or not. Sam Putterman with our news partner, PolitiFact Florida. Sam, thanks as always for separating fact from fiction with us here on The Roundup. Thank you so much. Still more to come. Stick with us on your Florida public radio station. This is The Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Let's get you updated on some stories about kids, including an update on something we spoke about just a couple weeks ago right here on the program, social media. First, one of the largest school districts in

the state, really one of the largest in the nation, is dealing with an outbreak of measles. At least six children at Manatee Elementary School in Broward County have the virus. It's been more than 60 years since the first measles vaccine was used on the general public. And this, the vaccine itself, the end product of medicine's long match with measles. And at the turn of the century, thanks to decades of vaccinations, the U.S. declared that measles had been eradicated. But as childhood vaccination rates have slipped, the virus can pop back up as it has this month in suburban Broward County. Kate Payne now reports from South Florida. Public health workers and school staff have been scrambling to respond to the

measles outbreak, running vaccine drives and deep cleaning classrooms. Here's Broward School Superintendent Peter Licata. We continue to work with the Florida Department of Health's Broward School Superintendent Peter Licata. We continue to work with the Florida Department of Health in Broward. They have offered several opportunities for vaccines with parent consent for all students, their family, and staff. But Licata says a number of students at the suburban schools still haven't gotten the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. and rubella vaccine. Currently, there are 33 of 1,067 Manatee Bay students that do not have an MMR vaccine for various reasons. Under state law, Florida students are required to get a slate of shots to enroll in school, including the MMR vaccine. But families can get exemptions for medical or religious reasons.

I'm Kate Payne in Miami. This outbreak here in Florida is just the latest. The measles virus has popped up in almost a dozen states from Pennsylvania to Washington since December. Lisa Gwynn is the section chief of community pediatrics at the University of Miami Medical School. She says increasingly parents are asking to split up a course of vaccines for their kids, which leads them to get behind that schedule on their immunizations. It's highly discouraged to split up these vaccines over an extended amount of time for this very reason, because these things can still pop up and the child could be more vulnerable to getting an infection.

The other story we want to bring you up to date on with kids, a couple of weeks ago, remember we were talking about a bill that would be the most restrictive ban in the nation on how most teenagers use social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram? The House here in Florida passed a version a couple of weeks ago. Well, now this week, the Senate passed its own version after making some changes with bipartisan support. We start the reporting with Adrian Andrews from our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee. Florida senators have been making tweaks to a House bill that, if passed, would prohibit anyone in Florida under the age of 16 from accessing apps like TikTok or Instagram. Fort Pierce Republican Erin Grawl has been carrying the bill in the Senate.

I think this bill goes a very long way to be as narrowly tailored as possible to make it through. Grawl amended the House version of the bill to address concerns that it might violate the privacy of adult users or that it might be too broad. might violate the privacy of adult users or that it might be too broad. She says focusing on apps' addictive features and ensuring tech companies can properly verify users' ages will help keep the measure from being blocked by the federal government. We can't just point the finger and say, Congress, you're not doing your job, so we shouldn't do anything. The states across this country are all standing up, and we've all taken different tactics to try and get the courts to address this. Before the bill's passage, Stan with Parkland, a group created for the victims of the 2018

Parkland massacre, issued a statement saying they will endorse Florida's social media ban. The group's president says he believes it'll keep kids safe online. St. Petersburg Democratic Senator Daryl Roussan followed the endorsement up by joining the mostly Republicans who voted for the bill. I just know that I want to be a part of that movement that votes to do something because the addiction issues exist amongst our children. It's a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, who says he wants to protect kids from the harmful impacts of social media. For WFSU News, I'm Adrian Andrews. In Orlando, I'm Danielle Pryor. The proposed bill bans kids under the age of 16 from having some social media accounts,

including previously opened accounts. But Governor Ron DeSantis says he'll only sign the bill if it gives parents some choice in the matter. He says that might include allowing children who are 14 and 15 to use the sites for a limited amount of time, as long as a parent is supervising their use. Parents need to have a role in this, so we're working to make sure that there's a role for parent. You can say it's disfavored or not allowed for a 14-15, but a parent has the right to opt in. Supporters of the bill say it's disfavored or not allowed for a 14-15, but a parent, you know, has the right to opt in. Supporters of the bill say it's needed to combat the negative mental health effects of social media. The bill now goes to a second vote in the House.

You know that old saying about politics making strange bedfellows? Well, Democrat State Senator Chevron Jones agrees with the governor that parents need to play a role with their child's social media. Social media has become a harm to not just children, but also to adults also. But it is not the legislature's job. The parent, the parents, how to parent. I'm Tom Hudson, and you're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. And finally on the Roundup, it was 60 years ago this weekend in Florida. Hi there, again, sports fans.

This is Les Kider at Convention Hall Ringside in Miami Beach for the World's Heavyweight Championship fight between title holder Sonny Liston and challenger Cassius Clay. Liston had won the heavyweight title a year and a half earlier with a first-round knockout. And Cassius Clay had yet to become Muhammad Ali. Liston in the white trunks with the black stripes. Clay an inch and a half taller in the white trunks with the red stripes. Clay to our left.

Liston to our right. The heavyweight championship of the world. And it goes past the first round. There will be surprises already. Liston bobbing and weaving. Clay has been bobbing up and down and here they come. This is the call from ABC Radio that night. It was a global spectacle in the days before the internet, before cable TV. The fight was telecast to theaters and pay TV

closed circuit networks across the U.S. and Canada. And as the bell rang in the Miami Beach Convention Center for the start of the seventh round... As we come up to round seven, Clay looked like he had about had it coming into the fourth round. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. Sonny Liston's not coming out! Sonny Liston is not coming out! He's out! The winner and the new It was a technical knockout, a huge upset. And from Miami Beach that night, the world heard this. I am the greatest. Cassius Clay is one of the best in the world.

I am the greatest. It would be the last time Cassius Clay would box. Just weeks later, he announced he was Muhammad Ali. That fight in Florida 60 years ago is when the boxer who would become Ali burst onto the screens and through the radios of Americans. I told you, if he want to go to heaven, I'll get him in seven. I am the king. I am the king. I am the king.

I am the king. What made him so easy? His brash talk and bold taunts built more than a fighter. Ali was a poet. Scott Cunningham is the executive director of the poetry group, Oh Miami. He remembered Ali's verses when the champ died in 2016. Muhammad Ali was a poet, but he didn't write poems so that they could get lost in books. He wrote poems that were meant to be recited out loud by one man himself, which is a good lesson for any aspiring poet. It's easy to breathe in the Delphi-like fumes of poetry's seriousness and start to sound like a James Earl Jones impersonator or like you're carving a Hallmark card into granite.

Ali's publishing forum, a television camera, and a microphone left no space for such self-obscurity, nor did his sense of purpose. Poetry was the way he sparred with a white audience who disapproved of him. Like his most formidable opponent, George Foreman, Ali's audience presumably had the power in their relationship. They made the rules. They had the money. If they hated him so much, why didn't they just stop tuning in, buying tickets and placing bets? If you're facing the hardest puncher in the history of the sport, what do you do? You let him hit you. If your audience hates that you talk too much, you talk more, and you speak in a genre that they feel belongs to them.

What, after all, could be whiter than poetry? A mandatory school subject, replete with dead European men and force-fed to children as a moral value, poetry was the perfect medium for Ali to turn the mainstream culture against itself. He didn't write prose poems and cutting-edge beatnik parlance. He wrote poems in old, traditional forms, couplets and ballads with hard, crunchy end rhymes and meters that would have made Yeats stand up and clap. Clay swings with the left. Clay swings with his right.

Look at young Cassius carry the fight. Ali put earworms of his own mythos into the airwaves, where even his greatest detractors could not resist them. Liston keeps backing, but there's not enough room. It's a matter of time.

And Clay lost the boom. He was called the fifth Beatle as an insult, but it was an appropriate moniker. Both Beatle and Boxer made catchy tunes you couldn't get out of your head, and that ring forever truer and louder than the prosaic criticism of their detractors. Now listen to this person's view. The crowd is getting frantic. But our radar stations have picked him up. He's someone's over the Atlantic. Ali exhibited all the skills of a great poet. He was a master of metaphor, performance, and improvisation. Who would have thought

when they came to the fight that they'd witness the launching of a human satellite? Speaking to a reporter before his 1964 when they came to the fight that they witnessed the launching of a human satellite. Speaking to a reporter before his 1964 bout with Sonny Liston, Ali said, People think I talk too much. That's why I got these. And he held up his fists. The reporter daftly replied,

And they represent your thinking? Without missing a beat, Ali said, They represent dynamite. And then made the sound of dynamite exploding. Yes, the crowd did not dream when they put down their money that they would see a total eclipse of the sun in. Poetry has rarely been as much fun since. I'm Scott Cunningham. has rarely been as much fun since. I'm Scott Cunningham. And that's our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF Public Media in Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Meritz. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Charles Michaels, and Jackson Harp. Richard Ives answers our phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami

Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. Thanks for calling, emailing, listening, and supporting public radio in your neighborhood. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend.