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House proposed budget funds education, water projects, road improvements in Pinellas

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More than $245 million stands to roll into Pinellas County in the 2025-26 fiscal year from the state of Florida, according to the House budget proposal.

The largest expenditure that would benefit Pinellas is $87.8 million for Family Support Services of Suncoast, which serves as the lead agency in Pinellas and Pasco counties working to avoid removing kids from their homes and supporting struggling families.

The University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg campus also stands to land a big chunk of the state’s proposed upcoming budget, with $36 million allotted in the House version for the campus’ operating budget and another $5 million for an environmental and oceanographic sciences research and teaching facility. Those proposed allotments are in addition to other general funding for USF, which has a main campus in Tampa and another regional campus in Sarasota.

The Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County would receive $31 million in the House proposed budget.

House budget chiefs have also slotted $27.9 million for workforce education within Pinellas County Schools, as well as $13 million for voluntary pre-K.

Other items benefiting Pinellas County in the House proposed budget range from low five-figure allocations to multimillion-dollar line items, and would pay for things like fire station upgrades, wastewater improvement, education, criminal justice reentry programs, seniors and more.

Here are other expenditures proposed in the House budget that would be directed to programs, services, government and groups in Pinellas County.

— $5 million: Gulfport Potable Water Proactive Storm Mitigation.

— $2.5 million: Ponce De Leon Boulevard improvements in Belleair.

— $1.8 million: St. Petersburg College for its Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers, and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) program.

— $1.8 million: Barbara Circle reconstruction in Belleair.

— $1.7 million: Mehlenbacher West improvements in Belleair.

— $1.54 million: The inspHire program (formerly Reentry Plus) for pre-release risk assessment, plan of care, professional development, life management skills training and referrals for certain incarcerated people, including post-release services such as professional development, job and skills training, family reunification, financial assistance and job placement assistance for qualifying people within Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco or Polk counties.

— $1.5 million: The Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue Station No. 27.

— $1.5 million: Fire Station No. 22 in St. Pete Beach.

— $1.5 million: Clearwater North Beach Stormwater improvements.

— $1.2 million: The Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas for community-based services.

— $1.1 million: PIPELINE performance rewards for postsecondary technical career centers that offer a licensed practical nurse program.

— $1.1 million: Largo Fire Station No. 40 Relocation project.

— $1 million: ARK Innovation Center In Pinellas County Schools.

— $1 million: Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast’s Tarpon Springs Club Learning Center expansion.

— $1 million: Water reclamation facility improvements in Oldsmar.

— $932,000: SPC for the 2+2 Student Success Incentive Fund to improve student success for associate degree-seeking students and those transferring to a bachelor’s program.

— $690,000: The Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services’ Noncustodial Parent Employment Program.

— $661,000: SPC for Work Florida Student Success Incentive Fund supporting college strategies and initiatives to align care education programs with statewide and regional workforce demands and high-paying jobs.

— $570,000: Safety Harbor Pier replacement.

— $500,000: Pinellas Meals on Wheels.

— $500,000: Pinellas County Traffic Control Flood Mitigation Project for signal cabinets on Gulf Boulevard.

— $500,000: The Pinellas Opportunity Council Emergency Assistance Program.

— $500,000: SPC’s advancing biomedical education program.

— $500,000: A backup power system at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Pete.

— $500,000: The Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches’ Safety Harbor campus.

— $425,000: Hurricane-damaged stormwater drainage.

— $375,000: Pinellas & Hillsborough County Youth Advocate Program.

— $375,000: Pinellas Park citywide lift station alternate power.

— $375,000: Harmony Heights Community Safety project.

— $300,000: SPC teacher apprenticeship program.

— $250,000: St. Petersburg Free Clinic.

— $239,000: The Grandview Drive stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $238,000: The Indian Rocks Beach Aquafence Flood Protection Program.

— $211,000: The Lakeview Drive stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $175,000: AMPLIFY Clearwater’s IGNITE Entrepreneurship Center.

— $154,000: Student Success in Career and Technical Education Incentive Fund for high performing school district technical centers to establish new programs in high demand areas.

— $150,000: Pretrial or post-adjudicatory veterans’ treatment intervention programs.

— $150,000: Dunedin Fine Art Center

— $150,000: Goodwill’s Pathways program at its Suncoast section.

— $133,000: Roosevelt and Canal Streets stormwater project in Tarpon Springs.

— $19,000: Restoration and preservation of Old Town Hall in Belleair.

The House proposed budget also authorizes $5,000 in pay additives for sworn law enforcement officers and for certain non-sworn Florida Highway Patrol personnel.

At $112.95 billion, the House budget is $4.4 million less than the Senate’s proposed budget and $2.7 billion less than Gov. Ron DeSantis’. It includes a historic slash to state sales tax, from 6% currently to 5.25%, which House Speaker Daniel Perez says would save Floridians about $5 billion a year on taxable goods and services.

That proposal is at odds with DeSantis, who has instead proposed eliminating property taxes, and from Senate President Ben Albritton who hasn’t elaborated on tax cuts, saying only that he’s open to structural tax changes at some point.

The House plan also directs $12 billion into the state’s reserves, and it includes $100 million for veteran teachers, a move meant to provide a pay bump to experienced educators after DeSantis’ priority increase to starting pay cleared to help the state recruit new teachers.

Other highlights include increasing per student funding by $60, fully funding the state’s Bright Futures scholarship program and directing $765 million for maintenance and capital programs in public education through undergraduate programs.

The budget would also allocate $285 million for affordable housing programs, including the state’s Hometown Hero program that assists first-time homebuyers with startup costs.

On the environment, the House budget would set aside $300 million for rural and family land conservation and $200 million for the Resilient Florida Conservation grant program, while allocating $600 million to clean drinking water initiatives.


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Auburn Tigers take on the Florida Gators in Final 4

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The game is tonight.

Florida Gators (34-4, 17-4 SEC) vs. Auburn Tigers (32-5, 16-4 SEC)

San Antonio; Saturday, 6:09 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Gators -2.5; over/under is 159.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 4 Auburn and No. 3 Florida meet in the NCAA Tournament Final Four.

The Tigers’ record in SEC play is 16-4, and their record is 16-1 against non-conference opponents. Auburn scores 83.2 points while outscoring opponents by 14.0 points per game.

The Gators’ record in SEC action is 17-4. Florida has a 2-1 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Auburn averages 9.1 made 3-pointers per game, 2.4 more made shots than the 6.7 per game Florida gives up. Florida has shot at a 47.3% rate from the field this season, 6.7 percentage points above the 40.6% shooting opponents of Auburn have averaged.

The teams meet for the second time this season. The Gators won 90-81 in the last matchup on Feb. 8.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.


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Donald Trump makes big bet on tariffs

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Not even 24 hours after his party lost a key Wisconsin race and underperformed in Florida, President Donald Trump followed the playbook that has defined his political career: He doubled down.

Trump’s move on Wednesday to place stiff new tariffs on imports from nearly all U.S. trading partners marks an all-in bet by the Republican that his once-fringe economic vision will pay off for Americans. It was the realization of his four decades of advocacy for a protectionist foreign policy and the belief that free trade was forcing the United States into decline as its economy shifted from manufacturing to services.

The tariff announcement was the latest and perhaps boldest manifestation of Trump’s second-term freedom to lead with his instincts after feeling his first turn in the Oval Office was restrained by aides who did not share his worldview. How it shakes out will be a defining judgment on his presidency.

The early reviews have been worrisome.

Financial markets had their worst week since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign trade partners retaliated and economists warned that the import taxes may boost inflation and potentially send the U.S. into a recession. It’s now Republican lawmakers who are fretting about their party’s future while Democrats feel newly buoyant over what they see as Trump’s overreach.

He has promised that the taxes on imports will bring about a domestic manufacturing renaissance and help fund an extension of his 2017 tax cuts. He insisted on Thursday as the Dow Jones fell by 1,600 points that things were “going very well” and the economy would “boom,” then spent Friday at the golf course as the index plunged 2,200 more points.

In his first term, Trump’s tariff threats brought world leaders to his door to cut deals. This time, his actions so far have led to steep retaliation from China and promises from European allies to push back.

As Trump struggles with the economy, Democrats are beginning to emerge from the cloud of doom that has consumed their party ever since their election drubbing in November.

They scored a decisive victory in Wisconsin’s high-profile state Supreme Court election on Tuesday, even after Elon Musk and his affiliated groups poured more than $20 million into the contest. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker then breathed new life into the Democratic resistance by delivering a record 25-hour-long speech on the Senate floor that centered on a call for his party to find its resolve.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.


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State can enforce DEI general education course ban while litigation plays out

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The state of Florida may enforce a law eliminating general education courses that teach “identity politics” at Florida’s institutions of higher education pending resolution of a lawsuit filed by professors, a federal judge has ruled.

In January, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed suit on the professors’ behalf alleging that SB 266, a 2023 law limiting general education course classifications and funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, harmed the professors’ academic ambitions. General education courses are required for students to graduate.

Days after a preliminary injunction hearing in Tallahassee in front of U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Walker, he ruled Wednesday that the professors had not established they would suffer any harm.

“This ruling is disappointing, but also offers a clearer path forward to prove this law is unconstitutional,” said Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida in a news release. “The law is a blatant effort to control the content of higher education, muzzle Florida’s scholars, and erase perspectives the state finds politically inconvenient. We remain committed to fighting alongside faculty, students, and the broader academic community until this undemocratic law is struck down.”

Among the plaintiffs is University of Florida political science professor Sharon Austin, who complains she was denied funding to present at a 2024 conference hosted by Diversity Abroad, which the school had paid for her to present at in 2023. The school specifically cited SB 266 in refusing to pay for her to appear subsequently, the suit alleges.

“As for Plaintiff Austin, her declaration demonstrates that she has already suffered a denial of state funding to attend conferences in 2024. However, to obtain prospective relief, she must demonstrate an unambiguous intention to seek funding to attend conferences at a reasonably foreseeable time in the future. That she has not done,” Walker wrote.

Professors who have had their courses removed from general education requirements, or fear it may happen, say their injury is chilled speech and potential repercussions in post-tenure review.

“To the extent these Plaintiffs claim their classroom speech associated with courses for which they have no stated plans to teach at a reasonably foreseeable time in the future will be chilled, such a hypothetical future chill is both too remote and speculative to amount to a cognizable injury in fact,” Walker wrote.

ACLU will continue
The plaintiffs allege viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment; that the law is over-broad; and that it violates Florida’s Campus Free Expression Act.

State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said in January that the law has helped address a Gallup poll that found “political agendas” as Americans’ Number One reason they have lost confidence in higher education.

Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said the law helps students who can be “overwhelmed by the number of courses that are out there,” and that students can take whatever classes they wish, “but the easier we can make it for them when it comes to general education and making sure that they’re getting what they need there I think is very important.”

Walker did not rule on merits of the underlying case and the ACLU said it will continue its challenge.

“Plaintiffs’ evidence does not demonstrate that any Plaintiff faces an imminent injury — namely, chilled speech — that is traceable to any Defendant’s enforcement of the general education requirements,” Walker wrote.

“For what it’s worth, Plaintiffs’ existential concerns about the survival of their academic departments and the future viability of their areas of expertise in the state of Florida are certainly understandable. However, these concerns, as described at length in Plaintiffs’ declarations, do not give rise to a concrete, imminent, and non-speculative injury in fact sufficient to permit Plaintiffs to seek a preliminary injunction against Defendants’ enforcement of the general education requirements.”

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Jay Waagmeester reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected]


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