Florida News Archive

TALLAHASSEE — Two state senators have uncorked proposals to make permanent a coronavirus emergency order that allowed restaurants and other food establishments with liquor licenses to include alcohol with “to-go” orders.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, separately filed measures that would allow a business holding a state alcohol license to sell or deliver spirited beverages by the package for off-site consumption. The proposals would require the liquid to be in a sealed container and to be part of a food order.

State Rep. Mike Grieco, D-Miami Beach, wants lawmakers to eliminate legal holidays honoring the birthdays of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, along with a Confederate Memorial Day.

Grieco on Thursday filed a bill (HB 6007) to remove the Lee, Davis and Confederate Memorial days from a list of legal holidays on the books in Florida. A similar effort in 2018 was approved by one Senate committee but did not pass the Legislature. It drew objections from people who argued the proposal would erase Southern history. Lee’s birthday, Jan. 19, and Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, have been legal holidays in Florida since 1895. Davis’ birthday, June 3, was added in 1905.

Florida on Thursday ramped up plans to vaccinate seniors for COVID-19 by publishing two emergency rules that require nursing homes and assisted living facilities to allow representatives from the state health department, CVS and Walgreens into the facilities.

The emergency rules from DeSantis’ administration also gave nursing homes and assisted living facilities until the end of Thursday to sign up on state-supported websites to participate in what’s known as the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care  Program.

On April 1, just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, 7,773 people in Florida had tested positive for the insidious disease. By July 1, that total was up to 158,997. On Oct. 1, it had leaped to 709,144.

And on Tuesday, Florida reached a milestone that nobody wanted to see: more than 1 million reported cases.

TALLAHASSEE — Saying he could no longer remain silent, Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley issued a rare and lengthy statement this week castigating people he said are imperiling the nation’s democracy by casting doubt on the outcome of the presidential contest.

Corley, a lifelong Republican, did not identify President Donald Trump by name in the roughly 900-word screed released Wednesday.

TALLAHASSEE — State unemployment taxes are going up for businesses struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the pace of new jobless claims continues to slow in Florida.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 20,787 new jobless claims were filed in Florida during the holiday-shortened week that ended Nov.  28. That was an estimated 23 percent reduction in new claims from the prior week.

TALLAHASSEE — Delivering what likely will be his final address to Florida State University’s Faculty Senate, President John Thrasher this week pledged to continue his efforts to keep guns off campus.

Thrasher, an FSU alum who announced earlier this year that he intends to step down as president, has long opposed proposals that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry firearms on Florida college and university campuses.

TALLAHASSEE — In the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle, a circuit judge has ruled that the Florida Department of Transportation cannot be forced to pay damages to bondholders because of lost toll revenues on a Panhandle bridge.

The ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper centered on the Garcon Point Bridge, which spans part of Pensacola Bay but has never produced enough money from tolls to pay off bonds that financed its construction.