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Personnel note: Brittany Morgan Clark joins Red Hills Strategies

Red Hills Strategies is once again expanding, this time with the addition of Brittany Morgan Clark. Clark joins the Tallahassee-based communications firm from the Florida Department of Education, where she served as the Creative Media Director on the communications team.

Her skills in graphic design, photography and videography greatly expand Red Hills’ creative capabilities and offerings.

Aside from directing all photo and video production, Clark led a variety of creative projects within DOE, managed multiple social media channels and partnered with other state agencies on the development of their creative content.

During the Rick Scott Administration, Clark was seen often snapping photos of the Governor and First Lady while traveling with them across the Sunshine State.

DeSantis offers bonuses to lure out-of-state cops as Florida struggles to retain troopers

At a Fraternal Order of Police event in Indianapolis on Aug. 17, Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a plan to attract more cops to Florida: $5,000 signing bonuses. He contrasted his support for police with cuts to law enforcement in large U.S. cities, saying they had hurt morale and set off an exodus of officers that has led to a surge in crime.

“New York City cut $382 million from the NYPD; shootings up dramatically, but also a 75% increase in officers leaving either through retirement or resignation,” DeSantis said. “There are many other cities we can go through where the same story happens over and over again.”

But here in Florida, DeSantis is facing extensive and chronic recruitment and retention problems within his own Florida Highway Patrol, which continues to lose officers to higher-paying local police agencies. The reduced staffing has led to cuts in services. A Sun-Sentinel investigation last year found fewer cops patrol Florida’s roads than 20 years ago, and there has been a 38% decrease in tickets issued over the past five years and a 41% increase in crashes.

Florida nursing homes protest COVID vaccine mandate as deaths climb

COVID-19 cases in Florida nursing homes have surged more than 20-fold since June as vaccination rates among staff continue to lag far below the national average. Still, the industry is pushing back against a new Biden administration vaccine mandate for its workers over concerns that many will quit rather than comply.

“By the federal government singling out nursing homes with a vaccination requirement that does not apply to healthcare personnel at other locations and in other healthcare sectors, we fear that our already critical workforce shortages will worsen,” said Emmett Reed, CEO of the Florida Health Care Association, which represents 310 of the state’s 700 nursing homes.

Already, 88% of nursing homes surveyed by the association in July said they faced a staffing shortage in the previous month, and more than half said they had cut admissions because of labor challenges. Nearly three-fourths said they needed to bring in temporary workers through a staffing agency to cover shifts, and all but a few had to ask staff to work overtime or take on extra shifts.

Florida increases aid to Louisiana as Hurricane Ida makes landfall

Florida’s emergency response crews are moving in larger numbers to Louisiana to help deal with the impact from Hurricane Ida.

Florida Power & Light is sending employees and contractors to the state . JEA is also sending several dozen workers. Central Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 4 will also be deployed Monday, according to an announcement by Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

Ida began making landfall in Louisiana Sunday afternoon, exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina battered the state. Sunday morning, Tampa Electric (TECO) announced 50 of its employees and 100 additional contractors would travel to Louisiana. Later Sunday, FPL and the Florida task force team confirmed they’d be joining in the effort to help recover following the storm’s strike.