Your Florida Daily: Woman killed by Brightline train in Brevard, Florida education board expands bathroom rules

Investigators in Brevard County are trying to figure out why a woman was on the tracks before getting hit and killed by a Brightline train.

It is the first fatality involving a Brightline train in Central Florida since the company launched new high speed train service between Orlando and Miami less than a month ago.

Melbourne police say the woman was found dead near the tracks at Aurora Road and Cypress Avenue.

Investigators have not released the woman’s name but people who live nearby speculate the woman may have been transient since the area is known to be frequented by people experiencing homelessness.

No one on the train was hurt and police are investigating the circumstances behind the crash.

Private colleges and universities in Florida must now require students and faculty to use bathroom facilities aligned with their sex assigned at birth.

On Wednesday, the Florida Board of Education voted to expand the rule already in effect at the state’s K-12 public schools and prisons to private colleges.

The restriction has been in effect for government buildings statewide since July 1 under a statute signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis prohibiting transgender people from using a bathroom or changing facility matching their gender identity.

The restrictions also apply to college-run student housing.

Private colleges and universities are required to prove to the state their compliance with the law by April 1, 2024.

Meantime, the former Florida lawmaker who sponsored what critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

Joseph Harding had nothing to say after being sentenced to four months behind bars yesterday.

Harding was elected into office twice and is best known for writing Florida’s controversial “Parental Rights in Education” bill, which bans classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Last year he admitted to fraudulently obtaining nearly $150,000 in COVID-19 relief loans from the Small Business Administration.

Harding will have to report in late January to begin serving his sentence.

We may have just started to see fall-like temperatures as NOAA is already issuing its predictions for winter.

The agency says Florida could see a wet winter all because of a strong El Niño pattern.

NOAA’s climate prediction center says that could come with possible severe weather across the southeast.

The agency is also forecasting above-average temperatures in the northeast this season.

Random Florida Fact

The Wonder House in Bartow was once a popular tourist attraction in post depression-era Florida.

When doctors told Conrad Schuck he had one year left to live, he moved to Polk County and built a magnificent mansion out of concrete decorated with glass and mosaics.

The Wonder House, surrounded with lush gardens, opened to the public in 1934 and today its newest owner is working to restore the mansion.

As for Conrad Schuck, he lived to the ripe old age of 94.

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