A Pennsylvania school board that's banned books, Pride flags and transgender athletes has awarded their superintendent a $700,000 severance package before power changes hands next month.

The Texas education board has approved new textbooks but called on some publishers to change their depictions of fossil fuels in the U.S.'s biggest oil and gas state.

The potential sale of the Kohl’s department store chain has fallen apart in a shaky retail environment of rising inflation and consumer anxiety.

A unanimous Supreme Court has ruled against an elected public college official in Texas who complained his colleagues’ censure of his actions violated his free speech rights.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville City Council member is proposing an independent citizen review board. City Councilman Garrett Dennis said he feels the board would help create a better relationship between the community and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Dennis said the board would consist of 15 members, 14 of whom would be selected by council members. The board would also include a JSO officer. Dennis said the board would participate in ridealongs with JSO and review cases that have been closed, including officer-involved shootings and excessive force.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Children’s Christmas Party of Jacksonville on Wednesday announced a change of plan for distributing toys to children in the Jacksonville area during December. LINK: Children’s Christmas Party of Jacksonville“We wish we could hold our event as usual with thousands of Jacksonville’s good people coming together to celebrate Christmas, however, this new method of toy distribution by our charity was a needed compromise in a year experiencing a public health crisis,” Diane Halverson, executive director of The Children’s Christmas Party, said in a prepared statement. This would have been the 22nd year for the event put on by The Children’s Christmas Party of Jacksonville nonprofit. FROM THE VAULT: First Children’s Christmas Party in 1999But the tradition of Christmas toys for Jacksonville children in need goes back decades -- to the start of the Dorcas Drake Christmas Party in the 1950s. The Children’s Christmas Party nonprofit hopes to have an in-person distribution in 2021.

The board is intended to rule on thorny content issues, such as when Facebook or Instagram posts constitute hate speech. If those tests go to plan, the board said it would start accepting and reviewing appeals from users in mid to late October. The board was initially expected to start operating in early 2020 but the launch was delayed. It will start by hearing appeals from users whose content has been taken down by Facebook before expanding to appeals from users who want the company to remove content. Facebook can also refer cases to the board on its own.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A newly formed group is calling on Duval County Public Schools to require masks in buildings, postpone the school year until after the Republican National Convention and many other changes to the district’s reopening plan. The congregation of parents and stakeholders from around the Duval County School District formed the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team on Friday and brought a litany of concerns to the school board during its special meeting Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, the School Board agreed to spend more than $4 million through the district’s COVID-19 fund to purchase and install 120,000 desk partitions. RELATED: Duval school board approves plan to buy desk barriers for studentsThe congregation believes every grade level, including middle and high school, should have the full-time option to keep learning virtually. Additionally, the group believes middle and high school students should also have an option to be at school full-time, saying that school is a safe haven for many students in troubled homes.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Amid renewed calls for the renaming of schools dedicated to Confederate civil war figures, the Duval County Public School Board voted Tuesday night to explore changing the names of six schools. The unanimous vote came after a letter from School Board Chairman Warren Jones recommending the board approve the renaming of J.E.B. Stuart Middle School, Stonewall Jackson Elementary School, Joseph Finegan Elementary School, Jefferson Davis Middle School, Edmund Kirby Smith Middle School and Robert E. Lee High School. In 2013, the Duval County school board voted unanimously to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, later renaming it Westside High School. Demonstrators stood outside the Duval County School Board building before the meeting, holding signs, urging the district to take action.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board voted Tuesday evening in favor of the purchase of 143,000 reusable face masks to distribute to all students, faculty and staff in the district. The mask policy will next be reviewed by the school board after Dr. Diana Greene -- the school superintendent -- and staff have reviewed CDC protocols for returning students to face to face instruction. A spokesperson for the school district noted that the board voted on a recommendation to purchase the masks, but not to require students and staff to wear them. Your child returns with all students on Aug. 10 to a regular full-time schedule, as usual. Your child returns with all students after Labor Day with personal protection equipment and handwashing protocols.

In unexpected move, Board opts to terminate Dykes without cause. If you need help with WJXT’s or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801.

In unexpected move, Board opts to terminate Dykes without cause. If you need help with WJXT’s or WCWJ's FCC public inspection file, call (904) 393-9801.

Clay County school leaders clash over a lawsuit filed after City Commissioners rejected the Board's vote to have a sales tax hike put on the ballotCopyright 2019 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.