ICYMI

Cops continue to spread fentanyl myths, Florida doubling down on Don’t Say Gay policies, Elon Musk threatens to sue UCF student and other news you may have missed.

» Orlando-area cop is latest to faint after allegedly being near fentanyl on a windy day

Bodycam footage from the Tavares Police Department is the latest addition to the nationwide fentanyl panic that has turned police departments across the country into collections of fainting goats. Though you cannot overdose on fentanyl by touching it, Tavares Police Officer Courtney Bannick suffered some distressing symptoms after a traffic stop on Tuesday night. She was treated by her fellow officers after they heard choking sounds coming from her radio. They administered Narcan on the officer three times before she came back to her senses. Other police at the scene say they believe Bannick came in contact with fentanyl while handling dollar bills that had the opioid on it. They noted that she was wearing gloves while handling the bills and hypothesized that some of the fentanyl got into her system on — and this is serious here — a gust of wind.

As we have said many times before, the danger of fentanyl lies in the way it kills people who use drugs. Its propensity for turning up in other drugs that are frequently taken at much higher doses and its relative potency compared to other opioids make it a dangerous drug to ingest. Passive fentanyl exposure is extremely unlikely to cause an overdose. If you need proof, look outside your front door. The entire country is suffering through an opioid crisis exacerbated by fentanyl’s spread. Yet only cops manage to fall out from being in the room with the drug. If “fentanyl exposure” were a true risk, you would hear more about it from regular people (and medical professionals who administer the opioid in professional settings). In Tavares, as elsewhere, what we are witnessing is a panic attack brought on by fears of fentanyl that the cops have helped create.

If you want an infinitely more provable story out of the Tavares Police Department, why not take a look at the bodycam footage of one of their officers using a taser on a man inside his own home? And take a second to consider the ways that the news cycle and SEO can push one story out of discussion.

» Florida school districts revise LGBTQ support guides, sports policies due to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ scrutiny

Ten school districts whose LGBTQ support guides and other policies were called into question by the state Board of Education are in various stages of revising the documents, or in some cases have dropped the disputed guides, according to responses the board discussed last Wednesday. State officials are scrutinizing the districts’ guides to ensure that they comply with a 2021 law known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which deals with what families are entitled to know about their children’s education and health care. The review also addresses a state Board of Education rule guiding bathroom and locker-room access, as well as a controversial new law formally titled “Parental Rights in Education.”

That law, passed by the Legislature this year, requires that parents be notified of any “change in the student’s services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being and the school’s ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment” for the student. Critics of the law have focused on a provision in the law that prohibits classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity for early grades, disparagingly dubbing it the “Don’t Say Gay” measure.

Leon County school officials, for example, are in the process of revising guidelines called the “Inclusive School Guide for LCS Employees,” and are poised to adopt new procedures related to issues such as transgender students’ participation in sports. The district is proposing to adopt language from a state law known as the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which requires that athletic “teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex.”

» Florida Senate President open to expanding ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law to cover more grades

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, signaled support last Thursday for a potential expansion of Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, aka the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law (HB 1557) in March, amid a controversy that centered mainly on a provision that bars classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Also, the law requires that such instruction be “age-appropriate … in accordance with state academic standards” in higher grades. Passidomo told reporters that she would consider expanding the law to bar instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in additional grades.

“The one thing that I think could be looked at is … you know, the middle school, maybe going to sixth grade or something like that,” Passidomo said.

Opponents have argued the law, which has been challenged in federal court, chills educators’ ability to discuss sensitive topics with students and removes teachers as a lifeline for vulnerable LGBTQ youth. The law’s Republican supporters, however, billed it as a way for parents to have more control over what their children encounter in the classroom.

» UCF student who tracked Elon Musk’s jet banned from Twitter, threatened with lawsuit

Shortly after Elon Musk removed his flight-tracking bots from Twitter, University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney had his personal account removed from the platform. Musk went on to say that a car carrying his child was followed in Los Angeles yesterday and threatened legal action against Sweeney on a platform he can no longer use. “Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood,” he wrote. “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”

A video shared by Musk to support these claims showed none of the climbing or stopping of the vehicle, merely a conversation between two people who are filming each other. Musk has battled with Sweeney for months, asking the aviation fanatic to remove a bot account that automatically posts the flights of Musk’s private jets using readily available information from aviation authorities. Sweeney created a series of bots to track other flights from notable figures. Musk offered the UCF student several thousand dollars to remove the bot account prior to his purchase of Twitter. When Sweeney countered by asking for more money, a Tesla or an internship, Musk stopped responding.