The Tallahassee Reports Morning Briefs: Friday, Dec. 23rd

Local News

Local governments in Northwest Florida – including Leon County & Tallahassee – and Miami-Dade County have filed lawsuits seeking damages from the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company over its past work in helping market opioids. The lawsuits focus on McKinsey’s work for Purdue Pharma in the marketing of OxyContin, which has been widely blamed for the nation’s opioid epidemic.

Cold weather alerts are in place across much of Florida ahead of the arrival of plunging temperatures in time for the holiday weekend. A powerful cold front is sending much of the nation into a deep freeze Thursday afternoon and that front has the Sunshine State in its path. While wind-whipped snow may not be an issue Floridians have to deal with, a plunge in temperatures could lead to burst pipes and dangerously low wind chills in parts of North Florida and the Panhandle. Get the details here.

Nine people have been arrested in what authorities are calling “Operation Relentless.” The Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office worked with LCSO, FDLE, the North Star Multijurisdictional Drug Task Force, and Florida Department of Corrections K9 teams to make the arrests. They also served a search warrant on a home on Franklin Drive in Crawfordville. Sheriff Jared Miller said the months-long undercover operation “was designed to target large-scale drug dealers in the Big Bend region of Florida, who supply drugs to street-level dealers in Wakulla as well as other parts of our region.”

Florida News

After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called upon the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury, Florida High Court took him up on the offer. The Florida Supreme Court appointed Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta to preside over it. Grand jury members will be drawn from five judicial circuits. DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo notably became some of the first high-profile officials, across the country, to recommend the COVID shots for young people. DeSantis has indicated that the shots have lead to potentially “fraudulent practices, including the dissemination of false or misleading advertisements of a drug.”

The Florida GOP is considering working to oust RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel. Former Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini secured enough signatures from party officials to call a special meeting to decide whether McDaniel should be terminated as RNC chair. Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is also among the vocal supporters of former President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda and has been critical of GOP establishment figures including McDaniel.

Sports News

Earlier this week, Florida State men’s basketball defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for their fourth win of the season. Matthew Cleveland scored a team-high 19 points on six made field goals and four free throws, and grabbed 12 rebounds. After struggling mightily to start the year, the Noles begin conference play with a 2-1 record.