Palm Bay to get a new city manager.
A divided Palm Bay City Council has selected a new city manager to lead Brevard’s largest city. Rick Glasby has the story:
The Council selected Matthew Morton, after narrowly rejecting a bid by former City Manager Gregg Lynk to return to his former position. If a contract agreement with Morton can be reached, he would succeed Suzanne Sherman, who the council fired in November. Morton is the former West Melbourne City Manager, and has been serving since then as interim city manager of Palm Bay.
Hands-Free Driving Bill Ready for Full Senate
Legislation that would put more restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving is ready to be heard by the full Senate.
The Senate Rules Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the handheld use of a wireless communications device for any reason, while behind the wheel.
The measure hopes to expand on Florida's current texting while driving prohibition, to include anything else that requires holding a cell phone, such as social media, looking at maps and watching videos.
Senate bill sponsor Erin Grall says distracted driving in Florida is a major problem.
“It takes us digging in and saying we are going to change our behavior, because we know this is as bad, if not worse, than drunk driving.”
Though the legislation is ready to be heard by the full Senate, a similar bill in the House has yet to be taken up by any committee, as the 2025 legislative session reaches its midway point.
Dropping minors’ working restrictions gets first House committee approval
A Florida House committee approved a bill to eliminate key child labor protections.
A similar bill passed a Senate committee last week to the dismay of critics worried that the measure would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work longer hours, as well as 14- and 15-year-olds who receive permission.
The House bill would remove Florida child labor protections by allowing minors to work more than 30 hours per week during the school year;
Two weeks ago Gov. Ron DeSantis, said, “Why do we say that we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when, you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff.”
Regardless of Florida law, employers have to abide by federal minor employment regulations, particularly the Fair Labor Standards Act, which mostly prohibits 13-year-olds from working in jobs outside of agriculture.
Match Day for med students illuminates Florida's gap in producing new doctors
Friday was match day when Medical students found out where they would do their internship. The event illuminated a gap legislators and think tanks have tried to close for years.
Florida produces far fewer physicians than other large states.
According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, between 2014 and 2023, 66.5% of the 11,447 doctors who conducted their residency in Florida practice here.
California (78.5%) and Texas (67.0%) not only train more physicians through residency programs, but both states retain a higher percentage of those doctors.
New York, the fourth largest state, had the most residency positions in the country, with more than 33,000.
Dr. Abba C. Zubair, dean of the Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus, said “There is strong evidence that shows medical students and residents tend to stay and build their medical practice where they train.”
“Physicians who attended medical school and residency training in the same state are even more likely to stay after training.”
More: www.floridatoday.com
