Florida's Latest News

DeSantis won’t address Trump tweet about delaying election, but backs Florida mail-in voting

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he supports Florida’s mail-in voting system but declined to address President Trump’s tweet suggesting a delay in the election because of his concern about voter fraud.

“To just have ballots flying out there willy nilly, I do think that would be a mistake,” DeSantis said but did not answer a question about whether the election should be delayed.

DeSantis said he had not seen the president’s tweet because he was watching the launch of Mars Rover at Kennedy Space Center. “Did he say the election should be delayed?” he asked a reporter.

Effort To Give Florida Pharmacists More Authority Moves Forward

A brewing battle between Florida doctors and pharmacists may have been resolved for now.

Some medical groups had been worried about a rule being drawn up by a state regulatory board after the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis this year approved a law to expand the kinds of health services that pharmacists can provide.

But on Wednesday, members of Florida’s pharmacy licensing board agreed to alter the rule, which centered on regulations for the treatment of chronic medical conditions. The changes will likely avoid a legal tussle with doctors and nurses, and put the new regulations on a track to potentially be in effect by October.

Another Florida lawmaker tests positive for COVID-19

Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said Wednesday he has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the number of Florida legislators infected with the highly contagious disease to at least three.

Bradley said in a text message that he is “experiencing mild symptoms” after testing positive Wednesday morning.

Rep. Randy Fine last week announced that he, his wife and their two sons had all tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness known as COVID-19. The Brevard County Republican said in a Twitter post Tuesday he had a fever and was having a “hard time getting out of bed” six days after his diagnosis.

Anthony Sabatini faces ethics complaint in connection to mask lawsuits

Rep. Anthony Sabatini is facing an ethics complaint in connection to a Broward County lawsuit he filed challenging the county’s mask mandate, one of several he’s filed statewide.

The complaint alleges Sabatini is inappropriately using his official House email to respond to press inquiries regarding the lawsuit, filed in his capacity as a private attorney, not an elected official.

The complainant? Me. I just returned from FedEx, where I overnighted the complaint to the Commission on Ethics.

As an attorney, I’d have thought Sabatini, who I’m not usually inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, would have known better. Apparently not.