More Vaccine
Florida will be receiving a record amount of COVID-19 vaccine this week — more than 400,000 doses.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— Remember when Gov. Ron DeSantis opened a vaccination center in the whitest and wealthiest area of Manatee County at a development built by a donor? And when he responded to critics by saying if you don’t like it, we’ll take it away? Congressman Charlie Crist is now asking the Justice Department to investigate what he calls the Governor’s “blatantly political” vaccine distribution decisions.
— The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to decline in Florida, but the number of fatalities remains sky-high: including 161 reported Monday by the Department of Health.
— DeSantis says he’ll order state flags at half-staff on the day Rush Limbaugh is buried. That’s an honor usually reserved for heroes and long-time public servants. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says her agency will not lower its flags to honor hate speech, bigotry and division.
— Florida lends a hand in the blackout state. A 30-member Incident Management Team from the Forest Service is now running a supply center from an airbase near San Antonio, shipping truckloads of food and water to dozens of hard-hit Texas counties.
— The 2021 Legislative Session starts next week, and House Speaker Chris Sprowls says one of the first things on the agenda is protecting businesses from lawsuits over COVID-19.
— While they rush to pass that bill for biz, Republican leaders have shown little interest in dealing with people issues like evictions, foreclosures and fixing the unemployment system. Sprowls says that doesn’t mean they’re putting business ahead of people struggling during the crisis.
— And finally, a Florida Woman sent to federal prison for a charity scam is appealing today. Former Congresswoman Corrie Brown claims she didn’t get a fair trial because a juror who said the Holy Spirit told him she was not guilty. The juror was removed from the jury.