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Florida bills, affects Caribbean and other minority groups

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Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

 

 

#USA, May 30, 2023 – Florida passed several bills and the laws under these bills will affect the Caribbean populations in the state alongside other minority populations and not in a good way.

The bills were signed into law by Governor DeSantis and one of them is the Senate bill 266, Defunding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, passed on Monday May 15th.  It will put an end to university diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) programs throughout Florida.

It will see the barring of tertiary educational institutions spending tax dollars to develop, promote, sustain, and expand initiatives that support diversity, equity and inclusion.

DeSantis in highlighting his reasoning for such actions expressed that the idea of DEI attempts to impose orthodoxy on universities, “and not even necessarily in the classroom, but through the administrative apparatus of the university itself,” he maintained.  He further highlighted that people will be treated as individuals, with this removal of DEI’s.

He also described it as imposing an ideological agenda, saying that it is wrong.  Additionally, he continued to say that the way DEI has been implemented across America is better viewed as representing “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination,” which  “has no place in our public institutions.”

Now the importance of DEI programs to Caribbean people, in this case students, is that Caribbean nationals and first-generation Americans have utilized the DEI programs to secure tertiary education.  Also, generally people who fit the category of existing on the margins of sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, and race and ethnicity; will also be affected for obvious reasons.

Consequently, these affected populations could experience difficulty being treated fairly as this could encourage further discrimination.  In fact, certain individuals may even use this newly passed bill as justification for hateful behavior as well as making things more difficult for the highlighted minority populations, in seeking educational and inclusion opportunities.

DeSantis further justified his actions by describing DEI as a dividing factor among individuals with ‘superficial criteria,’ while also expressing that people who wish to pursue things like gender ideology should attend the University of California emphasizing that in Florida they want to focus on the “classical mission of what a University is supposed to be.”

Another  bill was passed on May 10th, 2023, Senate Bill 1718.

It was passed in the name of anti-illegal immigration as expressed by DeSantis who said, “The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.”

The bill comes following the end of Title 42, bringing what DeSantis described as the Biden Border Crisis, which he says has ” wreaked havoc across the United States and has put Americans in danger.”

The bill stipulates:

  • More severe penalties for human trafficking.  Business owners with 25 or more employees are now required to use the e-verify system to ensure the employees hired are legally eligible.
  • Healthcare providers that accept Medicaid are required to collect data on the immigration status of their patients.
  • $12 million from the General Revenue Fund will enact the “unauthorized alien transport program” – an initiative that transports illegal immigrants to sanctuaries in Democrat-led cities and states.
  • The issuing of Identification Cards (ID) to illegal immigrants, which invalidates ID cards issued in other states.

This bill can also potentially affect illegal Caribbean immigrants in Florida, especially since the population of illegal migrants throughout America on a whole is high.

Caribbean News

CARPHA Progresses to Eligibility for the First Disbursement of Pandemic Funding

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Following a landmark Public Signing Ceremony for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Technical Cooperation Agreement (“Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” [RG-T4387] Project) on December 14, 2023, in Trinidad, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to progress towards the start of implementation.

 CARPHA fulfilled the IDB’s nine conditions prior to first disbursement, achieving full eligibility on March 15, 2024, and is now eligible for the first disbursement. This milestone achievement in just 3 months after the signing speaks to the commitment of both CARPHA, the Executing Agency, and IDB, the Implementing Entity, toward the regional PF project with the objective of supporting the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) surveillance & early-warning systems (EWS), laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and in countries.

Since the signing of the Technical Cooperation Agreement and as part of the conditions prior to first disbursement, CARPHA has achieved the following key outputs (i) the development of the PF Project Operations Manual, Multi-annual Execution Plan, Procurement Plan, Financial Plan, Procedure for CARPHA’s Financial Reporting System; (ii) vacancy announcements for two tranches of consultants with the subsequent hiring of five (Technical Coordinator, Financial Specialist, Procurement Specialist, Operations Officer and Project Operations Coordinator) and (iii) the establishment of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) and Project Execution Steering Committee (PESC). The dedicated PEU will be responsible for execution according to its planned timelines, which will be led by the Dr. Lisa Indar, the Project Director (CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division).

 CARPHA, as the lead regional public health agency and an expression of Caribbean Cooperation in Health is mandated by its Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to support its 26 CARPHA Member States (CMS) in bolstering national systems and coordinating regional response to public health threats. The Agency works closely with regional and international agencies and uses regional mechanisms, surveillance systems, and networks for coordinating its public health response work.

In July 2023, the PF Governing Board announced that CARPHA’s regional entity proposal, entitled ‘Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Strengthened Integrated Early Warning Surveillance, Laboratory Systems and Workforce Development’ was successfully selected for the first round of financing. It was one of only 19 proposals selected from over 300 submissions and the only regional project. The three priority areas in the proposal are: (i) Comprehensive disease surveillance and EWS, (ii) Laboratory systems and (iii) Human resources and public health and community workforce capacity.

This project is expected to begin implementation in March 2024, starting off with a blended onboarding session. A Stakeholder Meeting with countries is tentatively planned for July 2024.

CARPHA remains dedicated to working together with the IDB, CARPHA Member States and the Pandemic Fund to successfully implement the regional proposal geared toward reducing the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean.

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Caribbean News

Men who had Murdered Man, Marley Higgs’ cell phone face Court

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Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Correspondent

The prosecution intends to try two young North Caicos men, both age 21 for the offense of possession of property of a murdered man, property that was stolen and landed in their possession.

The phone belonged to Peureton ‘Marley’ Higgs, who is believed to have been an innocent gunned down at his apartment complex in the Glass Shack area in a spray of bullets on February 2 that killed another man and wounded two others, including a ten-year-old little girl.

The cell phone was described as white in colour, an iPhone, in a hard black case. 

On Monday, March 18th, JEFFVANO HANDFIELD of North Caicos pleaded not guilty to the offense, and the matter was adjourned to April 2024. He was granted bail in the matter.

A second North Caicos man was charged similarly.  

SARENO CAPELLAN aka, Kino Williams is the second individual brought before the court pertaining to the said cellphone. He appeared in court a week after JEFFVANO HANDFIELD, the date being Monday March 25th 2024.

The case for the Crown is that both men sometime in February of this year possessed the cellphone knowing or suspecting it to be stolen property.

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Caribbean News

Supreme Court Closed for Easter

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NOTICE is hereby given that the Easter Recess shall commence on Friday 29th April, 2024 and end on Friday 5th April, 2024. During the Easter Recess Judge Selochan will be available to deal only with matters that are urgent or require prompt attention.

Court Business During the Easter Recess

A person who wishes to have a matter heard during the recess must file a certificate of urgency along with an affidavit, which must set out the reasons why the matter is urgent or requires prompt attention. The matter will not be listed during the recess unless the Judge deems it fit for urgent hearing.

Opening Hours During the Easter Holiday

The Supreme Court’s last sitting day for the first term is Thursday 28th March, 2024. The Court will officially resume sittings on Monday 8th April, 2024. The Supreme Court Offices in both Grand Turk and Providenciales will continue to operate while the Court is not sitting during the recess.

The Court Office will be closed on the following public holidays:

  • Friday 29th March, 2024 (Good Friday) CLOSED
  • Monday 1st April, 2024 (Easter Monday) CLOSED

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