Florida's Latest News

‘Vaccines are saving lives’: DeSantis stresses importance of shots as Florida COVID cases spike, criticizes mask mandates

Gov. Ron DeSantis was in St. Petersburg to discuss red tide on Wednesday, but took time to answer questions and address Florida's recent spike in coronavirus cases and stress the importance of the COVID vaccine.

“Here’s, I think, the most important thing with the data: if you are vaccinated, fully vaccinated, the chance of you getting seriously ill or dying from COVID is effectively zero,” DeSantis said. “If you look at the people who are being admitted to hospitals, over 95 percent of them are either not fully vaccinated or not vaccinated at all. These vaccines are saving lives. They are reducing mortality.”

The governor said he’s been urging people to get vaccinated for months because of what he called the “summer season.”

Ron DeSantis lauds new book delivery program amid declining reading levels

State lawmakers hope Florida’s new $200 million book delivery program will help improve reading rates among students.

Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce Thursday to laud the passage of the New Worlds Reading Initiative, a $200 million investment to improve child literacy in Florida.

Reading rates among fourth graders have been declining. After a 12-year period of steady improvement six years ago, Florida’s literacy rates for elementary school children stagnated. Since then, 4th grade reading scores have regressed to where they were from 2007 to 2009, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Hospitals grapple with surge in COVID-19 cases

Florida is grappling with a wave of COVID-19 infections that is sending more young people to hospitals, forcing some facilities to limit visitors and reschedule elective surgeries and prompting elected officials to plead for people to get vaccinated.

During a news conference with top Northeast Florida hospital officials, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry made a plea for COVID-19 vaccinations, saying 800 people, most of them unvaccinated, were in area hospitals.

“The vaccine is the best tool we have to protect ourselves, our friends, our neighbors and our loved ones,” Curry said. “Despite having access to the vaccines, we are seeing hospitalizations for this virus here in Jacksonville at a level we haven’t seen since the height of the pandemic last year. We have a better solution. It’s a solution that helps prevent severe illness and death, and that is the vaccine, a vaccine that is accessible to basically anyone who wants it.”

Former FSU Coach Bobby Bowden Diagnosed With Terminal Condition, Says He’s ‘At Peace’

Bobby Bowden, the former Florida State football coach, told the Tallahassee Democrat in a statement Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. In the statement, the 91-year-old Bowden said that he’s “prepared for what is to come” and that his wife Ann and the family they have raised have been blessings.

“I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come,” Bowden said in the statement. “My wife Ann and our family have been life’s greatest blessing. I am at peace.”

Bowden was diagnosed with COVID-19 last October and the Democrat reports that his health has deteriorated since that point including a five day hospital stay this June.