The Point

The Point, May 28, 2019: The Vote That Held Up Federal Aid For Hurricane Michael Victims

WUFT | By Jasmine Dahlby

Published May 28, 2019 at 11:43 AM EDT

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Today's top stories

• Reserve State Park in East Gainesville is scheduled to finish construction in about 10 months. Updates to the park include a playground, picnic areas, a fitness obstacle course, a community garden and a trail. (The Alligator)

• Florida lawmakers are outraged that the $19.1 billion disaster aid package to help Hurricane Michael victims was held up in the U.S. House of Representatives by a single "no" vote from U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, after the bill had already passed in the U.S. Senate. “We are days away from Florida’s 2019 Hurricane season, and our families cannot withstand another beating without this much-needed aid," said U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Democrat who represents a North Florida district stretching from Tallahassee to Jacksonville. (Florida Phoenix)

• Veteran suicides outnumber combat fatalities, and veterans insist legal access to marijuana can help. Still, they are met with resistance as federal restrictions still apply. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

• Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans the release of photos, videos and audio recording that capture the killing of a person in an act of mass violence in Florida. The bill, written after the Parkland school shooting, goes into effect immediately. (Associated Press)

• State Sen. Lauren Book met with the head of learning development for the Israeli police and a former head of the Israeli internal security service on Monday to gather school safety insights. “They’re doing something right,” Book said, “and I want to find out what it looks like.” (Florida Politics)

• Over half of the children in Florida who need mental health help do not get it. Part of the issue is lack of resources — for every 100,000 children, Florida has only one psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents. The director of Florida’s “Title V” funding program has proposed a solution that involves Florida universities. (News Service of Florida)

• Heading into hurricane season, the Congressional Consortium For Safe Seniors, led by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and former Florida state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, released the 2018-2019 Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response Guide. The guide is a hurricane preparedness checklist that focuses on the importance of generators, and it comes in response to the deaths of a dozen people in the Rehabilitation Center At Hollywood Hills during Hurricane Irma. (WLRN)

• 38-year-old soccer legend and University of Florida alumna Abby Wambach was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Wambach scored an international level record total of 184 goals in her 256 appearances. (The Alligator)

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