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The Governor’s moratorium on evictions expires Wednesday, and thousands could soon face being removed from their homes.

A handful of activists posted an eviction notice outside the Governor’s Mansion.

“We pay Governor DeSantis to be in this house. Why don’t you like try to keep us in our house?” said Trish Brown with the Florida Housing Justice Alliance.

Brown told us she and her family have faced a housing crisis for years.

“Being on your last leg when it comes down to money. Having bills crash down on you with no way to breathe,” said Brown.

The Florida Housing Justice Alliance counts as many as 2,600 evictions cued up and ready to start moving through the courts.

The Governor was asked Tuesday afternoon at a South Florida news conference if he would be extending the midnight expiration of the eviction moratorium.

He didn’t answer.

On Monday, the Governor touted the $250 million in CARES Act funding.

“Across the state to help families meet housing needs,” said DeSantis.

$145 million in state funds are also being released to help people pay rent.

”The two-fifty from the CARES Act wasn’t enough. The money from the State Legislature wasn’t enough,” said Lakey Love with the alliance.

Judy Tanzosh became unemployed in March.

If not for help from her 70-year-old mother, she claims she would be out on the street.

“It’s a pretty bad feeling to have to go to your parents and ask them for financial help. It’s kind of embarrassing,” said Tanzosh.

The eviction moratorium was extended hours before it expired June 1st.

Democrats in the Florida Senate are asking it be extended another month.

The Florida Apartment Association, which represents landlords big and small does not favor moratoriums, asserts cash assistance for renters and landlords is more equitable for everyone.

Over the last three weeks, two Student Senators at Florida State University have come under fire.

The Student Senate at Florida State voted to remove its President on June 5th for disparaging remarks about Black Lives Matter.

Now his replacement is under fire for antisemitic beliefs.

FSU’s Student Senate President Ahmad Daraldik grew up in Palestine

He’s under fire for likening Israel to Nazi Germany.

This was his defense.

“And will not allow racist Israeli policies to commit those same crimes against my people,” said Daraldik in a video posted on YouTube.

And his words may be the first test of antisemitic legislation approved last year and signed in Israel.

“What it simply says is that Anti Semitic conduct, speech, behaviors, etcetera, have to be treated in an identical manner as racist speech and conduct,” said Rep. Randy Fine, the sponsor of the legislation.

In an email, FSU said it investigates all complaints, and that student conduct and disciplinary matters are protected by federal and state privacy laws.

The Student Senate voted 19-16 last week to remove Daraldik, but the vote fell short of the needed two-thirds majority.

It will vote again Tuesday.

2,600 Floridians would already be facing eviction if not for the moratorium put in place by the Governor.

That moratorium is set to expire this coming Wednesday, but there is some hope for optimism.

Governor Ron DeSantis is making 250 million CARES Act dollars available to help struggling Floridians pay rents and mortgages.

It’s something the Florida Apartment Association has been urging for weeks.

“Obviously things are being stretched thin right now and so this is going to bring both residents as well as housing providers the relief that they need,” said Amanda Gill with FAA.

$120 million will go towards affordable housing.

That will be administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

“We’ll be working directly with their developer or landlords to square up their accounts with them,” said FHFC Executive Director Trey Price.

Counties will share an additional $120 million to help those who aren’t in affordable house, but are still struggling.

“There’s not enough affordable housing in Florida. So there are a lot of folks in market rate housing who are paying a good percentage of their monthly income to rent or mortgage,” said Price.

$2 million of the $250 million will go towards staffing and assistance for special needs housing.

The remaining $8 million will be used for anticipated administrative costs.

While the additional funds will provide some relief, the money won’t likely start flowing until July, which is why some groups are calling on the Governor to extend his eviction moratorium for an additional three months.

But the Apartment Association believes programs like this one, not moratoriums, are the best way to help landlords and their tenants cover bills.

“We’ve already seen across the state, several local governments have established rental relief funds and that has made a huge impact both with our members as well as residents being able to pay their rent,” said Gill.

We reached out to the Governor’s Office and asked whether he intends to extend the eviction moratorium and if so for how long.

We were told that decision is still under review.

Florida bars were allowed to reopen June 5th, three weeks ago Friday, but after the spike in cases, they are now open only for carryout.

Florida restaurants remain open with 50 percent capacity, for now at least.

The announcement that bars were off limits for on site consumption came via tweet, less than an hour after the state announced nearly 9,000 new cases.

A video from a panhandle bar this past weekend shows a large crowd of people dancing, packed in the center of the room.

Bars were supposed to be operating at 50 percent and making room for social distancing, but many broke the rule.

“This is a self inflicted wound in many cases. So the offenders who have not paid attention to the guidelines have caused this to happen,” said Carol Dover, President of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried renewed her call for a statewide mask order, calling the bar closing order too little too late.

“We saw almost 9,000 cases today and that’s seven times higher than when we were first reopening,” said Fried.

The effective closing is another blow for the state’s economy.

May tax collections released Friday showed revenue down $700 million from estimates.

Still, it was a slight improvement from April.

The restaurant association told us the Governor was preparing to loosen restrictions in July until the current spike in cases forced his hand to shut bars.

Potentially restaurants too if the trend continues.

So the association is warning its members, follow the rules or else.

“If they don’t adhere, If they don’t hear what he is saying now, restaurants are next, and I got that straight from them. So we better pay attention. It’s 50 percent and not every table next to each other,” said Dover.

A capital city bar owner told us the order will only send his customers to the restaurant next door, creating a recipe for bankruptcy.

Some Florida children are losing out on child support due to the pandemic, but there is a bright side to the equation.

The Women’s Law Group is seeing an uptick in calls from parents.

“We’ve seen an increase in how many people are now receiving their child support payments they are supposed to be receiving by court order,” said Lara Davis, an attorney with the group.

Statistics provided by the Florida Department of Revenue show for the three month period after the state closed down, custodial parents saw a drop in state collected payments of over $21 million.

And the amount collected from parents who voluntarily send checks through DOR dropped $14.2 million.

“A lot of people are struggling if they not getting unemployment, if they have the kind of job that doesn’t qualify for that, and plus they’re not getting their child support. It’s difficult for a lot of parents out there,” said Davis.

There is an upside to the story.

Kids and child support are getting an $8 million dollar boost.

That’s because the state gets to keep 40 percent of unemployment checks when there is a past due amount.

But an even bigger boost for kids has been the Federal stimulus checks flagged for back child support.

In the three months after the pandemic began, a whopping $145 million was withheld from Florida bound stimulus checks for kids.

So even with the lack of some payments, payments are up $100 million over the three month period compared to last year.

But Davis said the pandemic has created another worry for parents, they fear for their kids’ safety while at the other parent’s house.

“They’re not restricting one parent because the other parent feels they are not being careful enough,” said Davis.

And Davis said an uptick in divorces since the beginning of the pandemic could lead to more kids needing child support in the near future.

VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s tourism marketing agency is hoping lawmakers will boost its funding to help offset the economic damage cause by the pandemic.

The request is going to be a hard sell with state revenues down and a House Speaker highly critical of the agency’s effectiveness.

VISIT FLORIDA received $50 million from the Legislature for the upcoming fiscal year, largely due to fears the pandemic could wreak havoc on the tourism industry.

It did.

Hotel revenues alone are down $3.8 billion since March 1st.

“Orlando, when I was down there, was a ghost town, which was frightening,” said Carol Dover, President of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Dover is also a VISIT FLORIDA board member.

She said $50 million for marketing the state simply isn’t enough.

“I mean a $50 million budget even in a good year is lean,” said Dover.

She hopes when the Legislature returns, whether in a special session or next year, funding for VISIT FLORIDA will be raised to $100 million.

But the proposition will be a hard sell in the Florida House.

Current House Speaker Jose Oliva has been no friend to the agency and would have likely killed it during the 2020 session if not for the pandemic.

But House Budget Chair Travis Cummings believes the incoming House Speaker may see things differently.

“He comes from the Tampa region, so to speak, and St. Pete where tourism is obviously critical,” said Cummings.

We asked Speaker Designate Chris Sprowls for his take on VISIT FLORIDA spending.

He responded, “It’s too early to speculate on the next budget cycle while we wait for the ultimate outcome on this budget.”

But Dover points out other states are already boosting their marketing agencies.

She fears if Florida doesn’t do the same, it will be at a competitive disadvantage.

“We have a lot to advertise, but we have got to do it and do it in a manner that makes customers feel safe,” said Dover.

And with the state making national headlines for record daily cases numbers, indications are things may get worse for the tourism industry before they get better.

Florida State Police were called at 6:30 Wednesday morning to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity near the main gate of Flordia State University.

They discovered the body of 21-year-old Sam Stone.

Stone was a recent graduate of FSU.

He attended high school in Tampa and was set to be deployed to Afghanistan this coming October.

He would have turned 22 in two weeks.

”Obviously it’s been a terrible morning,” said Sigma Alpha Epsilon Vice President Colton Williams. “He was a charismatic leader. His whole aura was really involved around his ability to lead and get people to follow. He was just incredibly gifted with just so many traits that I think his family would be so proud of him for.”

Williams recalled one example, where he and Stone were driving.

Stone asked him to pull over and hopped out of the car and went to the rescue of an elderly man having trouble with his walker.

A person on scene Wednesday who appeared to be an advisor to the fraternity told us alcohol was involved, but hazing was not part of today’s death.

“Oh yet another fraternity death, when in reality this was just a very sad accident that I’m heart broken about,” said Williams.

“University records show Sigma Alpha Epsilon was suspended just a month into last fall’s semester for alcohol violations.

That suspension ended at the start of the spring semester.

The fraternity sits next to the former Pi Kappa Phi House, the fraternity involved in the 2017 hazing death of Andrew Coffey.

David Bianchi is the Coffey family’s attorney.

“I have spoken to the Coffey’s and they are sickened by it. It’s just another tradgey as far as they are concerned,” said Bianchi.

This is the second tragedy to strike the fraternity in recent weeks.

In May, Lance Mercy was killed in a car accident while visiting family in Maryland.

The county surrounding the state’s capital city is the latest jurisdiction to mandate face masks for indoor public places, but a lawsuit is already planned that could set a precedent for challenging similar orders around the state.

Starting at midnight people entering businesses in the state’s capital will be required to wear a face mask or face fines between $50 and $250.

Assistant constitutional law professor Michael Morley at Florida State University believes the policy is inline with U.S. Supreme Court precedents

“These are all within the traditionally accepted scope of state authority,” said Morley.

But Leon County Republican Party Chair Evan Power said the lawsuit he intends to file will make a privacy argument, because the ordinance exempts people with certain health issues from wearing a mask.

“You’re going to start questioning whether people have disabilities or not have disabilities and it opens that privacy part up,” said Power.

Florida does have heightened privacy protections embedded in the State Constitution, but Morley is skeptical a court would strike the ordinance down.

“Given that we’re dealing with an infectious disease, measures to try to stop its spread would likely survive any type of state constitutional challenge,” said Morley.

If successful, the suit filed in Leon County could be used as a blueprint for challenging similar ordinances across the state.

But Dr. Ron Saff, who has advocated for a statewide mask mandate on behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility, hopes that isn’t the case.

“They’re saying that their right not to wear a mask is more important than someone’s right to not catch a potentially fatal disease,” said Saff.

Unclear is whether the ordinance passed by the county will apply to the grounds of the State Capitol.

The Governor does not typically wear a mask during press briefings at the Capitol and has consistently rejected the idea of issuing a statewide mask order, citing concerns over equal enforcement.

A press contact for the Governor told us staff will review the ordinance once it’s published.

Florida’s Elections Supervisors didn’t get everything they wanted to make voting easier during the pandemic, but the Secretary of State is defending the decision not to allow more time for mail and early voting because supervisors got help another way.

Instead of more time to send out and count mail ballots, and more days of early voting, Secretary of State Laurel Lee said the Governor dealt with the underlying problem supervisors were trying to solve, a lack of poll workers and polling places.

“By using state workers and encouraging state workers to serve, we have a new field of potential elections workers. And the same can be said about using our schools as precinct locations,” said Lee.

But Leon Supervisor Mark Earley tells us he does not believe schools will become polling places.

“We tried to stay out of the schools for many reasons. Security issues, and certainly now, with the pandemic, I don’t want to get into the schools now,” said Earley.

During a speech to the Economic Club of Florida, Lee sought to distance Florida from claims coming from the President about the Security of mail voting.

“The voter has an opportunity to come in and say, yes, that is my ballot,” said Lee.

An she told the audience that attacks on the voting infrastructure are a daily occurrence.

“We’ve invested millions in our cyber infrastructure statewide,” said Lee.

In addition to continued attacks on the system, the Secretary believes voters are going to be bombarded with misinformation; everything from a candidate’s stance to the day of the election being changed.

And Lee said if you see something on social media that raises a question, don’t swallow it.

Go to local supervisors for an answer.

The state now has five full time cyber specialists working to protect the statewide voting infrastructure.

Lee also emphasized Tuesday that no voting machine is attached to the internet where it can be hacked.

Florida State University President John Thrasher has asked the university’s athletic director to look into potentially renaming Doak Campbell Stadium after more than 2,000 signed an online petition.

The former university President shut down students’ calls at the time to integrate the university, but Campbell’s grandson argues the situation was more nuanced.

Former FSU President Doak Campbell served from 1941 to 1957.

He encouraged the construction of the stadium that now bares his name, but his actions during segregation have led to calls for a name change.

“Football is the face of the university,” said former FSU football player Dr. Kendrick Scott.

Scott started an online petition, which has collected almost 2,500 signatures.

He asserts Campbell’s stance against integration is well documented.

In one case, Campbell attempted to prohibit the school newspaper from writing about segregation.

“It is to me just counterintuitive for someone to have those views of not wanting to integrate… and to have that person front facing on the stadium,” said Scott.

As a result of the petition, current FSU President John Thrasher has tasked the Athletics Director with reviewing the issue and making recommendations.

But Campbell’s grandson, who shares the same name, asserts his grandfather was not pro-segregation.

“He never professed any segregationist opinion,” said Doak Campbell III.

He says his grandfather feared segregationist lawmakers would seek retribution against the university.

“So he was trying really to protect the institution and the students. He was not trying to make a statement,” said Campbell. “He did not want the university dragged into a very hot political topic.”

Both Campbell and Dr. Scott believe the university’s investigation will go their way.

Dr. Scott hopes if the name is changed, the stadium will be renamed in honor of former FSU Coach Bobby Bowden.

We reached out to the university’s athletic department for comment on this story, but were told the Director doesn’t plan to speak publicly on the topic until the review is further along.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed 21 bills over the weekend and among them were two bills aimed at protecting vulnerable populations.

Drivers who pass stopped school buses and bear poachers will soon face tougher penalties.

Right now killing a bear out of season carries a lighter penalty than killing a turkey or deer out of season.

Rep. David Smith believes that just doesn’t make sense.

“It was more of a penalty to shoot a turkey one day out of season than to kill a bear that you couldn’t hunt at all,” said Smith.

Thanks to Smith’s bill, signed by the Governor Saturday, the crimes will carry the same weight starting July 1st.

Violators will face up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

They’ll also lose any fish and wildlife issued license for three years.

“The things that make Florida, Florida we have to protect because if we lose them we’re never going to get them back,” said Smith.

A second bill signed this weekend aims to protect another vulnerable group, Florida’s children.

According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, almost 3,800 citations were issued for illegal passing a school bus in the 2018-19 fiscal year alone.

Currently passing a stopped school bus results in a $100 to $200 fine, depending on which side you pass.

Starting next year fines will be doubled.

“We’re just going to have to keep increasing the fines until we get compliance with the law,” said bill sponsor Rep. Emily Slosberg.

A second offense within five years will lead to a six month to two year long drivers license suspension.

“To send a loud and clear message that we are serious about school bus safety in our communities,” said Rep. Ardian Zike, who also sponsored the legislation.

And as the Governor combs through the 210 bills passed during the legislative session, the big question on lawmakers’ minds is what will become of the budget and whether they’ll be called back to the Capitol early to make revisions.

Despite state revenues losing almost $900 million in April, Governor Ron DeSantis has maintained the Legislature will not need to return before November, promising a heavy veto pen on the budget.

Florida crossed the 100,000 mark Monday as the state added 2, 926 new coronavirus cases.

The dubious milestone comes as the Governor is declining to to issue a statewide mandatory mask order.

The line of cars waiting for a COVID-19 test at a site in Tallahassee stretched more than a hundred deep and around the corner for hours end Monday.

One woman told us her 24-year-old daughter works in a restaurant were someone tested positive.

Another told us her son was exposed and she’d spent about ten minutes with him in her home.

While we were at the front of the line, a corporate restaurant worker was getting tested after a co-worker tested positive.

The problem, she said, is that she heard it from coworkers, not the restaurant.

“It wasn’t until I called my manager, until I found out that it was real,” said the worker who asked to remain anonymous.

On Saturday, the Governor acknowledged that people in their 20’s and 30’s were spreading the disease.

“We’re seeing positive tests at increasing rates which suggests you are seeing increasing transmission, particularly amongst that group,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.

But when asked, he declined to issue a mandatory mask order.

“I’ve not preempted locals from doing what they think is right. But at the same time, you know, you have to enforce that,” said DeSantis.

Dr. Mark Michelman from Clearwater believes these lines for testing will only going to get longer unless the Governor takes severe measures.

“Do something quickly. Today. Tomorrow at the latest. At least mandate mask wearing indoors for everyone. At least do that,” said Dr. Michelman.

And while the Governor isn’t biting, the Department of Heath reissued a health advisory asking people to wear a mask when they can’t socially distance.

While declining to issue a mandatory mask order, the Governor did say fatalities and admissions to ICU units continue on a downward path.

Florida set a new record for daily cases Friday, with 3,822 residents and nonresident testing positive.

Despite the steadily rising case numbers a new survey conducted by the Florida Chamber of Commerce shows Floridians by and large are optimistic about the future.

Almost six out of ten Floridians approve of the Governor’s handling of COVID-19.

About the same believe the economy will improve within six months time.

That’s a good sign to House Budget Chair Travis Cummings.

“The majority of folks seem to think that Florida’s doing a good job of the time that we shut down as well as kind of when we’re opening back up,” said Cummings.

David Hart, President & CEO of the Florida Chamber said consumer confidence often becomes reality.

“If there’s an assumption that things are going to improve, it generally breeds that result,” said Hart.

Cases have been steadily rising since June 6th when the survey began, but the survey period ended just before the four day streak of skyrocketing cases.

Democrat Representative Adam Hattersley thinks if the survey were taken again, the results may be quite different.

“We hit 2,000 new cases in a day for the first time last week, late last week, and now all of a sudden we’re at 4,000 in a day. So we have to stay focused on the current data,” said Hattersley.

Republicans like Representative James Grant aren’t surprised by the spike in cases.

Grant believes what’s more important is that hospitalizations and deaths have continued on a downward trend.

“The need to stay inside, the need to be diligent was to flatten the curve to make sure that we had the infrastructure to treat people in the healthcare system who needed it. And what we’ve seen here in Florida is that we have absolutely succeeded in doing that,” said Grant.

And despite the rapid increase in cases over the past four days, the Governor has no plans to shut down the economy again any time soon.

According to the survey Republicans were far more likely to see the situation positively compared to Democrats.

85 percent of Republicans approved of the Governor’s handling of the crisis compared to just 31 percent of Democrats.

The partisan break was similar on the six month economic outlook.

Florida’s jobless report released Friday shows more people were working in May, but the state’s unemployment rate is still rising.

It’s up seven tenths of a percent and now sits at 14.5 percent

Earlier this week, Governor Ron DeSantis expressed optimism about May’s unemployment numbers.

“Hopefully, positivity will be reflected,” said DeSantis Tuesday.

He was wrong.

The jobless rate is still climbing.

“Some of the furloughs that were initially identified as temporary layoffs may be more permanent,” said DEO economist Adrienne Johnston.

1.4 million Floridians are out of work.

During a virtual briefing, we asked how many people aren’t being counted because they have left the work force.

“At this time, we could pull that information and it could give us some sense of how many folks are what we call discouraged workers,” said Johnston.

But new unemployment claims are slowing.

210,000 people filed claims in the first 17 days of of June.

That’s less than half than were filed during the last 17 days of May.

However, those that are filing are still having trouble.

“I mean, its a catastrophic failure on behalf of the state,” said Shiela Houze.

Houze, an unemployed Jacksonville resident, finally got a check June 10th after trying since April, but she’s still owed back benefits.

“I should have gotten the full amount because it’s been over 12 weeks. I should have gotten my complete payout of $4,875,” said Houze.

But so far, she’s gotten on $250.

And if that payment doesn’t come before July first, Sheila expects her landlord to file an eviction notice.

Unless the moratorium on evictions is extended, which is possible, thousands of Floridians could become homeless.

Attorney’s we’ve spoken with advise having frequent conversations with your landlord or banker now.

After requesting assistance for months, Governor Ron DeSantis has finally issued an executive order aimed at easing the burden on election supervisors headed into the Primary and General Elections.

The Governor’s executive order offers state workers administrative leave to work the polls and encourages counties to do the same for their employees.

Their help is need to make up for an expected shortage of poll workers.

“That might help us some,” said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley.

Earley, who also serves as Vice President of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, expects it may be tough for some counties to swing.

“I think everybody is in a big deficit situation right now,” said Earley.

The order also orders schools closed on election day to be used as polling places.

Andrew Spar, Vice President of the Florida Education Association worries bringing hundreds of voters into schools in the middle of a pandemic could be risky.

“Have voting in there until late in the evening and then reopen the next day? Does that give enough time for sanitizing and appropriate cleaning?” said Spar.

Last, the order allows supervisors to count mail ballots once they’ve tested their machines for accuracy, but Earley said due to time limitations in law, it really provides only two extra days.

“So you know, that doesn’t help a whole lot either,” said Earley.

Supervisors were hoping the Governor would allow them to consolidate polling places, get two extra weeks to count mail ballots and conduct early voting through election day.

They say the Governor’s order is likely too little too late.

“There are some items in there that could potentially be helpful… But frankly I think there’s not a whole lot of meat on the bone,” said Earley.

Supervisors are hopeful they’ll be able to conduct the Primary Election without major issues, but they worry without additional executive action the November election will be a lot tougher.

Because supervisors expect an influx of vote by mail ballots, it’s more important than ever to request and return your ballot as soon as possible.

You can also return your ballot to your local supervisor of elections in person or vote in person if you requested a mail ballot but have not returned it.