Tag Archives: Florida

The Lakeland Ledger reports: Polk County Public Schools Regional Assistant Superintendent John Hill and several of his colleagues spent Tuesday morning going to area middle and high schools to gather 16 books out of media centers after County Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative political group, complained to Superintendent Frederick Heid that the novels, graphic novels, autobiographies, and sex education books …

Florida Politics reports: The “putrid” smell of marijuana is among the reasons Gov. Ron DeSantis may remain opposed to legalization in Florida. DeSantis shied away from offering a definitive answer on the issue Wednesday when asked by press at a campaign event in Tallahassee. He did, however, speak out against the smell of cannabis in public places. “What I don’t …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: After a lengthy grilling on his merits and qualifications, the Senate Health Policy Committee voted — without its Democratic members — to recommend that Joseph Ladapo be confirmed as Florida’s Surgeon General. Frustrated by what her and her colleagues called a lack of honest answers from Ladapo after more than an hour of questioning, Senate Democratic …

Florida Politics reports: Urging supporters to “chip in now,” Gov. Ron DeSantis turned his fury over the FDA’s decision to cease monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 into a fundraising appeal for his re-election campaign Wednesday. “Floridians are now at the whims of a floundering, failing President’s edicts,” DeSantis thundered, claiming as he did at a news conference earlier this week …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Joe Ellicott — a close friend of disgraced Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg and a former radio talk show host — agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and distribution of a controlled substance, according to court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is condemning President Joe Biden’s administration for cutting off the federal supply of monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now revoked its emergency use authorization for monoclonal antibody therapies created by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, calling it unlikely the drugs could treat the omicron variant of COVID-19. “Without …

Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports: Dozens of Florida sheriffs declared their support for Governor Ron DeSantis during a Monday morning press conference. According to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, 59 of Florida’s 67 sheriffs recognized that “Governor DeSantis’ support of law enforcement is why Florida’s crime rate is going down.” The eight sheriffs who did not announce their support for …

The Florida Phoenix reports: The legislative session is only two weeks old and the reliably witless Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Somewhere Up Trump’s Rump) is moving a bill to fine professional sports teams if they don’t play the national anthem. Wait, you say, aren’t the Heat and the Magic, the Bucs and the Jaguars, the Rays and the Marlins and the …

The Miami Herald reports: South Florida authorities are investigating the origin of anti-Semitic flyers that were distributed overnight in Miami Beach and Surfside neighborhoods, police said Sunday. Miami Beach police increased patrols in neighborhoods and religious institutions following the first report received shortly after 7 a.m., Ernesto Rodriguez, the department’s spokesperson, told Miami Herald via email. The anti-Semitic flyers appear …

NBC News reports: A Florida school district canceled a professor’s civil rights history seminar for teachers, citing in part concerns over “critical race theory” — even though his lecture had nothing to do with the topic. J. Michael Butler, a history professor at Flagler College in St. Augustine, was scheduled to give a presentation Saturday to Osceola County School District …

The Daily Beast reports: Anti-Muslim bigot and perpetual Republican Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer ambushed the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy at a Saturday morning retreat in Miami. “During a staff NRCC briefing for donors, Laura Loomer stood up and asked why the party committee isn’t trying to defeat Liz Cheney and the others who voted …

From the Justice Department: Today, 60-year-old Paul Vernon Hoeffer pled guilty in federal court in Ft. Pierce to making threatening phone calls to two members of Congress and a district attorney. As part of the plea, Hoeffer admitted that in March 2019, he called a Congresswoman in Washington, D.C. and threatened to come a “long, long, way” to rattle her …

Tampa’s CBS News affiliate reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is again declining to say whether he has or would receive a COVID-19 booster shot. During a Friday morning news conference in Sarasota, DeSantis was asked by a reporter if he had gotten the booster. “That’s something that I think people should just make their own decisions on,” he said. “I’m …

Orlando’s NBC News affiliate reports: A man who was trying to protect his dogs was injured by a bear in Daytona Beach Wednesday. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say the man sustained non-life-threatening injuries, while the dogs were unharmed. Law enforcement and bear biologists attempted to capture the bear but have been unable to. Wildlife officials say the …

Brody Levesque reports at the Washington Blade: A Republican majority Florida House Education & Employment Committee passed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education bill, colloquially referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill advancing the measure to the full House. HB 1557 and its companion Senate bill SB 1834, would ban classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity …

Florida Politics reports: Senate President Wilton Simpson says he would support removing laws requiring a concealed-weapons permit to carry a gun if it comes to a vote. Simpson’s made the comment to reporters Wednesday after conservatives at the Republican Liberty Caucus said they met with the Senate President. The group has been among a cohort of pro-gun rights organizations pushing …

“Think about how ridiculous it is what they’re doing by trying to force the nurses with these vaxxes. You know a lot of these nurses have had COVID, a lot of them are younger, some of them. “They’re trying to have families, there’s a whole bunch of things that they have going on and so they don’t want to be …

Newsweek reports: An ad for a Florida-based window shutters company which tells customers if they “support Joe Biden and are a liberal, don’t call us” has gone viral. One clip of the ad, posted on TikTok by social media user @robertjackon392, has since been viewed more than 4.1 million times. In a statement to Newsweek concerning reactions to the ad, …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Dr. Raul Pino, who became a trusted voice of the pandemic response in the nation’s tourist capital, has been placed on administrative leave from his post as the state’s chief health officer in Orange County as the Florida Department of Health conducts an investigation. Sources who spoke to the Orlando Sentinel on condition of anonymity because …

The Associated Press reports: A bill pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel “discomfort” when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation’s past received its first approval Tuesday. The Senate Education Committee approved the bill that takes aim at critical race theory — …