Uncharted
Florida has entered uncharted territory, according to the latest stats from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Sunshine State now has an unemployment rate of 12.9% — the highest since they started the current counting system back in the 1970s. There are at least 1,218,000 jobless Floridians, more than any time in state history. Gov. Ron DeSantis reacts to those numbers, as Sunrise does another deep dive on Florida’s unemployment mess.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— DeSantis isn’t letting those jobless numbers dampen his enthusiasm for reopening the state. He’s saying it’s OK to send kids off to summer camp (as well as other outdoor activities) to get them out of the house and back into social circles.
— The Tallahassee woman who was fired by the health department after going public with her concerns about manipulating COVID-19 data does her first interview since DeSantis threw her under the bus. Although the Governor said she was fired for insubordination, Rebekah Jones told CNN she was canned for refusing to change the stats to match his desire to reopen smaller counties that didn’t meet the guidelines for reopening.
— The DeSantis administration loses another legal battle over the voting rights of former felons. A federal judge says the state cannot demand payment from ex-cons to get their voting rights restored if they don’t have the money. And he’s not just talking about restitution. The judge says court fines and fees are a tax and, as such, cannot be a precondition to the restoration of voting rights.
— Checking in with a Florida Man arrested for trying to go home. Well, actually, it was for kidnapping.