A fired Florida health data manager who accused officials of wanting to manipulate COVID-19 statistics has reached an agreement with prosecutors on a felony charge that she illegally accessed state computers.

Tuesday’s primary elections feature two top Florida Democrats squaring off for the right to face Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Rebekah Jones says she was fired from the Florida Department of Health after she refused to "manipulate" COVID-19 data (Photo: Courtesy photo)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Former Florida Department of Health data analyst Rebekah Jones is dropping a civil lawsuit alleging that state law-enforcement agents violated her rights when they searched her home and hauled away computer equipment in December. Jones’ attorneys filed a notice last week in federal court in Tallahassee that said she was dismissing the lawsuit “without prejudice,” which means it could be filed again. Ron DeSantis’ administration has manipulated data about the COVID-19 pandemic. She was fired last year and set up a competing COVID-19 online dashboard to display data about the virus. The civil lawsuit contended that FDLE agents violated Jones’ First Amendment rights and due-process rights and conducted an unlawful search and seizure when they searched her home.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the arrest of Rebekah Jones, 31, on Monday morning. The agency said she is charged with one count of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices. Court records show that Jones posted a $2,500 bond following an initial appearance hearing in Tallahassee on Monday morning. The message that led to the search warrant implored employees still at the Health Department “to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. But the agency threatened to arrest her in Maryland if she did not turn herself in by Monday night, Dobson said.

Be a hero.”FDLE agents raided her home in December, seizing her computers and other data equipment. Ron DeSantis on social media and questioned the validity of the state's COVID data, said in a Twitter statement Saturday that she would surrender shortly. Jones said on Twitter that “the warrant was based on a lie” and noted a state agent told her the arrest warrant is unrelated to the December raid. Jones was fired from her post in May after she raised questions about Florida’s COVID-19 data. After the December raid, Jones filed a complaint in Leon County Circuit Court alleging state police violated her rights to free speech and due process.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The former state data scientist whose home was recently searched by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now suing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for damages. In the lawsuit, Rebekah Jones denies sending a message from a Florida Department of Health emergency alert system and instead suggests she was targeted by state law enforcement for political reasons. FDLE executed a search warrant on Jones’ home earlier this month and took her computer, hard drives and cell phone. Johnson said his client’s IP address could have easily been spoofed and the login credentials for the alert system were available online. The lawsuit also suggests FDLE had an incentive to target Jones because of disparaging comments Gov.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement defended his agents’ actions last week when they served a search warrant at the home of a woman fired earlier this year from her job as COVID-19 data curator. FDLE said its agents waited for more than 20 minutes before Rebekah Jones, suspected of sending an unauthorized message on a state platform, opened the door for officers to serve a search warrant. “During that 23 minutes, every hard drive in that apartment could have been wiped,” said Swearingen.“They could have been arming themselves. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who oversees FDLE as a Cabinet member, has doubts. FDLE would not comment on the specifics of the case, saying only the investigation is ongoing.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida will receive 179,400 doses of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine in its first shipment from the federal government, Gov. More than half of the vaccines --- 97,500 doses --- will be sent to five Florida hospitals to be administered to high-contact and high-exposure health care personnel, DeSantis said. Thursday’s video was the first time DeSantis publicly said how many vaccines the state will receive. DeSantis’ office released the video about the vaccines hours after Florida Senate Democrats criticized his handling of the coronavirus. Jones’ video shows officers brandishing guns and telling Jones to exit the house.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A raid at a former Florida Department of Health employee’s home is raising eyebrows after a viral video shows state investigators serving a search warrant on former COVID-19 data curator Rebekah Jones. On Tuesday, Jones responded to the warrant and criticized the way agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement entered her home. They pointed guns at my kids.. pic.twitter.com/DE2QfOmtPU — Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020“Police search warrant,” the agents said. She said Health Department managers urged her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back. State health officials deny any issue with the information’s accuracy.

Hong Kong on Wednesday reported an additional 100 cases, bringing its two-week total to 1,274. Hong Kong has reported a total of 7,075 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, with 112 deaths. The Texas Department of State Health Services also said 9,028 people were hospitalized across the state. Since late November, the new daily cases have soared past 10,000 on several days, with 15,103 new cases reported Tuesday, according to state health officials. ___BOISE, Idaho — Idaho public health officials abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday evening after the Boise mayor and chief of police said intense anti-mask protests outside the health department building — as well as outside some health officials’ homes — were threatening public safety.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida authorities investigating an alleged hack into the state’s emergency response system raided the home Monday of a woman fired earlier this year from her job as COVID-19 data curator. Jones was fired from her post in May after she raised questions about Florida’s COVID-19 data. She said Health Department managers urged her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back. Agents knocked and called Ms. Jones both announcing the search warrant and encouraging her to cooperate. Ms. Jones refused to come to the door for 20 minutes and hung-up on agents.

She said Health Department managers urged her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back. Asa Hutchinson announced plans Monday for a series of community meetings across Arkansas to address the growing surge of coronavirus cases. The state Department of Education is expected to give public school systems the green light to follow the relaxed quarantine rules. But the health department is sticking to a 14-day recommendation for prisons and nursing homes where people live together in tight quarters. When averaged out over seven days, South Carolina is seeing about 2,300 new COVID-19 cases a day.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Chris Perle, a biology professor at Florida State College of Jacksonville, has been watching the COVID-19 data coming from the state since the early days of the pandemic. Thats why he started interpreting the available COVID-19 data on his Twitter feed. Rebekah Jones, the data official behind Floridas Covid-19 dashboard, was removed after she questioned the datas transparency, according to Florida Today. On Thursday, the stated reported over 5,500 new COVID-19 cases, a record for one day. Christopher Perle Professor of Biology at FSCJ has been analyzing COVID-19 data.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The woman who raised questions about Florida’s COVID-19 data after being ousted as the data’s curator has not stopped publishing statistics related to the novel coronavirus in the state. The Washington Post reported Saturday that Rebekah Jones, who was fired in May, launched a COVID-19 dashboard of her own on Thursday — Florida’s Community Coronavirus Dashboard. For example, Jones’s dashboard shows that more than 85,000 people in Florida have tested positive for COVID-19 since March 1, while the Department of Health Dashboard is reporting more than 77,000 cases as of Monday. On Jones’s dashboard, the number of people tested is also significantly lower than the official figure. She has, however, suggested Health Department managers wanted her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back.

State health officials strenuously deny any issue with the information's accuracy as Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks to make a data-driven case for a step-by-step reopening of the states battered economy following safer-at-home orders. And Jones acknowledges Florida has been relatively transparent for which she herself claims some credit and relatively successful in controlling the pandemic. Jones was told to resign or be fired last Monday and her last work day was Thursday, after a pattern of overstepping her duties as data manager. A case is deemed when you have that laboratory result as positive.Roberson said Florida's data is updated as it becomes available daily.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As Florida officials press forward with reopening plans, the Department of Health reported Thursday that 48,676 people have tested positive for coronavirus. That’s an increase of 1,204 from Wednesday, the largest uptick in COVID-19 cases in nearly a month. A 90-year-old woman in Duval County and 67-year-old woman in Putnam County were listed among the 48 latest deaths recorded by the health department. The number of current hospitalizations is likely far fewer, but that total remains unknown as the health department does not provide data on the number of recoveries. Health officials determined that her illness, which was initially detected April 24, is not related to travel or contact with a known case.

In Florida, Rebekah Jones, the official behind the states dashboard, a web page showing the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Florida thats been praised by Dr. Deborah Birx, said she was removed from the project and questioned the states commitment to accessibility and transparency, according to Florida Today. In Georgia, data tracking COVID-19 cases in the state has come under question after a misleading chart was posted on the state Department of Public Healths web page, according to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Late last Friday, Jones announced in an email to researchers and people who had signed up to receive updates about the data portal that she had been removed from her post at the Florida Department of Health, according to Florida Today. Jones started working for the Florida Department of Health one year and nine months ago, according to her LinkedIn profile. CNN has reached out to Broce, Kemps office, the Georgia Department of Health and Holcombs office for comment.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The woman who helped design the dashboard that tracks cases of COVID-19 in Florida is accused of posting revenge porn and facing a charge of stalking, according to documents obtained Wednesday by News4Jax. News4Jax obtained Jones arrest affidavit, which shows that in June 2019, a victim submitted an online report in reference to revenge porn." One shes a data scientist, shes somebody thats got a degree in journalism, communication and geography. Come to find out shes also under active criminal charges in the state of Florida. DeSantis said. "The blatant disrespect for the professionals who were working around the clock to provide the important information for the COVID-19 website was harmful to the team."

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s nationally celebrated COVID-19 dashboard suggests reopening is going as good as one can expect. But the firing of the architect and manager of the state’s dashboard raises questions about the reliability of state health department data. An email sent by Dr. Rebekah Jones, who built and managed Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard, to researchers and her former team makes a troubling claim. Marsh noted that to reopen the state, officials need to show that not only is the state flattening the curve but also that the number of infections is trending downward. “Allegations that Florida’s government may have tried to manipulate or alter data to make reopening (the economy) appear safer is outrageous," Rizzo said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The chief architect of Floridas coronavirus website was fired this week after a dispute over what information should be made public, underscoring how entwined public health data and politics have become as elected officials move to reopen their communities amid the coronavirus pandemic. He's used data from the dashboard including the relatively low rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus to build support for reopening the state. But the firing has provided new fodder against the Republican governor as he defends his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. We were told the reopening Florida was built on studying the data. We do know our state is being reopened and we now have a question mark about the data," she said.