Gulf Coast Life

Recent incidents of police violence have brought what’s called Qualified Immunity into the public discourse. Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine established by U.S. Supreme Court precedent that grants police officers immunity from civil lawsuits unless the plaintiff shows that the officer violated clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. We learn more about how qualified immunity plays out in the real world with Dr. David Thomas, Professor of Forensic Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, Senior Research Fellow at the National Police Foundation, and a former law enforcement officer.

On this episode of the Gulf Coast Life Book Club, we hear from Lauren Hough, author of the NYT bestselling essay collection Leaving Isn't The Hardest Thing, and Elizabeth McCracken, whose new collection of short stories is The Souvenir Museum.

State lawmakers ended Florida’s 2021 annual legislative session, Friday, after passing a record $101.5 billion budget. Much of Governor Ron DeSantis’ priority measures did pass during this year’s session. We’ll get a closer analysis of what passed, what didn’t and what it all means for Floridians going forward are Florida Gulf Coast University Political Science professors Peter Bergerson, Ph.D., and Roger Green, Ph.D.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark passed away last month on April 9 at the age of 93. Clark served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He supervised the drafting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. We get some insight into who Ramsey Clark was and the long life he lived with Fort Myers resident Woody Hanson. Hanson is a doctoral candidate in history at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. His dissertation 'Liberal Democracy & Radical Dissent’ connected him with Ramsey Clark for the past three years because Clark plays a central role in it.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that will expand legal protections for agricultural operations. Passed by both the Florida House and Senate, the bill (SB 88) expands the state’s 1979 “Right to Farm” law and will shield the agriculture industry from what they consider nuisance lawsuits.

Dr. Ella Mae Piper, an African American woman born in Georgia in 1884, moved to Fort Myers in 1915 and immediately opened businesses including a beauty salon and a soda bottling company. Her entrepreneurial spirit formed the foundation of a life focused on philanthropy and community building — including the Dr. Piper Center for Social Services that has supported low-income seniors, frail elderly, at-risk youth, and special needs children since 1976.

On Thursday, May 6 the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership is hosting the 2021 Southwest Florida Climate Summit. It’s a free, virtual, daylong event featuring interactive audience question and answer sessions with experts, to exchange ideas on how best to expand southwest Florida’s capacity to respond to climate challenges, and to build climate resilience.

As Charlotte County prepares to celebrate its centennial this Friday, April 23 we meet publisher and historian, James Abraham, to talk about his new book “Century: A People’s History of Charlotte County” that expands upon existing historical accounts by providing a narrative and historical overview of some of the lesser known people and moments that shaped the county’s history since its founding.

A feature story in the April issue of National Geographic magazine highlights the importance of a network of public and private lands that runs throughout the state called the Florida Wildlife Corridor — and the crucial role it plays to help ensure Florida wildlife’s long-term survival. It features stunning photographs of the endangered Florida panther. Our guest today spent more than five years working to collect those images.

Over the past year or so the term critical race theory has begun entering the public discourse. Former-president Donald Trump described it as "divisive and un-American propaganda," and Governor Ron DeSantis’s proposed civics curriculum would explicitly exclude CRT in Florida. We get an overview of what critical race theory is and where it fits into academia with Dr. Ted Thornhill, Director of the Florida Gulf Coast University Center for Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, and Associate Professor of Sociology; and Dr. Victor Ray, Assistant Professor of sociology at University of Iowa.