Florida's Latest News

Vaccine tit-for-tat kicks off DeSantis’ new relationship with the Biden White House

The new administration in Washington is only a week old and the relationship between the White House and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is already strained.

Accustomed to Oval Office pandemic access with former President Donald Trump, DeSantis wound up this week in a tit-for-tat with President Joe Biden’s top press aide over the slow pace of COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration. The roll-out of the two-shot regimen has left Floridians frustrated as scarce appointments quickly fill up at hospitals, grocery stores and pharmacies.

DeSantis has dismissed Biden’s plan to set up federal vaccination sites as “FEMA camps” and accused the Biden administration of lying when it said Trump had no vaccine distribution plan. He responded to news of a coming “modest increase” in vaccine doses next week by telling Biden to speed it up.

Bugged by censorship, Florida Republicans seek to punish Big Tech

A pair of Florida GOP lawmakers are attempting to follow through on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to punish Big Tech companies for purportedly censoring conservatives.

Sen. Joe Gruters and Rep. Randy Fine filed bills Tuesday that would prohibit the state and local governments from doing business with Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google and its parent company, Alphabet, starting July 1.

“What prompted me to draft this legislation was the lifetime ban of the President of the United States — the duly elected and non-removed President of the United States — forever, including after he was a private citizen, coupled with the sudden shutdown of competitors of companies by their fellow Big Tech companies,” Fine, R-Brevard County, said in an interview.

Florida Gets Boost In Tax Revenues In December

Florida in December recorded its best monthly general-revenue collections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research estimated revenue for December at $336.7 million over a forecast revised in August.

What’s more, the $2.999.4 billion in overall revenue was $154.4 million higher than what had been forecast before the pandemic hit.

“The December results were above the pre-pandemic estimates for the month by the largest margin seen since the pandemic began,” the revenue report released Tuesday said. Sales tax numbers were up $178.3 million over the revised August forecast.