State and local law enforcement agencies in Tallahassee are bracing for potential protests at the Florida Capitol this weekend and early next week, although officials say there are no specific threats right now.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
Ask the Doctor: Securing Your 2nd Vaccine Dose, Why So Little Supply, Death or Adverse Reactions
Dr. Stephen Bickel answers questions about the short supply of Covid vaccines, the potency of the first shot and what happens if the second shot is delayed, where to get the second shot, and specific questions on the vaccine’s content, adverse reactions and other issues.
A Tale of Two Mobs
The second mob includes the eight Republican senators and 139 House Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election, as well as the 17 Republican attorneys general who supported a bogus lawsuit to throw out the election.
Stetson University Receives Nearly $1 Million National Science Foundation Grant for STEM
The National Science Foundation officially awarded Stetson $999,823 for a project titled Cohort-Based Interdisciplinary Learning to Increase Retention and Graduation Rates of Undergraduate Students in Science, Technology and Mathematics.
Leading Senate Republican Says DeSantis Hasn’t Been Forthcoming About Flawed Vaccine Rollout
Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, said during a meeting of the Senate Health Policy Committee that there is statewide frustration over the vaccine rollout and that DeSantis administration officials need to provide the public with a “clear direction” about the state’s plans.
FPL Wants to Raise Rates 15% Over Next 4 Years and Raise $2 Billion
Florida Power & Light customers in Flagler County and elsewhere paying $99 now for 1,000 kilowatts per hour of electricity each month would pay $114 a month in 2025, based on a proposal FPL submitted Monday.
Ask the Doctor: Visions of Vaccines Dance In Our Heads
FlaglerLive today is fortunate and proud to be launching the “Ask the Doctor” column, by Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director at the Flagler and Volusia Counties Health Departments. You are invited to submit your Covid, vaccine and other medical-related questions. Dr. Bickel will answer them here on a regular basis.
State Investigating Whether Members of Palm Beach Country Club Got Preferential Vaccine Treatment
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that MorseLife made the vaccinations “available not just to its residents but to board members and those who made generous donations to the facility, including members of the Palm Beach Country Club, according to multiple people who were offered access, some of whom accepted it.”
In 1st Loss Since April, Economy Sheds 140,000 Jobs as Pandemic Worsens and Vaccines Lag
After seven months of gains that had recovered more than half the jobs lost in spring, the national economy lost 140,000 jobs in December as the coronavirus pandemic worsened and efforts to contain it failed, with a president largely absent from governance and leadership since before the election.
Trump’s Fascism and Republican Responsibility
By the time Trump was spitting sedition and inciting violence Wednesday he’d had five years of encouragement from the same Republican charlatans who would later stand on the floors of the Senate and the House to declare themselves shocked, shocked that the rioters they’d courted had desecrated and bloodied their little sanctum.
As Rollout Criticism of DeSantis Grows, 22 Publix Stores Will Provide Covid Vaccine, None Near Flagler
The state is directing 15,000 vaccine doses to 22 Publix stores across the three Central Florida counties as the administration works to increase the number of locations where people age 65 and older can go to receive inoculations. DeSantis’ announcement comes amid a wave of criticism about the governor’s handling of the vaccine rollout.
Teachers and School Staff Will Still Not Be Prioritized for Covid Vaccine, DeSantis Says
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices lists teachers and school employees as part of roughly 30 million “frontline essential workers” who should be prioritized for vaccinations. But DeSantis has repeatedly said that his focus is on Florida’s seniors.
Is the Hobbled Distribution of Vaccines the Biggest Trump Screw Up Yet?
Some 7.7 million first doses of vaccines have been shipped to date (two million shots have been given), with a target of 16 million by the end of the year. This is warp speed?
Questions Remain About Added Jobless Benefits for Floridians
Questions remained Wednesday about when extended unemployment benefits from a newly signed federal stimulus package will be available for Floridians out of work because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ending Trump’s Lies About Immigrants
“Relative to undocumented immigrants, U.S.-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes,” a study finds.
New Laws Take Effect This Week: School Bus Safety, Politicians’ Ethics, Voting Equipment
New laws enact a voter-approved prohibition on public officials and employees using their offices to benefit themselves and fines for driving past stopped school buses and focus on insurance policy statements and election equipment used for recounts.
Stimulus Bill Is a Welcome Stopgap, But Not Nearly Enough
The Covid-19 relief bill will help, but much more needs to be done to combat the pandemic and make the country stronger in the face of future crises.
As Biden Gets Sworn In, White House Will Get Deepest Scrub-Down
The General Services Administration will oversee a thorough cleaning and disinfection of every doorknob, toilet handle, light switch, stair railing, telephone, elevator button, computer keyboard and other objects inside the 55,000-square-foot mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Fired Analyst Rebekah Jones Sues FDLE Over Search of Her Home
Attorneys for fired Florida Department of Health analyst Rebekah Jones, who has drawn national attention for her battles with the DeSantis administration, argued in the lawsuit that a search warrant to enter her home Dec. 7 “was obtained in bad faith and with no legitimate object or purpose.”
In Predominantly Black Hospital, Only a Third of Employees Sign Up for Covid Vaccine
Although hesitancy toward the vaccine is a challenge nationally, it’s a significant problem among Black adults because of their generations-long distrust of the medical community and racial inequities in health care.
Positive News Only: How China’s Army of Paid Internet Trolls Helped Censor the Coronavirus
As the coronavirus spread in China, the government stage-managed what appeared on the domestic internet to make the virus look less severe and the authorities more capable, according to thousands of leaked directives and other files.
Agriculture Commissioner Raises Alarms Over EPA Shifting Federal Wetlands Regulations to Florida
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, and some environmental groups criticized the decision, saying it will reduce protections for wetlands. They also pointed to the announcement’s timing as Republican President Donald Trump is slated to leave office next month.
AdventHealth Marks ‘Milestone Week’ of Covid-19 Vaccinations
Capping a fast-moving and historic week in medical history, AdventHealth leaders shared optimism, celebrated triumphs, and continued their focus on administering vaccines to help conquer Covid-19.
Florida Lawmakers Again Will Consider Requiring Moment of Silence in Schools
An effort to require public-school students to engage in a moment of silence at the start of each school day is back before the state Legislature. Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, refiled legislation (SB 282) on Thursday that would require principals to direct first-period teachers to set aside one to two minutes for “quiet reflection.”
‘Each Day Matters’: Covid Vaccinations Start at Nursing Homes in Florida
Florida received 179,400 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week. About 100,000 were sent to five Florida hospitals, and tens of thousands of doses went to CVS and Walgreens, which signed agreements with the federal government to vaccinate residents and staff members at long-term care facilities.
Florida’s Medicaid Costs and Enrollment Are Spiraling in Pandemic, Posing Challenge for State Budget
Economists projected that Medicaid costs in the current fiscal year, which started July 1, will total $31.6 billion, which is about 19 percent higher than during the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Florida Electors Back Trump And Hold Out Hope For Victory Despite Crushing Evidence
Biden was lined up to receive 306 votes to 232 for Trump, whose campaign has lost dozens of legal challenges to the voting process and election results. Trump won Florida’s 29 electoral votes by beating Biden by more than three percentage points in the state on Nov. 3.
Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for Scarce Covid Vaccine
An advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that top priority go to long-term care facilities and front-line health care workers, but the early allocation was always expected to fall far short of the need and require selective screening even among critical hospital workers.
Grand Jury Rips Florida’s Mental Health System, Citing ‘Deficiencies in Funding, Leadership and Services’
The statewide grand jury studying school safety said in the report that it is “clear to us that inadequately addressed mental health issues have the peculiar potential to spiral out over time into criminal acts and violent behavior resulting in serious injury and loss of life.”
Democrats Attack DeSantis Handling of Covid as Unemployment Claims, Cases and Deaths Rise
Democratic senators renewed pleas for the governor’s office to provide more data about the impact of the virus on the state’s health-care industry and to lift a limitation on the ability of local governments to enforce coronavirus regulations such as mask mandates.
Florida Joins 45 States in Lawsuit Accusing Facebook of Exploiting Its Dominance
The states’ lawsuit, also joined by Guam and the District of Columbia, focuses in part on Facebook’s acquisitions of message-sharing app WhatsApp and photo-sharing app Instagram, transactions the lawsuit alleges were predatory because the apps “each posed a unique and dire threat to Facebook’s monopoly” in the social-networking sphere.
Talk of Stimulus: Cancel All Student Debt
Research by the Federal Reserve and the Levy Economics Institute shows that debt cancellation would boost the national economy. Freed up from these financial burdens, former debt holders would have more buying power just when we and they need it most.
Appeals Court Tosses GOP Challenge to Mask Mandate in Leon, But Doesn’t Address Constitutional Issues
Throughout the pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate. He also issued an executive order in September that suspended collection of fines and penalties related to violations of mask requirements, but that did not prevent local governments from continuing to have the requirements.
State Police Raid Home of Rebekah Jones, Ex-Florida Health Department Whistleblower on Covid Stats
Rebekah Jones was fired earlier this year after complaining that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration was manipulating Covid-19 data to make the virus appear less prevalent as the governor pushed to reopen Florida’s economy.
Alcohol To Go With Food Orders Could Become Permanent Allowance After Covid
Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, separately filed measures that would allow a business holding a state alcohol license to sell or deliver spirited beverages by the package for off-site consumption. The proposals would require the liquid to be in a sealed container and to be part of a food order.
Enough with ‘Patently False and Fabricated Conspiracy Theories’ on 2020 Vote, a GOP Elections Supervisor Says
Pasco County Elections Supervisor Brian Corley, a Republican, condemns continuing attacks on the integrity of the presidential election– the most secure, transparent election in history, he says, now undermined by “destructive rhetoric” that is “prioritizing politics at the expense of our country’s founding principles.”
Covid Justice: Florida Court Rules Zoom Hearings Don’t Violate Defendants’ Constitutional Rights
In a legal test of remote court proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic, an appeals court Wednesday rejected arguments that using Zoom technology in a probation-violation hearing would violate a defendant’s constitutional rights.
Unemployment Payments Are Weeks Late in Florida and in Nearly Every State
A federal standard requires 87% of unemployment claims to be met within three weeks of filing. Florida wasn’t ,meeting the standard even before the pandemic, and since spring, saw the standard fall as low as 22 percent. Florida’s dismal record prompted a lawsuit.
Court Refuses to Revisit School Reopening Ruling, Leaving State’s In-Person Preference in Place
An appeals court Monday refused to reconsider a decision that backed Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a legal battle about the state’s push this summer to reopen schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
We Need a Crisis-Proof Safety Net for Parents
The collapse of child care and traditional schooling is having a devastating effect on women in particular. Part of the problem is just plain sexism. But another part is more complicated.
Trump’s Suicide Bomber Act
Liberals would be fools to think the election was a turning point. The next four years will be as much a trial of democracy as the last four, just more diffuse, the cancer cells of Trumpism poisoning states and localities, as we’ve already seen locally in the last couple of years. Not the America we know? If you’ve been paying attention since 1980, it’s exactly the America we know.
Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence of St. Johns’ James Terry Colley Jr. in Double-Murder
Justices unanimously rejected an appeal by James Terry Colley, Jr., who was convicted of killing his estranged wife, Amanda Cloaninger Colley, as she tried to hide from him in a bathroom of her home. He also was convicted of murdering Lindy Dobbins, who was hiding behind a chest in a closet when she was shot, according to the Supreme Court opinion.
Black Voters Saved Our Democracy
Joe Biden may have won the presidency. But so too did white supremacy, xenophobia, and corruption. And as the violent pro-Trump protests that broke out in the capital recently show, we are indeed a nation divided.
Stanley C. Drescher, 1931-2020
Stanley C. Drescher, 88, Flagler Beach’s One and Only Poet Laureate passed away on Friday, August 14, 2020
Finally Confronting Warming, Florida Lawmakers Set to Address Rising Seas and Flooding Systematically
Florida lawmakers’ new perspectives and readiness to more directly tackle the crisis represented a further evolution in the position of Florida Republicans about climate change. But environmentalists said the GOP leaders are not going far enough.
State Attorney Will Seek Death Penalty for Derrek Perkins in Stabbing Murder of Wife Brandi in Hastings
The victim, a resident of Green Cove Springs who worked at a restaurant in St. Augustine, had filed an injunction against Derrek the day before the stabbing and after several intimidating and threatening incidents involving him.
11th Circuit Upholds Firing of Sandy Hook Massacre Denier and Florida Atlantic University Professor
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected James Tracy’s First Amendment arguments that he was fired in retaliation for views posted on a blog. The panel upheld a jury’s decision on the First Amendment issue and a district judge’s rulings against Tracy on other issues.
The Trump Campaign Can’t Find a Judge Who Will Ignore Facts — but It’s Trying
The Trump campaign’s legal strategy has come down to this: Even as judges dismiss lawsuits as baseless, it files nearly identical ones in new courts, hoping for more favorable judges. Failure has not slowed it down.
Warrantless Search of Car’s GPS Data Is Constitutional, Florida Appeals Court Rules
The ruling by a panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Brandon Joshua Bailey that the GPS evidence, which was obtained without a warrant, should be suppressed and his first-degree murder conviction should be overturned.
From Bogus Cures to ‘Frontline Doctors’: When False Covid Information Goes Viral
False or unverified information spreading through online support groups and by way of conspiracy theorists mislead patients, undermine trust in science and medicine in general, and lead to reckless behavior that exacerbates the pandemic’s toll.