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Gov. DeSantis grants patriotic organizations and chaplains access to public schools

'Satanists' won't make the cut, but other preachers and groups will be in schools next year.

K-12 students are one step closer to getting some lessons from designated “patriotic” groups and volunteer chaplains after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on allowing certain groups access to K-12 campuses.

However, some exceptions will apply when it comes to preachers and public-spirited groups allowed to influence Florida’s youth in taxpayer funded facilities, he stressed during a news conference in Kissimmee.

Rep. Wyman Duggan’s bill (HB 1317) allows representatives of so-called “patriotic organizations” time to meet with students and distribute recruitment materials, with schools providing designated time for these groups to pitch their attendees.

Laurel Lee has drawn plenty of challengers. But do any of them have money?

Only 1 challenger at the end of March has enough cash to even qualify for the ballot.

A call by President Donald Trump for someone to primary U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee seemed to rush candidates to file. But to date, it’s unclear who has the resources to challenge the incumbent in a swing district.

Lee, a Thonotosassa Republican, raised nearly $411,690 from the start of the year until the end of March. That brings her total fundraising for the cycle to nearly $1.01 million. She also sent nearly $69,000 this quarter. With all things together, she closed March with more than $781,000 in cash on hand, nearly 29 times as much as any challenger.

But she is drawing opponents. Since Trump in late March called for someone to take on Lee — seemingly for being the only Florida GOP U.S. Representative to endorse Gov. Ron DeSantis for President — more candidates have filed on both sides of the aisle.

The upside of the Tampa Bay Rays stadium project

The Major League Baseball team and its development partner have proposed a $6.5 billion overhaul of St. Petersburg’s Historic Gas Plant District, including a new stadium.

To put it mildly, not everyone loves the Historic Gas Plant District deal that includes a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The detractors doubt the rosy financial forecasts, chafe at the massive taxpayer subsidies and question the logic of building a new facility on the same site in St. Petersburg where the team has struggled so long to attract fans. They think the city is getting out-negotiated. They’d like a higher price for the land. They want less government interference.

They have many valid points. Indeed, it is hard to find an independent economist with knowledge of new stadium finances who will endorse a subsidy-laden deal like the one still being negotiated by the city, the county and the Rays. The proposal splits the costs of a $1.3 billion, 30,000-seat indoor stadium, with St. Petersburg and Pinellas paying about $600 million and the Rays and development partner Hines paying the rest, including any cost overruns. The deal also includes a massive redo of the rest of the 86-acre site, including building about 5,000 homes, retail and hotel space, entertainment facilities and a Black history museum.

Where is Taylor Swift’s new song “Florida!!!” really taking us?

From the first line in her new song, “Florida!!!”, you can already tell that Taylor Swift has heard our state’s unofficial motto: A sunny place for shady people.

“You can beat the heat if you beat the charges too,” she sings. “They said I was a cheat, I guess it must be true.”

In “Florida!!!”, Swift paints a portrait of an alluring state built on contradictions, incorporating both the beautiful and the brutal. She leans into the weirdness of our crime and lore. A lot of people have something to say about Florida’s reputation. If anyone gets that, it’s Swift.

The theories about the song began in February, as soon as the singer released the track list for her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Will she sing about her three-night run in Tampa, her only Florida tour dates on the first leg of the Eras Tour? Those were the first concerts following the tabloids picking up on her breakup with Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years. Gossip accounts speculated that he cheated on her in Orlando.