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Office Hours

Our regular office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Our address is 2345 14^th Ave., Suite 7, Downtown Vero Beach.

Newsletter Highlights

* The GOP Florida State Legislature is out of control. Read more in the State section.
* The Vero Beach Three Corners project will be voted on next week. Read more in the Local section.
* Write a letter to the editor! Read more in the Letter to the Editor section.


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GET INVOLVED

Education Group

If you watched or read the news lately, you know our public education system is under attack. All over the country “Moms for Liberty” and “Parental Rights” groups are jamming up school board meetings demanding books be removed, masks be removed, CRT stop being taught (it isn’t), and school districts bow down to their every whim. In opposition, groups are starting to form to counter these attacks on our public education system.

Locally, a group of parents and concerned community members have been speaking at our school board meetings and writing letters to provide an alternate voice of reason. We are beginning to organize and need more help. If you are interested in joining a team working to preserve our public education system, please email ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
for more information.

Texters Needed

We have purchased a new texting program to reach out to voters in Indian River County. We are looking for volunteers who can send texts. It’s very easy and can be done from your couch or dining room table. All you need is a computer, no phones needed! If you are interested, email Stacey at ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
and she can send you more information about how the program works.



DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER


Democratic Executive Committee

Do you want to be part of the team that votes DeSantis out? Do you want to meet your like-minded neighbors? Are you tired of sitting by while Republicans get elected over and over?

Consider signing up to be a precinct captain for your local area. Precinct captains create relationships with their neighbors, help lead up Get Out the Vote efforts, and work with a fun team.

If you live in the following Precincts, we could use your help:

1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 20, 22, 24, 28, 29, 32

Contact Stacey at:
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
if you want to participate.


Democratic Women’s Club

The next DWC Book Group meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. on January 28^th on Zoom. Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost our Democracy and Still Could by Representative Adam Schiff will be discussed. If you are not a Book Group member and would like to attend please contact Rita Milelli at
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])




Democratic Club of Indian River

The Democratic Club will hold its annual election at the March meeting. Below is the slate of candidates:

President Wendy McDaniel
Vice president Betty Morrow
Secretary Caryl Zook
Treasurer Yolonda Anderson
Director Kelly Miller
Director Jadie Barringer
Director Clay Wild


Please contact Claudia Martino [email protected] if you have any questions.


FEDERAL

President Biden directs $100 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to lower energy bills for working families

Yesterday, President Biden announced that $100 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) would be invested to directly help working families pay their outstanding heating and cooling bills.

The BIL funding will send $5,785,953 to Florida, the third-highest amount of any state in the country. When combined with funding from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and the most recent Continuing Resolution passed by Congress, Florida will receive a total of $176,407,065 in relief funding to address the onerous cooling bills that working Floridian’s face.

“This funding is a direct investment in Florida’s working families who have been dealing with excessive energy costs for far too long,” said Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Travis Reuther. “Nobody in Florida should struggle to pay their cooling bills at the end of the month simply for protecting the health and wellbeing of their family.”

Read more from the Biden Administration below:

President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Directs $100 Million to Lower Heating and Cooling Bills

Key Points:

The $100 million is the first installment of the five-year, $500 million investment in the program provided from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With historic investments from the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Continuing Resolution, the Biden-Harris Administration has spearheaded the largest distribution of funds over a 12-month period since LIHEAP was established in 1981.

Low-income households expend three times more of their income on energy costs than more affluent households. This funding moves the needle on energy justice – improving the equitable distribution of assistance.

“Millions of working families are experiencing unusually high heating and cooling costs, and it is important that we provide them with the support they need,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. “I will continue to work with President Biden to protect the health and well-being of all families in need and help lower their energy bills.”

Individuals interested in applying for energy assistance can search for their local LIHEAP intake agency or office using HHS’ map of LIHEAP Local Agency Locations. Alternatively, they can contact the Florida office, or contact ACF’s Office of Community Services for assistance at 1-866-674-6327. Please visit the LIHEAP website or read the LIHEAP brochure in English or Spanish to get more information.

STATE

Chasten Buttigieg Weighs in on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

Chasten Buttigieg, a former teacher who is the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and father to twins, slammed
** a Florida bill ([link removed])
that would prohibit discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in "primary grade levels."

Supporters of the Parental Rights in Education bill — which was sent to the Florida House's Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — say it's about protecting parents' ability to be in charge of their children's upbringing, while critics have dubbed it the "Don't Say Gay" bill, arguing that it would prevent teachers from talking about LGBTQ issues.

In a tweet last week, Buttigieg said the bill "will kill kids."

"You are purposefully making your state a harder place for LGBTQ kids to survive in," he wrote, citing
** a national survey ([link removed])
from The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and intervention group, which found that 42 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide last year.

"Now they can’t talk to their teachers?" Buttigieg added.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Buttigieg said lawmakers and educators should be approaching that statistic from the Trevor Project "with urgency and with compassion and care."

"In Florida, what kind of state are you building, where you're essentially pushing kids back into the closet?" he said. "You're saying, 'We can't talk about you. We can't even talk about your families.'"

Florida's bill is similar to laws in some states that prohibit positive and affirming representations of LGBTQ people in schools, often
** referred to as "no promo homo" laws ([link removed])
. Four states — Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi — still ** have these laws ([link removed])
on the books, according to GLSEN, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ students.


GOP Led State Senate Health Policy Committee OK’s DeSantis’ Surgeon General Pick

Democrats walked out the hearing when Dr. Ladapo wouldn’t answer questions directly during the hearing. You can read more here:

** [link removed] ([link removed])



Book Ban Bill Advances in Florida Senate

The Florida Republicans claim this bill is just providing transparency and giving parents a say in what their children are exposed to. But what it really is, is homo-phobic, racist and censorship. You can read more here:
** [link removed] ([link removed])



LOCAL


Pro-Choice Rally

Thank you to the Democrats who supported Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to choose by participating in the Indian River Rally this past Saturday, which marked the 49^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Such a stand is truly necessary as our State Representative, Erin Grall, recently introduced HR5 which mimics the Mississippi law to ban abortions after 15 weeks, thus rescinding the threshold of viability in Roe v. Wade of 24 weeks.

Gifford History Museum/Macedonian Church Gets a New Coat Paint

Thanks to those of you who showed up to help put a new coat of paint on the Museum in Gifford. Shout out to our Club President Wendy McDaniel for rolling up her sleeves and painting and to her daughter Mara who made the team cookies in the shape of paint brushes. Great job everyone!

Vero Beach Three Corners

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 1st at 6 p.m. -- when the final decision will be made on whether or not the charter will be amended to make way for the riverfront Three Corners plan prepared by DPZ CoDESIGN.

City Council is taking one final look, so the time is now to join in person to share your enthusiasm and support as well as register any concerns you may have. Your presence in chambers makes a big difference!

Thanks to all our City Council members, who know many residents are unable to attend meetings during the day and agreed to change this one to 6:00 p.m. to encourage as much in-person attendance as possible.

As always if you are unable to attend in person, you can participate via Channel 13 at ** www.covb.org ([link removed])


Land Visioning Workshop

The Indian River County MPO will be hosting another “Land Use Visioning” workshop on February 03, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Intergenerational Center. This will build on the activities from the first workshop held back in October. It is a wonderful opportunity to see what the future has in store!

Information regarding the MPO Land Use Visioning Study can be found online at : ** [link removed] ([link removed])


Space will be limited and to ensure seating, please register at this link: ** [link removed] ([link removed])





LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Each week we feature a letter that was written to the TC Palm in opposition to Democrats or our ideals. We then ask that you write a response back. It’s time we start speaking out as a collective and correcting the disinformation printed in newspapers. Staying silent is accepting, and we must fight for our democracy.

Here is the letter we ask you to respond to:

Democrats Responsible for the Decline of America

Since the election, America’s decline has worsened

This is a sequel to my 2020 letter. I write because since the Democrats won the election, the decline of America has substantially increased. The proof is in the facts, though left-wingers often disregard facts with spin, propaganda, and even lies.

Let me list a few facts that are evident. The ignominious surrender of Afghanistan and its Kabul airport went against all acceptable standards of surrender. Who withdraws all troops ahead of all supporting civilians? President Biden did.

Domestically, we have empty grocery shelves, along with the highest inflation rate in 40 years. Other negatives are paying people not to work, increased crime rates including smash-and-grab raids on jewelry stores, and plundering of freight trains’ cargos in their depots, as well as homicides; and very low or no bail for charged criminals.

The president vowed to control the COVID-19 virus. He has done a miserable job of that. His vaccination mandate was recently overturned by the Supreme Court. His administration has labeled parents who protest at school board meetings against the inclusion of critical race theory in their children’s curriculums as “domestic terrorists.” As a former teacher I state, “What schools need is not CRT, but critical science, critical math, critical English, etc.”

Of course, we still tolerate the continuous open southern border which permits an infinite number of undocumented immigrants to merely walk into our country. Included is the grave and frivolous flow over our borders of the dangerous drug, fentanyl.

Space prevents continuing. I end with a question and answer. What can we do to alter these obvious leadership errors? When business leaders fail or athletic coaches lose excessively, they are fired. No, we cannot do likewise. But we can use the ballot box and vote them out of office. America, let’s act.

George Phipps, Vero Beach


To respond to George with a letter of your own, you can do so here:
** [link removed] ([link removed])



CALENDAR

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

9:00 a.m. – IRC County Commission
For agenda and meeting information go to
** [link removed] ([link removed])



6:00 p.m. – Vero Beach City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to
** [link removed] ([link removed])

You can watch here: ** [link removed] ([link removed])



Wednesday, February 2, 2022

9:00 a.m. – Orchid Town Council
For agenda and meeting information go to
[link removed]

Thursday, February 3, 2022

7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil


COVID TESTING, STATISTICS AND VACCINATIONS



Our current Risk Level in Indian River County is “Very High”. Please be careful out there and stay safe.


Testing

If you are looking for a testing site, which is becoming harder to find, you can see a list of locations here:

** [link removed] ([link removed])




Statistics

A great place to check statistics for Indian River County is on Covid Act Now. You can access it here:
** [link removed] ([link removed])




Vaccinations

3rd shots are now available from Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson.

You can search for vaccination locations and details by clicking here:

** [link removed] ([link removed])







TIDBITS

Wow! It took organization, patience and time to finish this 42,000 piece puzzle. Watch the time lapse here:

** [link removed] ([link removed])


That's all Democrats!
Stay Safe out There!
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** Website ([link removed])
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Democratic Executive Committee of Indian River County
2345 14th Ave.
Suite 7
Vero Beach, FL 32960
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