The release of the national PCE index yesterday (Nov 30) brought good economic news to Florida and the country as a whole. We get the glad tidings of great joy from WGCU’s Cary Barbor.
Governor Ron DeSantis is calling on Florida Republican Party chairman Christian Ziegler to resign following allegations from a woman who says he raped her in early October. The Sarasota Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the allegations. The Florida Trident reports sources close to the investigation say the woman alleges she was involved in a three-year consensual sexual relationship with Christian Ziegler and his wife Bridget Ziegler, who is a Sarasota County School board member and co-founder of the far-right group Moms for Liberty. WGCU’s John Davis recently spoke with Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Trident and the Journalism Program Director for the Florida Center for Government Accountability Bob Norman, who broke the story.
LGBTQ-plus advocates are heated over recent action taken against public school officials in South Florida. Fort Lauderdale’s Monarch High School principal and other staff members have been temporarily removed from their positions amid claims a transgender student was allowed to play on the girls’ volleyball team. Under a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis back in 2021, schools in Florida must adhere to whatever gender students are assigned at birth and cannot let transgender girls play on girl’s sports teams. As Adrian Andrews reports, the controversy has sparked outrage throughout Florida over who can and cannot play in school athletics.
The 85th Anniversary of Kristallnact – the “Night of Broken Glass” when German Nazis attacked that nation’s Jewish communities – took place November eighth. A month before that, on October 7th, Margie Menzel recorded an interview with Holocaust survivor Jack Saltiel (sal-TEEL.) He is a brilliant chemist who, now in his 80s, remains a professor at Florida State University. In the course of the interview, he credits his mother with saving the family when the Germans came to their home in the Greek city of Salonika where they’d sought refuge.
A gallery infused with green recently opened in St. Petersburg's burgeoning Warehouse District. As WUSF's Steve Newborn reports, it's one of the few art galleries dedicated solely to the celebration of Florida’s wildlife and nature.
It's been almost five years since a special group of Monkeys was brought to a primate sanctuary in Gainesville. And with the anniversary coming up, four members of the organization that helped bring the monkeys to their new home, gave them a visit. WUFT's Ailee Shanes met the crew and the monkeys.