The Tallahassee Reports Daily Briefs: Friday, May 17, 2024

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LOCAL NEWS

The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency decided on Thursday not to add affordable housing as a Blueprint project. The motion – which required a super majority vote – failed. Story coming soon.

According to filings with Leon County and the City of Tallahassee, the number of single-family new construction permits was down 30.8% in April, 2024 when compared to April, 2023.

A man arrested in connection to a recent fentanyl trafficking case in Tallahassee died while being evaluated at a local hospital. According to LCSO, 36-year-old Taurean Clark was seen by a medical service provider at the Leon County jail on Tuesday. He was later taken to a hospital “for further evaluation and care.”

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee has confirmed a fourth tornado touched down in Jefferson and Madison counties following last Friday’s deadly storms in Leon County. According to a report from the NWS, an EF-1 tornado with winds estimated to be 100 mph touched down about two miles SSW of Lamont in Jefferson County.

LOCAL SPORTS NEWS

Three solo home runs launched No. 10 Florida State (38-13, 16-11 ACC) over Georgia Tech (30-20, 14-14 ACC), winning Thursday evening’s contest 8-3 at Dick Howser Stadium to take game one of the three-game series.

FLORIDA NEWS

Florida confirmed a record-breaking 140 million total tourists in 2023, despite previous projections that the year saw a slight decline in numbers. Visit Florida also reported that the state saw its highest quarterly number of visitors in 2024’s Q1, with 40.6 million tourists.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications director Bryan Griffin said the Florida Democratic Party was trying to “politicize” north Florida storm impacts this week. Florida Democrats issued a statement Wednesday headlined “Florida Democratic party slams Ron DeSantis for failure to support Tallahassee after devastating storms.” Griffin noted DeSantis also “issued Executive Order 24-94, and as noted all over @FLSERT social media, they are already coordinating with localities to determine federal assistance eligibility.”

NATIONAL NEWS

The Justice Department yesterday took steps to reclassify marijuana as a lower-risk drug. Short of decriminalization, the proposal—which now enters a two-month comment period—would expand researchers’ access to marijuana and allow cannabis producers to deduct business expenses on their tax returns. 

President Joe Biden invokes executive privilege to block release of audio from interview with special counsel Robert Hur in classified documents investigation (More). 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly surpassed 40,000 points for the first time yesterday on news of strong quarterly earnings from Walmart before ending the day down 0.1%, at 39,869.4 points. Launched in 1896 by journalist Charles Dow—who cofounded The Wall Street Journal—the index tracks the prices of 30 large US companies’ stocks (see how it’s calculated). 

TALLAHASSEE WEATHER