Page 19 - Mark Avery News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Marion County school officials have sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis asking that frontline school employees — those who have face-to-face contact with students — be labeled essential workers and elevated higher on the vaccination priority list.   In Florida, the first groups of people eligible for the vaccine are health care workers, long-term care facility residents and staff, and residents ages 65 and older.  The letter states that the school superintendent and school board members understand “the need to vaccinate Florida’s most vulnerable health care workers and the elder...

The Richland Community College Foundation has elected three new members to join its Board of Directors. Nikki Garry, Jeff Dase and Stacey Young will each serve a 2.5 year term which began on January 1, 2020. They attended their first quarterly Foundation Board Meeting this month, joining fellow Foundation Board Members Mark Avery, Jim Schroeder, Nicole Bateman, Stephen Clevenger, Julie Brilley, Joseph Brown, Sally Duncan, Jason Herman, Matt Naber, Trent Thompson, Matt Whitehead, Dawn Yuhas, Myung Kim and Joseph Schrodt. “We are extremely pleased to welcome the newest members of our Foundati...

Wild Justice hit with £10,000 legal bill after losing case >More in © FLPA/Roger Tidman/Shutterstock Wild Justice has been told to pay £10,000 after losing its High Court challenge to limit control of pest bird species in Wales. The anti-shooting lobby group, founded by the BBC’s Chris Packham, former RSPB conservation director Mark Avery and blogger Ruth Tingay, was forced to pay the legal costs to Natural Resources Wales (NRW). The £10,000 is the most available under the Aarhus Convention, which sets a cap on environmental case...

Marion teachers await back pay from the state from DeSantis plan More than 3,000 local public school teachers are still waiting to get pay increases that were approved by lawmakers nearly a year ago and finalized locally last month after a lengthy negotiation. The new salaries are part of Gov. Ron DeSantis' plan to boost the starting pay of teachers to $47,500 across the state. Lawmakers approved the plan and allotted each of the 67 school districts a pot of money aimed at boosting the pay. The state set aside $600 million: $500 million to raise starting salaries and $100 million to raise ...

Marion County School Board members urged parents and students to keep masking up and follow CDC recommendations after local health officials reported an in-school spread of COVID-19 cases for the first time. Until Tuesday night, board members have said that none of the cases involving students and staff appeared to have been from contact at school. Instead, those cases were likely contracted while the students and staff were at home. "I was informed today that there were several cases that (are likely) classroom spread at one of the high schools," Mark Lander, the Florida Department of ...