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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 28 augustus 2021

Judge blocks Florida governor’s order banning mask mandates

(AP) — Florida school districts can legally clude a parental opt-out at all.”
require their students to wear masks to pre- “I don’t say that the governor has time enough to
vent the spread of COVID-19, a judge ruled The judge also noted that two Florida Supreme read a report that thick, but his advisers do ... and
Friday, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped Court decisions from 1914 and 1939 found that that statement is incorrect,” Cooper said.
his authority when he issued an executive or- individual rights are limited by their impact on the
der banning such mandates. rights of others. For example, he said, adults have The governor’s office said Friday that Cooper’s de-
the right to drink alcohol but not to drive drunk, cision wasn’t based on the law and the state will
Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed because that endangers others. There is a right to appeal it.
with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit free speech, but not to harass or threaten others or
that DeSantis’ order is unconstitutional and cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater, he said. “It’s not surprising that Judge Cooper would rule
be enforced. The governor’s order gave parents the against parents’ rights and their ability to make the
sole right to decide if their child wears a mask at “We don’t have that right because exercising the best educational and medical decisions for their
school. right in that way is harmful or potentially harmful family, but instead rule in favor of elected politi-
to other people,” Cooper said. He added that the cians,” spokeswoman Taryn Fenske said in a state-
Cooper said DeSantis’ order “is without legal au- law “is full of examples of rights that are limited ment. “This ruling was made with incoherent jus-
thority.” (when) the good of others ... would be adversely tifications, not based in science and facts — frankly
affected by those rights.” not even remotely focused on the merits of the case
His decision came after a three-day virtual hear- presented.”
ing, and after 10 Florida school boards voted to In that same vein, he said, school boards can rea-
defy DeSantis and impose mask requirements with sonably argue that maskless students endanger the The highly contagious delta variant led to an ac-
no parental opt-out. Districts that have done so in- health of other students and teachers. celeration in cases around Florida and record high
clude Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, hospitalizations just as schools prepared to reopen
Jacksonville, West Palm Beach and others. Coo- DeSantis has dismissed the recommendation from classrooms this month. By mid-August, more than
per’s ruling will not go into effect until it is put into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 21,000 new cases were being added per day, com-
writing, which the judge asked the parents’ lawyers that people wear masks, questioning its legitima- pared with about 8,500 a month earlier. Over the
to complete by Monday. cy and saying it is not applicable to Florida. But past week, new cases and hospitalizations have lev-
Cooper cited numerous Florida laws and statutes eled off. There were 16,550 people hospitalized on
Cooper said that while the governor and others — such as those covering health care in nursing Thursday, down from a record of above 17,000 last
have argued that a new Florida law gives parents the homes, prisons and elsewhere — that direct deci- week — but still almost nine times the 1,800 who
ultimate authority to oversee health issues for their sion-makers to give great weight to CDC guide- were hospitalized in June.
children, it also exempts government actions that lines.
are needed to protect public health and are reason- The 10 districts that have defied DeSantis’ order
able and limited in scope. He said a school district’s Cooper said the state’s medical experts who testi- represent slightly more than half of the 2.8 million
decision to require student masking to prevent the fied during the trial that masking is ineffective in Florida public school students enrolled this year.
spread of the virus falls within that exemption. preventing COVID-19′s spread are in a distinct The governor, a Republican who is eyeing a possi-
minority among doctors and scientists. He also said ble presidential run in 2024, had threatened to im-
The law “doesn’t ban mask mandates at all,” Coo- that while DeSantis frequently states that a Brown pose financial penalties on school boards that voted
per said during a two-hour hearing that was con- University study concluded masks are ineffective, for strict mask mandates. Democratic President Joe
ducted online because of the resurgent pandemic. the study’s authors wrote that no such conclusion Biden said if that happened, federal money would
“It doesn’t require that a mask mandate must in- should be drawn. be used to cover any costs.

Time’s Up CEO, Tina Tchen resigns in wake of Cuomo scandal

(AP) — The chief execu- Cuomo’s administration change for women” but was naming Tchen.
tive of the sexual harass- after he was first accused no longer the right person to The report detailed Cuo-
ment victims’ advocacy of misconduct last year. lead the #MeToo-era organi- mo’s attempt to discredit his Later, after Boylan expanded
group Time’s Up resigned zation. first public accuser, Lindsey on her allegations against
Thursday amid outrage Time’s Up CEO and presi- Boylan, after she accused him Cuomo, T ime’s Up called
over revelations that its dent Tina Tchen said in a “I am especially aware that last December of making in- for an investigation.
leaders advised former statement that she’s “spent my position at the helm of appropriate comments, but
New York Gov. Andrew a career fighting for positive TIME’S UP has become before she explicitly detailed Boylan noted Thursday that
a painful and divisive fo- allegations of unwanted Tchen’s resignation state-
cal point, where those very touching and kissing. ment didn’t include an apol-
women and other activists ogy.
who should be working to- Text messages obtained by
gether to fight for change are The Washington Post show “It’s sad that @TinaTchen
instead battling each other in that Tchen initially discour- still can’t take responsibility
harmful ways,” she wrote. aged other Time’s Up lead- for the harm she’s caused,”
ers from making any public Boylan tweeted. That senti-
The group’s chief operating comment about Boylan’s al- ment was echoed by another
officer, Monifa Bandele, will legations. Later, top Cuomo Cuomo accuser, Charlotte
serve as interim CEO. aide Melissa DeRosa asked Bennett.
Kaplan — her attorney — to
Tchen’s resignation comes review a letter the governor’s “Instead of offering a sincere
after the Aug. 9 departure of supporters intended to circu- apology to the survivors, ac-
the organization’s chair, Ro- late attacking Boylan’s cred- tivists and allies she’s harmed,
berta Kaplan. Both women ibility. @TinaTchen goes out the
had been the target of ire same way our former Gov-
from Time’s Up supporters “Ms. Kaplan read the letter ernor did — listing her ac-
over the idea they had of- to the head of the advocacy complishments, pointing the
fered any help to Cuomo, group Times Up, and both finger at others, and attempt-
who resigned Monday, three of them allegedly suggested ing to justify her inexcusable
weeks after an investigation that, without the statements behavior. Good riddance.”
overseen by New York’s at- about Ms. Boylan’s interac-
torney general concluded he tions with male colleagues, Tchen declined further com-
sexually harassed at least 11 the letter was fine,” the re- ment.
women. port said, without explicitly