* Disney has announced a Florida political donation pause while it increases its support for various advocacy groups. The pivot was prompted by the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney CEO Bob Chapek labeled it “a challenge to basic human rights.” Previously, Disney or its subsidiaries had been making campaign contributions to all of the sponsors and co-sponsors of the bill.
* Florida lawmakers have agreed that those (12) school districts (including Hillsborough) that imposed mask mandates during the pandemic last year will not be eligible to receive “school recognition” grants that reward schools that perform well. The (55) school districts that never required masks will divide up $200 million set aside for the Florida School Recognition Program. Recipient schools can use the grant for teacher bonuses, school supplies and other education expenses to improve student performance. “This is just an opportunity for us to reward those school districts that followed the law,” explained House Appropriations chairman Jay Trumbull, R-Panama City.
It was also, alas, another opportunity for Ron DeSantis-fawning legislators to hold students and teachers in certain districts hostage to a heavy-handed, faux-freedom, partisan agenda.
* “You can’t do one without the other. … It kind of negates the impact.”–Jonathan Webber, deputy director of (the environmental advocacy group) Florida Conservation Voters, on how Florida’s plan to address climate change by adapting to rising seas does not include cutting the emissions that cause them.
* Amazon U: Amazon has announced partnerships with 140 colleges and universities—including nine in Florida—to fully fund tuition and fees for employees. It will, in effect, underwrite professional development and career advancement. Call it enlightened self-interest on the part of Amazon. It helps recruiting and retention, especially in a protean labor market blindsided by the pandemic.
* According to a (2018) Florida Sports Foundation Study, MLB spring training in Florida generates a statewide economic impact of $687 million.
* Publix is the only Florida company to make Fortune Magazine’s top 50 list of the world’s most admirable companies. Publix ranked 42nd. Maybe it would have been ranked even higher were it not for corporate campaign donations to Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott. BTW, Fortune’s Top 5: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Pfizer and Disney.
* Major League Baseball announced it’s creating a $1 million fund to support Florida (and Arizona) spring training workers in financial need. The MLB Players Association also has announced a ($1 million) relief fund. That’s the right–and smart–thing to do. It diverts attention from a business that pays a $700,000 minimum wage in a pandemic-blindsided economy.