Health
Florida inmates expected to join in a nationwide prison strike today
Prisoners in Florida correctional facilities are refusing to report to their assigned jobs and in some cases engaged in peaceful sit-ins to demand immediate improvements to living conditions. It’s part of a strike in 17 states called by prisoner advocacy groups in the wake of bloodshed at a maximum-security South Carolina prison back in April, when […]
Wells Fargo closes Dept. of Ag candidate’s campaign accounts after questions about medical pot
In early August, Wells Fargo bank notified Florida Democratic candidate Nikki Fried – running for Commissioner of Agriculture – that she had 30 days to find another bank. Why? Apparently because of Fried’s strong ties and support for the medical marijuana industry. “I thought it was a joke,” Fried said during a Monday morning press […]
CDC releases data on 2017 opioid overdoses. The numbers don’t look good.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new data on drug overdose deaths in the last year nationwide and the numbers are not promising. Since January 2015, deaths from opioid overdoses have increased by the thousands and spiked in October with 47,801 reported deaths nationwide. This year began with a reported 47,232 people […]
Five Florida cities ranked top 10 best places to retire, WalletHub reports
Orlando is the best city to retire to in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub study. Newark, NJ was the worst. The study looked at the “retirement-friendliness” of 182 cities across the nation and compared affordability, activities, quality of life and healthcare. The report assumed people would live on a fixed income. Orlando came […]
Former Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp – now an oil industry spokesman – falsely claims that spilled oil from 2010 BP disaster “didn’t even reach the shores of Florida.”
Former Florida Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp told a room full of reporters in Tallahassee that oil from the 2010 BP oil spill “didn’t even reach the shores of Florida” – a claim people who witnessed the black goo washing up on Panhandle beaches would dispute. Kottkamp’s former boss – Gov. Charlie Crist, would also have […]
Florida has one of the worst health care systems in the nation, report finds
The Sunshine State has one of the gloomiest health care systems in the nation, according to a recent WalletHub report. Florida ranked No. 42 out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. WalletHub compiled data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other federal agencies and compared the cost of health […]
Could a tragedy have been thwarted? Nikolas Cruz’s safety net had holes
Accused shooter Nikolas Cruz went without school counseling and special education services in the 14 months leading up to the Feb. 14 killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – in part because of school district errors, according to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel story. The newspaper account this past weekend was based on a heavily-redacted […]
Reproductive rights advocates meet in Tallahassee to demand scrutiny of “fake” women’s clinics
Advocates for reproductive rights converged Tuesday morning at the state Capitol to demand Gov. Rick Scott and other state departments scrutinize what kind of services and information “fake women’s health clinics” offer to women who walk through their doors. A law that went into effect July 1 mandates that state government fund a network of […]
Advocacy group challenges Florida’s “fake” concern over women’s health
Pro-choice advocates will be in Tallahassee next week to petition Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Health to demand more accountability for how a state-funded network of women’s clinics spends taxpayers’ money – and whether clinic workers peddle religious views. The network of not-for-profit women’s clinics – known as the Florida Pregnancy Care […]
Rush job on school safety law causes mental-health conundrum for families, no help from state
In the rushed, traumatic days following the February shootings at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, lawmakers scrambled to approve broad gun reforms and new laws to make schools safe. But quick legislation doesn’t always equate to good legislation, says Kenneth Trump, a well-known school security expert and consultant who has testified before Congress. Case […]
Green groups sue to block Trump’s offshore drilling plan in Gulf of Mexico
Four environmental groups filed a lawsuit today against the Trump administration for its decision to open more than 78 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling. The groups – Earthjustice, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity – issued a press release announcing the lawsuit and […]
The feds say they will keep releasing vile Lake Okeechobee pollution to coasts
Despite the nasty fluorescent green algae outbreak that’s happening off South Florida’s east and west coasts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has resumed releases of the polluted water from Lake Okeechobee that’s filled with fertilizer, manure and sewage from surrounding industrial agriculture operations and cities north of the lake. The Okeechobee swill flows out […]