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DeSantis suspends travel by state workers to limit COVID-19; clamps down on ‘mass gatherings’
Using his power as chief executive of the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered tens of thousands of state employees to suspend travel for at least 30 days and told agencies to allow employees to work from home. “If they can perform functions at home, now’s a good time to do that,” DeSantis said. The governor […]
State bars various visitors to Florida’s nursing homes amid coronavirus threat
As the World Health Organization declared that the novel coronavirus constitutes a global pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that multiple classes of people, including recent international travelers, would be barred from visiting nursing homes. Invoking his authority under an emergency declaration he issued Monday, the governor said the ban would also apply to […]
FL Corrections system’s reversal on transgender policy sways appeals court
A federal appeals court has sided with the Florida Department of Corrections in a dispute with a transgendered inmate who sought treatment for gender dysphoria, including the right to grow her hair, wear women’s undergarments, and otherwise present socially as a woman. In a 2-1 ruling handed down Wednesday, a panel of the U.S. Court […]
PAC report: DeSantis committee collected $675,000 during February
Two $100,000 contributions from Orlando financier Craig Mateer helped propel the Friends of Ron DeSantis, a political committee aligned with Florida’s Republican governor, to a nearly $675,000 fundraising haul during February, according to the Florida Division of Elections. The committee collected three gifts of $50,000; they came from Floridians for a Stronger Democracy, a PAC […]
DeSantis invokes broad emergency powers against coronavirus; military field hospitals one possibility
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an emergency declaration Monday allowing state and local agencies to waive laws, ordinances, and regulations if necessary to contain the coronavirus outbreak. It also authorizes the Florida National Guard to establish field hospitals if patients overrun existing medical facilities. The order creates a “unified command structure” against the virus and will […]
Fl Department of Health scales down coronavirus self-isolation directive to international travelers
The Florida Department of Health clarified Monday that only travelers arriving in Florida from the areas abroad most afflicted from the new coronavirus should self-isolate for 14 days. This came around two hours after the agency issued a directive ordering anyone arriving from anywhere overseas to hole up. The initial release, issued at 11:56 a.m., […]
Conflicting messages from Trump administration about cruise ship safety
The Trump administration is getting its messages mixed regarding whether it’s safe to book a sea cruise amid the coronavirus outbreak. Vice President Mike Pence held a news conference in Fort Lauderdale Saturday to announce plans to develop protocols to render cruises safer for otherwise healthy people. However, this was the message from the U.S. […]
V.P. Pence negotiating coronavirus protocols with Florida’s cruise industry
Vice President Mike Pence emerged from a meeting in Fort Lauderdale Saturday with executives of Florida-based sea cruise lines to announce plans to protect passengers and crew from infection with coronavirus. The announcement came as state health officials disclosed a new presumptive positive diagnosis of COVID-19, a potentially deadly respiratory ailment caused by the virus, […]
Seattle, Orlando conference organizers take markedly different approaches to coronavirus threat
Nearly 100,000 pop culture fans flocked to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle last year, including many dressed as superheroes, aliens and robots. But something scarier than a comic book villain is roiling the conference this year — the spread of the coronavirus. Ten people have died from novel coronavirus in King County, Wash., where […]
An $8.3-billion coronavirus package clears U.S. Senate, awaits President Trump’s signature
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted final approval Thursday to an $8.3 billion package to fight the emerging coronavirus epidemic. Both Florida senators — Marco Rubio and Rick Scott — voted in favor of the measure, which passed on a vote of 96-1. The U.S. House had approved the bill one day earlier on a vote […]
Gov. DeSantis on coronavirus: We need more testing kits ASAP
Florida does not have enough testing kits to test patients for coronavirus and is asking the federal government for them, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning at a press conference in Quincy. “We don’t have them yet. We’d like to get them obviously as soon as possible,” DeSantis said. “To be able to do that […]
Senate OKs $2 million-plus for wrongful murder conviction; House claims bill pending
As Clifford Williams and family members watched from the gallery, the Florida Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to pay him more than $2 million in compensation for the 43 years he spent in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. “We cannot give him back his time, but we can certainly help him move forward. He […]