Your Florida Daily: DeSantis suggests Trump is too old for White House, school board approves 4-day weekends

ORLANDO, Fla. – It was a night of blows and comebacks for the smallest field yet of GOP presidential hopefuls.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley went at it on a range of issues.

“We’re gonna get the inflation down. We’re gonna get the interest rates down. We are gonna reduce spending,” DeSantis promised.

“As much as everybody wants to talk about how Donald Trump had a good economy, $9 trillion in debt — he did just in four years and we’re all paying the price of that,” Haley said.

While former President Donald Trump skipped the debate once again, the clear front-runner’s bid for 2023 was still a big topic.

“The idea that we are going to put someone up there that’s almost 80 and there’s going to be no effects from that, we all know that’s not true,” DeSantis said.

“He is unfit to be president, and there is no bigger issue in this race than Donald Trump,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.

During the debate, Trump spent his evening in Florida at a fundraising event.

The latest CBS News poll showed Trump winning 61% of likely GOP voters, which is more than all other candidates combined.

College Board revises AP Black studies class set to launch in 2024

Months after being rejected by the state of Florida, the College Board has unveiled a new framework for it’s AP African American studies course.

The revisions include more material on topics like the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Black culture’s influence on film and sports and discriminatory practices related to housing.

The class got national attention earlier this year, after DeSantis said he would ban it due to its “political agenda.”

The Black Lives Matter movement and reparations are still listed as suggested topics but will only be studied after the coursework is completed and won’t be included in the AP exam.

So far, state education officials haven’t responded to the changes.

School board approves four-day weekend for upcoming school year

A Tampa-area school district is planning to add four-day weekends to the upcoming school year with the goal of increasing student attendance.

The Pasco County School Board voted this week to make the change for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.

“We can encourage our students and families to take their mini trips and vacations on those long weekends instead of taking off instructional days,” a school official said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Despite those extra days off, board members say the next school year will actually have more instructional time.

A schedule posted to Pasco County Schools’ Facebook page shows the approved calendar with three four-day weekends for students and teachers.

The longer weekends will only be on certain days in October, February and April.

Random Florida Fact

The world’s largest collection of autographed baseballs can be found at the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

The little Cooperstown collection eclipsed the 5,000 ball milestone in April 2022.

Many of the autographs were acquired by collector Dennis Schrader and feature the usual baseball superstars along with balls signed U.S. presidents and entertainers.