May 26, 2021 - The Florida Capital Star

Florida Ends Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefits

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

Amid an ongoing labor shortage that has hit the service industry particularly hard, Florida has become the twenty-third state to reject the federal government’s supplemental $300 per week in COVID-19 unemployment benefits.

“Florida will end its participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, the $300 per week supplemental FPUC payment, effective June 26, 2021, as part of DEO’s ‘Return to Work’ initiative,” the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) said in a Monday press release.

Commentary: How the Biden-Harris Migration ‘Fix’ Would Throw Good Billions After Bad

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The journey of Central American migrants to the U.S. border—a perilous trip across thousands of miles of mountains and deserts—starts in places like the dry corridor in western Honduras.

Many of the region’s one million small farmers still live in adobe huts with no running water. Corrupt Honduran officials have invested too little in stabilizing or modernizing the region, allowing violent gangs to extort families. Recent droughts and hurricanes have created widespread hunger.

These longstanding problems throughout Central America are driving the current crisis on the southern U.S. border, where more than 170,000 migrants arrived in March in search of jobs and asylum. As the Biden Administration grapples with this mounting surge, it’s proposing a $4 billion long-term plan (the biggest ever for the region) to attack the root causes of migration—corruption, violence, and poverty—in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Gunfire Mars Festival at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Anniversary of His Death

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

An apparent drive-by shooting at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis was caught live by news cameras Tuesday morning, as Black Lives Matter supporters gathered to observe the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death in police hands.

1776 Commission Urges States: Oppose Biden Funding for ‘Teaching of Racial Discrimination’ in K-12

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Girl at school desk with bow in hair, writing

A Trump administration commission tasked with promoting “patriotic education” is calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a proposal to fund history and civics programs informed by critical race theory (CRT).

The 1776 Commission met in D.C. Monday despite being disbanded by President Biden on his first day in office. It published its final report just two days before the presidential transfer of power.

The proposed federal rule would prioritize funding for history and civics curricula that consider “systemic marginalization, biases, inequities, and discriminatory policy and practice in American history” and incorporate “racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives.” It favorably cites Boston University professor Ibram Kendi, the foremost popularizer of “anti-racism,” and the New York Times’ 1619 Project.

Demographers Warn of ‘Epochal Fall in Fertility’ Across the Globe

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

An “avalanche” of “expanding and accelerating” demographic forces is driving global birth rates down at alarming rates, demographers warned The New York Times.

“A paradigm shift is necessary,” German demographer Frank Swiaczny, former United Nations chief of population trends and analysis, told the Times. “Countries need to learn to live with and adapt to decline.”

The publication described ghost cities in northeastern China, South Korean universities scrambling for students, hundreds of thousands of demolished properties in Germany, and shut down maternity wards in Italy, and warned that countries like Hungary, China, Sweden and Japan are already pushing to balance the combination of “swelling” older populations with the needs of young people.

Media Dismissed Lab Leak Theory Because Trump Talked About It, According to a Senior Washington Post Reporter

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Doctor with protective gloves handling vaccine

The corporate press spent much of the pandemic dismissing the theory that COVID-19 could have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology because former President Donald Trump talked about it, according to Washington Post senior reporter Aaron Blake.

“It has become evident that some corners of the mainstream media overcorrected when it came to one particular theory from Trump and his allies: that the coronavirus emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than naturally,” Blake wrote in an analysis piece published Monday. “It’s also true that many criticisms of the coverage are overwrought and that Trump’s and his allies’ claims invited and deserved skepticism.”

Blake explained that the media was justified in being skeptical of the lab leak theory because Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had leaned in “hard” to the theory without providing “even piecemeal evidence” to support their claims.

More Americans Lack Confidence in U.S. Economy

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 The Center Square

As economic figures cast doubt on a post-COVID economic boom, the latest polling data show Americans lack confidence in the economy under President Joe Biden.

New polling data released by Gallup Monday shows Americans are not confident in the economy and are largely unhappy with the nation’s current trajectory.

The poll found only 36% of Americans are “satisfied with the way things are going.” Specifically on the economy, Americans also are pessimistic.

Commentary: Time to Confront the U.S. Capitol Police About Its January 6 Lies

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The body of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick wasn’t even cold before his employer leveraged his untimely death to stoke more outrage about the events in the nation’s capital on January 6.

“At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening . . . United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty,” read a press release issued January 7. “Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots [and] was injured while physically engaging with protesters. He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The death of Officer Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and our federal partners.”

The agency intentionally included the word “homicide” to suggest Sicknick was killed by homicidal Trump supporters. The next day, the New York Times, citing two anonymous law enforcement officials, claimed “pro-Trump rioters . . . overpowered Mr. Sicknick, 42, and struck him in the head with a fire extinguisher.”

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy Decides Not to Run Against Rubio

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Casey Owens

Democrat and Florida House Representative Stephanie Murphy announced Monday that she will not challenge current U.S. Senator Marco Rubio for his seat in the 2022 election.

Murphy made her decision after House Representative Val Demings declared her run for U.S. Senate as opposed to initial claims of her running for Governor against Ron DeSantis.

FSU Announces Richard McCullough as New President

May 26, 2021May 25, 2021 Grant Holcomb

Earlier this week, Florida State University (FSU) announced the Board of Trustees unanimously voted for Richard McCullough to be the next president. The Florida Board of Governors still has to approve the verdict.

McCullough currently serves as Vice Provost at Harvard University, as well as being the strategic developer for the university’s research initiatives. Specifically, the university’s website dictates his role as to ““encourage, cultivate, and coordinate high impact academic research across all of Harvard’s schools and affiliated institutions.”

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