Florida News Archive

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.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is relying on Florida hospitals to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to health care workers, seniors and at-risk populations in the communities the hospitals serve.

It’s a task that some hospitals fear could be impossible given the state’s large senior population.

More than 122,000 Floridians received COVID-19 vaccinations during the first two weeks that the long-awaited shots were available, according to numbers posted Monday on the Florida Department of Health website.

Florida lawmakers could consider a proposal aimed at ensuring employers provide accommodations for pregnant women. Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral, filed a proposal (SB 384) on Monday that, in part, would make it illegal for employers to “fail to make reasonable accommodations, upon request, for an employee with a medical need related to pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business.”