{"id":40937,"date":"2024-01-13T12:28:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=40937"},"modified":"2024-01-13T12:28:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:28:54","slug":"sunshine-state-shuns-starving-kids-floridas-no-thanks-to-fed-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/01\/13\/sunshine-state-shuns-starving-kids-floridas-no-thanks-to-fed-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine State Shuns Starving Kids: Florida&#8217;s &#8220;No Thanks&#8221; to Fed Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twp.llc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.particlenews.com\/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1DbHSZ_0qjGhfoO00\" alt=\"https:\/\/img.particlenews.com\/image.php?url=1DbHSZ_0qjGhfoO00\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Heading: A Hunger Game Floridians Didn&#8217;t Sign Up For<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a move that has more twists than a Florida hurricane, Governor Ron DeSantis, along with his GOP cohorts, said a big, fat &#8220;no&#8221; to Uncle Sam&#8217;s offer of $248 million. Why? To feed hungry kids during the summer. Yes, you read that right. In the Sunshine State, where tans are deep but pockets seemingly aren&#8217;t, DeSantis and the Florida Department of Children and Families turned their backs on federal funds that could provide $40 per child to families eligible for EBT benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subheading: Starvation Politics: The New Low<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myfloridahouse.gov\/api\/document\/house?Leaf=HouseContent\/HouseMinorityOffice\/Lists\/Press%20Releases\/Attachments\/1319\/FOR%20IMMEDIATE%20RELEASE_%20Rep%20Hart%20Reacts%20to%20Governors%20Rejection%20of%20Federal%20Funds%20to%20Feed%20Hungry%20Children.pdf\">Representative Dianne Hart, who chairs the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, didn&#8217;t mince words, calling the rejection &#8220;sickening.<\/a>&#8221; And why not? With over half a million kids in Florida not knowing where their next meal is coming from, this decision hits harder than a Miami heatwave. A spokesperson for the Department, in a classic bureaucratic ballet, claimed they &#8220;don\u2019t need the money, because it comes with strings.&#8221; Yes, the horrendous string of feeding children!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subheading: A Financial Fumble or a Political Ploy?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, here&#8217;s the kicker. Florida apparently can&#8217;t afford the $12 million matching fund requirement, despite sitting on a dragon&#8217;s hoard of $16.8 billion in reserves. Hart&#8217;s burning question looms large: &#8220;How can you trust someone to run the country, when they can\u2019t even be trusted to feed the starving children in their state?&#8221; A question worth pondering over your next $5 latte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Summary: A Question of Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a state where alligators roam free and rocket launches are routine, feeding hungry children during summer shouldn&#8217;t be rocket science. Yet, here we are. Floridians are left wondering if their governor&#8217;s priorities are more in line with political posturing than with the rumbling bellies of children. Food for thought, indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heading: A Hunger Game Floridians Didn&#8217;t Sign Up For In a move that has more twists than a Florida hurricane, Governor Ron DeSantis, along with his GOP cohorts, said a&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[7274],"class_list":["post-40937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-sunshine-state-shuns-starving-kids-floridas-no-thanks-to-fed-funds"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40939,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40937\/revisions\/40939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}