Florida News Archive

First-time unemployment claims in Florida rolled in last month at a pace similar to the period before the coronavirus pandemic pounded the economy.

In a potentially ominous message for Florida’s cruise-ship industry, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that people should avoid cruise travel “regardless of vaccination status” because of the spread of COVID-19.

A report released by the industry group Florida Realtors shows the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in November was $364,900, up 19.6 percent from the previous year.

Saying it is “clear the pandemic is not over,” top university system officials are asking students and employees to wear masks on campus and get booster shots to protect against COVID-19 as the spring semester prepares to start.

State university system Board of Governors Chairman Syd Kitson and system Chancellor Marshall Criser made the request in a letter to students, faculty and staff posted Wednesday on the board’s website.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently released a $99.7 billion budget blueprint for the 2022 legislative session and has touted a series of other proposals.

Florida trailed only Texas in population increases from 2020 to 2021, while the nation had the slowest growth rate in its history, according to information released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Florida grew by 211,196 residents from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, to a population of 21,781,128, the census estimates show. Texas grew by an estimated 310,288 residents to a population of 29,527,941.

The Florida Department of Health released a report Friday that reflected a surge in COVID-19 cases this month. Here are totals of new cases for the past 10 weeks:

— Week starting Oct. 15: 15,292

— Week starting Oct. 22: 13,123

Louie Wainwright, a longtime leader of Florida’s corrections system whose name is on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright, died Thursday in Tallahassee. He was 98.

Pointing to an effort to ensure diversity in the court system, President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated Southern Poverty Law Center attorney Nancy Gbana Abudu for a seat on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Saying President Joe Biden exceeded his authority, a Tampa federal judge Wednesday backed Florida’s attempt to block a COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal contractors.