Tag Archives: Governor Ron DeSantis

As COVID surges, more Florida school districts revolt against governor’s mask ban

By Saundra Amrhein and James Oliphant

TAVARES, Fla. (Reuters) – In a scene replayed across the United States, angry parents and activists streamed into a meeting of the Florida’s Lake County school board on Thursday where it considered whether to mandate mask-wearing for students and staff due to COVID.

Some opponents of the mask proposal brandished signs that read “Let Our Children Breathe.” Even with Florida seeing a record number of coronavirus cases, one attendee called the pandemic “overblown.” Another was escorted out by deputies after yelling at board members.

The proposal would require staff and students to wear masks for 14 days at schools with COVID positivity rates at or above 5%. But Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, effectively banned similar mandates in July.

Since DeSantis’ order, more than a dozen Florida counties have rebelled and voted to require masks to protect students and teachers as the Delta variant sweeps across the state. This week, the state’s Department of Education sanctioned two counties that passed school mask requirements.

The battle between DeSantis and the state’s school systems echoes larger fights across the country. Other Republican-run states such as Arizona and Texas have also banned mask mandates in schools even as COVID cases have soared in their states, as parents and voters are sharply divided over safety measures and personal freedoms.

The pushback in Florida against the Republican governor initially was led by large urban school districts run by Democrats. But this week saw more conservative counties that backed Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election also defying DeSantis and instituting their own mandates.

Earlier this week, populous Brevard County along Florida’s east coast, which went for Trump over President Joe Biden by more than 16 percentage points in November, narrowly voted to approve a 30-day school mask mandate.

A day later, Hernando County, which supported Trump over Biden by almost 30 points, also passed a mandate, but one that allows parents to opt out.

In Lake County near Orlando, which also strongly backed Trump, a school official said on Thursday that more than 1,000 students of the 36,000 in the district had tested positive for the virus.

The board listened to more than three hours of public comment on the mask proposal then postponed a decision. Some 280 people spoke or sent emails on the issue, and two-thirds of them supported the idea, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Still, proponents of a mask mandate were booed and heckled by the crowd in attendance.

“This topic has completely polarized communities,” said Andrea Messina, president of the Florida School Boards Association.

‘ABSOLUTE CRISIS’

While the conflict centers on whether state or local governments are best equipped to make decisions on health and safety, it also has become a political challenge for DeSantis, whose state has once again become a COVID-19 hotbed.

After being widely praised last year when cases declined and the state’s economy seemed revived, DeSantis has faced renewed criticism for his opposition to masks and employer vaccine mandates. Florida on Aug. 26 saw a single-day record number of new cases of the virus – almost 28,000 – since the pandemic began.

A spokesperson for DeSantis, Christina Pushaw, defended the ban on school mandates, saying the governor is “protecting the rights of families and children from all levels of government overreach.”

At the Brevard County meeting on Monday, Misty Belford, the chair of the school board who a month earlier had opposed a mask mandate, switched her vote and gave proponents a 3-2 majority.

Belford changed her mind, she told Reuters, after watching the district’s caseload spike, including a 49% increase in student cases from one week to the next. One school was closed for two days after most of its students were quarantined.

“We are at an absolute crisis point,” Belford said.

But board member Katye Campbell, who voted against the mandate, said she worries about negative effects on students from requiring masks, such as asthma flare-ups, suicidal ideation and panic attacks.

“There is nothing easy about this decision because our community is so divided,” Campbell said.

Belford said she was relying on a decision from a Florida court last week that declared the DeSantis ban illegal. DeSantis on Thursday appealed the ruling. Earlier this week, the Florida Board of Education said it would penalize two counties that voted for mask mandates without providing a parental opt-out, Alachua and Broward, by withholding funds from the districts for the board members’ salaries.

Leanetta McNealy, chair of the Alachua County school board, said her board voted for the mask mandate last month based on scientific evidence that it would help mitigate the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

“I’d rather have a decrease in my compensation than have a death under my watch,” she said.

(Reporting by Saundra Amrhein in Tavares, Florida and James Oliphant in Washington; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Cynthia Osterman)

Florida governor to order schools to allow parents to decide on masks

By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Friday he planned to issue an executive order giving parents the right to decide whether their children will wear a mask at school, a move that would thwart mandates put in place in two of the state’s counties.

School districts in Broward and Gadsden counties said recently students would have to cover their faces when classes start next month, setting up a clash with the governor, who has taken a hard line stance against vaccine and mask requirements.

“In Florida, there will be no lockdowns, there will be no school closures, there will be no restrictions and no mandates in the state of Florida,” the Republican governor said on Friday during a speech in Cape Coral announcing the executive order.

The mandates in Broward and Gadsden countries follow the recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that all students, teachers and staff wear masks regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.

DeSantis did not say when he would sign the order, and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; editing by Diane Craft and Steve Orlofsky)

Florida joins states to ban transgender girls from sports

By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) -Florida on Tuesday became the latest and by far the largest U.S. state to ban transgender women and girls from participating in school sports, part of a campaign in statehouses nationwide this year assailed as discriminatory by equal rights activists.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, enacted the law on the first day of Pride Month, which celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community.

DeSantis signed the bill at an event at a Christian school in Jacksonville where he was flanked by several teenage women athletes. He said the law was needed to ensure fairness for women participating in sports across the state.

“I can tell you this: in Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports and boys are going to play boys’ sports,” the governor said. “We are going to go based off biology, not based off ideology when we are doing sports.”

Supporters of the sports bills say transgender female athletes have an unfair advantage, having been designated male at birth but having since transitioned. Florida’s law defines an athlete’s sex as that stated on official documents at birth.

The law, rushed through the state legislature as an attachment to a charter school bill, passed over the objection of Democrats and civil rights advocates who call the banning of transgender girls and women from sports unnecessary and discriminatory and accuse Republicans of portraying them as a provocation to energize the right wing of their party.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, issued a proclamation to mark the start of Pride Month, urging Congress to LGBTQ people from discrimination by passing the Equality Act and pointing to a lack of protection of their rights in many states.

Trump, his Republican predecessor, did not officially recognize Pride Month during his four years in office.

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, said it would challenge the law in court as having been based on a “false, discriminatory premise” that threatened the wellbeing of transgender children.

“Transgender kids are kids; transgender girls are girls. Like all children, they deserve the opportunity to play sports with their friends and be a part of a team,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.

Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee and West Virginia have passed similar legislation and South Dakota’s governor has signed an executive order supporting a sports ban. All have Republican governors.

The Republican governor of North Dakota and the Democratic governor of Kansas have vetoed similar bills that passed their statehouses.

Idaho passed the first such ban last year but a federal court has blocked the law.

Arkansas passed one banning certain types of gender-affirming healthcare treatment to transgender youth, after overriding the Republican governor’s veto.

Around 100 bills have been introduced in more than 20 states this year that would limit transgender rights. Transgender advocates have called on businesses to boycott states that pass such laws.

While corporate America has yet to respond as it has on the issue of voting rights restrictions, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which governs college sports, responded to Florida’s bill in April by saying it would only hold events in states that are “free of discrimination.”

DeSantis said he would not be swayed by the stances taken by the NCAA or other organizations.

“We will stand up to groups like the NCAA who think they should be able to dictate the policies in different states. Not here. Not ever,” DeSantis said.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Howard Goller)

Biden says nearly 14% of his 1,500 agency appointees identify as LGBTQ

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 14% of U.S. President Joe Biden’s 1,500 federal agency appointees identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, he said on Tuesday in a proclamation marking the start of Pride Month celebrating the LGBTQ community.

A Democrat, Biden urged Congress to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination by passing the Equality Act. Donald Trump, his Republican predecessor, did not officially recognize Pride Month during his four years in office.

“For all of our progress, there are many States in which LGBTQ+ individuals still lack protections for fundamental rights and dignity in hospitals, schools, public accommodations, and other spaces,” Biden said.

“We will not rest until full equality for LGBTQ+ Americans is finally achieved and codified into law.”

Biden cited what he called a tragic spike in violence against transgender people, especially transgender women of color and LGBTQ youth who face bullying and harassment in academic settings and run the risk of self-harm and death by suicide.

Biden recognized the service of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the Cabinet, and Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate.

Activists describe the Biden administration as the most pro-LGBTQ in U.S. history.

On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to protect LGBTQ people under all federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex. Biden also reversed a ban on transgender people openly enlisting and serving in the military.

The Biden White House also reversed an order issued by Trump’s then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on flying the Pride flag and some U.S. embassies, including in India and Australia, are highlighting their support for LGBTQ people.

In Florida on Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis, who is closely aligned with Trump, signed into law banning transgender women and girls from participating in school sports, part of a campaign in state houses nationwide this year that equal rights activists assail as discriminatory.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)

Florida limits absentee voting with new Republican-backed law

By Julia Harte

(Reuters) -Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a law curtailing access to absentee ballots and adding new hurdles to the process of submitting them, the latest Republican-backed voting restrictions to become law in a U.S. election battleground state.

The new law restricts the use of absentee ballot drop boxes to the early voting period, adds new identification requirements for requesting such ballots and requires voters to re-apply for absentee ballots in each new general election cycle. Previously, Florida voters only had to register for an absentee ballot once every two election cycles.

The law also gives partisan election observers more power to raise objections and requires people offering voters assistance to stay at least 150 feet (45 meters) away from polling places, an increase from the previous 100-foot (30-meter) radius.

Republican legislators in numerous states have pursued measures to restrict voting rights in the aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

Minutes after DeSantis signed the law, the League of Women Voters of Florida and two other civil rights groups sued Florida’s 67 counties to try to block the new restrictions. They are represented by Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who also sued Georgia over voting limits the state passed in March.

Republican lawmakers, in pursuing the new measures, have cited the claims made by Trump, a Florida absentee voter himself, after his decisive loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Judges rejected such claims in more than 60 lawsuits that failed to overturn the election result. Lawmakers in Republican-controlled states including Georgia, Texas and Arizona nevertheless proposed legislation that they said was necessary to curb voter fraud, which is relatively rare in the United States.

DeSantis acknowledged in a February press release that Florida had “held the smoothest, most successful election of any state in the country” in November, but said new limits on absentee ballots were needed to safeguard election integrity.

DeSantis, who signed the law in an appearance on the Fox News Channel show “FOX & Friends,” said, “Me signing this bill here says, ‘Florida, your vote counts, your vote is going to be cast with integrity and transparency.'”

Mail-in ballots or absentee ballots were used by Democratic voters in greater numbers than Republicans in the 2020 election as many people avoided in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Florida Republicans used mail-in voting slightly more than Democrats in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 general elections. But in November, Democrats submitted 2.2 million mail-in ballots compared to 1.5 million from Republican voters, state records show.

“Florida’s Republican legislative leaders seem determined to weaken the system that voters have relied on, without significant problems, for the better part of a generation,” Sylvia Albert, voting and elections director for good-government watchdog Common Cause, said in a statement on April 28 after Florida’s House passed the bill.

In March, Georgia’s Republican governor signed a law that tightened absentee ballot identification requirements, restricted ballot drop box use and allowed a Republican-controlled state agency to take over local voting operations.

Democrats and voting rights advocates sued Georgia over the measure, saying it was aimed at disenfranchising Black voters, whose heavy turnout helped propel Biden to the presidency and delivered Democrats two U.S. Senate victories in Georgia in January that gave them control of the chamber. Top U.S. companies also decried Georgia’s law, and Major League Baseball moved its All-Star game out of the state in protest.

(Reporting by Julia Harte in WashingtonEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Bernadette Baum)

Appeals court finds Florida can require felons to pay fines before right to vote is restored

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that Florida can require felons to pay all fines, restitution and legal fees they face before they can regain their right to vote, reversing a lower court ruling that held the measure unconstitutional.

The ruling, by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, could influence the election outcome in November.

Florida is considered a must-win in President Donald’s Trump’s bid for re-election and disenfranchised felons account for a significant voting bloc in a state with a history of tight elections.

The dispute, which could ultimately head to U.S. Supreme Court, centers on whether the law is a way around a voter-approved 2018 measure that aimed to end the state’s lifetime prohibition on voting by ex-felons.

The Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed the law the following year, requiring all former felons to pay off outstanding court debts and legal fees to be eligible to vote.

Voting and civil rights groups sued the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, and state election officials over that requirement.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle in May struck down most of the law as unconstitutional, describing it as a “pay to vote” scheme.

The appeals court, dominated by judges appointed by Trump, delayed the decision while it considered on appeal.

On Friday, a majority of the 11-judge panel found the defendants in the case failed to prove the measure violated the constitution, noting the country has a long history of placing restrictions on voting.

The decision was met with frustration by voting rights groups.

“Florida’s voters spoke loud and clear when nearly two-thirds of them supported rights restoration at the ballot box in 2018,” said Paul Smith, vice president at Campaign Legal Center. “Nobody should ever be denied their constitutional rights because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees.”

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Scott Malone and Steve Orlofsky)

Florida declares emergency on Atlantic coast as Hurricane Isaias approaches

By Zachary Fagenson and Nathan Layne

MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for counties on the Atlantic coast with Hurricane Isaias expected to hit the state as early as Friday night, a development that prompted the widespread closure of COVID-19 testing sites.

The hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120.7 km) per hour, is currently lashing the southeastern part of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on its Twitter feed.

The NHC said heavy rains may begin to affect South and east-Central Florida beginning late Friday night, and the eastern Carolinas by early next week, potentially causing flooding in low-lying and poorly drained areas.

DeSantis told a news conference that he signed an executive order establishing a state of emergency for east coast counties stretching from Miami-Dade in the south to Nassau at the northern tip, a move that makes it easier to mobilize resources.

“While current projections have the eye of Isaias remaining at sea the situation remains fluid and can change quickly,” the governor said. “I want Floridians to know that the state of Florida is fully prepared for this.”

Miami-Dade’s public beaches, parks, marinas, and golf courses were set to close on Friday as Isaias strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane and forecasters predicted it would reach Category 2, with winds as powerful as 110 miles per hour.

Miami-Dade County officials have also closed drive-through and walk-up testing sites for COVID-19, following a similar move by Broward County Mayor Dale V.C. Holness, who said the sites could reopen on Wednesday after the storm had passed.

“We have thousands of tests that will not be conducted until we get these test sites up and running again,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a news conference on Friday.

For weeks Florida has been at the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak – it reported a record one-day increase in COVID-19 deaths for a third consecutive day on Thursday -although reports of new cases have recently slowed in the state.

DeSantis said COVID-19 testing sites would remain open on Florida’s west coast and that testing at hospitals and community centers may also continue. The storm’s main impact would be to sites set up outside and vulnerable to the wind, he said.

At full capacity, Florida had 162 test sites in all but two of its 67 counties.

The governor also said he planned to issue new guidance on testing to narrow its scope. He estimated that currently about half of the people who were being tested were either “curious” without symptoms or people looking to go back to work.

DeSantis said the state’s department of health, based on recently issued guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would now suggest that employers focus on symptomatic people, rather than screening all workers.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Jonathan Oatis, David Gregorio and Paul Simao)