“Do-nothing.” “Delusional.” That’s the way Republicans are talking about Nikki Fried and Val Demings, the top Democratic women running for governor and U.S. senator in next year’s elections, reflecting a concerted strategy of sexism and denigration with no factual basis.
Ron DeSantis
Made Invisible at DeSantis’s Pandemic Briefings, Surgeon General Scott Rivkees Will Remain as Surgeon General
Following a tumultuous two years filled with surges in Covid-19 cases, transparency issues and limited public appearances after being off-message at a DeSantis news conference, Scott Rivkees will stay on as Florida’s Surgeon General.
GOP and Democrats Agreed to $2 Million Increase in Poor’s Access to Contraception. DeSantis Vetoed It.
The Florida Catholic Conference–making false claims that have been repeatedly debunked, even by the National Catholic Reporter, about a particular contraceptive method– sent a letter May 12 to DeSantis requesting that he veto the funding.
The DeSantis Pandering Machine
DeSantis is the perfect public face of the GOP as it is now: Obsessed with hanging onto power, fact-averse, representing an ever-shrinking coalition, and loyal, not to the American public, but to the sad, strange old man who can’t accept that he lost.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried Enters Race for Governor, Citing Tallahassee’s ‘Rigged System’
Fried, an attorney and former medical-marijuana lobbyist who scored a narrow victory in 2018 to become the only statewide-elected Democrat, criticized Republicans’ two-decade hold on Florida government in a video announcing her gubernatorial campaign.
Gambling Deal With Seminole Tribe Could Open the Way for More Gambling Behemoths in Florida
The proposed compact with the Seminole Tribe — now awaiting DeSantis’ signature — could set the stage to allow casinos in other regions of the state, not just in South Florida.
Florida Is Shutting Off Federal Aid to Jobless, Returning Unemployed to Maximum of $275 a Week
Florida will cease distributing $300 per week in supplementary federal unemployment assistance next month, the official who supervises the state unemployment system announced on Monday, leaving jobless workers to scrape by on $275 per week.
Online Betting Is Out as Special Session Redefines $2.5 Billion Gambling Deal With Seminole Tribe
To ensure swift passage of the new compact, legislative leaders on Monday announced that DeSantis and the tribe had agreed to remove the provision requiring the state to negotiate with the tribe about online gambling.
DeSantis Signs Into Law Florida’s Largest Shift of Public Dollars to Private or Parochial Schools
The bill increases an income threshold to 375 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four making nearly $100,000 a year could qualify for vouchers. Also, it strips away current restrictions, such as a requirement of previous enrollment in public schools before students can receive vouchers.
DeSantis Touts ‘Rights and Liberties’ in Ditching Covid Restrictions; Health Experts Say That’s Dangerous
For doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, and many Florida residents at large, DeSantis’s elimination of covid restrictions across the state as of July 1 is scary or reckless. The pandemic is not over, and health experts continue to advocate for maintaining safety measures to prevent further outbreaks.
DeSantis Signs Bill Retrenching Voting Rights on ‘Fox & Friends’ as Opponents Immediately File Suit
DeSantis, who will be on the ballot in 2022 as he seeks a second term as governor, signed the bill (SB 90) on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends” after an event with supporters in West Palm Beach.
Charlie Crist Launches Bid to Reclaim Governorship
More than a decade after walking away from the governor’s office, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist launched a campaign Tuesday to try to unseat Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
Sharp Acceleration of Shifting Tax Dollars to Private Schools Clears Senate and Heads for DeSantis Signature
The proposal also would increase the maximum income eligibility to receive vouchers to 375 percent of the federal poverty level, meaning a family of four making nearly $100,000 a year would qualify.
Florida Senate Passes DeSantis-Priority Bill That Would Force Political Candidates’ Speech on Social Media Platforms
The bill, in part, would bar social-media companies from removing political candidates from the companies’ platforms. Companies that violate the prohibition could face fines of $100,000 a day for statewide candidates and $10,000 a day for other candidates.
Seminole Tribe Gets Control Over Sports Gambling Statewide in Exchange for $2.5 Billion Over 5 Years
Under the proposed compact, the Seminoles would serve as the state’s hub for online sports betting, with pari-mutuel operators contracting with the tribe. The deal would allow pari-mutuels that contract with the Seminoles to keep 60 percent of sports-betting revenue, with 40 percent going to the tribe.
Lawyers’ Group Sues DeSantis Over Protest-Crackdown Bill Two Days After He Signs It Into Law
Civil-rights attorneys are challenging a new set of state laws that establish a crime of “mob intimidation” and enhance penalties for riot-related violence and looting, arguing in a federal lawsuit that the measures unconstitutionally “seek to arrest the peaceful expression of free speech.”
Unlike Many Republican Leaders, Gov. DeSantis Says Yes to Getting Vaccinated
According to one survey in 22 states, Republicans were being vaccinated at a little more than half the rate for Democrats. The governor is 42, and so is included among the latest cohort to become eligible.
In Florida, Companies Will Be Shielded from Covid Lawsuits, Leaving Frontline Workers to Fend for Themselves
Opponents of the bill heading for Gov. DeSantis’s signature warn it will protect corporations more than people and offers no protections for front-line workers who contracted the virus while on the job. Employees are required to use the workers’ compensation insurance system for on-the-job injuries, but claims often are getting denied.
Anyone 50 and Over May Now Be Vaccinated in Florida
Last week, Florida lowered the age threshold from 65 to 60, but the governor said softening demand convinced him the state could go to 50. The development occurs a little more than a year after the novel coronavirus showed up in the state, as Florida topped 2 million cases of Covid-19.
‘Covid Passports’? Not in Florida, Governor Declares, Threatening Sanctions Against Companies That Try It
DeSantis this week suggested he may go after companies if they require customers to show proof that they are vaccinated, saying “it’s more than just a private decision.” The governor was referring to what have been called Covid-19 passports, a phenomenon gathering momentum abroad.
Gov. DeSantis Could Use a Civics Lesson on the Florida Constitution
Even as they push a $106 million proposal to improve civics education, our legislators and our governor persist in violating the Constitution by supporting legislation authorizing programs to send nearly $1 billion to private, religious schools in our state.
Florida GOP Rollback of Voting Rights Triggers Uproar Among County Election Supervisors
GOP legislative leaders are pushing changes to the state’s election process that Democrats are branding as “voter suppression,” county election officials “vehemently” oppose and experts say will “disproportionately” harm Black and Hispanic voters.
Lysenko, Stalin and Trump
On the one-year mark of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump’s malicious, politically motivated anti-science handling of a calamity that has killed more than half a million Americans so far recalls the alliance between fake Soviet scientist Trofim Lysenko and Stalin, which led to the death of millions.
In Spite: DeSantis Denies Pardon for World-Acclaimed Voting Rights Leader Desmond Mead
Meade said he is a victim of political infighting between DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat who, as a member of the state Board of Executive Clemency, put forward Meade’s application for a pardon in September and again on Wednesday.
DeSantis Holds Up Rush Limbaugh as Example in Opening of Conservative Conference
During a stemwinder that drew vigorous applause, DeSantis never mentioned Donald Trump, his political mentor, who is scheduled to address the conference over the weekend. DeSantis has yet to acknowledge publicly that Trump lost the election.
3 Months After Boasting of ‘Smoothest’ Election in 50 States, DeSantis Wants New Electoral Restrictions
DeSantis’ proposal would address the use of drop boxes to collect vote-by-mail ballots, prohibit volunteers from collecting many vote-by-mail ballots, require new signature standards on ballots, and prohibit counties from receiving grants from private organizations for “get out the vote” initiatives.
Kevin Guthrie, Flagler’s Former Emergency Manager, Will Take Over State Emergency Management
Guthrie changed the emergency management culture in Flagler, transforming a static division that had been reined in by the county administration and hampered by checkered leadership into an energetic, forward-looking division. But the administration thwarted his broader plans.
Tampa’s Mayor Faces Twin Challenges of a Covid-Era Super Bowl and Ron DeSantis
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, a Democrat who switched from the Republican Party in 2015 and a former Tampa police chief, would like to take stronger action to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But Gov. Ron DeSantis has limited what local officials can do.
Bill Would Require Regular Florida Cabinet Meetings
Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, wants the governor to call Cabinet meetings at least once every two months. Taddeo filed a measure (SB 642) on Thursday that backs arguments by state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who repeatedly expressed frustration last year about a lack of Cabinet meetings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
2 Covid Deaths Raise Flagler’s Total to 52; State Emergency Management Chief Rips Federal Vaccine Rollout
Bob Snyder, who heads the state-controlled Flagler County Health Department, said he expects some more doses next week, but he doesn’t know how many, while the head of state emergency management blamed the federal government’s rollout, detailing its obstacles, in unusually blunt language for a member of the DeSantis administration.
Covid Vaccine Now Available to 65 and Over at 4 Publix Stores in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach
Publix Supermarkets is making “a limited number of Covid-19 vaccines” available at four Publix stores in Flagler County starting now. But as has been the case with vaccines offered by local health departments in Flagler and elsewhere, all available vaccine appointments were snapped up as soon as they were made available.
Going Against CDC, DeSantis Orders Vaccine Priority for 65 and Older, Not Teachers and Other Essential Workers
The DeSantis order contradicts Centers for Disease Control guidelines issued on Tuesday that recommend that, once health care and long-term care workers and residents have received the vaccine, the next groups should not be defined only by age, but also by critical front-line jobs, including teachers and school employees, and underlying conditions.
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.”
‘Not For Me To Do,’ DeSantis Says of Congratulating Joe Biden
With Trump continuing to contest the results of last month’s election, DeSantis was asked Tuesday whether he would congratulate Biden. “It’s not for me to do,” DeSantis said.
FPC Principal Tom Russell Reveals Covid Diagnosis as Cases Rise and State Extends Remote School Option To June
Russell’s revelation occurs as cases in Flagler and in Florida are rising sharply and the surge cascading over much of the nation, now reaching catastrophic proportions in many states, is beginning to ripple in Florida, where the state agreed to extend remote-learning options in all schools through June.
DeSantis Wants Court to Deny Further Challenges to School-Reopening Orders Across Florida
Trying to end months of legal wrangling, the state is urging an appeals court to keep in place a decision that backed Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a fight about reopening schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Florida Fails to Attract Bidders for Canada Drug Import Program Trump and DeSantis Touted
No private firms bid on Florida’s $30 million contract to set up and operate a drug importation program. Bids were due at the end of September. The setback is likely to delay by at least several months Florida’s effort to become the first state to import drugs.
DeSantis Wants Ballot Drop Boxes Staffed. Elections Supervisors’ Attorney Says That’s Not the Law.
With supervisors encouraging Floridians to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of mail-in ballots has exploded. Due to uncertainty about the U.S. postal system, many voters are choosing to drop off their ballots rather than risk having them delivered too late to count. Florida mail-in ballots must be received by 7 p.m. Election Day to be counted.
Florida Jobless Claims Up Again to Highest Number in 4 Weeks Despite Lifted Restrictions as Layoffs Pile Up
First-time unemployment claims jumped last week to 40,200 in Florida, up from 32,400 the previous week, as a growing number of major entertainment and travel-related businesses, including Disney and Universal cut hours and lay off employees.
As Disney Lays Off 6,700 Due to Low Attendance, DeSantis Congratulates Himself on Reopening
In mid-September, Universal Orlando extended furloughs of 5,398 workers at least six more months and SeaWorld of Florida announced it would lay off 1,896 of its previously furloughed workers.
DeSantis Lifts All Restrictions on Restaurants and Businesses and Prohibits Local Constraints
DeSantis is decoupling for good the connection between science and public health on one hand and the economy on the other, opting exclusively for a focus on business measures in hopes of spurring consumer confidence. That confidence, however, continues to lag as individuals’ apprehensions continue to drive behavior.
Bloomberg Seeks to Pay Felons’ Outstanding Fines So They Can Vote. DeSantis Wants Him Investigated.
Attorney General Moody at the request of DeSantis asked the FBI and FDLE to investigate Bloomberg raising at least $16 million for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, contending it could be a violation of state laws against offering incentives to people or groups in exchange for voting in a particular manner.
DeSantis Calls for Criminalizing Numerous Acts By Protesters While Protecting Those Who Hurt Them
DeSantis, a staunch supporter of Trump, calls for new felony crimes when property is damaged or when people are injured as a result of protests while drivers would not be liable for injuries or deaths “caused if fleeing for safety from a mob.”
After Briefly Defying Judicial Order, DeSantis Names Orange County’s Jamie Grosshans to Supreme Court
Jamie Grosshans was appointed to the 5th District Court of Appeals in 2018 by then-Gov. Rick Scott after serving as an Orange County judge, will be the only woman on the seven-member Supreme Court.
Unanimous Supreme Court Says DeSantis Violated ‘Constitution’s Clear Commands’ and Rejects His Pick
In a rebuke to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected his selection of a circuit judge to serve on the Supreme Court and gave the governor until noon Monday to appoint another candidate from a list of nominees offered early this year.
Renatha Francis’s Appointment to Florida Supreme Court Draws Renewed Challenge
Rep. Geraldine Thompson’s attorneys challenged the constitutionality of the appointment and contended that the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission should provide a revamped list of candidates to DeSantis.
Flagler’s Covid Cases top 400, Two More at Long-Term Care Facilities; Palm Coast Eyes Mask Mandate Like New Smyrna Beach’s
Covid-19 cases in Flagler spiked in the last 24 hours by 18 cases, one of the largest-single-day spikes, as the Palm Coast City Council this evening considers a mask mandate, but it carries no penalties for violators.
Flagler Sets New Infection Record With 90 in a Week, Florida Sets New Single-Day Record With 11,458
Flagler’s total broke the previous record of 61 set at the end of April, with almost half the county’s cumulative total infections occurring since Phase 2 reopening. Palm Coast Mayor Holland still intends to pursue a mask mandate after administrative officials on Friday said they would not.
DeSantis Signs Abortion Parental Consent Law 31 Years After Court Struck Down Similar Measure
The Republican-dominated Legislature has passed a series of bills over the years aimed at placing more restrictions on abortions. For example, lawmakers in 2015 passed a measure that required a 24-hour waiting period before women could have abortions. That law has been tangled in a legal battle.
DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Local Governments from Regulating Sunscreens, Cosmetics and Drugs
Opponents criticized the bill as an attack on local home-rule authority, while also raising concerns about coral reefs. It was one of 18 bills DeSantis signed in to law Monday.