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Counties’ plans to reopen vacation rentals are designed to discourage customers from COVID hot spots
Five counties, all in the Panhandle, have won state approval for plans to reopen vacation rentals ahead of Memorial Day, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has announced. But customers from COVID-19 hot spots should plan at least a two-week booking. That’s because when Gov. Ron DeSantis reversed his ban on vacation rentals, […]
Gov. DeSantis frustrated, under pressure as thousands of jobless Floridians await benefits
Under increasing pressure to pay out claims to jobless Floridians and fix the state’s broken unemployment system, Gov. Ron DeSantis is now lashing out at the media. He’s also facing Democrats in the Florida Senate, who are doing daily tracking of how many Floridians are still not getting paid from what has become a nightmare […]
Gov. DeSantis: Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 ‘wasn’t anything we ever endorsed’
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday defended the state’s acquisition of 1 million doses of the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients despite questions about its efficacy and safety. “What I’ve said from the beginning is, I’m not a doctor. I’ve had physicians say they’ve had positive clinical results,” the governor said during a news conference. […]
Gov. DeSantis is often secretive about his whereabouts, leaving reporters and taxpayers in the dark
Lawton Chiles was missing. It was April 1992, and Bill Sadowski, head of the state’s growth management agency, had gone down in a state-owned plane in St. Augustine and been killed along with the pilot, but nobody knew where to find the governor right away. Chiles, the last Democrat to sit in Florida’s governor’s mansion, […]
Gyms to reopen and service to expand in restaurants and shops Monday under new COVID rules
Florida on Monday will move into “full Phase 1” of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to gradually reopen the economy, in which retail stores and restaurants may operate at half capacity, gyms will reopen, and perhaps professional sports teams will be allowed to open training. “Some of the things that we could have done but didn’t […]
Miami-Dade, Broward, to see eased COVID restrictions despite widespread infections and deaths
Miami-Dade and Broward, the counties with the largest numbers of infections and deaths that became the center of the coronavirus pandemic in Florida, will begin easing COVID-19 restrictions on businesses on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday. Whether residents and pubic health experts will go along with the plan isn’t clear, given the large number […]
COVID-19 highlights a particular vulnerability for Florida: Its regressive tax system
One of the lures that attracted tens of millions of newcomers to Florida since World War II — other than the beaches, warm weather, and all that — is its status as a low-tax haven. Especially its lack of a state income tax and moderate property taxes. That’s hurting us as the state makes its […]
Good idea or grave concern? Palm Beach County to ‘reopen’ Monday, despite large numbers of infections and deaths
Gov. Ron DeSantis will allow Palm Beach County to join most of the rest of Florida Monday in opening businesses at reduced capacity and indicated that Broward and Miami-Dade counties might soon follow. The decision came notwithstanding Florida Department of Health figures showing Palm Beach County is one of the worse-hit areas by the coronavirus […]
Gov. DeSantis bashes China over COVID-19 supplies, urges drugmakers to set up in FL
Gov. Ron DeSantis went harsh against the Chinese government Wednesday, adopting the line being pushed by the Trump administration that China has hoarded antiviral protective gear. The governor, during a news conference in Miami Gardens, pointed to shortages of such gear as the COVID-19 pandemic flared in Florida and elsewhere in the United States in […]
Gov. DeSantis “100% comfortable” taking his young family out to eat as COVID strictures ease in FL
Gov. Ron DeSantis would feel “100 percent comfortable” taking his wife and three kids to a restaurant operating within the COVID-19 public safety guidelines that took effect this week, even as infections and deaths are rising in Florida. “Partially because I know that my kids, fortunately, are in an extremely low risk group. All of […]
Gov. DeSantis demands probe into Florida’s failing unemployment compensation system
Gov. Ron DeSantis called Monday for an investigation into Florida’s hopelessly overwhelmed unemployment compensation system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor complained during a news conference in the Capitol that the state sank $77.9 million into the unemployment CONNECT system that’s riddled with bugs and totally incapable of coping with a massive surge in claims […]
Immigrant fighting FL gun charge insists he didn’t know he was in country illegally
A Florida man will get a chance to overturn his conviction for being in possession of firearms while illegally living in the United States under a ruling handed down Monday by a federal appellate court. A federal trial judge in Central Florida had blocked Oniel Russell from telling the jury that he believed he was […]