Party Bus Businesses Hold Protest in Downtown Nashville Over Shutdown as New Proposal Could Have Some Reopen, with Permits

Upstage Party Bus

A parade of party buses protested Nashville’s downtown over the new legislation that was put in place on October 19. The buses gathered on Friday, October 29 where they protested against the new rules set in place, mainly the rules for alcohol on the buses. 

One video from the protest showed a group singing “you’ve got to fight for your right to party.” Many buses had posters on their vehicles that read “Save our Jobs,” “Don’t lose the Booze,” and “We want beer!”

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Special Session Legislation Increases Safeguards Related to COVID-19, but Some Legislators Say Concessions for Big Business and the Federal Government Leave Tennesseans Unequally Protected

The legislation that emerged in Saturday’s early morning hours from the three days of the 112th Tennessee General Assembly’s Third Extraordinary Session provided a number of safeguards against COVID-19 mandates, but some legislators say concessions to accommodate big business and funding from the federal government also resulted in unequal protection for some Tennesseans against COVID mandates.

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Radnor Lake State Park Gets Colorblind Viewfinders

Radnor lake state park has just announced its installation of colorblind correcting viewfinders. The state park announced on their FaceBook Thursday about their new additions. The viewfinders cost the Tennessee Department of Tourism $3,000 but the special lenses that correct colorblindness were donated by EnChroma. 

EnChroma is also the company that created the colorblind corrective glasses and sunglasses. With technology designed by UC Berkley mathematician and Ph.D. Scientist, the company has received many five-star ‘life-changing reviews. 

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Commentary: Virginia’s Governor Race a Referendum on Education Reform

Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin

Loudoun County, Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., represents the contentious zeitgeist bedeviling the body politic. As I reported elsewhere last year, the Loudoun County school board has become ground zero in an escalating culture war in which concerned parents oppose leftist indoctrination posing as curriculum.

The latest salvo—launched in the heat of a dead-even gubernatorial race in Virginia, and in the wake of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s much-criticized memo suggesting that disgruntled parents opposing school boards pose a national security threat—is captured in a Washington Post column with the provocative headline “Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.”

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European Economies Grew Faster Than U.S. As Inflation and Supply Chain Delays Crippled the Country

European economic growth outpaced the U.S. and China as COVID-19 restrictions eased and vaccination rates increased, but supply chain disruptions and inflating prices will hold back expansion in the near future, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Gross domestic product in the eurozone increased at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9.1% in the quarter ending in September, according to the WSJ.  In comparison, the U.S. economy grew at a 2% rate and China grew at just 1%.

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Pennsylvania Republicans Blast Wolf Administration’s Role in Private Election Grant Process

Tom Wolf

Legislative Republicans excoriated Gov. Tom Wolf for “playing favorites” after a report concluded his administration helped only Democratic counties secure $21 million in private grants ahead of the 2020 election.

Broad + Liberty reported the Pennsylvania Department of State and various left-wing groups worked together to funnel private grant funding to Democratic-leaning counties without offering the same assistance to Republican-leaning counties. 

“This latest report indicates the administration and the Department of State played favorites when they connected certain counties to large sums of grant funding while ignoring other counties,” Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said. “Not only did this create unequal access to voters, but it also essentially disenfranchised voters in counties that did not receive equal funding.” 

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Democrats’ Spending Bill Creates a ‘Privacy Bureau’ with a $500 Million ‘War Chest’

A provision in the most recent version of the Democrats’ spending proposal allocates $500 million for a privacy bureau within the Federal Trade Commission, with little guidance on how the money is to be spent.

The bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, appropriates $500 million for fiscal year 2022 to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “create and operate a bureau” tasked with protecting data privacy.

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Commentary: Low Characters of the Elites in Ludicrous Situations

sock and buskin masks

Reflecting on the unfolding disaster that is our social and political life in the United States during the consulship of Biden, I cannot help but think of Aristotle’s description of the structure of Greek tragedy. Obviously, the parallels are not exact. For one thing, tragedy as Aristotle understood it was a quick affair, its action over within a single day. Our national tragedy, by contrast, seems to lumber on indefinitely.

Then there is the question of the character of the protagonist. Aristotle’s chap is “a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty.” Sound like Joe Biden? Almost, maybe, but not really. Rudy Giuliani was not talking through his hat when he invoked the specter of the “Biden crime family,” as the words “laptop,” “China,” and “10 percent for the big guy” remind us.

There are many other differences between tragedy in Aristotle’s sense and the disaster we are suffering through. Still, when I think about the development Aristotle traces from ἁμαρτία (the tragic flaw) through ἀναγνώρισις (recognition) to περιπέτεια (the sudden reversal of fortune) to καταστροφή, the “catastrophe” that ties up the loose ends and consummates the action, I think “We’re somewhere on that road,” though exactly where is hard to say. Have we achieved the enlightenment of recognition yet? I am not at all sure about that.

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Propane Heating Costs Hit Highest Level Since 2011 as Winter Approaches

Propane tank

Propane heating costs in the U.S. rocketed to $2.59 per gallon this month, the highest level in a decade, as winter quickly approaches, the federal government said Friday.

The average cost of propane during the first four weeks of the current winter season, which begins in October, was 49% higher than last year, according to an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report. The agency noted that the low propane supply is a major reason for the increased prices.

“U.S. propane and propylene inventories are starting this winter season lower than in recent years; weekly U.S. inventories are averaging 28% lower than the same time last year and 21% lower than their recent five-year (2015–2020) average,” the report stated.

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New York Times Hits YouTube for ‘Arbitrary’ Censorship After Left Wing Channel Gets Removed

The New York Times published an article late Thursday castigating YouTube for removing the channel of British left-wing news channel Novara Media.

The article, titled “How a Mistake by YouTube Shows Its Power Over Media,” criticized the tech platform’s “opaque and sometimes arbitrarily enforced” rules, describing the company as an information “gatekeeper.”

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Gas-Guzzling Cruise Ships to House Thousands of Climate Diplomats During Two Week United Nations Conference

Two gas-guzzling cruise liners will house thousands of diplomats during the upcoming two week United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, U.K.

Tallink Grupp, the European company that operates the ships, confirmed Friday that the first of the ships to arrive would be powered by fossil fuels since there aren’t onshore power capabilities at the port where it will be docked during the conference, the Independent reported. It is unclear if the second ship, which has yet to arrive, will also be powered by fossil fuels, but it would be forced to do so if it is docked at the same port.

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Starbucks Announces Wage Hikes Amidst Labor Struggles

Outside view of Starbucks Coffee

Seattle-based Starbucks announced it will increase hourly wages next year as the coffee giant faces the dual pressures of unionization attempts and staffing shortages.

According to a press release from the company, starting in January of 2022, hourly employees with two or more years of service could see a 5% raise and those with five or more years of service could see a 10% raise.

By the summer of next year, the company says its average hourly pay will be $17, up from the current average of $14. Employees will make between $15 and $23 an hour across the country, depending on location and tenure.

The press release did not address what impact the moves will have on coffee prices.

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Commentary: The Democratization of Information Threatens the Left

Man on phone, looking at desktop computer

With the democratization of information, we are witnessing an immensely beneficial development for every American. This development is best recognized by the fascistic attempts of Big Tech, the Pravda media, and the Biden Administration to destroy it.

As many have noted, social media has empowered individuals to pursue their happiness and shape their destinies to an extent unimagined in human history. While many are more familiar with the economic and social aspects of the internet (hence, the term “social media”), it is the political dimension that most frightens the Left.

Given their perpetually failed, morally bankrupt, coercive agenda, the democratization of information is an existential threat for the Left and to its psychotic aim to “fundamentally transform” the most prosperous, powerful, and equitable nation ever known.

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As Washington Shirks Federal Border Enforcement Role, Burden Falls to Frontline Sheriffs

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels

Acoalition of law enforcement agents, mostly comprised of sheriffs combatting cartel violence along the southern border, in cooperation with Border Patrol agents, is working to bring awareness to Americans of the dangers they face because of the Biden administration’s hands-off border enforcement policies.

“A nation without secure borders cannot stand,” argues Mark Hager, Army veteran and founder of the U.S. First Defense Coalition. “As a republic, the citizens of the United States are the responsible first line of defense,” he says, and sheriffs are “the only law enforcement branch elected by the people,” Hager told Just The News. “They are comparable to the grassroots of law enforcement.”

Also a historian and a professor, Hager notes that sheriffs “hold a special place in American history, and especially along our southern border, where they are protecting citizens when the federal government won’t.”

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Lawmaker Offers New Solution for Surge of Illegals: Send Them to Wealthy Democrat Enclaves

ASouth Carolina congressman has introduced legislation to open a dozen new ports of entry in America, seeking to shift the burden of President Joe Biden’s border crisis from Texas to wealthy enclaves favored by Democrats like Martha’s Vineyard, New York’s trendy suburbs and Silicon Valley.

Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican, said he introduced the Stop the Surge Act last week as a companion to similar Senate legislation sought by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). It would require all future illegal aliens captured at the border to be shipped to the wealthy, liberal enclaves.

“All these prosperous areas that you see, you know, million dollar houses, let’s send them there,” Norman told John Solomon Reports podcast. “And let’s let them exercise what they claim to be compassion on illegals.

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Virginia Scholar Refuses to Cave to Pressure Over Tweet Criticizing Bisexual Superman

Sophia Nelson

A scholar at a Virginia university is not backing down as students and faculty seek to get her fired for a tweet she posted criticizing DC Comics’ new bisexual Superman character.

“Regrettably, this has all gone too far,” Sophia Nelson, scholar in residence at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, says in an open letter to the university community dated Friday.

“I read the student petition against me in a Fox News article posted on Wednesday, October 27th,” Nelson writes, “and was devastated to read these words: ‘Our community is hurt and disappointed in the way this university has dealt with the homophobic and racist statements of Professor Nelson.’”

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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal by Maine Healthcare Workers Challenging Vaccine Mandate

Healthcare workers

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal from Maine healthcare workers attempting to block the state’s vaccine mandate.

The group of unvaccinated workers argued that the law violated their First Amendment rights because the law doesn’t have a religious exemption.

According to the Associated Press, Maine is one of three states including New York and Rhode Island that have vaccine mandates that lack religious exemptions for healthcare workers.

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Migrants Sleep Outside Immigration Offices to Check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Migrants are sleeping outside immigration offices waiting to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Houston Chronicle reported on Friday.

Migrants started spending the night outside the Greenspoint Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Houston, Texas, so they would be guaranteed an appointment the next day, according to the Chronicle. Around a dozen migrants from Central America and Venezuela set up camping chairs or decided to sleep in their cars on Thursday.

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Colleges Offer ‘Social Justice’ Math Classes for Students, Future Teachers

This school year, colleges around the country will teach students to use math to drive a “social justice” agenda. Campus Reform has found several courses, aimed both at math students and future teachers, that will teach math through social justice and social justice through math.

Central Washington University’s “Mathematics for Social Justice,” identified by Twitter user @OrwellNGoode, purports to teach students how, and why, to use math for social justice activism. The course description says, “The overarching goal of this course is for students to develop the ability and inclination to use mathematics to understand, and improve, the world around us, exploring social, political, and economic justice.” Students will use math and analysis to “draw conclusions concerning social justice issues,” “make and evaluate assumptions in a social justice context,” and “analyze and critique social justice claims and arguments.”

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America Reduced Emissions More Than Any Other Major Country Despite Leaving the Paris Accords

The U.S. has reduced emissions more than any other country in the world despite former President Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Accords.

“In the last 10 years, the emissions reduction in the United States has been the largest in the history of energy,” International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said at a Department of Energy press conference in 2019. “Almost 800 million tons. This is a huge decline of emissions.”

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COVID Mandates Oust Police Officers Nationwide, Police Leaders Warn of Fallout

Back of Police officers uniform

COVID-19 vaccine mandates have sparked nationwide controversy and led to firings and resignations around the country. Police officers have been hit hard by the requirements, and their exodus may leave many cities understaffed even on the heels of a spike in violent crime.

In New York City, officers passed the mayor’s deadline for vaccination Friday. The city announced that there are 26,000 unvaccinated municipal workers, including 17% of police officers. Those who refuse to comply will be placed on unpaid leave beginning Monday.

But New York City is far from the only local government to take that route. Several municipalities have instituted vaccine mandates for police officers only to see a significant drop-off in staffing.

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GOP Candidate for Governor Hopes Trump E-mail Will Spur Investigation into Zuckerberg Funding of 2020 Election in Michigan

Can President Trump move the ball in Michigan to get legislators to do a serious investigation into how outside money was spent in the 2020 election? No one else has been able to get legislators to pay attention to the $12 million that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shipped to an obscure supposedly “non-partisan” non-profit to influence voters in Michigan, but gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon hopes that a recent email by Donald Trump will spur action.

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Ballotpedia’s Top 15 State Ballot Measures to Watch in 2021

A total of 39 statewide ballot measures were certified for the 2021 ballot in nine states, 24 of which will be decided by voters on Nov. 2.

Question 1 was designed to stop the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), a 145-mile long, high-voltage transmission line project that would transmit around 1,200 megawatts from hydroelectric plants in Quebec to electric utilities in Massachusetts and Maine. Construction of NECEC began after the project received a presidential permit on Jan. 15, 2021. The ballot initiative would prohibit the construction of high-impact electric transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region, retroactive to September 16, 2020, thus prohibiting Segment 1 of NECEC. Segment 1 was permitted to begin construction on May 13, 2021.

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Ohio Businesses in Line for Easier City Income Tax Filing Process

Bill Roemer

Filing municipal income taxes for businesses might get a little easier if a bill passed unanimously by the Ohio General Assembly gets Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature.

State Rep. Bill Roemer, R-Richfield, said House Bill 228 will reduce unnecessary state and municipality paperwork for Ohio businesses and simplify the tax filing process.

“The way we currently file municipal net profits taxes in Ohio places an unneeded burden on business owners,” Roemer said. “The last thing businesses need is another hoop to jump through. This bill streamlines the filing process so business owners can get back to creating jobs and contributing to their communities. I am very pleased that both the House and Senate have unanimously agreed to send this bill to Governor DeWine.”

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Third-Party Candidate for Virginia Governor Gives Left-Leaning Voters Another Option

Although most of the talk around Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race has focused on Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, voters will have a third name to choose from on their ballots next week – Princess Blanding.

“I am a working class Virginian and the only candidate who will fight to uplift the voices and address the needs and concerns of the working class, our Black and Brown community members and our most marginalized community members,” Blanding told The Center Square in an email. “I am the only candidate that will put people over profit and politics to ensure that liberation is a human right, not a privilege for all Virginians.”

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Two Individuals Sentenced for Embezzling Thousands from Native American Addiction and Counseling Center

Ain Dah Ing

A federal judge in Wisconsin on Friday sentenced two individuals for embezzling thousands from Ain Dah Ing (ADI), a nonprofit that offered mental health and alcohol and substance abuse services to Native American tribes in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

U.S. District Judge William M. Conley sentenced Edith Schmuck and Fredericka DeCoteau to one and two years in prison, respectively.

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School Construction and Renovation on the Ballot Across Virginia

School construction and renovation projects are on the ballot in local funding referenda across the Commonwealth. Voters in six localities will decide whether to approve taking on debt for the projects. In Danville and neighboring Pittsylvania County, they’ll vote on instituting one percent sales taxes to help fund the local projects.

“It’s very typical,” Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) said. “Localities are allowed to issue public indebtedness in order to build schools. And typically, in order to bind the taxpayer with what’s called a general obligation bond, they have to go to a referendum. I’d say ordinarily most school systems have a referendum eight to ten years. Now, smaller jurisdictions, like where I live in Fairfax City, which is 25,000 people, it usually is less likely to go to a referendum unless you’re building a new school altogether, otherwise they’ll typically pay for these projects out of operating funds.”

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John Deere Strike Poses Problems for Georgia Farmers

John Deere tractor in a field

Georgia farmers already weathering crop shortages from a deep freeze during the spring could face another challenge this harvest season, according to the Georgia Farm Bureau.

More than 10,000 John Deere workers are on strike at 14 plants across the nation, including in Grovetown, near Augusta. Farmers have reported having a hard time finding parts for tractors and planters, and the sale of some tractors is on hold amid negotiations between union workers and John Deere.

A spokesperson for United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Brian Rothenberg, said Thursday negotiations with the company were “ongoing.” Workers are demanding more pay and better benefits. Some workers told Farm Journal Magazine the strike could go on until the end of the year. It is reportedly the largest private-sector strike in two years.

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Arizonans Fired over COVID Vaccination Might Not Get Unemployment

Arizona’s largest hospital system and others have set a Monday deadline for their employees to be vaccinated or face termination, but some employees who already have been fired for refusing a vaccine are learning they aren’t eligible for unemployment benefits. 

Banner Health, ValleyWise Health, HonorHealth and Dignity Health are set to require COVID-19 vaccinations Monday. Others have set deadlines that already have passed.

Mayo Clinic, a Minnesota-based hospital nonprofit with two facilities in the valley, announced in July it would require all employees to be vaccinated by Sept. 17. In a release, it said staff who declined to be vaccinated for COVID-19 “must complete education modules and will be required to wear masks and socially distance when on campus.”

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Ohio Native Vivek Ramaswamy Blasts BlackRock CEO Larry Fink

The founder and Executive Chairman of the biopharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences blasted BlackRock Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Larry Fink.

“Larry Fink claims to embrace ‘ESG.’ In practice, he does political favors for the CCP in return for market access to China and earns hefty fees from American workers who have no idea how he uses their assets to advance his own agenda. The face of the woke-industrial complex,” Vivek Ramaswamy said on Twitter.

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Doctor Running for Minnesota Governor Faces Repeated Medical License Investigations for COVID Views

Dr. Scott Jensen

Minnesota doctor Scott Jensen faced three threats to his medical license in the first year of the pandemic for his vocal criticism of COVID-19 policies and statistical practices.

Two more complaints to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice have been filed, most recently this month, since the former state senator announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2022.

None has resulted in any “disciplinary” or “corrective” action against his license, as confirmed by the board’s public record for Jensen.

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State Senator Bryce Reeves, John Castorani, and Derrick Anderson Announce Candidacies for the Seventh District

Three additional candidates announced their run for Congress in the recently, and all of them are military veterans. Former Alabama congressional candidate John Castorani, newcomer Derrick Anderson, and State Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) each announced their runs for the 7th Congressional District seat against incumbent Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07).

John Castorani is a former Army special operations soldier. Castorani deployed multiple times to the Middle East, where he worked in Army intelligence. Castorani continued his service as an intelligence officer after his military career. On his campaign site, he lists his support for border security, the sanctity of human life, and gun rights as his priorities.

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University of Florida Now Says Professors Can Testify in Election Law Case if Unpaid

The University of Florida (UF) has modified their previous position prohibiting faculty and staff participating in activities in a professional capacity deemed against the interests of, or in conflict with, the state of Florida.

The Ocala Star Banner reported late Sunday that UF would allow three professors to serve as expert witnesses in a case that challenges a new state law restricting voting access if they are not paid and don’t use university time or resources.

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Sheriff’s Associations Oppose Tucson Police Chief’s Nomination to Head Border Patrol

Tuscon Police Chief Chris Magnus

The National Sheriff’s Association and the Arizona Sheriff’s Association oppose the Biden administration’s nomination of Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus to be the next commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Both associations sent letters to President Joe Biden expressing their opposition and have asked their U.S. senators to vote against his nomination.

Currently, Troy Miller is serving as the Acting Commissioner for CBP, an agency with more than 60,000 employees and a budget of over $15 billion. Of the 60,000 employees, roughly 45,000 are sworn CBP agents assigned to 328 ports of entry or the borders.

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Appropriations Chairman Sparks Debate About Virtual School Funding Ahead of 2022 Legislative Session

A debate about whether Florida lawmakers should change the way public schools fund virtual learning has begun as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing virtual school numbers to skyrocket in the past year and a half.

In an interview with the News Service of Florida, Florida House PreK-12 Appropriations Chairman, Randy Fine, expressed the concern Florida education lawmakers are facing.

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