1 year after Hurricane Ian: Residents, businesses still recovering from devastating storm
Thursday marks one year since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida as a category 5 hurricane, and to this day, residents and businesses hit the hardest are still recovering from the deadliest storm to hit the state since 1935.
Gov. DeSantis issues executive order to provide ballot access for counties affected by Hurricane Ian
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that he was initiating an executive order to help ensure voters in Charlotte, Lee and Sarasota counties have adequate access to voting in the 2022 election after Hurricane Ian ripped caused major devastation in those areas.
Local law enforcement and rescue agencies are in Southwest Florida helping Hurricane Ian survivors
As people work to recover from the devastation Hurricane Ian left behind, they have helping hands from Northeast Florida. Several law enforcement and rescue agencies from our area sent teams to help with everything from rescues to clean up.
Northeast Florida medical clinics ship 2 trucks of supplies to people affected by Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida
So many people responded to Millennium Physician Groupโs call for vital supplies for those affected by Hurricane Ian that the group of medical clinics in Northeast Florida had to order a second truck to load with the donations for Southwest Florida.
Visit Florida aims to counter storm-ravaged images of state with new tourism campaign
Images of storm-ravaged coastlines and ruined buildings have dominated headlines for a week since Hurricane Ian made landfall. Itโs not the image the stateโs tourism marketing agency wants to project to the rest of the country.
Impact Christian roars back in hoops state semifinal, will play for title Saturday
The beat in Lakeland goes on for the Impact Christian boys basketball team. The Lions shook off a rough third quarter and surged back late to beat Southwest Florida Christian 69-54 in the Class 2A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Wednesday morning. The Lions (20-8) are now 3-0 in state final four games. Southwest Florida went ice cold against Impactโs defense, committing five turnovers and missing its first five shot attempts of the final quarter before hitting a basket. Senior Calvin Johnson was stellar in his final state semi, going 10 of 11 from the field to lead the Lions with 21 points.
MLB cuts spring training travel, drops college opponents
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)NEW YORK โ Major League Baseball revamped its spring training exhibition schedule because of the pandemic, cutting travel for Florida-based teams in an effort to minimize coronavirus risks. College baseball teams, which often play big league clubs but are not subject to major league testing protocols, were dropped from the revised schedules announced Friday. Split-squad games, traditionally used in the first half of the exhibition season to allow evaluation of more players, also were eliminated. Pitchers and catchers open spring training workouts Wednesday, and the exhibition season starts Feb. 28, two days later than initially announced on Sept. 16. The rejected plan would have pushed back the start of spring training until March 22.
Gov. DeSantis expands state of emergency for Eta
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. โ Pointing to the โerratic natureโ of the storm as it threatened a large part of Floridaโs west coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday expanded a state of emergency and asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration as Tropical Storm Eta prepared to make landfall Thursday. In the request to Trump, DeSantis cited risks of flooding and potential complications in sheltering people because of COVID-19. The governor on Saturday declared a state of emergency for counties in the southern part of the state, after Eta last week hit Nicaragua as a hurricane. In the request to Trump, which could bring federal financial assistance to Florida, DeSantis said some counties also had declared local states of emergency.
County-by-county: Northeast Florida prepares for Eta
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. โ Eta is bringing heavy squalls with tropical-storm-force winds onshore as it tracks northeast across Northeast Florida. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday expanded a state of emergency and asked President Donald Trump for a federal emergency declaration as Tropical Storm Eta prepared to make landfall Thursday. It will be a weak tropical storm or possibly even a depression as it moves across Northeast Florida. About 5 p.m., Clay County District Schools announced all schools and offices within the district will be closed on Thursday, and all after-school activities will be canceled. The Bradford County School District said it is closing schools Thursday due to Eta.
State of emergency declared as Tropical Storm Eta looms
TALLAHASSEE โ A state of emergency was declared Saturday by Gov. Ron DeSantis for eight southern Florida counties because of a growing threat from Tropical Storm Eta, which also could affect northern parts of the state later in the week. DeSantis issued an executive order that declared the state of emergency in Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties, as Eta was moving away from the Cayman Islands and toward central Cuba. DeSantis' order directed Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz to coordinate the stateโs emergency plans and to seek federal assistance as needed. Also, to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19, the order said the state will activate agreements with hotels for non-congregate sheltering.
County-by-county: How President Trump once again won Florida
In all, he beat Biden by about 375,000 votes statewide, compared to a nearly 113,000-vote Florida margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Though Biden topped Trump by 18,096 votes in Duval County, the rest of Northeast Florida went to Trump by large margins. For example, Trump won by about 130,000 votes in Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties, the four counties that surround Duval. North of Tampa, meanwhile, Trump won by a combined 131,632 votes in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. The results were similar in neighboring Marion and Lake counties, where Trump won by a combined total of 95,356 votes.
Subtropical storm likely to form off Florida coast, impact area beaches
โ National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) May 16, 2020While the system is likely to become Tropical Storm Arthur while off our coast, weโll be on the dry side of the storm and will likely only feel its impact along the immediate coastline. MORE ONLINE: Track the Tropics | Why so many May tropical storms east of Jacksonville? Subtropical storms are not as defined as tropical storms, with its strongest winds located some distance from itโs loosely formed center. They are also not a strong as tropical storms. If these trends continues, advisories will likely be initiated on this system as a tropical or subtropical depression later today.
Gov. DeSantis opens door to return of vacation rentals in Florida
Ron DeSantis banned vacation rentals on March 27 in an executive order aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. On Friday, DeSantis announced that vacation rentals could soon roll out the welcome mats again --- if county and state officials give the go-ahead. My vacation rentals account for half of my income so having that gone for the past two months has been tough," Brezing said. Commissioners in Escambia, Santa Rosa and Franklin counties, where vacation rentals also outstrip hotel accommodations, implored DeSantis to lift the ban. For us to be micromanaging vacation rentals, I am not sure that is the right thing to do, DeSantis said in February.
Algae panel puts together road map' for Florida lawmakers
CNNTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A document discussed Monday by the states Blue-Green Algae Task Force should be viewed, members said, as a broad road map for lawmakers with the 2020 legislative session less than 100 days away. And task force members, meeting in Gainesville to further edit the document, said they will look in future meetings beyond Lake Okeechobee and nearby waterways that have been plagued by toxic algae. Its not just Lake Okeechobee, Sullivan said. DeSantis created the task force through a January executive order after outbreaks of toxic algae and red tide across the state last year. The problems particularly drew attention in Southeast and Southwest Florida, as algae plagued water bodies such as the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and as red tide caused fish kills.
Septic tanks eyed in efforts to combat algae
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Department of Environmental Protection should be teamed with health officials who permit septic tanks as the state tries to ensure cleaner waterways, members of the Blue-Green Algae Task Force agreed Wednesday. Expanding oversight of the state's millions of septic tanks was among a list of general recommendations that received some support Wednesday from the five-member task force as part of a draft report. "By leaving them out it looks like we aren't considering them," said Valerie Paul, a task force member who is director of the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce. The task force had been meeting monthly since mid-June, until Hurricane Dorian postponed a late August meeting. A long-term goal of many officials and conservationists has been figuring out how to move residents from using septic tanks to sewer systems, which has always been a matter of cost.