By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday defended his administration’s efforts to get the state’s much-maligned unemployment system to handle the unprecedented surge in applications caused by the coronavirus. Meanwhile, Democrats blasted the management of the system, which has had nearly 40 percent of applicants rejected and […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Restaurants and many retail stores outside of Southeast Florida can start reopening Monday with limited occupancy as part of the first phase of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ economic-recovery effort after the coronavirus caused massive shutdowns. DeSantis on Wednesday outlined what he described as a step-by-step plan […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s overwhelmed online unemployment-compensation system has been taken down for the weekend as the state scrambles to process applications and reduce a massive backlog of claims caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Users of the Department of Economic Opportunity’s CONNECT system, who continue to express frustration […]
By Ana Ceballos, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Private schools and Florida universities might see drops in enrollment as the coronavirus continues to hammer the economy, members of a panel focused on reopening the state’s education system said Wednesday. School-choice advocates said in a conference call they worry families might no longer be […]
The News Service of Florida Florida will be able to increase by 18,000 a day the number of COVID-19 tests that can be processed, after the state signed contracts with two additional testing companies, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday. DeSantis told reporters in Tallahassee that he anticipates the companies will be able to provide results […]
By Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — In a move that would create a utility with customers from Miami to Pensacola, Florida Power & Light and Gulf Power plan to merge in 2022, their parent company, NextEra Energy, said Wednesday. NextEra, which has long included FPL, closed a deal in January 2019 […]
By Jim Turner, Christine Sexton The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — With hundreds of thousands of workers filing unemployment claims and businesses shuttered across the state, a task force created by Gov. Ron DeSantis began discussing ways Monday to revive the state’s economy from the coronavirus crisis. Officials from businesses such as Disney World, […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday shook up oversight of the state’s unemployment-compensation system, which has struggled with a massive surge in applications because of economic fallout from the novel coronavirus. DeSantis put Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter in charge of the troubled CONNECT […]
By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — A Tampa Republican lawmaker on Friday called for an audit of the state’s overwhelmed unemployment-compensation system, as work was underway to finalize a paper version of the benefits application. Rep. Jackie Toledo, R-Tampa, wants the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee to audit spending on the Department […]
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he will issue an executive order calling for Floridians statewide to stay at home, a move that he had been resisting as other states took similar steps because of the novel coronavirus. Read order here. See the list of “Essential Businesses” here. The list is from an earlier Miami Order […]