• Will More Training Prevent Redneck Officers from Killing Black Youths? 

Improving training and operating standards for juvenile boot camps with an act named for Martin Lee Anderson would be a fitting memorial to the teenager who died after his videotaped beating at a Bay County boot camp, members of the legislative black caucus said Friday. The lawmakers also announced plans for two events focusing public attention on the events of Jan. 5, when guards kneed and punched the boy. Florida A&M and Florida State University students have organized a forum on the case Wednesday, and a mass rally is set for April 21 in the Capitol courtyard. State Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said the House "took a bold step" by naming the reform legislation "The Martin Lee Anderson Act of 2006."  The bill requires staff training and uniform standards for restraint and use of force. Sens. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, said they will push the bill (HB 5019) hard in the Senate when lawmakers return from the Passover-Easter break on April 17. [more]

• Chief says his hands were tied on camp's use of force. Florida's juvenile justice chief says there was little he could have done to intervene in the aggressive use of force on kids at a juvenile boot camp, prompting a lawmaker to question his honesty. [more]
  
• Pictured above: Boot-camp case stirs students - FAMU, FSU students call for justice at forum [more]