Florida's Latest News

Gov. DeSantis celebrates Florida Wildlife Corridor expansion

Florida is expanding protected land to encourage wildlife habitats and migratory routes and to aid the large network of watersheds throughout the state.

At a bill signing ceremony Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the legislation will generate a host of ecosystem benefits including new water quality and quantity, outdoor recreation and habitat, and species protection.

“Land conservation is an essential tool for environmental protection and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act will further our already successful efforts,” DeSantis said.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to encourage and promote investment in and protection of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

First bill filed for 2022 Session would criminalize harassing police

After Republicans prioritized a bill this year cracking down on riots, at least one lawmaker wants to penalize people who harass police officers.

Hialeah Republican Rep. Alex Rizo filed a measure (HB 11) Monday that would prohibit people from provoking or harassing law enforcement officers or impeding their duties. That bill is the first bill filed ahead for the 2022 Legislative Session, which begins in January.

The bill would criminalize approaching a police officer after being warned not to if the offender does so with the intent to disrupt the officer’s duties. People would also break the law if they approached to harass or provoke a physical response from the officer.

As COVID cases rise, South Florida hospitals tighten rules restricting visitors

As COVID hospitalizations climb in South Florida, local health care systems are tightening rules once again on allowing visitors.

Memorial Healthcare System announced Tuesday that its five hospitals in South Broward will implement a more restricted visitation policy than what it had two weeks ago. The hospital will not allow visitors into the emergency department or outpatient clinics and will allow only one visitor per patient into the main hospital and intensive care.

“Unfortunately, as numbers continue to rise, Memorial may return to the ‘no visitor policy’ with few exceptions very soon,” said Kerting Baldwin, director of corporate communications at Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood.

Red Tide may recede in Tampa Bay but worsen off Pinellas beaches

The latest Red Tide monitoring shows some improvement within Tampa Bay, officials say, but conditions are worsening for several gulf beaches.

“Our aerial imagery is showing that the bloom has kind of transported out of the mouth over the last few days. Within the bay... it’s night and day from a week ago,” said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Eric Sutton. “However the bloom has now moved, it’s off the coast, and it’s expanded, and we’ve seen high bloom concentrations from Longboat Key up essentially to Dunedin and that area.”

Red Tide is “pretty extensive” off the beaches, Sutton told the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday. It is atypical for a toxic bloom to reach as far into the bay as it did this month, but more common in the gulf. In some spots on the western shore, Sutton said, the Red Tide has reached all the way up to the beach, while in other places it may be drifting a mile or so offshore. The bloom is not one unbroken block of algae but pockets that move according to winds, tides and other environmental factors.