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A second school district in as many days has backed down and come into compliance with the state’s masking and quarantine policies.

Leon County Schools now says starting next week it will allow parents the ultimate choice on masking.

In late August interview, Florida’s Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran made a prediction.

“We’ll get to the middle of September, everyone will calm down cause our cases are going to decline just like they did last year,” said Corcoran.

And that prediction panned out, with case rates steadily dropping over the past two months.

“We see positivity rates hovering around three percent in Leon County,” said Leon School Superintendent Rocky Hanna.

Hanna said the district’s decision to come into compliance with state masking and quarantine rules was based not on threats from the state, but on local case numbers.

“But if things change again, if we see that another variant comes through or let’s say after the holidays those numbers go up, we’re going right back to these things,” said Hanna.

The announcement from Leon came a day after Brevard County Schools also came into compliance with state masking and quarantine rules.

But Hanna said he firmly believes masking was the right call at the start of the school year.

“We had the death of a child, we had the death of a coach, we had positivity numbers of the chain. To not do something would have been reckless and irresponsible,” said Hanna.

Districts still fighting the state on masks include Alachua, Broward, Dade, Duval, Orange and Palm Beach.

House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Randy Fine had this message for the districts still holding out.

“For many of them this is simply about politics. They’re not willing to say they were wrong and they’re just gonna stick it out and we’re going to beat them,” said Representative Fine.

While Leon and Brevard have buckled, they are still part of an administrative challenge to the state’s masking and quarantine policies.

A ruling is expected by November 5th.

Also yet to be settled is a lawsuit brought by parents seeking to overturn the state’s school mask mandate ban.

That case is still working its way through an appellate court.

The US Department of Education is warning the Florida’s Department of Education it could face sanctions if it continues to penalize school districts that implement mask mandates.

The letter is the latest escalation in a continued back and fourth between local governments, the state and feds over masking in schools.

The letter from the US Department of Education comes in response to the state vowing to withhold additional money from school boards if they backfill their salaries with federal dollars.

Alachua Superintendent Dr. Carlee Simon told us her district never took the federal aid.

“But we are watching and in the event that we need to draw down funding from the federal government, when we do, we will let the commissioner know,” said Simon.

The letter threatens enforcement action, but the state isn’t backing down.

In a statement, the Florida Department of Education called the letter ‘legally hollow’ and said it would continue forward, ‘lawfully, as we have this entire time’.

“Governor DeSantis is in the catbird seat,” said State Representative Randy Fine.

Fine, who chairs the House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee, said while it’s not clear exactly what the feds are threatening, he sees no reason for the state to worry.

“It ends when California and New York taxpayers pay for education in Florida, which I think would be an outstanding outcome and I hope President Biden does it,” said Fine.

The school masking debate is expected to enter the halls of the Capitol in an upcoming special session, and it’s a Republican State Senator from Alachua County who is leading the charge.

Senator Keith Perry’s bill would make any school mask mandate null and void.

Dr. Simon called the proposal shortsighted.

“Right now we’re talking about COVID. What about other future viruses that might come about?” said Simon.

And Rep Fine told us beyond the legislation, school districts that fought the state over masking should expect additional punishment saying he doesn’t think they will have a good budget year.

Rep Fine also said he believes local officials that implement mask mandates should face criminal charges, but the legislation currently on the table does not include any specific penalties.

For the second week in a row, Florida’s elections Supervisors are reaching out.

Last week it was a letter to officials asking them to tone down the rhetoric and this week it’s a letter to voters asking them to not to be fooled by misinformation.

Last November, Governor Ron DeSantis said the ghost of the Florida’s contested 2000 election was finally dead.

“Finally vanquished the ghost of Bush v Gore,” said DeSantis.

But for some doubts remain.

A Walton County man is facing $50-a-day fines for violating sign regulations for displaying a ‘Trump Won’ banner.

Rep. Anthony Sabatini has filed HB 99, calling for a forensic audit of Florida’s 2020 election, which Trump won by four points.

“There’s a lot of people in the state who do not trust the verification of this election. They don’t trust it, and they know an audit will show it was either completely fine or not completely fine. That’s the only thing it will show,” said Sabatini.

Next year’s August primary is 300 days away and the November General is in 377 days.

Election Supervisors are already worrying the chatter and rhetoric from elected officials and others is casting doubt over what they do.

Mark Earley is the President-Elect of the Supervisors Association, which has now sent letters to elected officials and voters attempting to instill confidence in the system.

“The power of social media and combined with human frailty. Those two are mixing together in a way that’s never happened before. I think some people have used that, are abusing that, to sway people’s opinion and undermine their faith in elections,” said Earley.

Supervisors told us they had to start their campaign more than a year from next fall’s election to fight through the clutter of social media and assure people their votes really do count.

If the mistrust lingers, it’s only going to make the supervisors job that much harder.

In-N-Out burger could become the next Florida convert as a result of the state’s COVID policies, or at least that’s what Florida’s Chief Financial Officer hopes.

When Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis heard the burger chain In-N-Out was fighting back against San Francisco’s vaccine passport policy he reached out to the company with a proposal: Why not come here?

“Why wouldn’t In-N-Out want to come to the bastion of freedom that we call the State of Florida?” said Patronis.

While In-N-Out hasn’t responded yet, it’s clear plenty of other businesses have bought what Florida is selling.

The latest numbers show Florida is adding jobs at a rate three times higher than the national average.

“Florida is the place to be,” said Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro.

Calabro said Florida hit the mark creating a business climate free from government mandates.

“To make sure that we did not have the Californiacation of Florida,” said Calabro.

But Democrats warn the state is toeing a thin line on COVID-business policy.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith argued the Governor’s call to penalize companies with employee vaccine mandates goes too far.

“Businesses should have the freedom to be able to make their own decisions without Governor Ron DeSantis telling them what to do,” said Smith.

The business community is keeping fairly silent on the Governor’s special session agenda.

Since last week’s announcement we’ve reached out to the Florida Chamber to weigh in twice, and twice our inquiries have gone unanswered.

Calabro said when dealing with the private sector, lawmakers should be cautious.

“Businesses want to do what’s best for their employees, their customers and their stockholders and they’re going to be held accountable and responsible for it. And they really can’t be held as directly accountable and responsible if somebody else is making those decisions for them,” said Calabro.

How to balance free-market ideals and personal liberties is sure to be the focus of many debates at the State Capitol over the coming weeks.

Despite the Governor’s announcement last week, there still has not been an official date has been set for a Special Session.

Florida’s new Surgeon General has only been on the job a month and he is already taking heat after refusing a request to put on a mask in a state Senator’s office.

Last week, Joseph Ladapo was making the rounds in the State Senate Office building.

He stopped in to see Senator Tina Polsky, a Democrat.

She told him she has a serious health condition and asked he wear a mask.

“I ask everyone to wear a mask in my office,” said Polsky, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

He refused.

“It was like a negotiation, and at some point I said, you know, if you won’t wear a mask, I know all I need to know about you. You can leave now,” said Polsky.

One the way out, Polsky told us one of her aides heard Ladapo say: “Sometimes I try to reason with unreasonable people for fun”.

“He doesn’t have the basic human skills of a human. He doesn’t have the skills of a physician to care about me as an individual when I told him I had a serious medical condition,” said Polsky.

Senator Polsky was upset because two aides with the Surgeon General did nothing to encourage mask wearing and did not wear one themselves.

Calls to the Department of Health have gone unanswered.

Over the weekend, Polsky’s office received an anti-Semitic voice mail and numerous hateful emails.

“A couple of them were threatening. Someone said they hoped I died of cancer,” said Polsky.

In a memo to Senators and staff, GOP Senate President Wilton Simpson called the encounter unprofessional and disappointing.

Agriculture Commissioner and Gubernatorial Hopeful Nikki Fried said she believes Ladapo has no place in Florida.

“And certainly this is not someone who should be leading our state during a health care crisis,” said Fried.

Even before the incident Sen. Janet Cruz was unhappy with Ladapo, but lamented there was little Democrats could do during his confirmation.

“The majority vote rules,” said Cruz.

After last weeks incident, some Republicans might share her concerns.

Six Florida school districts challenging the Department of Health’s rule on masks in schools appeared before an administrative law judge Thursday morning.

At issue is whether parents alone can opt their kids out of wearing a mask.

Also of concern is what’s required if a student has been exposed to COVID but showing no symptoms.

The six school districts argue they know what’s best for the students in their communities and the state isn’t letting them do what they were elected to do.

Rocky Hanna is the Superintendent in Leon County.

“If we have a student that is exposed, a potential exposure, for them to wear a mask. They can stay in school, but wear a mask in what otherwise would have been the quarantine period. But even for them, that’s not allowed for and we’re out of compliance,” said Hanna.

The mask divide was evident in the hearing room.

Virtually everyone on the school boards’ side was masked.

Not so on the state’s side.

The schools argue the state exceeded its authority because the Dept of Health doesn’t regulate schools.

“What this rule really does is prevent school districts from requiring masks with the opt out at the parent’s sole discretion. And the question is, does that control COVID?” Said Jamie Cole, and attorney representing the school boards.

But the DOH, with a giant copy of the rule on display, said the mask rule is specifically in their authority to keep people safe.

“You can have a masking policy, but we’re gonna place a limit on that. The limit is you have to allow a parental opt out,” said the state’s attorney Jason Gonzales.

Leon County School Board member Roseanne Woods’ salary depends on the outcome.

“We enacted these rules to protect children, and I feel that’s my constitutional duty,” said Woods.

With COVID cases declining, the schools argued the hearing is as much about a future pandemic as the one we’re currently experiencing.

“The wearing of this mask may protect me, but more importantly it protects all of you. And that’s where to me the rights of one child interfere with the rights of all the other children,” said Hanna.

The hearing concludes Friday.

No word yet on whether the decision will be immediate.

Either side is likely to appeal.

The case would then go to the First District Court of Appeal, which often sides with the state on school issues.

Governor Ron DeSantis surprised lawmakers when he said he would call the Legislature into a special session to deal with vaccine mandates, but already lawmakers are staking their positions on the Governor’s proposed agenda.

The Governor’s announcement came as a surprise, even to the House Speaker.

“We will be calling the Legislature back for a special session,” said Governor Ron DeSantis at a rally Thursday morning.

It comes three days after a blanket vaccine mandate ban failed in Texas.

“The reason the bill failed in Texas is you did see this uprising and this resistance from business owners. So it’s a very tricky mine field to navigate,” said Representative Spencer Roach.

Unlike the Texas proposal, the Governor’s plan wouldn’t ban mandates, but business would lose COVID liability protections for firing an employee over vaccination status.

The Governor’s plan would seemingly put businesses in a catch 22: don’t mandate vaccines and risk the virus and federal fines or mandate the vaccine and risk pandemic-related lawsuits.

Democrat Fentrice Driskell said no business should have to make that choice.

“What an untenuous choice for a business owner who wants to keep themselves safe, wants to keep their workers safe. Wants to stay open and be that you know, bedrock of the community that we need them to be,” said Representative Driskell.

Representative Scott Plakon told us he supports the Governor fighting back against the Biden Administration.

“Joe Biden wants to be my doctor and I find it repulsive, offensive and I’m glad that Governor DeSantis is standing up to these bullies,” said Plakon.

Representative Cord Byrd said striking a balance between the rights of employers and employees will be at the heart of any legislation.

“What are the limits of free markets and then coercion. So I’m just glad that we’re going to have that discussion,” said Byrd.

The Governor’s plan also calls for lawmakers to allow unemployment benefits be paid for workers fired over vaccines and allows employees to claim workers compensation if they have an adverse reaction to a mandated vaccine.

The Governor also wants a blanket prohibition on public sector vaccine mandates.

The Governor vowed the special special session would come before year’s end.

The Seminole Tribe has been pushing back in the courts against lawsuits challenging the tribe’s new compact with the state and now it’s using the air waves to fight against citizen initiatives seeking to expand gaming beyond tribal lands

So far the tribe’s efforts have been successful keeping its exclusive rights to gambling in Florida.

“Watch out Florida,” a new ad backed by the Seminole Tribe begins.

The tribe has pumped $10 million into the new ad campaign airing across the state.

“Don’t sign the gambling petitions,” said the narrator in the video, referencing three citizen initiatives that would expand gambling off tribal lands.

But Christina Johnson with Florida Education Champions, the group backing an initiative to legalize sports betting, argued the tribe’s message is hypocritical.

That’s because the Tribe supported Amendment 3 in 2018, which gave voters ultimate control over gambling in Florida.
“The Seminole bosses are spending millions of dollars asking Florida voters not to sign a petition on the very same issue: to have a voice in the expansion of gaming,” said Johnson.

The tribe is also defending its new compact with the state in the courts.

One suit has already been thrown out by a federal judge.

Attorney and gaming expert Bob Jarvis predicts the two remaining lawsuits will suffer a similar fate.

“If a law student had submitted either of those cases as a paper, you’d give him or her an F,” said Jarvis, who is also a professor of law at Nova Southeastern University Florida.

At least one lawsuit claims because the new compact allows sports bets to be placed off tribal lands, it constitutes an illegal expansion of gaming under Amendment 3.

But Jarvis argued Amendment 3 makes no mention of sports betting, which was illegal under federal law at the time the amendment was drafted and approved by the state supreme court.

“For a court to now say, oh but a voter in 2018 would have understood that a vote for Amendment 3 was a vote against sports betting, again, the height of folly,” said Jarvis.

Jarvis is also skeptical the three citizen initiatives will pass.

Up against the tribe’s deep pockets, getting the 60 percent voter approval needed for passage will be a difficult hurdle.

Florida Education Campions told us it has roughly 250,000 signatures collected already, enough to get a review by the State Supreme Court.

The group will still need nearly 650,000 more by February 1st to make it on the November ballot.

State lawmakers were told that Florida collects little data on guardianships during a Wednesday committee meeting.

A task force is recommending changes, but there are still large holes in the system.

Doug Franks spent years trying to free his mother from a guardianship.

He succeeded just weeks before she died.

Franks had tough words this summer when he spoke to the state’s guardianship task force.

“Our legal system is broken. And it rewards people who want to extract money from the elderly. There is no oversight. There is still none,” said Franks.

The House Civil Justice and Property Rights Sub Committee heard from experts Wednesday.

One concern is that Florida does not allow courts in other states to talk with Florida courts.

Elder Law Attorney Victoria Heuler spoke about a hypothetical brother.

“He then starts a guardianship up in Georgia. Because he hates my guts and he wants all moms money. Now she’s in Georgia. How do I go in Georgia and get her?” Said Heuler.

Also clear from the meeting is that there is no data on who, what or why people are in guardianship.

There’s also no data on guardians who are taking care of what the law calls a ‘ward’.

“The state doesn’t track guardianships. There’s no database that tells us how many cases of guardianship there are. There’s no data that shows us whether there are guardians who are bad actors,” said Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith.

Recommendations from a a statewide guardianship task force include include creating databases, asking judges to consider less restrictive measures before a guardianship and more training for everyone involved.

Doug Franks thinks not all the right people were on the task force.

“Law enforcement. That was huge. They needed to be a part of this because it is a criminal enterprise,” said Franks.

And while Franks was able to free his mother, the committee heard that once someone is under a guardianship, few are freed, except by death.

The state plans to replant millions of clams and oysters in an effort to purify polluted waterways where manatees are starving to death.

As of Monday, a record 968 manatees had died so far this year, and the state fears the coming winter could be worse.

While the 968 manatee deaths are a record, up 11 since the end of September, there are long term consequences because four in ten were adults.

“These long-lived, slow-growing, slow to reproduce animals, the adults are really important as far as maintaining that population and having offspring,” said Mellisa Tucker with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Boat encounters continue to be a problem, but more problematic is the lack of food caused by deteriorating water conditions.

“It’s really a crisis, because of all the nutrients and algae in the water. The grass, the sunlight can’t get though to let the grass grow,” said Kate MacFall with the Human Society of the US.

The most recent survey of manatees by the state was five years ago.

It found there were just over 8,800 of the mammals.

So concerned are lawmakers, one actually told FWC to ask for the money this year to do a new study.

In addition to replanting oysters and clams to clean the water, one contingency could be bringing food to the sea cows to keep them alive this winter.

“Restoration is not working because the water quality that killed the sea grasses to begin with is still there,” said State Representative Thad Altman.

And Altman worries we’re watching the sea mammal go extinct before our eyes.

“You’ve got to keep them alive, and that’s a question that I don’t think we’ve ever had to confront. And I don’t think we ever thought we would have to confront this so quickly, so vastly, where a species is starving to death right before our eyes.”

FWC is spending $8 million this year to protect the manatee.

It’s asking for another $6 million in the coming budget.

Manatee deaths returned to normal once winter’s weather started to warm, but FWC and lawmakers expect the deaths to rise again once cold weather is the norm.

The state’s largest medical marijuana company just got bigger, opening it’s 100th store Tuesday, but Trulieve isn’t interested in being the only medical marijuana option for patients.

The company is looking forward to competition from other companies entering the marketplace and even everyday Floridians.

We were there for the first medical marijuana sale at Trulieve’s first store in the state’s capital.

Fast forward five years and the company is now celebrating the opening of it’s 100th store front in the same city where it all began.

“I think it exemplifies our future,” said Trulieve Chief Marketing Officer Valda Coryat.

Trulieve is by far the largest medical marijuana company in the state.

Soon as many as 19 additional competitors will have a chance to join the marketplace, but the company sees that as a good thing.

“I think it will make us all better. Right? It will be good for the industry and in the end it will be great for our patients,” said Coryat.

Trulieve is also supporting a proposal that could turn customers into competitors.

“One of our core values for Trulieve is absolutely accessibility to all patients and with that we support home grow,” said Coryat.

Michael Minardi, the man behind the citizen initiative seeking to legalize home grow, said the support of the cannabis industry makes good business sense.

“Eventually they’ll be able to sell seeds and clones and sell to an adult use market,” said Minardi.

Trulieve has petitions available in all of its stores.

Sensible Florida told us it’s already collected nearly 50,000 signatures so far.

“At a minimum, we will hopefully have enough signatures for supreme court review by the end of November,” said Minardi.

The citizen initiative still has a long way to go.

Nearly 223,000 signatures are required just to get a review by the State Supreme Court, which has already blocked two previous legalization efforts from appearing on the ballot.

If approved by the Supreme Court the Sensible Florida initiative would still need a total of 891,589 signed petitions by February 1st to make it on the 2022 ballot.

60 percent of voters would then have to vote yes for the amendment to be added to the state constitution.

Naples-Republican Kathleen Passidomo has been selected to serve as the next Senate President in the Florida Legislature.

Passidomo will lead the chamber for the 2022-2024 Legislative Term.

Passidomo has served in the Senate since 2016 and previously served six years in the Florida House.

She’s known for championing reforms to the guardian program and said she plans to continue working to protect the elderly from fraud and abuse as Senate President.

Passidomo is the third woman to lead the Florida Senate in state history.

Wearing a pin given to her by former Senate President Toni Jennings, Passidomo discussed her early law career when she was the only practicing female lawyer in Collier County.

“My thought was I either join them or get locked out. So I worked with my male colleagues and was able to have a successful career and I anticipate doing the same thing here in the Senate. I talked to President Jennings and she’s as feisty as can be and gave me some really good ideas and I’m looking forward to working with everybody. But I’m not doing it just because I’m a woman. I hope to be a role model for younger women coming behind me and I hope to be able to turn this pin over to some other woman some day in the Senate and I hope the House will elect a female Speaker,” said Passidomo.

Passidomo said she plans to focus on energy, the environment, the economy and affordable housing as Senate President.

She said her goal is to ensure Florida doesn’t become a state like California, which she decried as an example of failed leadership.

The race for Governor now has three major Democrats seeking their party’s nomination. A South Florida State Senator joined the ranks this morning, alluding to, as Mike Vasilinda tells us, neither of the other two top tier Democrats are gaining traction.

State Senator Annette Taddeo became the 10th Democrat to file for Governor, but Taddeo, Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried, and Congressman Charlie Crist are the only three in the bunch who are viable.  

“It feels great. Feels right!” Taddeo told us when she arrive to file her paperwork.

Taddeo was Charlie Crist’s running made when he sought the Governors job in 2014 and told us this race is not about Charlie Crist, or herself.

“This race is about the future of Floridians and who is going to be the best person to create the coalition and to create the excitement from the ground up to win.” Taddeo told us afterwards.

Taddeo says it was main street Democrats from across the state that encouraged her to get into the race. 

“Our activists and people who worked so hard to elect Democrats, and we just seem to fall short every time.”

One reason for the encouragement: Fried and Crist have shown lackluster fundraising. Both have about three million in the bank.

The Friends of Ron DeSantis, his political committee, has already raised one hundred and one million dollars. He’s got fifty-eight million left in cash”

While not yet official, his is indeed running for re-election. In June, he said this: “I think it’s a pretty good bet we’re gonna do that.”

In a campaign video, the Columbian native honors her fathers service in World War Two by saying: “I get my fighting spirit, my beliefs from him, my dad.”

And she reminds voters: “I’m a lifelong democrat.”.

Unlike Crist.

So it really will come down to which voters Taddeo can attract. She concedes there is little difference on issues between Crist, Fried and herself, including supporting the legalization of marijuana.

Media Consultant Kevin Cate, who worked for Crist and Taddeo in 2014, and is now working for Fried, tweeted that Nikki Fired is the only Democrat to win the state since Barak Obama in 2012.

A dozen men who were abused at state reform schools were in the State Capitol this morning to plead for compensation. Legislation introduced by a two lawmakers sets up a register for the men to apply for compensation , but the legislation does not require an amount. The sponsor calls the move strategic, allowing lawmakers to agree on how much and how it should be given the men. Survivor Bryant Middleton says no amount will ever make the men whole,

“I don’t know what number you can put upon sexual abuse of a child. I don’t what number you can put upon beating a child until he literally passes out,, and is so bloody that he has to have sutures for his wounds. I don’t what a number is, but the satisfaction of getting the c compensation will do a lot to heal these men.”1

The White House boys also say there are records of more than 180 boys coming into the Dozier School, but no records of them ever leaving. More than 50 remains were found at one did, but ground penetrating radar found little else on the grounds.