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ALBANY NY (WRGB) - New York State living up to its promise to help other states as they deal with large numbers of COVID-19 cases. The state is helping to supply a coronavirus testing site in Saint Petersburgh, Florida. The announcement was made by Governor Cuomo Wednesday. Joined by St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, the governor announced the site at the Pinellas Community Church will provide Floridians with up to 500 tests per day. New York is sending thousands of test kits to make this happen, along with masks, PPE, hand sanitizer and ventilators. In addition to the items being...

Tropical Storm Isaias developed in the Eastern Caribbean Sea. All interests along the Florida Peninsula should be prepared for deteriorating weather conditions by Saturday. For linguistics aficionados, the National Hurricane Center uses the four-syllable pronunciation ees-ah-EE-ahs. The name Isaias is Spanish for Isaiah. To hear a meteorologist pronounce Isaias: NWS Melbourne. Puerto Rico Satellite Imagery GOES East Satellite Imagery NHC Public Advisories NHC Discussions Puerto Rico Radar LoopSouth Florida Radar LoopFlorida Radar Loop Buoy Locations with Storm Track overlay NWS Local Products

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s top business regulator plans to start meeting with bar operators and craft brewers, amid concerns about establishments closing permanently if a state ban on serving drinks for on-site consumption remains in place. In a tweet Saturday, Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Halsey Beshears said he will begin setting aside time Friday to discuss his June 26 order that banned on-site consumption at bars to try to help stem the spread of COVID-19. “Next week starting Friday, I’m going to set meetings throughout Florida with breweries and bars to discuss ideas on how to reopen,” Beshears...

It's been less than two weeks since Miami-Dade County announced it would be fining people for not wearing masks in public. Already, Florida media outlets are filled with stories of people cited for wearing masks improperly, lowering masks to sip a drink, or removing their face coverings once outside of a store. On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 162 citations for violating the county's mandatory mask ordinance, which comes with a $100 penalty. One woman, Johanna Gianni, says she removed her mask in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in North...

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and a host of other House conservatives introduced legislation on Wednesday that would block big tech giants from censoring lawful political speech on the Internet. Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA), Jim Banks (R-IN), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Ted Yoho (R-FL), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Ron Wright (R-TX), and Gosar introduced the Stop the Censorship Act of 2020, which would revoke big tech companies’ Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act legal immunity if the tech platform were to remove lawful speech on their platform. The House Republicans’ legislation aligns with...

The COVID-19 virus is testing our resolve, and the numbers here in Florida tell an extremely concerning story. By every key metric, our state has recently been reaching record levels on an almost daily basis. These include the number of new COVID-19 cases....

<p>Vice President Pence was in Florida on Monday. He met with Florida governor Ron DeSantis while he was there, and praised him for his leadership during the pandemic. This praise by Pence, the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, triggered CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, the baby brother of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Chris Cuomo reacted to the praise on Twitter. “Head of task force praising gov who mishandled pandemic,” Cuomo tweeted.</p>

Tropical storm conditions could be felt on portions of the Leeward Islands Wednesday morning, where the center of the storm is expected to move through over the next few hours. It’s then expected to pass over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Wednesday night and near or over Hispaniola Thursday; reaching the Bahamas Friday and touching down South Florida by Sunday.

It's been less than two weeks since Miami-Dade County announced it would be fining people for not wearing masks in public. Already, Florida media outlets are filled with stories of people cited for wearing masks improperly, lowering masks to sip a drink, or removing their face coverings once outside of a store. On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 162 citations for violating the county's mandatory mask ordinance, which comes with a $100 penalty. One woman, Johanna Gianni, says she removed her mask in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in North...

What do all these news accounts have in common? “Florida Sets Yet Another Coronavirus Record: 173 Deaths In A Day.” ... “The 134 new confirmed deaths is the second-largest increase on record, coming five days after the largest one-day jump of 156 last week.” ... So what characteristic do all of the reports share? They are all false. ... All of these scary headlines are based on the number of deaths reported by the state on any given day. This is not the same as the number of deaths that occurred on those days. The difference might seem trivial. But...

A Florida man was arrested and charged with fraudulently obtaining $3.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and using those funds, in part, to purchase a sports car for himself. Authorities seized a $318,000 sports car and $3.4 million from bank accounts at the time of arrest. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Kyle A. Myles of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Investigation’s Atlanta Regional Office, Inspector in Charge...

Despite the emptying of prisons and rising crime in America’s major cities, Jared Kushner, possibly the most influential man in the White House, continues to demand “second chances” for criminals. But anyone who understands our criminal justice system knows that, with rare exceptions, violent criminals are accorded endless chances and are still not locked up. Here is a case of a man who was given 230 chances. The result? Three best friends weren’t given a second chance at life. Frostproof, Florida, is a tiny city of 3,000 people in lake-filled Polk County, Florida. The last thing Sheriff Grady Judd expected...

Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly may have some bigger moves in his future. Jolly, the U.S. Rep. for Florida’s 13th Congressional District from 2014 to 2017, indicated on Twitter Sunday morning that he’s considering a run for Florida Governor or the U.S. Senate in 2022. A tweet from TV personality Lea Black kicked off the idea. Black, a member of the cast of The Real Housewives of Miami, tweeted that she thought Jolly should run for Governor. And Jolly, about five hours later, replied to her tweet. “Thank you Lea. Very kind,” he tweeted at 7:05 a.m. “Haven’t ruled it...

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01) filed a criminal referral against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for making materially false statements to Congress while under oath during two joint hearings in Congress on April 10th, 2018 and April 11th, 2018. During a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and also a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Mr. Zuckerberg repeatedly and categorically denied his company engaged in bias against conservative speech, persons, policies, or politics and also denied that Facebook censored and suppressed content supportive of President...

An executive order signed last week by President Trump that would exclude undocumented immigrants from the decennial reapportionment process would cost the nation’s three largest states at least one seat in Congress, a new analysis finds. It is unclear how the Trump administration plans to alter any final Census figures, or what datasets they would rely on to determine how many undocumented immigrants live in each state. Most legal scholars believe the order will not stand up in court. But if it were to stand, it would likely mean Texas and Florida would each gain one fewer seat in the...

Currently waiting on absentee ballot for Republican primary in Collier County, Florida. Would appreciate information on candidates (who, why vote) as I am out of the area and don't trust the ads I've seen. Many thanks.

Good Morning/Afternoon,MEGAWELCOMEBACKRUSHDITTOS!

Just weeks before schools must open across Florida, the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations due to Covid-19 have surged. On July 16, the state had a total of 23,170 children ages 17 and under who had tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Florida Department of Health. By Friday, that number jumped to 31,150. That's a 34% increase in new cases among children in eight days. And more children in Florida are requiring hospitalization. As of July 16, 246 children had been hospitalized with coronavirus. By July 24, that number had jumped to 303.

The dominant message so far in the coronavirus pandemic is that older people are the most at risk. But doctors on the front lines of Florida’s outbreak are also finding obesity is making it harder for people to fight off the virus, regardless of age ... Dr. Craig Mallak’s work in the morgue tracking Broward County’s COVID-19 deaths startled him so much he shed pounds that he didn’t even need to lose. “Obesity is a factor in a lot of cases,” Mallak, Broward’s chief medical examiner, ... That could have grave implications for the United States, which has one of...

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (WMBB) — The shooter involved in an armed disturbance on Friday has been identified as civilian spouse Elliot Alexeichik. Elliot Alexeichik was declared dead on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Airman First Class, and member of 1st SOW, Kimberly Alexeichik was reported injured due to a gunshot wound during the incident. She was transported to a local hospital and is currently in stable condition. The United States Air Force was notified of the armed disturbance at 4:28 p.m. prompting a base lockdown. The lockdown was lifted at 5:55 p.m. and the base was given the...