Year after year, Miami Gardens Sen. Shevrin Jones goes to bat in Tallahassee for some of Florida’s most vulnerable residents, and 2025 is no different.

He’s carrying a quartet of bills this year, each designed to better safeguard at-risk kids. Some are repeats of measures he’s filed in years past. All would make the Sunshine State safer for those young people.

Take SB 1272, which cleared its first of three committee stops last week on a unanimous vote. The bill, if passed, would limit a legal guardian’s authority to restrict a ward’s access to family and friends and ensure better notification of them when the ward moves.

It would still permit guardians to restrict a minor ward’s contact with someone who may cause harm to them, but it would ease that restriction for adult wards unless a court says otherwise.

“All Floridians, regardless of circumstance, deserve to be safe in our communities and have their rights protected,” Jones said. “This bill is an important step toward making that a reality.”

Another bill is a returning proposal (SB 206) called “Ava’s Law” would enable judges to stay the incarceration of a pregnant prisoner for up to 12 weeks so she could nurse and bond with her baby.

It’s named for a newborn who died in August 2021 after being born in an Alachua County jail. The mother, Erica Thompson, said she screamed for help as she went into premature labor and ultimately gave birth alone in her cell. The incident triggered protests outside the facility and prompted Jones to retitle his legislation, which he’d originally filed in 2020, after the child.

He said the change is a small ask and would allow pregnant convicts “to have their child with dignity.”

Jones is also sponsoring SB 1814, which would codify kids’ rights against unlawful interrogation to more align with those of adults. The bill would provide that police or school employees may only conduct a custodial interrogation — questioning in circumstances where they feel unfree to leave — if the interrogation is video and audio recorded, and the minor has consulted with a parent, legal guardian or lawyer.

This would not apply to circumstances where the officer or school employee’s supervisor agrees in writing that there is imminent harm or danger to the minor or another individual.

Then there’s SB 236, which would establish a “Community Violence Task Force” within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review system failures and causes of high crime rates and violence in urban core neighborhoods and communities. By June 2027, the group — composed of appointees by the Governor, Senate President, House Speaker, law enforcement groups and the Secretary of Children and Families — would have to deliver a report of its findings and recommendations.

SB 236 doesn’t mention kids, but it would benefit them. Research by the National Center for Victims of Crime found that youths aged 12 to 14 have the highest rates of violent victimization in both urban and rural communities. According to a September report from the Council on Criminal Justice, while murder and violent crime across the U.S. has decreased in recent years, homicides committed by children jumped 65% from 2016 to 2022.

Jones’ interest in youth wellness is hardly political; it’s a lifelong pursuit. Jones, a former teacher, today works as the National Director of Development for Safe Routes Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing safe pedestrian paths to schools and in their surrounding communities.

He first won a seat in the House in 2012. Eight years later, he won his Senate District 34 seat by a landslide. Since then, he’s worked across the aisle to pass measures like SB 236, which expanded aid eligibility for children with developmental delays in public schools, backed bills to improve how the state treats some of its most underserved people, and continued to bring money back to his district.

Jones won re-election in 2022 with 68% of the vote.

Last year, he served as a short-term Chair of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party. He’s rumored to be mulling a run for Governor next year.

Jones’ upper-chamber partners on SB 206, SB 236, SB 1272 and SB 1814 include Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo and Orlando Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith. Democratic Reps. Wallace Aristide of Miami, LaVon Bracy Davis of Ocoee and Dianne Hart of Tampa are carrying House versions of Jones’ bills.

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New College of Florida is continuing to promote an upcoming speaking event with comedian Russell Brand. That’s despite police in the United Kingdom bringing rape charges against the controversial celebrity in his home country.

The Florida public university already had Brand slated as a speaker as part of its Socratic Stage Dialogue Series before U.K. police recently announced criminal charges against the comedian, including rape and sexual assault.

The Sarasota school said it would continue with the Saturday event undeterred by the controversy.

“In a time when public pressure often seeks to silence rather than engage, New College of Florida is reaffirming its role in creating space for open inquiry — not eliminating it. After thoughtful consideration, we have decided to move forward with Russell Brand’s scheduled appearance as part of a broader conversation on society, culture, and free speech,” said Alexandra Nicole Islas, Public Policy Events Director.

“This is a reflection of our commitment to civil discourse and the belief that even challenging conversations deserve room in the public square. While the justice system independently addresses other matters, our responsibility is to ensure a space where ideas — especially those that invite dialogue such as the topic of cancel culture and free speech, can be explored with respect, critical thought, and intellectual integrity.”

Brand has maintained his innocence.

New College alumnus Mark Famiglio, a prominent business leader in Sarasota, still plans to moderate the event. The topic of the conversation will be “Thinking without Permission: A Conversation with Russell Brand on Free Speech, Censorship, and Cultural Power.”

While the release lists Famiglio as Chair of the Sarasota Film Festival, the local cinema organization is not involved in the event in any formal way. But notably, the festival this year does intend to screen movies at New College’s campus for the first time, including the documentaries “Culture War,” about the recent leadership and culture changes at the school, and “The Librarians,” about librarians find themselves on the front lines of battles against book bans.

Famiglio acknowledged a different level of scrutiny around the event than he originally expected.

“It’s about free speech, authentic free speech,” he said. “Maybe we will get the guy to talk about some of these things. Maybe we try and get Hunter Biden on there with him. They are both drug addicts and sex addicts, while one has an actual history of the media claiming he didn’t do anything. But what do we know? If we say someone is an addict, does that mean we put them in a trash can?”

Famiglio stressed that Brand has not been found guilty of anything, but that nobody involved in the event condones the behavior of which Brand is accused.

“What I can say is I like his more formalized word salad that I have seen in some other discussions,” Famiglio said. “He has a brilliance, but none of that speaks to his lifestyle or mistakes he may or may not have made, or illegalities he may or may not have committed.”

Of note, multiple sources said organizers had originally been looking for a larger Downtown Sarasota venue for the sold-out event, but ultimately, the decision was made to host Brand at the Mildred Sainer Pavilion on campus. The event will be streamed on YouTube, X and Rumble.

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