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President Biden Orders Federal Disaster Relief in Advance of Ian
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As Hurricane Ian approached Florida, Biden directed the heads of Federal agencies to surge resources to the region in preparation for potential impacts and to support response and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the storm.
Tuesday, the President held calls with Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Mayor Ken Welch of St. Petersburg, and Mayor Frank Hibbard of Clearwater to discuss preparations for the potential impacts from Hurricane Ian. In the last week, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has held calls with Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, Governor Henry McMaster of South Carolina, and Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, and she visited Florida on Monday, September 26. On Saturday, September 24, President Biden approved an Emergency Declaration for the State of Florida within hours of receiving the request from Governor DeSantis, to support preparedness efforts and ensure resources are pre-positioned in advance of potential storm impacts.
At President Biden’s direction, FEMA is coordinating across the Federal government to support State and local preparations. The President and the Administration urge everyone to follow the guidance of local officials.

Pre-staged equipment and resources across the region in advance of landfall:
* The Administration pre-staged 110,000 gallons of fuel and 18,000 pounds of propane for immediate deployment and personnel and equipment to support distribution.

* The Administration moved in a variety of generators to provide temporary emergency power to critical infrastructure.

* The Administration staged 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water in Alabama.

* The Administration has 300 ambulances in the state working side by side with local officials.

Pre-positioning Federal responders to support emergency response:
* As of September 28, there were more than 1,300 Federal response workers in Florida to support emergency preparations including operations, planning, power restoration, debris removal, and urban search and rescue.

* FEMA Regional Administrator Gracia Szczech embedded in the State of Florida to ensure needs are being met.

* FEMA has established a Federal search and rescue coordination group, including FEMA Urban Search and rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior, and the State of Florida. These teams are ready to deploy search and rescue efforts by sea, air, and land.

* The Army Corps of Engineers has pre-staged 300 personnel to support power and fuel assessments in close coordination with local power companies. Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, and Tampa Electric have 30,000 personnel ready to assist in power restoration. Thousands more are being made available through utility sector mutual aid agreements with neighboring utilities in other states.

* The Department of Health and Human Services has deployed a 38-person disaster medical assistance team to Miami, Florida. Two additional disaster medical assistance teams have been deployed to Robin Air Force Base in Georgia.


STORM SCOURGE

Ron DeSantis voted no on Hurricane Sandy relief in 2013.
As a newly elected Florida congressman, Rep. Ron DeSantis voted against a bill to provide $9.7 billion in aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, the worst storm of 2012.





"No one can do everything,
but everyone can do something."


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES



It is GO Time! Time to Get Out The Vote!

Volunteers will send text messages to thousands of potential voters in the coming weeks, but we need volunteers beginning September 30 to help reach those who cannot be reached by texting. You can go out with a group to drop literature (just knock and leave at door), or you can help prepare postcards to send to our voters in gated communities. Please contact Bill at [email protected] to sign up.

WEEKLY GOTV RALLIES

Beginning Saturday, October 8 we will gather to wave signs to encourage people to VOTE! The first rally will be at Sebastian Riverview Park at 10:00 a.m. Future rallies' locations TBD. Signs will be provided and you are welcome to bring your own!

DONATIONS

We need 1000 more donors to contribute small, monthly, recurring donations of $5, $10 or $20 a month to cover fixed expenses and help support our candidates. Or, to make a one-time donation, mail a check or stop by our office.
Our website,
democratsofindianriver.org has all the information you'll need.

The United Way DAY OF CARING

Community Service event on Saturday October 15 from 9:00 am to noon. Registration begins at 8 am, with complimentary breakfast at the Citrus Bowl. Please register by September 30 and scroll down the menu to join Team DWC of IRC.

UNITEDWAYIRC.ORG/DOC

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!


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DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER



Democratic Women’s Club

YOU ARE INVITED!

Please join the DWC of IRC as we celebrate the club's 50th ANNIVERSARY with musical entertainment, lunch, birthday cake and a champagne toast.

Saturday October 8th at 11:30 a.m.

Bent Pine Clubhouse
6100 Clubhouse Drive
Vero Beach 32967

Lunch options are Citrus Grilled Chicken Breast, Mahi Mahi or Vegetarian Entree. RSVP your meal choice in advance to
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
or to Julie
Barone (718) 916-0682. The cost is $25 payable by cash or check at the door. Non-member guests are welcome to attend.


The DWC Book Group will meet at the Indian River County Bracket Library at 6155 College Lane on Friday, October 28 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. We will discuss Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny's book "State of Terror." Any questions about the book group can be addressed to Maryann and Rita at ** (mailto:[email protected])
[email protected]


Democrats of Indian River Voter Protection Team

POLL WATCHERS are STILL NEEDED!

The Democrats of Indian River 2022 Voter Protection Team needs poll watchers for the November Midterm election. Poll watchers are needed for early voting Oct. 24 - Nov. 5 from 7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and for the general election Nov. 8 from 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Training is conducted by the Florida Democratic Party. Various days and times are offered. To sign up for the Zoom training go to:

[link removed]

For more information contact Claudia Martino at [email protected]


Democratic Club of Indian River

The next Democratic Club Meeting is October 20^th
at 6 p.m. at the Heritage Center, 2140 14^th Ave.
Vero Beach. [email protected]


CANDIDATE INFORMATION

charliecrist.com

valdemings.com

JoanneTerry.com

KarenGrebforfloridahousedistrict34 (facebook) Twitter@WynnGreb
Ballotpedia.org/KarenGreb

YARD SIGNS AVAILABLE

Joanne Terry, Congressional candidate

Cynthia Gibbs, School Board Candidate


Monday-Friday 10-3pm at the

Democrats of Indian River office
2345 14th Ave, suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

VOTE BLUE in 2022!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Current GOP seems driven by MAGA movement, not democratic principles


Historically the Republican Party conservatively stood for democratic principles. No more. The Republican Party is now dominated by a MAGA-driven insurgent movement against our government in an unbridled pursuit of political power and dominance. This insurgency is most visibly led by the pretentious strongman Donald Trump — with Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and too many others — actively seeking power to impose their values on others and develop sycophants.

In 2012, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency published an informative document titled “Guide to the Analysis of Insurgency”, which cites:

• Insurgency is a political-military struggle to subvert or displace government.

• Insurgents seek to:

- undercut government

- obtain support of the population – potentially via fear and intimidation

- provoke government abuses that solidify supporter loyalty

- undermine international support for the government

- create a group identity that separates the group from the national identity or

that of the ruling elite, establishing an “us versus them” conflict.

These CIA characterizations appear applicable to the Republican Party — now dominated by an actor pretending to be a strongman.

Too many Republicans will not condemn the assault on law enforcement and the Republic at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans actively threaten government employees who simply do their job, among them the FBI, the DOJ, election workers, and even the National Archives.

Republicans oppose a woman's right to choose. Many Republicans also question Americans' right to contraception and the right to marry the person of their choice.

MAGA followers embrace the Big Lie of a stolen 2020 election. Republicans seek to make voting harder and allow election results to be overturned by partisan Republican politicians — apparently ready to accept the death of our democracy.

For our nation to remain free and democratic, MAGA candidates must be not be elected.

Michael Walther, Vero Beach




Letters to the Editor links:

TCPalm:
[link removed]


Hometown News:
[link removed]

Vero News.com:

[link removed]

or via email:

Vero Beach 32963, Vero News & Sebastian River:
[email protected]


FEDERAL

Rubio Ads "Mostly False"


Many viewers have asked for a fact check of Marco Rubio’s recent attack ad against Val Demings.

His ad claims that Demings votes with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. But it only cites the 116th congress, or 2019-2020, and that claim is true.

However, it does not mention the 115th congress 2017- 2018 where Demings disagreed with Pelosi on 35 votes. It also doesn’t mention Pelosi as house speaker who only votes on about 10% of the bills which are considered major.

So we rate the claim as misleading.

The ad continues by stating Demings votes with Pelosi to allow radical abortions, even at the moment of birth. Demings has said repeatedly she supports abortion after the child can survive outside the womb, but only if it threatens the health or life of the mother. Demings did co-sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act, codifying Roe vs Wade, which said states could restrict abortion except for the life or health of the mother.

Demings denied the claims in Rubio’s ad. “This is just the next step in Marco Rubio’s fight to ban abortions with no exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and sexual abuse.”

His claim is mostly false.

The ad claims that Demings joined Pelosi to give a billion dollars in stimulus checks to convicted criminals and illegal immigrants. during the pandemic. However, you needed a social security number in order to receive a check, so undocumented immigrants didn’t qualify.

The claim is false.

It is true that qualifying inmates received payments from the American Rescue Plan, which Demings supported. His ad leaves out that Rubio previously supported Covid relief bills which also included inmates getting stimulus checks.

His claim is misleading.

The ad concludes saying Demings even voted to allow transgender youth sports and teaching radical gender identity. The ad refers to the 2019 Equality Act which gave LGBTQ folks added federal protections against discrimination. Demings did support it, however, the bill did not call for teaching radical gender identity as the ad claims.

His claim is false.

Based on all of the facts overall, we’re going to rate the entire ad as “Mostly False.”

Dave Elias
NBC2



STATE




PEN America report shows Florida has 2nd highest number of school-related book bans



Florida has the second highest number of school-related book bans in the country, according to an analysis published last week by PEN America, a free speech and literary organization. There are 566 book bans within 21 Florida school districts, according to the analysis. Texas was the only state with more bans at 801 across 22 districts.

Jonathan Friedman, report author and PEN America's director of free expression and education programs, said the trends show book bans are a targeted effort. "These are not just individual complaints about books that parents are complaining about because their children are bringing them home," Friedman said. "Overwhelmingly, we are seeing people Google ‘what books have LGBTQ content whatsoever,’ even just a book that has an illustration of a same-sex interracial couple gets thrown onto one of these lists and ends up banned in some districts in Florida.”
Over the past year or so, books were banned at least 2,500 times by more than 130 school districts across 30-plus states, according to the analysis.
The unprecedented trend escalated throughout the spring and into the summer, according to PEN, which in the spring published a preliminary report documenting 1,586 book bans nationwide during the nine months starting in July 2021.

“‘More’ is the operative word for this report,” PEN writes, comparing the latest analysis to the preliminary one. “More books banned. More districts. More states. More students losing access to literature.” The trend’s proponents have also gotten more savvy – and more creative – in their book challenging strategies.

“Over the 2021-22 school year, what started as modest school-level activity to challenge and remove books in schools grew into a full-fledged social and political movement,” PEN writes. That movement, according to PEN, has been powered by at least 50 activist groups as well as politicians who have pressured or chilled schools into restricting children’s access to certain books.

PEN describes the recent spate of efforts to restrict books as an “evolving censorship movement.” While the tensions leading up to it had been percolating for a while, the current trend can be traced back in part to last year.

More than two dozen states already had begun considering — and in some cases passing — legislation to restrict discussions about race, sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. The legislative efforts were fueled by Republican resistance to so-called “critical race theory,” a graduate-level legal concept that examines how racism continues to permeate policy and society. The critical race theory backlash morphed into a broader push to eschew conversations about LGBTQ+ issues from classrooms. The wave picked up momentum last fall when activists and conservative policymakers intent on reforming curricula began focusing much of their energy on books.

In Florida, many of the bans have been accelerated by the passing of new laws that have emboldened parents and community members to speak out against library materials.

In March, Gov. Ron DeSantis approved House Bill 1467, which gives parents and members of the public increased access to the process of selecting and removing school library books and instructional materials, and signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics, that prohibits school instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

In anticipation of the new laws, the Palm Beach School District pulled and reviewed 31 books in addition to other learning materials to make sure they were complying with the new laws. While the dozens of books made it back onto library shelves, those that mainly focused on gender identity or sexual orientation are now** ([link removed])
restricted to grades four and above.

Large majorities of Americans oppose book bans — at least 70% of both Democrats and Republicans, according to one poll.

However, dozens of groups have often disseminated lists of books and have mobilized members to testify at school board meetings. At the forefront of these efforts are Moms for Liberty, US Parents Involved in Education, No Left Turn in Education, Parents’ Rights in Education and Florida Citizens Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to improve education for children by empowering teachers, students and parents.

The alliance has compiled a list of 58 books in Florida's school libraries they deem "pornographic" and has called on Florida's school districts to remove them. The group also pushes for the elimination of sex education in K-12 schools, and is responsible for bans in school districts in Jackson, Orange, St. Lucie, Polk and Walton counties. It also is responsible for advisory labels placed on 115 books in the Collier County School District that contain LGBTQ+ characters, transgender characters, characters of color and sexual content.

These "parents' rights" groups, most of which have formed since 2021, have developed new tactics for restricting book access. For example, some have taken to scrutinizing and interfering in district book purchases and digital library apps.

Roughly 40% of the bans documented during the 2021-22 school year “are connected to political pressure exerted by state officials or elected lawmakers.”

“The unprecedented number of challenges we’re seeing already this year reflects coordinated, national efforts to silence marginalized or historically underrepresented voices and deprive all of us — young people, in particular — of the chance to explore a world beyond the confines of personal experience,” said Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, president of the American Library Association.
Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, according to PEN, 411 titles had been banned from school libraries and classrooms in Florida.

Nationwide, 2,532 book bans were enacted, affecting 1,648 individual titles. Books that are by authors of color, deal with racism and/or feature LGBTQ+ relationships are overrepresented on the lists.

“We are clear that those who are advocating on this issue are within their rights — freedom of assembly, mobilization, using their voices. That’s perfectly appropriate," Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America said last week. "But when the end goal is censorship, as a free expression organization, it’s our obligation to call that out and to point out that even the use of legitimate tactics of expression can sometimes lead to a censorious and speech-defeating result.”


Alia Wong
Nikki Ross


(Editor's note: In-depth discussion with librarians, editors and educators on public radio 1A show Wednesday about book banning, censorship and defunding libraries. "Moms for Liberty" refused to participate.)


LOCAL


Indian River Lagoon Top Priority in State House 34 Race


Both candidates for Florida House District 34 said they rate the Indian River Lagoon among their priorities. Republican Robert "Robbie" Brackett, currently mayor of Vero Beach, and Democrat Karen Greb, a Sebastian resident and a board member on the Indian River Neighborhood Association, compete to replace Erin Grall, who moves to the state Senate without opposition.

Brackett said he wants the state to find the best practices for combating stormwater runoff and pollution into the Indian River Lagoon. He supports state mandates on municipalities for stormwater runoff reduction.

Greb sees her role as preventing corporations who seek favor with politicians in Tallahassee from avoiding environmental accountability.

"I definitely have an environmental orientation to just about everything," said Greb, who has lived in Sebastian for two years after spending five years in Martin County. "For the folks here, that really is a nonpartisan issue. And when people find out that every single one of our elected representatives in the five counties along the Indian River voted on behalf of polluting special interests, I hope that message will wake a few people up."

She’s supported “low impact development” and at her campaign’s Facebook page, praised the Sebastian City Council for delaying a vote on the proposed Graves Brothers 1,984-acre annexation project.
Brackett entered politics in 2018, winning a seat on the Vero Beach City Council, then became mayor in 2020.
Greb has never held public office, but has been involved in Florida politics since she moved here seven years ago. She moved to Stuart from California, retiring after a career in financial services. After relocating, she became a trained citizen lobbyist and was engaged in persuading voters to pass Florida's 2018 amendment to end greyhound racing.

The cost of politics

Campaign finance records show between December 2021 and Sept. 9, Bracket has loaned his race $5,000 and had collected $172,300 from 284 donors. After spending $164,664 on his campaign, he had $7,636 cash on hand as of Sept. 16. Since Aug. 24, Bracket raised $11,050 from seven contributors, which included $10,000 from the Florida House Republican Campaign fund and $500 from the Tallahassee lobbyist group Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) Political Action Committee (PAC). He’s spent $200 since Aug. 24, to cover advertising expenses.

Greb had no competition in the Democrat primary but did no substantial fundraising in anticipation of the general election. State election records show Greb in June loaned her campaign $5,000 and collected $250 from three people. Greb has spent $2,281 since she began her campaign in June, leaving her with $2,969, according to campaign finance records.
She said her goal is to run an environmentally conscious campaign free of special interest support. She's avoiding street signs, mailers and other material means of campaigning in lieu of public appearances and digital outreach, such as her campaign's Facebook page.

"I'm not accepting any donations from (political action committees}, or corporations, or large donations for that matter," Greb said. "We have got to get the special interest money out of politics."



Lamaur Stancil
Treasure Coast Newspapers




CALENDAR

Saturday, October 1, 2022

11 a.m. - SIGN WAVING for TEACHERS at the corner of St. Rd 60 and 58th Ave.

You can make a sign that says We Love our Teachers, Pro-Teacher, Education is FUNdamental, Teachers Rock, Thank Teachers, Teachers are First Responders! Hug a Teacher...

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

9:00 a.m. - Vero Beach City Council, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero 32960.

For agenda and meeting information go to [link removed]
** ()

Watch at: [link removed]

9:00 a.m. - Indian River County Commission, County Administration Offices – Council Chambers, 1801 27th Street, Building A, Vero Beach 32960-3388

For agenda and meeting information go to: [link removed]


Wednesday, October 5, 2022

6:00 p.m. - Nonpartisan Candidates Forum at the Gifford Community Center, 4855 43rd Ave, Vero Beach, FL 32967. Sponsored by the Indian River County NAACP, Faith in Florida Treasure Coast, and The Links, Incorporated. All qualified candidates for School Board District 2 and Florida House of Representatives District 34, were invited to participate.

Thursday, October 6, 2022** ()


7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council, 22 S. Orange St, Fellsmere, FL 32948
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil

Friday, October 7, 2022

11:30 a.m. - Taxpayers Association Luncheon at the Vero Beach Yacht Club at
3601 Rio Vista Blvd, Vero Beach, FL 32963 Reservations are required by Wednesday morning at their website. $22

Saturday, October 8, 2022

11:30 a.m. - DWC of IRC luncheon at the Bent Pine Clubhouse. 6100 Clubhouse Drive, Vero 32967 RSVP to
Julie Barone (718) 916-0682 or at [email protected] $25



VIDEO of the WEEK


There is NO EXCUSE for NOT VOTING

[link removed]




Office Hours

Monday through Friday 10am to 3pm

2345 14^th Ave. Suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

(772) 226-5267

[email protected]


STAY SAFE OUT THERE!


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