Florida's Latest News

Trump, Biden both plan Thursday events in Tampa

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will hold dueling events in Tampa on Thursday.

Trump will hold a rally outside of Raymond James Stadium at 1:30 p.m., while Biden will hold a drive-in event in Tampa at 6:30 p.m. following a Broward County event earlier in the day.

The two events will highlight the strikingly different ways the two campaigns have dealt with holding events amid the pandemic.

Man revised voter registration of Gov. DeSantis and tried to change it for Michael Jordan and LeBron James

An unemployed Naples 20-year-old was arrested Tuesday after allegedly using his PC notebook to change Gov. Ron DeSantis’ voter registration address from the governor’s mansion to a condominium in West Palm Beach.

Anthony Guevara also attempted to get into the voting registrations of U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, retired basketball icon Michael Jordan and current basketball icon LeBron James, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. Only the governor’s information was altered, the agency said.

“This is not a hard thing to do, but there are pretty severe penalties for doing this,’’ said Mark Earley, supervisor of elections for Leon County.

University Of Florida Study Suggests Flu Shots Help People With COVID-19

People who received flu vaccinations in the year before testing positive for the novel coronavirus were nearly 2½ times less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and more than three times less likely to be admitted to a hospital intensive care unit, according to a University of Florida study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

The findings are based on a review of information from electronic health records of 2,000 patients at UF Health who tested positive for COVID-19 between March and August, researchers at the UF College of Public Health & Health Professions said in a news release that also flagged some of the study’s limitations.

Only 214 patients had been vaccinated for the flu, making the number of patients studied small. Another limitation was the researchers only reviewed the records of patients at UF Health.

Some Florida teachers are getting big raises. Others, not so much.

A growing number of school districts are completing contract talks with employees, in many cases earlier in the fiscal year than usual. Even as these deals get made, with raises included, room for criticism remains as district and union leaders alike note that state officials tied their hands in collective bargaining with strict rules on how the money gets used. Those requirements left little for several employees who weren’t included in the plan, unless districts could come up with some other revenue sources. Read on for the latest on that and other Florida education news.

Pinellas County school employees are getting raises over 3 percent. The district’s local-option property tax helped cover the cost. • Osceola County teachers reached a tentative pay accord with their district, Positively Osceola reports. Their base salary will rise to $46,100, below the state’s target level.

‘We need teachers.’ The Pinellas County School Board adopted a resolution urging the University of South Florida to reconsider eliminating its undergraduate College of Education programs, while university officials defended the decision. • Education programs around the nation are at risk, Inside Higher Ed reports.