Two dads, themselves born in the same year. Both Jewish. Both New York-area transplants to Florida, who didn’t think much about politics, until their daughters were shot dead by a gunman in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Now Andrew Pollack and Fred Guttenberg are lauded as authorities on gun violence and…
Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican member of the Florida statehouse, is an avid supporter of President Donald J. Trump. He’s also recovering from a serious bout of COVID-19, which landed him in the hospital with pneumonia in 30% of his lungs and critically low oxygen levels. He sees no contradiction between his frightening fight with…
(JTA) — William Latson, a high school principal in South Florida, was fired after telling a parent he could not say that the Holocaust was a “factual, historical event” because “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened.” A state administrative judge ruled last week that his dismissal was in error. In October, the Palm Beach County…
(JTA) — Six weeks after thousands of Florida State University students petitioned for their student body president to be removed over social media posts they described as anti-Semitic, the school’s president has announced several changes aimed at making Florida State more hospitable for Jewish students. In an open letter to the campus community, John Thrasher…
The Villages is a sprawling Florida retirement community about halfway between Orlando and Gainesville. It has a small Jewish population, and its residents tend to lean Republican. But Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign is thinking that this year, it might be able to win them over. A Biden commercial, featuring a Village resident disturbed…
(JTA) — A Florida man is being charged in connection with the vandalism of two Reform synagogues in Sarasota. Victor Martinez, 21, was named by the Sarasota Country Sheriff’s Office as the previously unidentified man who spray-painted swastikas and hate messages on Temple Sinai and Temple Emanu-El earlier this month. He also has been implicated…
Six years ago, on July 18, a gunman approached Dan Markel and shot him twice in the head. A Florida State University law professor and attorney, Markel had just pulled into his own garage. He died the following day at the age of 41. Three people were charged in his murder; two found guilty. The…
(JTA) — Two Reform synagogues in Sarasota, Florida, were vandalized with swastikas and other unspecified hateful messages. The incidents at Temple Sinai and Temple Emanu-El reportedly took place early on Wednesday morning, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported. The Temple Sinai campus was extensively vandalized, including many walls made of porous Jerusalem stone, making the removal of…
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