Franklin among districts possibly cut out of textbook deals
TALLAHASSEE — Franklin County is among some of Floridas most financially strapped small school districts that could have paid thousands of dollars more for textbooks than their larger
Simpson ties pay raises to prison shutdowns
Senate President Wilton Simpson has a message for state prison leaders: Shut down institutions if you want pay raises for overworked corrections officers. Simpson, in a phone interview last week with The News Service of Florida, blamed chronic staffing shortages and high turnover rates on corrections officials lack of vision and myopia in operating the…
Help sought for overworked, underpaid prison workers
A top corrections official offered a stark picture of Floridas prison system last week, warning that lawmakers must boost salaries of corrections workers to avert a looming disaster as the system grapples with high turnover rates, dangerously low staffing levels and fatigued employees. Department of Corrections Deputy Secretary Ricky Dixon said the agency wants to…
Senate passes voting changes along party lines
TALLAHASSEE — With Democrats likening the measure to Jim Crow-era practices aimed at keeping Black people from voting, the state Senate on Monday passed an elections package that would make it harder for Floridians to cast ballots by mail. A single Republican — Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg — crossed party lines to join Senate…
County leaders warn of devastating prison closures
Both Franklin and Gulf counties are pushing back against a state plan to shutter up to four state prisons, a plan spreading alarm throughout Floridas rural regions where correctional institutions have played an outsized role in providing jobs and supporting businesses for decades. If we no longer have any inmates, will we need to hire…