Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
As students get ready to head back to the classroom, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced new eligibility guidelines for free and reduced-price meals in Florida schools.
The guidelines apply to school children whose families are unable to pay full price for meals or milk served under the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, and Special Milk Programs. They will be in effect through July 1, 2024.
The income cap for free meals is 130% of the federal poverty line, which is $39,000 for a four-person household. The threshold for reduced-price meals is 185% of the federal poverty line, or $55,500 for a family of four. A guidelines table that includes caps for smaller and larger households is available via the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To enroll in the program, parents or guardians must fill out an application, which will be provided to all households with school-age children. FDACS stressed that households must answer all applicable questions on the form — schools may not process or approve incomplete paperwork.
For households enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families” (TANF) for any child or other household member, they need only to list the child’s name and SNAP or TANF case number and sign the application.
All other applicants must list the names of all household members, all pre-tax household income from the prior month and the source of the income received by each household member. Applications must include the signature of an adult household member as well as the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Information on the applications is confidential and households may apply at any time during the school year.
Evening Reads
—“Ron DeSantis has discovered no one likes a copycat” via Jack Shafer of POLITICO
—“DeSantis spokesman used to love vaccines and Anthony Fauci” via Kelly Weill of The Daily Beast
—“DeSantis summons the ghost of Ronald Reagan” via Noah Rothman of National Review
—”Orlando Magic donates $50,000 to DeSantis super PAC” via Judd Legum, Tesnim Zekeria and Rebecca Crosby
—“DeSantis suggests Donald Trump can’t get a fair trial in D.C. ‘Swamp’” via Anjali Huynh of The New York Times
—”How strong are the newest criminal charges against Trump?” via Ian Millhiser of Vox
—”Is this the indictment that really hurts Trump?” via Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight
—”This is the case” via Tom Nichols of The Atlantic
—“Trump extremists make new calls to hang Mike Pence: ‘Watch his toes dangle’” via Tim Dickinson and Jana Winter of Rolling Stone
—“What to know about the first Republican presidential debate — and who qualified” via Li Zhou of Vox
—”Florida veered from norms to strip transgender care from Medicaid, records show” via Emily L. Mahoney and Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times
—”The only lesbian bar in Florida: How The Lady’s Room in Largo hangs on” via Aisha Baiocchi and Maddy Franklin of the Tampa Bay Times
Quote of the Day
“A D.C. jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict a ham sandwich if it was a Republican ham sandwich.”
— Gov. Ron DeSantis, during an interview on Wednesday’s “Faulkner Focus.”
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
