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Gov. Ron DeSantis signs 6-week abortion ban | April 14
Entrepreneurship is essential to a thriving and equitable economy. Yet, policymakers in Florida have chosen to hamstring our economy by restricting access to reproductive health for its more than 1 million women-owned businesses.
A new Small Business Majority poll has found that across party lines, 92% of women small business owners agree that women must be able to choose if and when to have children. Young women employees and entrepreneurs in my community have shared the choices they’ve had to make between career advancement and managing an unplanned pregnancy. These choices are often not easy, but in a state like Florida, where legislation to roll back access to reproductive health has been enacted, future job creators are handcuffed to antiquated family planning policies that make the choice for them and restrict their economic growth.
To ensure small businesses in our state can grow and thrive, we need to advance policies that would codify access to all reproductive health services including abortion. Research has shown that we must support a healthy small business ecosystem to promote wealth creation. This would include allowing women entrepreneurs to make their own reproductive health decisions and build an entrepreneurial ecosystem that provides a safe pathway for future and current women small business owners.
Laura Starkey, Trinity
The Florida Legislature has passed several laws intended to protect and benefit children in foster care. However, our state did not have educational standards in place to ensure that the children who can benefit from these laws are made aware of their existence.
State and national data estimate that only 35% of Florida’s foster youth received any services from the John H. Chafee Foster Care for Successful Transition to Adulthood program they were eligible for between ages 14 and 21, which is 12% less than the national estimate, according to a recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
We applaud the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis for passing and signing into law Senate Bill 272, also known as the Nancy C. Detert Champion for Children Act. The new law creates a clear process to educate youth in foster care, in a developmentally appropriate, consistent way, about important laws that the Legislature has passed to help them succeed. It is the result of five years of relentless advocacy by Florida Youth SHINE, a statewide advocacy organization run by and for youth who are or were in Florida’s child welfare system.
Geori Seldine, Coral Springs
*The writer is the executive director of Florida’s Children First, the organization that helped young people create Florida Youth SHINE.
Port Tampa Bay should invest in more electrification for idle cruise ships | March 20
Bravo to guest columnist J.P. Brooker for calling for Port Tampa Bay to electrify its cruise ship facilities. A single cruise ship docked for one day can emit as much diesel exhaust as 34,400 idling tractor-trailers, according to a New York Times article that cited an independent analysis verified by the Environmental Protection Agency. We would all breathe so much easier if Port Tampa Bay would electrify its cruise port.
Elizabeth Corwin, Tampa
A Democrat’s case for Ron DeSantis | Column
As a philosopher, I must say that William Cooper’s recent opinion column is unpersuasive. Cooper argues that “the most important quality to have in a U.S. president is competence.” A quick look at any major ethical theory belies this claim. For example, utilitarianism holds that the ultimate good is the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. If being incompetent would bring about more happiness, a utilitarian would say, so be it. More importantly, competence can be dangerous. Take Kant’s position: talents of the mind like intelligence, courage or competence may seem good in themselves, but their goodness depends on the good will or character of the person who has them. Few things are more undesirable than an intelligent, courageous, competent criminal.
So, it’s not just having competence, but being able to exercise it in accordance with good character, that matters. Perhaps Aristotle said it best: virtue is excellence of character, the disposition to do the right thing, at the right time, with reference to the right objects, toward the right people, with the right motive, in the right way. Woe to the choice of competence over virtue!
Peter Westmoreland, professor of ethics, St. Petersburg College
Florida Attorney General accuses Biden of helping drug lords. That’s just nuts. | Editorial, June 20
Sadly, the editorial’s assessment of Ashley Moody is spot on. I was a moderator on a debate on Bay News 9 where she said her Democratic opponent Sean Shaw would turn the attorney general’s office into a political machine and promised she wouldn’t. Unfortunately that was a lie, and she became a political hack. Disappointing.
Mike Deeson, Tampa
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