Here's a local and state news update from Florida Today and WFIT. I'm Evan Niemczyk.
Brevard’s school board approved a $100 million short-term loan to manage cash flow issues. WFIT’s Terri Wright reports
"The Brevard Public School Board approved taking on $100 million in short-term debt to cover operating expenses until property tax revenue arrives later in the fiscal year.
The tax anticipation note is intended to help stabilize the district’s cash flow, which was negative for three months last fiscal year. The district increasingly relies on local property taxes, but that revenue is not distributed until several months after the fiscal year begins October 1.
The money will go into the district’s general fund, which pays for day-to-day operations, and will be repaid once the property tax revenue is received."
The University of Tampa walked back a controversial policy banning student participation in "un-recognized" groups on campus.
A free speech group sent a letter to the school calling the policy vague and a threat to student rights.
The new rule surfaced after a dispute between student affairs and a Greek fraternity that was recently denied university recognition.
Gordy Heminger is CEO of the Fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi.
"The university essentially said, We're not going to recognize you. We can't tell you when we'll recognize you, if we'll recognize you talk to us later. And so we decided, Well, we'll continue to support these young men, and they'll just be an unrecognized organization."
Last month, UTampa told the fraternity in an email to cease operations as an "unrecognized" group, citing the new policy.
A spokesperson said Wednesday the policy was internally reviewed and has now been removed from the student code.
Hundreds of deported Haitians are facing life-threatening conditions in their home country, following the termination of their Temporary Protected Status in late July. That’s according to a new report from the international watchdog group Human Rights Watch.
Central Floridians are urging Florida’s representatives in the U.S. Senate to take action to restore T-P-S for Haitians, as Central Florida Public Media’s Molly Duerig explains.
"Immigrant rights advocacy groups are gathered outside of Senator Ashley Moody’s office in Orlando. They’re urging her to support proposed legislation — already passed by the U.S. House — that would extend T-P-S for Haitians until 2029.
Without T-P-S, community organizer Aaron Lewis says, Haitians who have lived here for decades are being forced back to what the United States identifies as one of the world’s most dangerous countries.
“People who lose legal status don't disappear. They get pushed into the shadows, where they are easier to exploit, easier to traffic, and less likely to report abuse.”
Advocates delivered to Moody’s office a petition with some two thousand signatures urging her to support the Senate proposal to restore Haitians’ T-P-S.
When asked for a comment on the petition, a spokesperson pointed to comments Moody shared with a Miami T-V station in July, saying she’d been in touch with the Trump administration about Haitians and their situations should be handled, quote, “case-by-case.”
In Orlando, I’m Molly Duerig"
For these stories and more, visit FloridaToday.com and WFIT.org. I'm Evan Niemczyk