Florida News Archive

As hospitals treat thousands of COVID-19 patients, the state Agency for Health Care Administration updates information about available intensive-care unit beds. As of about 6 p.m. Monday, 19.7 percent of adult intensive-care unit beds statewide were available,  but numbers varied by county. Here were county-by-county percentages of available adult ICU beds as of Monday:

— Hendry County: 100 percent

— Martin County: 65.2 percent

Emphasizing that his focus remains on Florida’s elderly population, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said teachers and school staff should not expect to be prioritized for vaccination against COVID-19 — at least for now.

The governor’s comments came as a new semester kicked off in most Florida school districts, leaving many school employees wondering if they will be among the groups at the top of the state’s priority list in the early stages of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, dealing with a frantic demand for COVID-19 vaccinations across the state, promised Monday that he would strip allotments from hospitals that don’t use them quickly enough and shift the doses to other health-care providers. Appearing at an Orlando Health hospital in Seminole County, DeSantis outlined several other steps the state plans to […]

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Wednesday called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to mobilize the National Guard to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

In a letter to DeSantis, Fried said distribution has been characterized in media reports as “very chaotic” and that there is a lack of “clear direction” for health-care professionals on vaccination procedures.

After years of battling between Florida and Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court next month will again take up a dispute about water in a river system that links the two states.

The Supreme Court last week scheduled oral arguments Feb. 22 in the case about divvying up water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which stretches from northern Georgia to Apalachicola Bay in Franklin County.

 From a water battle to a gun law passed after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, courts are grappling with numerous major Florida legal issues. Here are five cases to watch in 2021:

— APALACHICOLA WATER WAR: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in February in a long-running battle between Florida and Georgia about water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which links the two states.

TALLAHASSEE — A contagious new strain of the coronavirus that has spread in Britain has been detected in a man in Florida, the state Department of Health said Thursday night.

TALLAHASSEE — As the new year dawns, hundreds of thousands of Floridians are lining up for vaccinations that could put an end to coronavirus-caused elbow bumps, isolation and fear.

Questions remained Wednesday about when extended unemployment benefits from a newly signed federal stimulus package will be available for Floridians out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state’s jobs agency had not posted a timetable about the extended benefits, and no formal announcement had been made about whether Floridians will be covered for the current week because of when the $900 billion federal package was signed.

Bondholders this week asked a circuit judge to quickly order the Florida Department of Transportation to reinstate toll collections on a controversial Panhandle bridge where tolls have been suspended since a September hurricane.

The department has not collected tolls on the Garcon Point Bridge since Hurricane Sally damaged and forced the shutdown of the Pensacola Bay Bridge. The tolls on the Garcon Point Bridge, which spans part of Pensacola Bay and is being used as a detour route, have been suspended at least through Jan. 12.