Today is election day.
Brevard County residents can vote in two special elections today to fill vacancies in the Florida Legislature. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has more:
The elections will be held for Florida Senate District 19 and Florida House District 32. Republican primary elections for both seats will be held on Tuesday, April 1, with the general election on June 10. Florida Senate District 19 includes Central and South Brevard County. The Republican candidates in the primary are Marcie Adkins, Mark Lightner, Debbie Mayfield and Tim Thomas. The primary winner will face Democrat Vance Ahrens in the June 10 general election. The Florida House District 32 seat is now held by Debbie Mayfield. It covers parts of central Brevard. The Republican candidates are Terry Cronin, Brian Hodgers and Bob White. The primary winner will face Democrat Juan Hinojosa in the June general election.
Ex-Social Security Chief Sounds the Alarm
A former Social Security Administration Commissioner has been conducting town hall style events in Florida to sound the alarm about serious new threats to Americans' retirement benefits by the Trump Administration.
“The threat to Social Security right now is very real.”
Former Social Security Commissioner under the Biden administration, Martin O'Malley, spoke to Floridians who voiced their uneasiness regarding the program's future, as O'Malley issued warnings about the gutting of the SSA.
“The agency is being dismantled at a time when it's already been made very vulnerable due to its staffing reduced to a 50 year low.”
“So the way they're driving knowledgeable people out of that agency is already creating much higher wait times. There's already more people dying waiting for initial disability determinations than ever before in the history of the program, and that's going to go up as well.”
The agency supports 73 million people across the country. Not just retirees, but those with qualifying disabilities, widows or widowers, and orphans.
The Social Security Administration has already announced changes to their identity verification procedures, which includes limiting most services that can be done over the phone.
Another proposal would cut off payments for people without Social Security numbers, which could lead to over 170,000 people losing their benefits, many of those being retirees and low income individuals. “
“Social Security is the greatest anti-poverty program that we've ever enacted as a people. We did it after the Great Depression, and it was intended to make sure that nobody who worked hard their whole life ever has to live out their last years in poverty. And so we need to defend it.
Florida lawmakers are working to fix the funding for "universal school choice"
Florida lawmakers are working to revise school funding following the expansion of universal school choice, which allows all students to receive scholarships for private schools and homeschooling. However, challenges have emerged in ensuring funds follow students who switch between private and public schools during the school year, leaving public schools to educate them without corresponding funding.
Senator Don Gaetz highlighted that 16% of Florida’s school-age children participate in scholarship programs, totaling $4 billion this year. Meanwhile, 45 of the state’s 67 school districts face declining enrollment as private and home schools grow.
To address funding gaps, Gaetz proposed limiting student enrollment changes to the spring and fall, preventing mid-year transfers from disrupting funding. His bill also establishes a categorical budget for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, ensuring funds are allocated for specific programs. The committee approved the bill in an 8-1 vote.
Due to severe budget cuts by the Listener's oversight Governance of Entertainment or Loge, WFIT’s format has been changed to polka music.
April Fool's!
More: www.floridatoday.com
