DeSantis ponders ending AP classes for Florida students
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the College Board over Florida rejecting the AP African American studies course escalated Monday with DeSantis threatening to drop the organization’s Advanced Placement classes from Florida high schools.
“So this College Board, nobody elected them to anything. They’re just kind of there and provide this service, and you can utilize those services or not,” DeSantis said when asked to comment on the College Board’s statement over the weekend that the Florida Department of Education had slandered it. “They provided these AP courses for a long time but there are probably some other vendors able to do their job as good and maybe a lot better.”
He said he talked to House Speaker Paul Renner, a Palm Coast Republican, about it, “and maybe the Legislature’s going to look to reevaluate how they’re doing that.” The state’s colleges and universities can give high school students college credit for successfully passing AP exams.
The College Board is also the maker of the SAT. Florida students need either an SAT score or one from the rival ACT to apply to Florida universities or seek to qualify for the Bright Futures scholarship program. Currently, more Florida students take the SAT.
—Orlando Sentinel
Jesus-focused ‘He Gets Us’ Super Bowl ads reportedly have donors with anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion ties
The Jesus-focused “He Gets Us” ads that aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII were funded in part by groups that donated sizable sums to anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion efforts, according to reports.
The ad campaign promoting Christianity is part of the Servant Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provided more than $50 million to the conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom from 2018 to 2020, the political magazine Jacobin reported.
Alliance Defending Freedom is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group” that’s spread lies about the LGBTQ community and supported laws against LGBTQ rights, according to a 2020 article published by the law center.
Donors who support “He Gets Us” aren’t publicly disclosed on the campaign’s website. “Funding for the campaign comes from a diverse group of individuals and entities with a common goal of sharing Jesus’ story authentically,” a spokesman told CNN.
—New York Daily News
CDC: Teen girls see spike in behavioral health concerns
Teen girls who experience persistent feelings of hopelessness or sadness skyrocketed over the past decade, according to a 10-year survey released Monday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC reports that almost all indicators of poor mental health and suicidal thoughts increased from 2011 to 2021, with higher rates seen among female and LGBQ+ students.
In 2021, 42 percent of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless regularly for at least a two-week period that they stopped doing their normal daily activities.
Students feeling consistently hopeless, reporting seriously considered suicide, making suicide plans and attempting suicide increased, but the percent of students injured during a suicide attempt did not increase. The results come as public health experts, advocates, officials and lawmakers have issued warnings about the worsening mental health crisis for youth.
—CQ-Roll Call
Major Israeli protests against judicial overhaul threaten unrest
Tens of thousands of Israelis protested against government plans to reduce the power of the judiciary, hours after President Isaac Herzog warned the country is on the verge of “constitutional and social collapse.”
Demonstrators flocked to parliament from around the nation on Monday, stood outside elementary schools and stopped highway traffic by waving Israeli flags and chanting “democracy!” They are seeking to derail a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and allies to make it easier for the state to appoint judges and limit the Supreme Court’s authority to strike down legislation.
The protests took place as the Knesset law committee advanced two key bills related to the judicial overhaul, clearing the way for a plenum vote as early as Monday evening. Herzog — whose role is largely symbolic — has called for a delay and more talks, and delivered a rare prime-time speech to warn of the potential disruption if he is ignored.
“The absence of dialogue is tearing us apart from within, and I’m telling you loud and clear: This powder keg is about to explode,” the visibly emotional president said Sunday. “This is an emergency.”
—Bloomberg News
