- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Rob] Coming up next, the state cracks down further against mask mandates in schools.

Concert venues are reopening and still wrestling with how to do it safely.

Charges are dropped against some Black Lives Matter protesters in Tampa, and the latest on reports that the Rays baseball team is eyeing a new location in Ybor City.

All this and more next on "Florida This Week."

(frenetic orchestral music plays) (music crescendos and ends) Welcome back.

The State Board of Education is threatening to cut school board members' salaries in districts that have strong pro-mask policies to protect against COVID.

The districts require some sort of proof, such as a doctor's note, before allowing the students to opt out of masks.

The State, though, wants the districts to follow state law and leave the decision on wearing masks entirely up to parents.

While a dozen districts initially defied the state's instructions on masking, four, including Hillsborough county, have backed down in recent weeks, leaving eight in conflict with the state, Alachua, Bravard, Broward, Duvall, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach.

- [Reporter] The crackdown came on Thursday, the same day agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who was running for governor, released data she says shows mask mandates in schools are working.

Fried said that the five smallest school districts in the state, none of whom have mask mandates, have seven times higher rates of COVID per capita than the five largest districts, all of which do have mask mandates.

She said districts should not be punished for requiring masks.

- This new data provides that this punishment is purely political, intended to intimidate, designed to prop up governor DeSantis's future presidential campaign, and in no way is based on science of the masks in the classroom.

- [Rob] Meantime, the Sarasota County School Board voted this week to repeal its temporary mask mandate.

Board members said the positivity rate in schools had fallen below 8%, a lower rate of COVID, and that was a goal of the temporary mask policy.

The state government reversed itself this week and submitted a plan to request $2.3 billion in federal school COVID relief money.

The request was sent two days after the US Department of Education asked why Florida was the only state in the nation that had not submitted a proposal for the third phase of Coronavirus relief funds, and according to the Tampa Bay Times, the Tampa Bay Rays are narrowing their search for a new ballpark to a site in Ybor city, where the staffing company, Kforce, once had its headquarters until earlier this year.

The Rays may not have given up on St. Petersburg, though.

The Times also reports the team owners made a $50,000 contribution to Ken Welch's campaign, who is running to be the next mayor of St. Petersburg, and governor DeSantis announced some sad news this week, that his wife, Casey, mother of their three children, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

According to the Susan G. Komen foundation, every year, 250,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer and 42,000 die from the illness.

- Well, as mentioned, Congress has allocated funds to help local schools rebound from the pandemic as part of the American Rescue Plan, and the third installment of the money, totaling $2.3 billion, is Florida's portion, and until this week, the state had not applied for that money.

Nelly Henjes is the president of the Pinellas Education Support Professionals Association, and she joins us now.

Nelly, great to see you.

- Good to see you, sir.

- So, how important is this $2.3 billion that the state, at the last minute, is applying for?

- Yeah, it's the last minute Ron DeSantis applied for the state federal relief fund money.

It is real important for all the district to have that money because that's what is going to help all the schools' funding.

- How would it help the people that you represent in your bargaining unit?

- It will help with salaries, it will help them with health in different ways.

We call it PPE, it's personal equipment that we need in all the public schools, and the shelters that we have right now inside the schools, even for our instructional and support professionals inside the school districts.

- Ms. Henjes, I want to ask you about masks.

There's a big debate around the state about whether masks help.

What's your experience there in Pinellas county?

Have you seen members of your union get sick from COVID, and do the members of your union want to see a mask requirement in Pinellas county?

- Yeah, the answer is yes.

The members of my bargaining unit would like to see the masks mandated at least for 30 days, and it would help a lot with our children getting COVID-19 and spreading the COVID-19 between students and staff.

I can say I'm one of the ones that got COVID at the beginning of the school started and I got COVID and pneumonia and I was in the hospital for 10 days, so I know how important it is to have a mask mandate, at least for 30 days, to stop the spread of the COVID-19.

- Are you feeling well now?

Are you doing well now?

- I'm still having problems with my lungs.

I'm still on the nebulizer four times a day for 30 days, and now they're extending another more 30 days, so now it's a total of 60 days that I have to be on a nebulizer for the COVID-19, and that affects a lot on my lungs.

- Well, I certainly hope you do better.

I want to ask you, around the state there have been reports of shortages of teachers and shortages of bus drivers.

You represent support workers there in Pinellas county.

Are you seeing shortages of workers in the Pinellas county school system?

- Correct, here in Pinellas county, they don't want to put it outside, but we have been short almost a thousand employees between bus drivers, cafeteria workers, plan operators, teachers' assistants.

What we call it here in Pinellas is medical behaviors assistants.

There are aids that work with the ESL students, the special needs students, and teachers' assistants.

We have a big shortage and we can not being hire people, and that's what the $2.3 million...

It will help us with salary, to increase the salary for the support professionals.

We are the lower paid salary inside the district.

We make no more than less than $22,000 a year.

- $22,000 a year.

So, you think it's a matter of pay.

People can't rent an apartment, or buy a home, or buy a car if they're making $22,000 a year.

You think that if the pay went up, then you wouldn't have this shortage of people working for the system.

Correct, It is a big, you know, impact in our salaries.

You know, I can say for single parents that maybe had three kids or four kids and making $22,000 paying rent, car payments, health insurance, it has been difficult for the support professionals to maintain their family.

We are the low income employees in Pinellas county.

- Well, Nelly Henjes, thanks a lot.

Thanks for coming on the program.

- Can I ask something else if you don't mind?

- Sure; we only have twenty seconds.

- Okay, sorry.

A part of the $2.3 million, something else that really can help too, is, I don't know if you guys remember, Ron DeSantis giving a $1,000 bonus for all the teachers and administrators.

While the support professionals got left out out of that bonus.

- All right, so the lower paid workers have been left out.

Thank you, Nelly, for coming on the program.

- Thank you for sir, for inviting me.

- Some charges were dropped this week against some Tampa protesters who were part of the Black Lives Matter March last year.

We'll hear from one of them next.

(suspenseful electronic music) - Prosecutors this week dropped battery on law enforcement charges against two protestors who took part in last summer's Black Lives Matter protest.

Jamie Bullock and Chak Vudiuchay face charges stemming from a July 4th protest march held in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Jamie Bullock was arrested on July 4th and is participating in a misdemeanor intervention program for a charge of resisting arrest without violence, and she joins us now with her attorney, Michelle Lambo.

It's good to see you, both of you.

Thank you for coming on the program.

- Thank you for having us.

It's really exciting.

- Jamie, you were charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence.

You've said all along you were innocent.

You were marching on Dale Mabry last year during the July 4th Black Lives Matter protest.

After the arrest, you dropped out of school.

You were diagnosed with PTSD stemming from the events.

What did you think of the charges being dropped this week?

- I think that the charges being dropped pretty much just shows that I was innocent from the beginning, like I've been saying, and that the state realized that they didn't have any evidence against me committing any of the crimes they claimed that I did.

- [Rob] You were charged with battery on a law enforcement officer.

Tell us what actually happened on July 4th.

- So, I pretty much witnessed my friends being brutalized and attacked by the police on the 4th of July protest, and I went over towards officers to question them as to why they were arresting my friends, and I guess that you're not supposed to ask the police why they beat people up, so, the minute I started talking to the officers, Lieutenant Field, the officer accusing me of the battery, walks up and immediately just starts grabbing me, and like really violently shaking me and pushing me away, and I guess he just got really upset that I wasn't afraid of him or intimidated by his authority.

So, he pretty much ordered the officers to arrest me.

- How has the arrest affected of your life?

I talked about PTSD and dropping out of school.

How has it affected your life?

- My arrest, even though it was not a felony conviction, it was still showing up in all of my background checks, and it made life really hard for me.

I had to pay double my security deposit for my current housing.

I was also fired from a job three days in, because my background check came back with a red flag for the felony, so a lot of people think that just because I'm not convicted of it, it shouldn't affect my life, but every single day, I was constantly reminded of the felony charge.

- You think taking part in the protest and marching on Dale Mabry was worth it?

I do, If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't change anything about it because at the end of the day, exactly what we were protesting for is what happened to me, and I'm just lucky that I'm still alive today to tell my story.

- Michelle, I want to ask you about how protesters are treated.

Recently, we had Cuban-Americans protesting in large numbers on the streets in Tampa.

I'm wondering if you think that the Black Lives Matter protesters were treated the same as the Cuban-American protestors?

- No, they were not treated the same.

It appears, if you look at what was allowed to happen and allowed to transpire when the Cuban-Americans and the people supporting that message protested, I've heard conflicting stories.

Either Columbus and Dale Mabry were blocked for an hour or two hours, and city officials, the mayor, law enforcement, stood shoulder to shoulder with the protestors protesting the Cuban government.

However, you watch the helicopter video and you can see that Spruce and Del Mabry, which is a smaller intersection, is blocked for approximately 40 minutes, and then the protesters started marching.

Their message was, "Defund the police, FTPD, this fascist machine kills people," and then you see what happens once the individuals marching get to Palmetto and Dale Mabry and the four bicycle officers come speeding down Palmetto and appear to purposefully crash into the protestors, and, obviously, the police department is not going to agree with defund the police, that message, and, you can tell that they do not agree with it, and it appears that they do not agree with exercising your First Amendment right if they don't agree with your message, which is very disheartening.

Yeah Michelle, I just want to ask you quickly, there were many people arrested during last summer's Black Lives Matter protestors.

There was some violence; some of those people have been charged and found guilty and sent away.

Other people are in Jamie's position.

Tell me, do you have any idea how many more charges are outstanding against protesters from the BLM protest?

And we only have 20 seconds.

- I am not sure how many are still outstanding, but I know that the people, I know that individuals who have been sentenced and sent away were not protesting.

It was during the one night that Tampa had the actual rioting and the burning of the buildings in north Tampa.

I believe there are a handful of people left who are still litigating their matters, but I'm not positive on how many.

- Well, thank you very much for coming, to both of you for coming, on Florida This Week.

Great to see you.

- Thank you for having us.

- It was good seeing you.

Thank you.

- News reports this week say there is a possible new site for a Rays baseball stadium in Ybor city, and we'll hear about that next.

(suspenseful electronic music) There was a new report in the Tampa Bay Times this week that the Tampa Bay Rays are interested in Ybor city site on Palm Avenue as a possible location for a new stadium.

It would be on the site of the former Kforce headquarters.

This comes as Rays baseball officials say they're committed to a split season with Montreal in the future.

Their lease at St. Petersburg's Tropicana dome expires in 2027.

Tampa Bay Times reporter Charlie Frago has been covering the story, and he joins us now.

Charlie, good to see you.

- Good to see you, Rob.

- All right so, the latest story that you have, well, let me start with how solid is the information that you have, that you've reported on, that the Tampa Bay Rays prefer Tampa as a location for a stadium?

- Well, I think pretty solid, Rob.

My colleague C.T.

Bowen and I have been reporting on this story for a while.

I've covered the Rays ballpark saga since 2014, and a couple months ago, I started to hear a lot of chatter about the narrowing of the focus of their search in Tampa, and I think they have been pretty serious about Tampa now for quite some time, since Mayor Kriseman in St. Pete allowed them to start looking in Tampa, which would have been, I think it would be in 2015, for that three-year window, which he later extended.

So, they've been, I think, focusing their efforts in the Bay area in Tampa for the last several years.

- This week your newspaper, fellow reporter, reported that Ken Welch, who's running for mayor in St. Petersburg, got a $50,000 donation from the Rays' owners.

So, does that show that the Rays are also interested in staying in St. Pete?

- It might.

I mean, team president Brian Auld told a Tampa audience just last week, that they're still open to possibilities on both sides of the bay and that the Rays haven't commented on the story that C.T.

and I wrote.

They've declined to comment.

So, without hearing from the Rays, it's certainly a possibility.

Just as a side note, the Rays have have had a history of donating to St. Pete mayoral candidates.

They donated, I think about $83,000 to Rick Kriseman in 2017.

- Have there been any polls that say what the public thinks about this idea of a split season with Montreal?

What does the public in the Tampa bay area think about it?

Have there been any polls?

- None that I'm aware of.

Certainly, if you look on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, you're going to see a lot of opinions about the split season concept, and a lot of them are negative.

I mean, it's not surprising that people who love the Rays, love baseball, don't want to see their team leave and in early summer.

- Even if it's an outdoor stadium, stadium without a roof, it's going to be expensive.

Where would the funding come from in Tampa, conceivably?

- Well, there's a variety of conceivable funding options.

Hillsborough, like Pinellas, just a authorized the sixth cent of its bed tax, so that would be, theoretically, part of it available.

There's also the, the CIT tax, which is a community investment tax, originally passed in 1996, I believe, to pay for Raymond James stadium.

That's come up for renewal.

That could be a possible source.

The site itself, on the 1000 block of Palm Avenue, right, the western edge of Ybor, falls within the boundaries of the Ybor city CRA, which also could potentially provide some funding, and the chairman of the city council whose district this is in, Orlando Gudes, said this week that he doesn't want any general fund money from the city going to pay for a stadium, but if the Ybor CRA Citizen Advisory Committee thinks it's a good idea, who is he to stand in the way?

- So anybody that's driven in the Tampa bay area knows that right there near the proposed Ybor city site is malfunction junction, so anybody driving to a ballgame likely would have to go through the I-4/I-275 connection.

That connection is a mess, and there's really no good exit to get you right at the stadium site.

What about that?

- Well, it's interesting.

Just today, in fact, the Florida Department of Transportation Secretary of this region, David Gwynn was talking about something that's been on the table for a while now, which is a new exit on the 14th and 15th street corridor, which would put about eight blocks to the west of where you would currently get off I-4 for Ybor city, which is 22nd street, so that might help things.

There's also a part of that project, which is about $67 million or so, that would be to widen lanes, and I think there's some other access funding, so that could be a possible.

- And there's a historic building on the site, the Centro Asturiano, that's really important to Ybor city.

What would happen to that building?

- Well, I think it's very unlikely anything would happen to it.

It's a historic site.

Charlie Miranda, who's been on the city council for decades, recalled going there, you know, growing up in Ybor, and listening to the big bands on New Year's Eve, and certainly it's very culturally important, and Miranda made that point, that something that culturally important needs to be protected, whatever might happen.

- And one last thing, we only have 30 seconds, What about state funding?

Because you have a report in Friday's paper that the Rays have gone to ask the state for possible help.

That's right, my colleague C.T.

Bowen talked to Wilton Simpson earlier this week, or perhaps even yesterday, who said, "Yeah, I've been approached by someone at the Rays."

He couldn't remember who, or someone associated with the Rays, I should say, and there hasn't been any specific ask, but it seems like, you know, the Rays have hired lobbyists in Tallahassee, so there could conceivably be some state money that they're at least going to try to get.

- Charlie Frago, thanks for coming on to the program.

- Thanks, Rob.

I appreciate it.

- Well, how are art centers and concert venues adapting to COVID-19?

We'll hear from Straz Center president Judith Lisi next.

(suspenseful electronic music) Concert stages and performing arts centers around the country are working to adapt to COVID-19 safety measures.

Judith Lisi is the president and CEO of the Straz center in Tampa, as well as the general director of Opera Tampa.

Judith, welcome to Florida This week.

- Well thank you, Rob.

I'm delighted to be here.

- So, tell me, what are the safety measures?

If I go to the Straz in the coming weeks, what safety measures do you have?

- Well, we've spent the entire year just upgrading all of our HVAC system.

Everything is touchless, touchless tickets, you can even order your drink on your app before you come to the theater.

We put in air purifiers everywhere, we have this ionization system, sanitization.

I think we're the cleanest place in America.

(Rob laughs) I will tell you, but in addition, it is very important because of the performers who are always on the road and traveling.

They're very specific about their requirements of what they need.

For example, all the Broadway shows, and we are following, you know, Broadway is a major part of what we do, - [Rob] Right.

- And all these shows come direct from Broadway, so we need to follow what their protocols are, and basically it's everyone needs to be vaccinated.

Everyone needs, if they're not vaccinated, you need to be tested within 24 hours before, and we need to wear masks.

- Would you let me bring in a vaccination card to prove it?

How do you prove it?

- This is how we do it.

Of course, you know, we have a prohibition of a proof of vaccination in the state of Florida, but how we've been able to work with that is we require a test, but you can voluntarily show your vaccination proof card and waive the test.

- [Rob] Does anybody object?

Do any of your clients, the people that come to the shows, object?

- We were not sure how it would go over, but I will tell you, I think people have been so anxious to come back together and see really good performances, that they've really been working with us.

It was a little touch and go trying to see if we had enough staff on, but what we ask, we sent people information ahead of time to have their vaccination and their Florida license ID on their phone, and if they're prepared, they just walk through, and then we have, of course, we have metal detectors, too.

So, you show your vaccination and then your metal detector.

(Judith and Rob laugh) That's the way it is now.

- It's such a different day from 15 years ago.

- I want to ask about artists and the talent that comes in to the Straz center.

Has anybody objected to you as you reach out to them and maybe make an offer to have them come to Tampa?

Have any performers said to you, "We don't want to come to Florida because it's not safe."?

- We have had two or three performers that have postponed their tours completely and are not coming to Florida, which is unfortunate.

- And they think it's not safe to come.

- Yeah, There is that, you know, when you look at Florida from out-of-state, it has looked dangerous, and so they said, they're not doing their tour.

They're not bringing their tours.

- I haven't been to the Straz yet this season.

I'm planning to come, but I was at Ruth Eckerd a couple weeks ago.

We sat in pods six feet apart.

Our group of four sat six feet distance from everybody else.

They gave us masks as we walked in in case we didn't have them.

Is that pretty much the protocol at the Straz?

- Well, that had been the protocol.

We had put people in pods of six, and these are people who know each other and are comfortable with each other, and then before that we did all social distancing, so, in our large hall, that's almost 2,700 seats.

It went down to about 600 seats, and the problem with that is, (clears throat) excuse me, you just can't afford to do a show - [Rob] Right.

- with that, but now, because of the vaccination program and that program's been so successful, and because we have testing and masks, we're able to do row seating the way we have done in the past, and we need to do that, because we have sold out shows every weekend, and we have Broadway beginning October 25th with "Tootsy", and the expectation is people want to be there.

- Is there big demand for the upcoming shows?

- Yeah, there really is.

Our subscriptions, our Broadway subscriptions, are higher than they were the season we had to close and new subscribers, 25% new Broadway subscribers.

So, we were thrilled by that.

- [Rob] Judith, one last thing.

I know that you've got a big event coming up next week.

It's a street fair, a block party.

Tell us a little bit, we only have about 30 seconds.

- Yes.

Well, we wanted to welcome the community back, so we're having a big open block party.

Starts at 4 o'clock with bands all over the campus.

We have a huge campus, you know.

Food trucks, entertainers, it's just going to be a blast.

It's family oriented, so we hope everybody come to the Straz.

It's all free.

We just want to say welcome back.

- Judith Lisi, thanks a lot for coming on Florida This Week.

- Thank you, Rob.

- Great to see you.

(suspenseful electronic music) - Thanks for watching.

Send us your comments at FTW@wedu.org.

You can view this and past shows online at WEDU.org or on the PBS app, and Florida This Week is now available as a podcast.

You can find it on our website or wherever you download your podcasts, and from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend and go Rays.

(dramatic orchestra music) - Florida this Week is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.

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