July 31, 2021

Florida sets a record with 21,683 new COVID-19 cases reported Saturday, the CDC says

Source: The Miami Herald

Saturday, the state of Florida reported more new COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control than any previous day in the coronavirus pandemic, 21,683.

That’s a jump over the previous record, 19,334, on Jan. 7, during the worst month of the pandemic, when daily case counts were routinely topping 10,000. It was the second peak of the pandemic and in the months following cases returned to average levels of between 2,000 and 8,000 daily cases.

The late half of July is so far looking to be the start of Florida’s third COVID-19 peak, as the case numbers reported Thursday (17,093), Friday (17,589) and Saturday mix in with Jan. 6-8 to comprise the top six individual case count days. The average over the last seven days is 15,818 cases.

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/vaccines/fl-ne-coronavirus-case-record-daily-florida-20210731-uwj7ajoe55dtlildta2j4uga74-story.html

July 29, 2021

Biden to allow eviction moratorium to expire Saturday

Source: Associated Press

BOSTON – The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday, arguing that its hands are tied after the Supreme Court signaled it could only be extended until the end of the month.

The White House said President Joe Biden would have liked to have extended the federal eviction moratorium due to spread of the delta variant. Instead, Biden called on "Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay."

The moratorium was put in place put in place last September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Given the recent spread of the Delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,” the White House said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.”

Read more: https://www.local10.com/news/politics/2021/07/29/biden-to-allow-eviction-moratorium-to-expire-saturday/

July 16, 2021

'We didn't have Surfside then.' Charlie Crist reflects on 2010 repeal of inspection law

Source: USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is defending his 2010 decision to repeal a condominium inspection law that has come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of the tragic building collapse in Surfside.

Operatives have attacked Crist, who from 2007 to 2011 served as Florida's Republican governor. Crist, speaking at an appearance in Sarasota on Wednesday, suggested no one had the value of hindsight 11 years ago when lawmakers did away with mandatory condo inspections for structural safety every five years.

"We didn't have Surfside then," he said.



Read more: https://amp.tcpalm.com/amp/7962325002?__twitter_impression=true

July 16, 2021

West Virginia politician drops out of Democratic party

Source: WOWK TV

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Former U.S. Senate Candidate Paula Jean Swearengin has announced she is leaving the Democratic Party.

Swearengin said the reason behind her decision is she believes both the state and national levels of the party allegedly ignored issues such as racism and children suffering across Appalachia.

“Our system is broken. We can’t rebuild a two-party system with division & hate,” Swearengin said in a tweet.

According to her website, Swearengin is a native of Mullens, West Virginia, who grew up in a coal-mining family.

Read more: https://www.wowktv.com/news/west-virginia/west-virginia-politician-drops-out-of-democratic-party/

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She ran against Manchin in 2018, but he cleaned her clock by over a 2-1 margin. She was the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in 2020. She only got 27% of the vote in the general election.

July 12, 2021

Cubans take to the streets for the biggest anti-government protests in decades

Source: Washington Post

MIAMI — Communist Cuba erupted in its largest-scale demonstrations in decades on Sunday as thousands of people chanting “freedom” and “yes, we can” took to the streets from Havana to Santiago de Cuba in a major new challenge to an authoritarian government struggling to cope with increasingly severe blackouts, food shortages and a spiking coronavirus outbreak.

The protests, from Havana’s famous Malecon to the island nation’s eastern cities, spoke to the power of social media. They apparently started in the city of San Antonio de los Baños and spread rapidly as demonstrators shared their protests on Facebook Live. The demonstrations were so large that President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who succeeded Raúl Castro this year as first secretary of the Communist Party, called on Cuba’s “revolutionary” citizens to take to the streets.

“We are prepared to do anything,” he said in a national address. "We will be battling in the streets.” He blamed the United States for agitating the population.

José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, said his group had received reports that at least 20 people had been arrested. He added that the organization had received reports of violence being used by Cuban forces, a claim echoed by social media users sharing videos of wounded protesters.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/11/cuba-protests/?outputType=amp