400K
Sunrise takes a moment to honor the 400,000 Americans who died from COVID-19.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— The nation hit that grim milestone on Donald Trump’s last full day in office. Despite a shortage of vaccines, Gov. Ron DeSantis is expanding the number of places you can sign up for a shot by using Publix pharmacies to administer vaccinations.
— DeSantis held news conferences in Jupiter, Rockledge and Cape Coral to announce the Publix expansion. He also vowed to limit shots to people who actually live in Florida, while at the same time boasting that vaccine tourism only proves he’s doing something right.
— The environmental group One Thousand Friends of Florida reveals its agenda for the upcoming Legislative Session. They admit the budget shortfall created by the COVID-19 crisis will make it much harder to fund conservation programs.
— But the budget crisis could help environmentalists who are trying to derail M-CORES, the plan to build three new toll roads through some of the last undeveloped areas of Florida.
— On the Sunrise Soapbox, the Governor talks about one of his top priorities for the upcoming Session. DeSantis wants to take on the tech elites who slapped misinformation warnings on the President’s Twitter feed during the campaign and pulled the plug on his social media when he spread unfounded allegations of voter fraud. DeSantis says they interfered in the election by gagging conservatives.
— And finally, a Florida Man says he ignored the police officer chasing him because he had to get home to mom.