Equity and Inclusion

Several erased African American cemeteries were uncovered in Tampa Bay in the last few years, and the work to do right by those buried hasn’t stopped. 

A controversial bill in the Florida Legislature, dubbed the "don't say gay" bill by critics, has passed its first hurdle in the Senate after the Republican-dominated education committee voted to approve the measure along party lines.

A challenge to a controversial state law that bans transgender females from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams has been put on hold while another Florida case plays out in a federal appeals court.

If passed, women and girls in Florida would have up to 15 weeks, instead of 25 weeks, to decided to terminate a pregnancy, even in cases of rape and incest.

The Pasco County School Board approved nearly $1 million to help homeless and housing insecure students in the district. 

Decades ago, a site in one of Sarasota’s oldest African American communities was segregated housing. Now, it's a new affordable housing complex for seniors. Sarasota contributed more than $1.3 million in penny sales tax funds to make it happen. 

A Tampa teen has won her appeal in district court for the right to talk to a doctor about, and ultimately have a medical abortion without parental consent. Her original request was denied by a judge, based partially on "either a lack of intelligence or credibility."

A home in Sarasota's Rosemary District will soon carry the legacy of the city’s first Black community. Plans are in the works to transform it into an African American cultural arts center and history museum, but first the home has to be relocated.

Across the nation, events honoring the civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., are being held, including in the Tampa Bay region.

The city of Tampa announced new protections that are likely coming for forgotten and vulnerable cemeteries, many of which of historic African American burial sites.

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival (TBBHF) Music Fest is returning to Curtis Hixon Park this weekend.

Lawmakers in Florida are moving the state another step toward grappling with its history of racial segregation, specifically regarding Black-only cemeteries that were covered over or otherwise ignored.

For nearly 10 years, U.S. Army veteran Joseph Moore lived a double life -- attending secret meetings and participating in cross burnings while donning a white robe and hood with the Ku Klux Klan in north Florida. But he also wore something else: a wire for the FBI. He helped foil at least two murder plots and exposed Klan members working as law enforcement officers throughout Florida. And his efforts nearly got him killed.

A Bartow man never thought he would live to see the day that he would get such a prestigious accolade bestowed upon him. At 102, local golf icon Herbert Dixon just had the driving range at the Bartow Golf Course named after him.

Students are often at the helm of social change, and that’s what some Tampa Bay universities want to tap into through a new racial justice fellowship at the University of South Florida.

Some people are sitting in jail with bail amounts they just cannot pay, so the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida is fighting to get those bail amounts lowered.