The Florida Senate's first order of business Wednesday: honoring Florida International University's football team for its first Sun Belt championship.
The resolution honors the Golden Panthers for its title at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, where the team defeated the University of Toledo 34-32.
All the players' names were read out in the Senate chambers on the same day an FIU delegation -- including President Mark Rosenberg and a group of students, faculty and trustees -- are visiting the Capitol to lobby for issues important to the public university. Also among the FIU guests in the Senate gallery: football coach Mario Cristobal and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton.
The resolution also recognized the murder last year of running back Kendall Berry, who was stabbed to death near the campus Recreation Center.
The resolution was moved forward by Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican who works as the university's director of community partnerships. "These young men will go down in history," she said. "This is a team that has come a very long way."
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