Florida News
(& National News of Interest to
Floridians)
Index of Stories
2021
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Florida News 2021
(scroll down)
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Posted December 30, 2021 02:45 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Florida Department
of Corrections (DOC) now bans people in
prison from receiving traditional mail, such
as greeting cards and handwritten letters.
The DOC, with few exceptions, is requiring
that mail be scanned and sent
electronically.
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Posted December 28, 2021 09:45 am
FLORIDA - An environmentalist coalition
has served notice of its intent to sue the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unless
it intervenes with state regulators to halt
the release of pollutants into the Indian
River Lagoon, where endangered Florida
manatees are undergoing a historic die-off.
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Posted December 9, 2021 06:20 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – This week, the Florida
Department of Education removed its
anti-bullying portal from public view.
The page contained vital information
that included the state’s anti-bullying
policy. The removal of such a valuable
resource to LGBTQ+ students could leave
thousands of children and young people
unnecessarily exposed and vulnerable to
bullying and discrimination.
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Food for Thought on Thanksgiving
Posted November 24, 2021 09:05 pm
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Overlooking the chilly
waters of Plymouth Bay, about three dozen
tourists swarmed a park ranger as he
recounted the history of Plymouth Rock — the
famous symbol of the arrival of the Pilgrims
here four centuries ago.
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Posted November 15, 2021 06:00 am
ORLANDO, FL - Advocates are calling on
Florida's leaders to keep the momentum
going after the U.N. Climate Change
Summit by thinking of ways to Build Back
Better in the Sunshine State.
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Posted November 1, 2021 08:27 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Gov. Ron DeSantis'
newest battle with the Biden
administration involves dropping Florida
out of the nation's workplace-safety
agency, the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA).
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Posted
October 5, 2021 11:55 pm
LAKE
CITY, FL – Monday night’s City Council
agenda included the following item:
Permit application from the Blue Grey
Army, Inc., to hold the Olustee Battle
Festival…on Friday, February 18, through
February 19, 2022.
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Posted October 1, 2021 08:35 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – After months of pressuring Gov. Ron DeSantis to
apply for a one-time pandemic food-stamp program, this
week Florida became the last state to apply and get
approval for more than a billion dollars in Pandemic
Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) federal funding.
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Posted
August 24, 2021 09:30 pm
ORLANDO, FL –
Florida is poised to leave $820 million
in federal pandemic food assistance for over
2 million hungry children on the
table, cautions the Florida Policy
Institute, along with Florida Impact, No
Kid Hungry, Second Harvest Food Bank of
Central Florida, and Feeding Tampa Bay.
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Posted
August 11, 2021 05:30 pm
COLUMBIA, HAMILTON, SUWANNEE COUNTIES, FL – Monday
night, the Board of the Suwannee Valley Transit
Authority (SVTA or the Authority) met in the Suwannee
County Courthouse Annex and approved its FY2022 annual
budget during the Authority’s quarterly meeting.
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Posted
July 29, 2021 05:00 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Tuesday
afternoon, Florida Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers (FACDL) President Jude
Faccidomo called for all courts throughout
the state “to return to virtual court for
non-essential hearings.”
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Posted
July 23, 2021 05:30 am
ST.
PETERSBURG, FL – On Wednesday, July 21,
Duke Energy Florida announced the
locations of its four newest solar power
plants - the latest move in the
company’s program to expand its
renewable generation portfolio.
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Posted July
9, 2021 07:00 am
FLORIDA -
The Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) just
released the new 2021-2022 manatee and
sea turtle decals. These high-quality
waterproof stickers feature two
different designs and are a fun way for
people to directly support research,
rescue and management efforts that
conserve these species and spread
awareness about the challenges they
face.
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Posted
june 28, 2021 09:45 am
APALACHICOLA, FL - A system of
little-known public lands protecting
sensitive coastal habitats generates
significant economic impacts for local
communities in Florida.
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Posted
June 11, 2021 05:30 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Lawmakers in Congress
have reintroduced a bill they say would
ensure access to safe abortions across
the country, just as abortion rights are
being challenged with a strict
Mississippi law that will be reviewed by
the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
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Posted
June 1, 2021 11:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – With hurricane
season officially starting June 1,
Columbia and Hamilton County Health
Departments encourage everyone to
prepare for severe weather emergencies
now. The best way to cope with a
disaster is to have a plan.
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Posted June
1, 2021 07:39 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Two lobbying associations that partner
with Twitter and Google are challenging the
legality of Florida’s new social media law. The Computer & Communications Industry
Association (CCIA) and NetChoice filed a
federal lawsuit Thursday claiming Senate
Bill 7072, signed into law
Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is
unconstitutional.
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Posted
May 28, 2021 06:35 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Kayaktivism
event scheduled for Saturday, May 29, on
the Santa Fe River is the fourth
kayaktivist paddle that Our Santa Fe
River has staged on the iconic Santa Fe
River in front of the Ginnie Springs
Outdoors Campground.
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Posted
May 27, 2021 07:59 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
Florida drew 79.75 million visitors
during pandemic-skewered 2020, a 39.3%
drop from the 131.4 million who visited
the Sunshine State in 2019 and the
lowest number in a decade, according to
Visit Florida, the state’s tourism
marketing agency.
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Posted
May 26, 2021 07:30 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – It’s been a
post-session tradition since 1983 for
Florida TaxWatch (FTW), the
Tallahassee-based taxpayer advocacy
nonprofit, to produce an annual “budget
turkey” list of “individual appropriations
that circumvent a thoughtful and thorough
budget process.”
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Posted
May 25, 2021 07:10 am
FLORIDA –
Today, on the anniversary of the murder
of George Floyd, his former Pastor,
Patrick Ngwolo will lead people around
the world in prayer as part of the 9:29
Prayer Challenge. The 9:29 Prayer
Challenge is an event to pray for racial
justice and healing across the globe.
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Posted
May 20, 2021 07:15 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
A third federal lawsuit has been lodged
against a recently adopted Florida law
that places new requirements in
vote-by-mail rules that opponents claim
are unconstitutional and violates the
federal Voting Rights Act.
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Posted May
17, 2021 08:30 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – As the nation
recovers from the recession, Broward
College, a community college in Broward
County, is taking a different approach to
making workforce training available to all.
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Posted May 10, 2021 10:20 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – Laid-off workers who had to fight through Florida's
broken unemployment system were promised relief with
increased benefits. But, Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected the
plan, telling them to prepare to get back to work.
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Posted
April 23, 2021 08:22 pm
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
After Governor Ron DeSantis last week said he
opposes raising the state’s unemployment
compensation while speaking to a national
television audience, it appeared bipartisan
momentum to do so in 2021 suddenly evaporated.
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Posted
April 22, 2021 08:30 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL
– Today is Earth Day, and environmental
advocates are calling on citizens to do their
part to save the bees. National agricultural
statistics show the honeybee population has
declined about 60% from 1947 to 2008.
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Posted
April 9, 2021 06:43 am
The uncontrolled release of millions of
gallons of polluted wastewater at Piney
Point into Tampa Bay is raising concerns
about a massive wave of harmful algal
blooms.
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Posted March 15, 2021 06:45 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – The pressure is on for states such as Florida to
expand Medicaid, currently now missing out on billions
of health-care subsidies in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19
relief package.
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Posted March 11, 2021 03:45 pm | Updated 04:20 pm
CHIEFLAND, FL – An incident that was posted to Instagram a
few days ago, and has gone viral, has caught the
attention of the Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Florida), which today
condemned the violent incident at the Chiefland Middle
School in Levy County.
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Posted
March 11, 2021 01:55 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is disputing
claims he is channeling COVID-19
vaccines to Republican strongholds as a
2022 campaign strategy, dismissing
allegations of “vaccine favoritism” as
political carping by “partisan corporate
media.”
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Posted
March 8, 2021 07:35 am
ORLANDO, FL – Unchecked wage theft, in
the form of employers failing to pay
employees the minimum wage, could keep
countless Floridians from sharing in the
anticipated benefits of Amendment 2’s
gradual $15 minimum wage boost,
according to a new report from Florida
Policy Institute (FPI) and Rutgers
University’s Center for Innovation in Worker
Organization (CIWO).
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Posted March 5, 2021 07:35 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – A controversial anti-rioting bill championed by
Governor Ron DeSantis is moving quickly toward passage
in the House, but is likely to stall in the Senate.
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Posted
March 3, 2021 07:00 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
As nesting season begins for waterbird
species across the state, the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) shares five easy ways
that members of the public can help
conserve these vulnerable bird species.
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Posted
February 21, 2021 06:50 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Chief Judge Mark E. Feagle was
unanimously elected to a second two-year
term by the Judges of the Third Judicial
Circuit on Friday.
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Posted
February 11, 2021 07:00 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – For the third
consecutive session, Rep. Randy Fine,
R-Palm Bay, has introduced a bill
seeking to repeal a state law that
requires local governments and state
agencies to publish legal ads and other
notices in print newspapers.
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Posted
January 12, 2021 10:45 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Facebook and Twitter’s
decisions to suspend or ban President Donald
Trump over the risk he may incite additional
violence after last week's riot at the U.S.
Capitol are drawing the ire of Trump
supporters nationwide and in Florida.
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Posted January 12, 2021 07:59 am
Former California governor and actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger decried Wednesday’s pro-Trump mob attack
on the U.S. Capitol as an act of hatred that recalled
Kristallnacht, the nightlong destruction of Jewish-owned
businesses and institutions by the Nazis in 1938.
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Posted January 10, 2021 11:30 am
WISCONSIN, MN – After a first-ever US
nuclear weapons disaster in Spain, Air
Force veterans exposed to plutonium have
won extremely rare recognition as a
class in a lawsuit against the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Posted January 8, 2021 07:35 am
TALLAHASSEE,
FL – Conservation groups are expressing outrage over the
Trump administration's rollback of the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act.
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Posted
January 6, 2021 04:20 pm
Supporters of President Donald Trump
enter the US Capitol's Rotunda on
January 6, 2021, in Washington DC.
Demonstrators breeched security and
entered the Capitol as Congress debated
the 2020 presidential election Electoral
Vote Certification.
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Posted
December 23, 2020 06:40 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
Gov. Ron DeSantis will not adjust
Florida's COVID-19 vaccine distribution
plan to prioritize front-line workers,
such as grocery store clerks, and will
continue to target elderly residents.
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Posted
December 22, 2020 06:30 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Former Florida
Department of Health (FDOH) data manager
Rebekah Jones has filed a lawsuit against
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(FDLE), claiming the search warrant served
at her home and the seizure of her equipment
were designed to “punish” her for filing a
whistleblower complaint against the state.
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Proposal
Would Guarantee Access to Abortion Across
U.S.
Hurricane
Season Is Here, FL Dept. of Health: “Make a
Storm Disaster Plan - Now”
Florida Sued Over New ‘Big Tech’ Social
Media Law
Third
Federal Lawsuit Filed Against New Florida
Vote-By-Mail Restrictions
Innovation: Broward College Strives for
Better Workforce Recovery
FL, With the 5th Lowest National Unemployment Benefit,
Leaves Laid-Off Workers to Make Do as Businesses Get
Relief
Earth
Day: Environmentalists Push to Save Bees
Tampa Bay Braces for Algal Outbreak After
Toxic Wastewater Leak
Violence – Bullying Condemned After Chiefland Middle
School Girl Assaulted in Cafeteria: Did Administrators
Look On?
Florida
Vaccine Favoritism: Text Messages, Hospital
Statement Give Legs to Claims Against
DeSantis
New Report: Average Wage Theft Rate in
Florida Will Persist Without More Vigorous
Enforcement
Florida
'Anti-Riot' Bill May Be DOA in FL Senate, Advances in
House
Chief
Judge Feagle’s Term Unanimously Extended,
Judge’s Updated Court COVID-19 Plan Released
Florida Legal Notice Law Breezing Through
House, Senate Will Be the Decider
Florida
Bill Targets Facebook, Twitter, and More
After Decisions to Ban or Suspend Pres.
Trump
Schwarzenegger Compares Capitol Mob Violence to
Kristallnacht Destruction by Nazis In Viral Video
Air
Force Veterans of Plutonium Dust Disaster Win Class
Action Standing In Law Suit Against the VA
Conservationists
Decry Trump's Rollback of Migratory-Bird Protections
Trump's
Invaders Capture the Capitol Rotunda
Governor
DeSantis: CDC's COVID-19 Vaccine Priorities
a "Huge Mistake"
FL Whistleblower Rebekah Jones Sues, Claims
Seizure of Computer Equipment Was
"Retaliation"