As expected, Florida's "academic freedom" bill died on Friday, when the legislative session ended. The Senate had passed a bill with language that would protect teachers who raised doubts and questions about evolution, but when the bill came before the House, it added stronger language that went so far as to require teachers to present a "critical analysis"of evolution. This language, which had already been firmly rejected by the Senate once, was again rejected by the Senate on Thursday.
This sent the bill back to the House, which failed to pass the Senate's version, and no compromise was reached before the spring session closed at the end of last week. "Academic freedom" bills are still alive in a number of other states, however, such as Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, and Michigan. —Heather Wax