George Texs blog

Several hundred LGBTQ-rights advocates gathered in the Florida Capitol Tuesday to denounce fresh attacks on their rights and urge passage of legislation that would repeal existing restrictions on their rights. Legislative Democrats joined the crowd on Tuesday, including out gay Sen. Shevrin Jones, of Miami-Dade County and House member Michele Rayner, representing parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough, along with representatives of Equality Florida, which organized the affair. The crowd was good-naturedly rowdy despite the threat they saw to their wellbeing. Angelique Godwin of Equality Florida addresses a news conference at the Florida Capitol on Jan. 16, 2024. Credit: Michael Moline “I will not be scared out of the state. You will not make laws to remove me or my dreams. I was raised on an America that believed that freedom will ring,” said Angelique Godwin, coordinator for trans-related events at Equality Florida. “We are not pawns in a political game; we are people with t...

WASHINGTON — Leading members of Congress released a bipartisan, bicameral tax proposal Tuesday, promising a middle-path deal to help low-income families and provide incentives for businesses as Trump-era tax breaks expire. The  framework  led by top tax policy leaders U.S. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri would raise the child tax credit incrementally through 2025 and restore tax relief for affordable housing projects. The three-year proposal would also make exempt disaster payments to wildfire victims and to those who suffered losses after the  massive train derailment  in East Palestine, Ohio. The deal also aims to extend research and development tax credits, as well as reduce tax burdens on U.S.-Taiwan business relationships, an effort to bolster relations with the autonomous island nation vulnerable to Chinese government aggression. Wyden, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said in a statement that “(f)ifteen million k...

The number of older adults with disabilities — difficulty with walking, seeing, hearing, memory, cognition, or performing daily tasks such as bathing or using the bathroom — will soar in the decades ahead, as baby boomers enter their 70s, 80s, and 90s. But the health care system isn’t ready to address their needs. That became painfully obvious during the covid-19 pandemic, when older adults with disabilities had trouble getting treatments and hundreds of thousands died. Now, the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health are targeting some failures that led to those problems. One initiative strengthens access to medical treatments, equipment, and web-based programs for people with disabilities. The other recognizes that people with disabilities, including older adults, are a separate population with special health concerns that need more research and attention. Lisa Iezzoni, 69, a professor at Harvard Medical School who has lived with mu...

Back in the late 1990s, Floridians approved a constitutional amendment allowing for public financing for campaigns for statewide offices as a way to expand a diverse pool of candidates, access funds, participate in elections and the improve the overall electoral process. But decades later, under a proposal passed in a Senate committee on Tuesday, some GOP lawmakers want to get rid of the public financing, while voting rights groups and Democrats vociferously oppose the measure. It would mean changing the Florida Constitution, which would entail going to the polls and voting to repeal or affirm the issue. More than $13 million of state general revenues — taxpayer dollars — went to the candidates running for governor and the three state Cabinet positions in 2022, according to a Senate bill analysis. More than $9.8 million of general revenues went to candidates running for those offices in 2018; more than $4.3 million in 2014 and more than $6 million in the 2010 election cycle. ...

The U.S. Senate voted 72-11 Tuesday night to reject a proposal to require a State Department report on Israel’s human rights record amid the U.S. ally’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders brought the resolution under a little-known provision in federal law that allows Congress to order a State Department investigation of any foreign country receiving U.S. military aid. A simple majority vote in the Senate would have forced a State Department report within 30 days. Before the vote, Sanders said Israel was within its right to retaliate against Hamas after its terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, but that the counteroffensive by Israel has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, affecting nearly 2 million civilians. Israel’s military campaign has been aided by U.S. supplies, he said, making congressional oversight necessary. The resolution would only order a report, he said. Any further action would have to be approved by both chambers of Congress a...

WASHINGTON — Abortion rights advocates and Democrats in the U.S. Senate pressed for a return to legal, safe access throughout the country during a briefing Wednesday. The nearly three-hour conversation, held in the Capitol Visitors Center, featured doctors speaking about the challenges they and their patients face in states that have implemented restrictions on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. “As an OB-GYN I know firsthand that everyone’s reason for needing an abortion is valid and personal,” said Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas physician who is one of the women suing the state over its abortion laws. “Even planned, prayed-for pregnancies can end in abortion.” Dennard said she’s heard from patients who are fearful about starting a family or growing the size of their family over concerns that if something goes wrong and they need an abortion, they’ll have to travel out of state. Others worry they wouldn’t have the resources or time...

Legislation that would erase the pro-LGBTQ Pride flags from state or local government property in Florida sparked passionate defenses of that community and the Black Lives Matter movement on Wednesday. “A governmental entity may not erect or display a flag that represent a political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint,” the measure says, adding: “The governmental entity must remain neutral when representing political viewpoints in displaying or erecting a flag.” State Rep. David Borrero. Credit: Florida House The language would apply to any state or local government entity including public schools, colleges, and universities and would protect kids against being “subliminally indoctrinated with critical race theory, Marxism, transgender ideology,” its Republican co-sponsor, David Borrero of Miami-Dade County, said during a committee hearing Wednesday. “Public classrooms sho...

Cuando fui a hacerme mi mamografía anual en noviembre, el asistente del centro radiológico en Manhattan me hizo una pregunta inesperada: ¿querría pagar $40 para que un programa de inteligencia artificial (IA) la analizara? “El seguro no lo cubre”, aclaró. No tenía idea de cómo evaluar la propuesta. Sentí que me estaban tratando de convencer de gastar más dinero y dije que no. Pero me pregunté: ¿Debería agregar esta tecnología a mis pruebas de detección de rutina? ¿La mamografía que me hago siempre no es suficientemente precisa? Si el análisis de IA es tan bueno, ¿por qué el seguro no lo cubre? No soy la única que se está planteando estas preguntas. La madre de una colega tuvo una experiencia similar hace poco, cuando fue a hacerse una mamografía en una clínica en los suburbios de Baltimore. Le entregaron un folleto rosa que decía: “Te mereces más. Más precisión. Más confianza. Más poder con la inteligencia artificial detrás de tu mamografía”. El precio era el mismo: $40. Tamb...

WASHINGTON — Passage of a multibillion-dollar supplemental package hinges on curbing an executive authority used to grant immigration protection, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said during a Wednesday press conference. “If we don’t fix parole, there will be no deal,” Graham said alongside Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota. Graham said parole is a “red line” for Senate Republicans, and his comments came as President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders to advocate for more than $100 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and U.S. border security. Republicans have tied changes in immigration policy to their support for the supplemental, which the White House has said is essential to aid countries the U.S. supports. “As these negotiations, we hope, conclude soon, there have been some significant gains made in terms of policies that are real,” Thune said, adding that some of those policies include “dealing with asylum, dealing with border security mea...

Republican Rep. Joel Rudman, a family medicine physician in the Panhandle, voted against a proposal to expand background checks to all healthcare workers, calling his experience going through the process humiliating. He was the only one who voted against the bipartisan bill. Some healthcare workers such as physicians, nurses and massage therapists have to undergo a criminal background screening to get their license. But Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy, representing part of St. Lucie County, and Democratic Rep. Allison Tant, or North Florida, want to make that a requirement for all healthcare workers before licensure, including dietitians, dentists and optometrists. Those workers, and more, relate to legislation called HB 975 . List of healthcare workers who currently undergo background screenings to get a license. (Screenshot from Health Regulation Subcommittee Staff Analysis) In the Senate, Republican Erin Grall is sponsoring the bill, SB 1008 . The background screening w...

The last two Republican debates scheduled ahead of the New Hampshire primary have been canceled. With Nikki Haley’s announced departure from the debate stage, Ron DeSantis was the only remaining candidate. ABC News and WMUR first announced the Thursday night debate at Saint Anselm College was called off. CNN followed, canceling its Sunday night debate at New England College. On Tuesday, Haley  said she would not partake in the last two Republican debates  scheduled in New Hampshire unless former President Donald Trump takes the stage as well. In  a statement , she said: “We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.” Trump and Haley will, however, be on the ground in the Granite State through the weekend and into the Tuesday primary. The events are as follows: Donald Trump Friday, Jan. 19, at P...

Charity Watkins sensed something was deeply wrong when she experienced exhaustion after her daughter was born. At times, Watkins, then 30, had to stop on the stairway to catch her breath. Her obstetrician said postpartum depression likely caused the weakness and fatigue. When Watkins, who is Black, complained of a cough, her doctor blamed the flu. About eight weeks after delivery, Watkins thought she was having a heart attack, and her husband took her to the emergency room. After a 5½-hour wait in a North Carolina hospital, she returned home to nurse her baby without seeing a doctor. When a physician finally examined Watkins three days later, he immediately noticed her legs and stomach were swollen, a sign that her body was retaining fluid. After a chest X-ray, the doctor diagnosed her with heart failure, a serious condition in which the heart becomes too weak to adequately pump oxygen-rich blood to organs throughout the body. Watkins spent two weeks in intensive care. She ...