Palm Bay leaders discuss homelessness
On Tuesday, Palm Bay leaders discussed the homeless situation in the city for the first time since House Bill 1365 went into effect on Oct. 1.
The law prevents people from sleeping or camping on public property.
The Brevard Homeless Coalition said the number of unhoused people in the county is 1,116 — the highest since 2016.
The coalition’s executive director, Amber Carroll, is calling on the city to identify more immediate solutions to address homelessness, ranging from affordable housing to emergency shelters.
Palm Bay Mayor Rob Medina was on board with several solutions that were suggested.
However, some city leaders are hesitant to add an emergency shelter in the City of Palm Bay.
City council members plan to continue discussing ideas and solutions to the city’s homelessness crisis. However, they supported the idea of an event providing services and resources to homeless veterans sometime soon.
House Ethics Committee votes to release report on Matt Gaetz before Christmas
According to CNN, after a secret vote earlier this month the House Ethics Committee will release its report on former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The report, which is expected to detail allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, will reportedly be released as lawmakers leave Washington for the holiday. Gaetz has vehemently denied the allegations.
The reported vote is an about-face for the committee, which had declined to release the report in November.
The 10-member committee is equally divided between Republicans and Democrats and holds its meetings behind closed doors.
After Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as Attorney General, he announced he is going to start his own TV show.
Florida approves rules for veteran dental care.
Just 15% of veterans are eligible for dental services through the VA, but 41% of veterans described their oral health as “fair” or “poor.” Rick Glasby tells us that’s the reason the Florida Legislature created the Veterans Dental Care Grant Program.
$1 million will be used to establish a network of clinics to provide treatment to disadvantaged vets. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet on Tuesday gave the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs approval to publish a proposed rule that will set guidelines for the new Veterans Dental Care Grant Program. To qualify for the program, veterans must live in Florida, earn $45,000 or less annually, and have their military discharge papers.
Did Florida go too far on iguanas?
Pet traders are urging state wildlife officials to reinstate the capture and sale of green iguanas for export outside Florida, arguing that doing so could help control the rapid spread of the invasive lizard across the state.
In 2021, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) introduced new prohibited species rules, effectively banning the collection of live wild green iguanas for the pet trade—a key method previously used to manage their population. According to University of Florida wildlife ecology professor Frank Mazzotti, the situation has since worsened. “They are occurring in more places in greater numbers, and we are seeing the evidence of more impacts.”
Native to Mexico, South America, and other tropical regions, green iguanas arrived in Florida as stowaways on cargo ships and airplanes. Before the 2021 ban, reptile distributors exported hundreds of thousands of green iguanas annually from Florida.
At a recent meeting, the FWC proposed rule changes to allow limited collection, sale, and export of green iguanas. However, pet traders criticized the proposal as overly restrictive, claiming it would discourage participation and fail to address the growing problem.
More: www.floridatoday.com