Tag Archives: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Evangelical Pastor Franklin Graham backs Ron DeSantis in battle with Disney

Ephesians 6:13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Important Takeaways:

  • ‘Disney’s morals are in the gutter’: Evangelical Pastor Franklin Graham says Disney ‘flaunts sin’ as he backs Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in battle over so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law
  • Evangelical pastor Franklin Graham has blasted Disney for having its morals ‘in the gutter’ while backing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in his battle with the firm.
  • Graham said: ‘What has happened at Disney is moral failure. Walt Disney had a vision for wholesome family entertainment. He was committed to the family.
  • ‘The morals of the corporate leadership of Disney today are in the gutter, and they want to redefine family counter to God’s original design and flaunt sin.’
  • ‘Thank God for Governor Ron DeSantis who is willing to take a bold stand. We need more leaders like him. God bless him and the Florida legislature.’
  • The House passed the measure with a 68-38 vote after the Senate backed the bill by 23-16 the day before

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Florida Board of Education gives school districts ultimatum on masks

By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) – The Florida Board of Education on Friday told two school districts they would have some of their state funding withheld if they failed within the next 48 hours to provide parents with a way to opt out of a requirement that their children wear masks.

School boards in Broward and Alachua counties have mandated masks in schools in defiance of an executive order issued last month by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that barred local officials from imposing mask mandates.

Like some other Republican governors, DeSantis has called mask-wearing a personal choice which, for students, should be made by parents.

“These are the initial consequences to their intentional refusal to follow state law and state rule to purposefully and willingly violate the rights of parents,” Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement on Friday.

The order was the latest development in the raging debate over mask-wearing in some U.S. states where the coronavirus further exposed deep political fault lines.

Earlier this week, the state Board of Education voted unanimously to punish the two counties for mandating masks.

It said on Friday that both school districts will be required to provide the commissioner of education with information regarding the salaries of school board members within 48 hours.

The Florida Department of Education “will then begin to withhold from state funds, on a monthly basis, an amount equal to 1/12 of the total annual compensation of the school board members who voted to impose the unlawful mask mandates until each district demonstrates compliance,” the statement said.

Florida is battling a resurgence of COVID-19 spurred by the highly contagious Delta variant which is spreading infections mostly among the unvaccinated.

Coronavirus hospitalizations have increased by 28% in the past two weeks, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The state has reported more than 2.91 million COVID-19 cases, trailing only Texas and California.

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Anurag Maan in Benagaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Florida sues Biden administration in bid to restart cruise industry

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The state of Florida sued President Joe Biden’s administration in federal court on Thursday seeking to block the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to prevent the U.S. cruise industry from immediately resuming operations paused for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The suit, filed by Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in Tampa, asked the court to issue an injunction barring enforcement of the CDC’s order and to quickly lift a “nationwide lockdown” on the industry in place since March 2020. Early in the pandemic, there were dangerous outbreaks of COVID-19 on numerous cruise ships.

Florida, an important center for the U.S. cruise ship industry, said its ports have suffered a decline in operating revenue of almost $300 million since the pandemic started.

“We must allow our cruise liners and their employees to get back to work and safely set sail again,” Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said.

On Friday, the CDC issued new guidance to the cruise industry, a necessary step before passenger voyages can resume, but did not set a date for resuming cruises. Florida said in its lawsuit that “it now appears the CDC will continue that lockdown until November 2021, even though vaccines are now available to all adults who want them.”

“The CDC guidance is based on data and health and medical guidelines,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters when asked about the litigation.

The CDC declined to comment on the suit.

Florida said in the lawsuit that if a judge does not block the CDC’s order the state “will lose hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions. And, more importantly, the approximately 159,000 hard-working Floridians whose livelihoods depend on the cruise industry could lose everything.”

The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises, said on Monday the CDC guidance means there is “no reasonable timeline” for resuming cruises.

“With no discernable path forward or timeframe for resumption in the U.S., more sailings originating in the Caribbean and elsewhere are likely to be announced, effectively shutting American ports, closing thousands of American small businesses, and pushing an entire industry offshore,” the industry group said.

Norwegian on Monday proposed resuming cruises by July for cruises in which passengers and crew members are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Alaska’s two U.S. senators said in a joint statement on Saturday that after speaking with the CDC “we could see cruise ships in U.S. waters as early as mid-summer.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Will Dunham)

Storm Eta drenches Tampa Bay, threatens more flooding as it moves offshore

(Reuters) – Tropical Storm Eta drenched Florida’s west coast on Thursday after making landfall north of Tampa Bay with 50 mile-per-hour (80 kph) winds, but the system weakened slightly as it moved across the northeastern part of the state and into the Atlantic.

Eta, the 28th named storm of the busiest Atlantic hurricane season on record, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), made its fourth landfall at around 4 a.m. on Thursday near Cedar Key, Florida, after it already slammed Central America, Cuba and the upper Florida Keys.

The storm had moved offshore into the Atlantic and was about 40 miles (65 km) north-northeast of Jacksonville on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65 kph), the NHC said.

Storm surge from Eta in Tampa Bay reached 3 to 4 feet (0.9-1.2 m) above ground inundation, the NHC’s Storm Surge Unit said. The NHC forecasted that swells along the Florida Gulf coast today and the southeastern U.S. coast tonight would be “life-threatening.”

Flooded streets in downtown Tampa resembled lakes and sailboats in Gulfport, a city on Tampa Bay, were beached and tipped over on Thursday, photos on Twitter showed.

The storm was expected to drop an additional 1 inch to 3 inches ((2.5-7.6 cm) of rain over the Florida peninsula on Thursday, adding up to a total of 20 to 25 inches of rainfall in parts of South Florida.

“Localized bands of heavy rainfall will continue to impact portions of the Florida Peninsula today, resulting in isolated flash and urban flooding, especially across previously inundated areas,” the NHC said.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Florida restaurants can now operate with no restrictions, governor says

(Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis lifted COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants as he announced the state would enter Phase 3 of reopening on Friday.

“I think that this will be very very important to the industry and it also will be a recognition that they have worked as hard as anybody to create safe environments,” DeSantis told a news conference. “In fact, the idea that government dictating this is better than them making these decisions so that their customers have confidence I think is misplaced.”

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Diane Craft)