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 […]
The past Thursday, Dr. Birx, who serves as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, held a press conference and provided an assessment of how states are handling the battle with the coronavirus. Based on the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive, Dr. Birx identified states that are currently […]
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 […]
Comparing the deaths over the last two weeks in New York and Florida from the coronavirus show very different trends (See graph below). The data shows that ten days into the crisis for both states, New York reported 385 deaths while Florida reported 71 deaths. This trend has mostly been overlooked in media reports that […]
The Tampa Bay Times announced today that they will be decreasing how often their printed newspaper will be made available to reduce production costs. Beginning next week, the paper will only be printed and delivered to customers every Wednesday and Sunday, however their online version will continue to be updated and is available daily. In […]
By Brian Burgess, The Capitolist After spending the better part of the past two days sifting through mountains of available data – not all of it consistent – there’s a LOT of good news out there, with a little bit of bad. The worst of the bad news is that to make sure things start […]
Florida Governor Ron Desantis has been taking a beating from the state-wide media and Florida Democrats for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the de facto leader of the Florida Democratic party, has aggressively called for a statewide “stay-at-home” order. Gwen Graham, the former US Congresswoman, gubernatorial candidate, and a relentless […]
The latest information from the Florida Department of Health shows that there have been 20 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. The table below provides information for each of the victims. The average age of the coronavirus deaths is 77.8 years. The youngest casualty was 52, the oldest was 96. Fifteen of the twenty deaths were […]
A country comparison of death rates per million citizens attributed to COVID-19 shows why elected leaders across the globe find themselves in very different situations. The graph below shows the death rate per million citizens for five countries starting at Day 1. Day 1 is when the number of cases reported for each country was […]
By Christine Sexton, The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said he is taking measures to prevent people from fleeing coronavirus “hotspots” and coming to Florida, where they could contribute to further spread of the virus. DeSantis said he will issue an executive order directing the Florida Department of Health […]