Florida News Archive

Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, wants the governor to call Cabinet meetings at least once every two months.

With a surge of 1,200 reported COVID-19 deaths during the past week, Florida on Saturday exceeded 24,000 resident deaths since the pandemic started last year.

The federal government is mostly to blame for what some people see as a slow distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Florida, state Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz told a House panel Thursday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday evening activated the Florida National Guard to assist state and local law enforcement agencies, following FBI warnings of potentially violent protests in state capitals this weekend in advance of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Federal prosecutors are accusing a Tallahassee man of plotting to “violently confront protesters” at the Florida Capitol on Sunday, as law-enforcement agencies brace for demonstrations in advance of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday rolled out a sweeping $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that, if adopted by Congress, would direct about $400 billion toward directly controlling the coronavirus.

It’s a big lift, even as Democrats prepare to assume a narrow majority in the U.S. Senate. And already some Republicans — including Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott — have questioned portions of the plan, especially the extra financial help for states. Scott said that, while there were some “good things” in the proposal, it would result in bailouts for “wasteful, liberal states.”

The state’s rocky rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations came under scrutiny this week, as Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees made the rounds of House and Senate committees.

Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, chided Rivkees, saying Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration hasn’t been open with the public about the effort to get shots in arms.

House and Senate committees this week kicked off meetings in advance of the 2021 legislative session, as a pandemic-created “new normal” transformed the Capitol and neighboring environs.

Adams Street, where restaurants, the members-only Governors Club and swanky offices are situated just steps from the Capitol, typically would have been abuzz.

State lawmakers, advised this week about limited tax dollars amid the COVID-19 pandemic, have already proposed 43 hometown projects worth more than $45 million. 

And hundreds more are expected before the 2021 legislative session starts in early March.

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.

“We do not have any specific intelligence, but the national narrative that’s going around, we’re certainly aware of that and planning for that as well,” Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell told city commissioners on Wednesday.