Protesters rally at MCO to support immigrant, Muslim communities:
In the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, almost a thousand people gathered at Orlando International Airport over the weekend to stand with Muslim and immigrant communities. Trump's executive order suspends entry of all refugees into the country for 120 days and bars Syrian refugees indefinitely. Citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen will be blocked from entry into the U.S. for 90 days. Four federal judges ruled against the order signed by Trump, and at least one granted an emergency stay for citizens of the seven countries who were already here and people who are in transit and hold valid visas. In Orlando, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto helped with the release of three people being held under the executive order.
Orlando passes new drone rules:
Against the wishes of enthusiasts and lobbyists, the City Beautiful approved a new ordinance that prohibits flying drones within 500 feet of city-owned parks and buildings, schools, venues, theme parks and gatherings of more than 1,000 people. You can get a permit per flight ($20) or per year ($150). Violating the ordinance can incur a fine of $200 to $400.
Florida lawmakers push for fracking ban:
Florida Sen. Dana Young, a Tampa Republican, and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers introduced a measure last week to ban all types of fracking, including hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting gas and oil from underground by injecting water, sand and chemicals into rock formations. That's quite a reversal from last year, when Young and other Republicans supported a measure in the Florida House that would have created a regulatory framework for fracking in Florida and pre-empted local governments from imposing their own bans or regulations opposing the practice. The 2016 measure passed the House but was killed in the Senate.
Sarasota lawmaker breaks up gun proposal into smaller parts:
State Sen. Greg Steube intends to advance his proposals to allow people with concealed weapons licenses to openly carry firearms, to carry concealed firearms on college campuses, and to carry firearms at airport terminals as separate pieces of legislation. With the Republican's proposal broken down into about 10 parts, it'll be a lot more work for gun reform advocates to quell these measures and pass their own proposals.
