Biden administration says it will help school districts defying Florida Gov. DeSantis’ mask orders
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Biden administration on Friday said federal relief funds could replace any financial penalties that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration levies against school districts that impose mask mandates in defiance of state orders.
It’s the latest tit-for-tat between the White House and the nationally ascendant Republican governor who has made punishing school districts that institute mask mandates for students a top-tier priority in his pandemic response as millions of kidsreturn to school in Florida.
Two of Florida’s 67 school districts — Broward County Public Schools and Alachua County Public Schools — have defied the governor’s mask orders by requiring a doctor’s note before parents can opt their children out of the districts’ mask mandates. Broward County affirmed its decision to require masks in a letter to the state on Friday. The Florida Department of Education has called an emergency meeting for next week to discuss potential penalties for the two districts.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told DeSantis and Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a letter that he was “deeply concerned” that the imposed rules “prohibiting school districts from adopting universal masking policies consistent with CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance.”
“The department stands with these dedicated educators who are working to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction,” Cardona wrote.
Cardona also wrote a letter to the Florida Association of School Administrators, emphasizing the importance of in-person instructions and to safely reopen schools.
—Miami Herlald
US Embassy shredding, burning documents in case Taliban wins
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul, Afghanistan, has been told to start destroying sensitive material, underscoring that the Biden administration is preparing for the possibility that the embassy will be overrun by the Taliban despite public assurances that the building remains in operation.
The management notice to all American personnel, sent early Friday from the embassy facilities manager, asks staff to “reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property,” according to a copy obtained by Bloomberg News. It asks that they destroy anything with U.S. logos, flags “or items which could be misused in propaganda efforts.”
The email details the ways diplomats can destroy material: Use burn bins and shredders for paper, a disintegrator for electronics,incinerators for medical waste and a compactor that “can crush items that are too big for the disintegrator.” It says the embassy will offer what it calls “destruction support” between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. until further notice.
“These destruction methods are not appropriate for weapons, ammunition and similar items,” it reads.
Two administration officials, who discussed the internal memo on condition of anonymity, said the destruction procedure is standard when a U.S. outpost abroad is being scaled down. One of the officials said it’s consistent with established plans for most U.S. forces in Afghanistan to depart by the end of the month but acknowledged the Taliban’s advances played a role.
—Bloomberg News
Lawsuit accusing Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting teen girl at Playboy mansion should move forward, judge rules
LOS ANGELES — Judy Huth’s sexual battery civil case against Bill Cosby finally has a trial date — after nearly seven years.
A Los Angeles County judge on Friday said the case should go before a jury April 18 as he kicked the aging lawsuit back into gear after it was put on hold by Cosby’s Pennsylvania criminal case.
The lawsuit claims the comedian met Huth while working on a film set in 1974 and later took the the 15-year-old to a location she believed to be the Playboy Mansion. Huth said Cosby, who was 37 at the time, tried to kiss her in the mouth, slid his hands down her pants and later grabbed her hand and forced her to perform a sex act on him.
At a status hearing held in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Craig Karlan decided to partially lift a stay that had halted the case while Cosby’s team fought to get him out of prison in Pennsylvania. The actor was released in June after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a 2018 sex assault conviction against him in a major victory for the comedian.
But Karlan did not rule on whether Cosby should be forced to testify in the civil case as Pennsylvania prosecutors could still appeal the June decision. The judge set a Sept. 30 hearing to discuss that issue.
“You’re one of the oldest cases, if not the oldest case, on my calendar,” Karlan said Friday. “It’s time to lift the stay.”
Huth filed the lawsuit in December 2014 accusing Cosby of sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and later filed an official report with the LAPD’s special victims unit. The Los Angeles County district attorney at the time declined to file criminal charges, saying the statute of limitations had run out on the “most applicable” 1974 offense for the alleged assault.
Cosby’s attorneys said he plans invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because he fears prosecutors would use a potential deposition to charge him in criminal court — which is exactly what happened in Pennsylvania.
—New York Daily News
