Dream Defenders, Marco Rubio, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are in the headlines today.Welcome to WJCT First Read, your daily weekday morning round-up of stories from the First Coast, around Florida, and across the country. We'll also preview some of WJCT's upcoming news programming.
Dream Defenders to deliver education discrimination petition: This afternoon, state civil rights group Dream Defenders is expected to deliver a petition to Gov. Rick Scott at the Florida State Capitol asking that the state "stop discriminating against black and Hispanic students." (AP)
Federal civil rights complaint filed against Duval Schools: The mother of a Stanton College Preparatory School student has filed a federal civil rights complaint and called for an internal district investigation after alleging that school administrators have been discriminating against her son because he suffers from debilitating illness. (Florida Times-Union)
Charges dropped in 2012 downtown hit-and-run: Charges of second-degree murder, auto-burglary and assault against Greg Johnson have been dropped in the August 2012 hit-and-run death of 22-year-old Taylor Evansoutside Jacksonville Landing. (News4Jax)
Rubio says he's ready to be president: Florida junior U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said in n interview Sunday that he is ready to be president, and that if he should choose to run for the White House he would not seek re-election to his Senate seat at the same time. (ABC News)
School choice expansion awaits signature: An expansion of Florida's tax-credit education scholarship program is awaiting the approval of Gov. Rick Scott. (Florida Watchdog)
VA faces bi-partisan criticism from Florida officials: Florida Republicans and Democrats are uniting to criticize the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for not doing enough to help the 1.5 million veterans in the state. (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Kiper gives Jags 'A' draft grade: ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has given the Jacksonville Jaguars an 'A' for their picks in last week's NFL Draft. (Fansided)
Today on First Coast Connect, Donavan Carr and Jonathan Carr of Cannabis University Florida will discuss the business of legalizing medical marijuana in the state.
You can get all the latest headlines online at WJCTNews.org, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter @WJCTJax. You can follow Patrick Donges on Twitter at @patrickhdonges.
