A fond farewell
After a brief hiatus, Peter Schorsch and Jared Moskowitz are back with a new episode of “State of Emergency” — because, sometimes, life gets in the way. The two discuss Peter’s time off to deal with the emergency health issue of his wife, and Jared’s upcoming colonoscopy. Of course, they also play some catch-up on the top stories that broke since they last entered the studio. Listen here:
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Hundreds said farewell Friday at the Florida Historic Capitol to legendary FSU football coach Bobby Bowden.
Bowden, who propelled FSU football into collegiate stardom, died Sunday at his home from pancreatic cancer. He was 91.
“I’m emotional, but God bless him and his family,” said outgoing Florida State University President John Thrasher. “He was a wonderful man.”
While many fans extended a brief and silent goodbye, others reflected on Bowden’s legacy aloud.
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis praised the local hero as an on and off-the-field leader.
“You’ll never have a coach lead a college football program in national collegiate sports ever again the way he did,” Patronis said. “It just won’t ever happen.”
There’s more to Bowden’s legacy than football.
Simon, who played college football at FSU, initially committed to another university.
That decision changed, however, after Bowden made a personal promise to Simon’s mother.
“Coach Bowden told Corey’s mama: ‘I’m gonna take care of your boy,’” Patronis recalled. “That’s all it took for his mama to want Corey to be with Coach Bowden. Not only did he look out for these guys on the field, but he looked out for them professionally.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Simon to lead the service and volunteerism agency in December.
Democratic Sen. Linda Stewart of Orlando also attended the homage.
Alongside family, she paid respects to Bowden and shared words of encouragement with his widow, Ann Bowden.
“I was especially interested in talking to his wife and thanking her for all the things that she did to help him make his career successful,” Stewart said. “There’s always a good woman behind a good man.”
DeSantis honored Bowden earlier this year with the first Governor’s Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award the Governor can give.
During his 44-year coaching career, Bowden amassed 377 wins — 304 of them at FSU — and a collection of Atlantic Coast Conference titles and two national championships. He is also one of a handful of college football coaches to develop two Heisman trophy winners, Charlie Ward in 1993 and Chris Weinke in 2000.
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Coming up, the usual assortment of tidbits, leftovers and not-ready-for-prime-time moments by Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado, Haley Brown and the staff of Florida Politics.
Take 5
The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:
DeSantis threatens school board salaries, then clarifies — The DeSantis administration threatened to withhold the salaries of school board members and superintendents who violate the ban on mask mandates in schools. But the administration is now clarifying that the state doesn’t control local employees’ pay. Instead, the state could sanction officials’ school districts and ask them to dock their pay voluntarily. The White House is exploring ways it could intervene if the administration follows through on its threat. School districts could possibly use the remaining American Rescue Plan dollars assigned to districts to compensate for the cuts. An emergency Department of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to possibly act against Alachua and Broward counties for violating the opt-out rule.
CDC flubs Florida COVID-19 data — The CDC incorrectly reported 28,317 new cases in Florida for Sunday instead of the 15,319 the Department of Health logged. That mistake led some officials to suggest the CDC made the error intentionally. Chief Financial Officer Patronis told Fox and Friends, “I just think it goes back to just the obsession duel between the Governor and the President.” DeSantis similarly called the Biden administration obsessed with Florida, but didn’t suggest the CDC meant to misreport the data. “I don’t know what exactly happened. I don’t know what the motivation is. But as you alluded to, the White House, they’re more concerned about trying to attack me than actually dealing with the problems of the country.”
Census releases redistricting data; lawmakers promise fairness — With local level population out from the U.S. Census Bureau, the table is set for the Legislature to redraw the state’s House, Senate and congressional districts. Official census data will come next month after COVID-19 caused the delay, but legislative leaders can get a head start on analysis. Sen. Ray Rodrigues, who leads the Senate’s redistricting team, thinks a lawsuit is inevitable. Senate President Wilton Simpson asked senators to prepare accordingly. Suburbs grew over the last decade, according to the data. And Florida now has three counties with majority Hispanic populations and six in which White people are not a majority of the population.
HHS’ ventilator shipment draws questions — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent 200 ventilators to Florida this week as part of what the DeSantis administration called a routine shipment. But the timing with a spike in hospitalizations and apparent confusion from the Governor regarding a reporter’s question on the matter helped spark concerns that hospitals weren’t prepared for the load. Initially, DeSantis said Florida never asked for assistance. Still, after realizing the confusion between ventilators and respirators, as the reporter asked, the administration said the state Department of Health was only being prepared. “There is no shortage of ventilators in Florida,” DeSantis’ spokeswoman said Wednesday.
DeSantis hands out teacher, first responder bonuses — The Governor traveled the state this week to hand $1,000 checks to first responders and teachers as a thank you for their work during the pandemic. Many school districts across Florida started school this week. “When you look at it from a state standpoint — the economy, everything — COVID attacked us, and our teachers fought back,” Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran told teachers in St. Petersburg. And in Surfside, where crews had responded to the condo collapse earlier this summer, DeSantis thanked them for responding to that tragedy and the pandemic.
Record recovery
The Division of Emergency Management has awarded more than $5 billion to local governments for disaster recovery since DeSantis took office.
That’s the most funding the division has paid out within less than three years of a new administration. Nearly $3 billion of that funding has been paid out within the past year.
DEM has helped fight hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, wildfires and COVID-19.
Speaking in Panama City this week, the Governor highlighted that milestone while discussing the state’s assistance for Hurricane Michael recovery after the storm hit in October 2018.
“When I took office, I instructed the Division to overhaul their recovery funding procedures to make sure we were delivering relief to communities impacted by recent disasters as quickly as possible,” DeSantis said. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the incredible progress we have made in supporting recovery efforts statewide, and we remain committed to expediting recovery funding.”
Since DeSantis took office in 2019, DEM has distributed more than $3.35 billion in FEMA Public Assistance, $1.23 billion in CARES Act funding to local governments with populations under 500,000, $300 million for citrus growers, and $100 million for timber producers.
“Under Gov. DeSantis’ leadership, the Division has been able to ensure local governments have every resource available to recover from recent disasters,” FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie said. “While we have crossed an incredible milestone for disaster recovery funding, we still have work to do. As we continue to make strides in disaster recovery, the Division remains committed to empowering community stakeholders to build a resilient state.”
No-mo robo
Attorney General Ashley Moody urges the FCC to expedite the effective date of legislation intended to crack down on robocalls.
The TRACED Act requires phone companies to implement caller ID technology that prevents spammers from disguising their identity or otherwise making spoof calls.
While larger companies were required to implement the STIR/SHAKEN technology in June 2021, the act allows smaller phone companies to wait till June 2023.
The wait, Moody said, is harming residents.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Floridians have been bombarded with countless robocalls — many of them scams attempting to gather sensitive information for nefarious purposes,” Moody said.
The coalition is requesting that smaller companies implement the technology no later than June 2022.
Joining Moody are attorneys general from states including New York, California and Texas.
“It will take an all-hands-on-deck approach to stop these annoying, often illegal calls and that is why I am joining my colleagues from across the country in asking the FCC to take swift, decisive action in moving up the compliance deadline,” Moody said.
More information about the act is available online.
The coalition’s comments to the FCC are also available online.
Republished with permission [/vc_message]
