The largest teacher's union in Florida is suing the state after Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran signed an executive order requiring schools to reopen for in-person learning in just a few weeks. The Florida Education Association claims the state lacks an effective plan to combat coronavirus in schools.
"The gist of this lawsuit is that we want to make sure that our schools, when they reopen, reopen in the safest, most responsible way possible. We want to make sure we're looking out for the health of our students and for the people that work in our schools," said Andrew Spar, vice president of the union.
The state has reported more than 23,000 kids have tested positive for COVID-19. Spar said that number will surely rise if students, teachers, and faculty begin to gather again on school grounds.
"We don't know how people working in our schools, during the summer, have been diagnosed with COVID because they're not tracking them for that information."
Spar said a lawsuit against the state was the only option after attempts to negotiate with education officials failed.
"The task force they put together, out of 24 people, had three educators on it," he said.
The teachers union and community members drafted a list of recommendations for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but Spar believes it was likely ignored for political reasons.
"The governor has said early on, 'This is about economics. We want to make sure that our economy is growing,'" Spar stated.
An immediate fix in place of litigation would be the removal of the executive order and the implementation of virtual learning for the start of the school year, according to the union vice president.
"Let's put measures in place," he said. "Let the local school boards decide. There may be some places in the state where they can reopen in the brick and mortar sense, but let's be real that in a lot of parts of our state, where we've been really high in the number of cases, it's just not wise."
While options like remote learning can pose issues for many communities that lack access to internet service, Spar said this speaks to a larger issue our government should be addressing.
"Remote learning is clearly going to be an issue, it always has been, it's not ideal but under the conditions we have right now, it's probably the best way to go," he said.
Stock trading app Robinhood already has been offering cryptocurrency investments but seems further excited about the asset class following President Biden's recent announcement of an executive order. Dan Gallagher, the chief legal and corporate affairs officer for Robinhood, joined Cheddar News to talk about the White House's tentative vision for digital currency. "I think this executive order firmly states that, yes, crypto is here to stay, which it talks about the important competitive issues around crypto and how the United States needs to be a leader, a global leader, in innovation and technology regarding crypto," he said. Gallagher also discussed having clarity around meme stocks going forward but worried about overregulation slowing down innovation.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the latest inflation report showed the consumer price index rose 7.9 percent — a 40-year high. Heather Boushey, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joined Cheddar News to discuss what American consumers might be in store for as prices keep rising. "Forecasters at this point believe that the American economy will be resilient," she said. "They’re still predicting that the unemployment rate will continue to be lower at the end of the year than it is today, and we are still seeing folks believe that over time prices will come back down." Boushey did note that it would be dependent on how long the current situation lasts.
Simon Shuster, TIME's Moscow correspondent joins Cheddar to discuss how Ukraine could become part of the EU and what it would mean for politics in Europe.
President Biden has banned imports of Russian oil to the U.S. in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The president warned of higher prices at the gas pump, leading some analysts to think it could propel the transition to clean, renewable energy. Michael Jones, chairman and CEO of investment solutions company Caravel Concepts, discussed how the ban is hitting green energy stocks as gas prices continue to surge. "I think the 10-year prospects for renewables just got a whole lot better because ultimately this is going to force a transition into renewables," he said.
Amid ongoing tensions in the Russia-Ukraine region, many American travelers are nervous about traveling to Europe.
It comes at a time when international travel was set to make a comeback, but uncertainty surrounding the conflict may delay the overall recovery. Francesca Page, Travel Expert, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is coming for the global food supply. Ongoing tensions in the region are threatening the supply of various agricultural products including wheat, barley and corn. Vladik Rikhter, CEO & Cofounder of Zenput joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss how this could impact food prices overseas.
Chris Natividad, CIO of EquBot, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on what ultimately dragged the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq lower on Tuesday and discusses how investors are reacting to rising oil prices and February CPI data coming out later this week.
Adam Johnson, Portfolio Manager at Adviser Investments, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why he believes we saw markets jump during Wednesday's session, and adds that investors have already priced in 'every possible kind of bad news we could have.'
Jennifer Klein, the White House Gender Policy Council's co-chair and executive director, spoke to Cheddar News about the economic impact of the pandemic showing the need for a group like the Gender Policy Council, and the need to address issues that have affected women the most,
