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Florida/National News
(National News of Interest to
Floridians)
Index of Stories
2023
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Florida News 2023
(scroll down)
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Sept. 20, 2023
5:55 pm | 3 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last Thursday, the
Florida Gateway College Women's Flag
Football team – the Timberwolves – came face
to face with the governor’s FGC College
Board of Trustees. In just its second year
of competition, FGC’s Timberwolves Flag
Football team became the first-ever National
Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)
champions.
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FL
reported the state's
pregnancy-related mortality rate has
increased every year since 2016.
August 27, 2023
11:15 am | 3 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Black, Hispanic, and multiracial women
are more likely to be mistreated during
pregnancy and delivery than other women.
The CDC says, “Moms deserve respectful
and equal maternity care.”
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August 24, 2023
7:55 am | 2 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Tonight, Lake City’s Community College, FGC,
is holding its 35 annual college night. The
event was announced to the media on August
21 via press release, only 3 days ago.
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August 15, 2023
3:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last week, the
Governor's Florida Gateway College Board
kept College President Larry Barrett the
highest-paid public employee in Columbia
County. Adding the cost of benefits to
President Barrett’s new $290,000 salary
brings the value of his total package to
$401,000, of which $225,000 comes from
the Florida Department of Education and
the balance from tuition.
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August 11, 2023
06:20 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Florida Gateway College is
offering free childcare services for FGC
students, faculty, and staff beginning
this fall.
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August 8,
2023 7:53 am | 5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Earlier this year,
the Suwannee River Water Management District
(SRWMD) updated its Education Reimbursement
Policy and announced that Kristin Thompson
was attending St. Leo University in pursuit
of her Masters of Business Administration
(MBA) postgraduate advanced degree. In May
of this year, Ms. Thompson earned her MBA.
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July 29,
2023 11:00 am | 4 min read
FLORIDA – Official data released
yesterday by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) show that Florida’s
Medicaid redetermination process, in the
month following the end of federal
“continuous coverage” provisions, resulted
in 249,427 Floridians being disenrolled from
Medicaid.
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July 27,
2023 11:50 am | 4 min read COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The North Central
Floirda Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC) is one of
ten planning councils in Florida. Of the 12
member counties in the region, only one is
not what has been known as a
Rural Area of
Critical Economic Concern or RACEC* –
Alachua County. Recently, the Council’s
Executive Director has intentionally refused
to keep the Council meeting calendar
up-to-date, and the new Council Chairwoman
has rewritten the Council rules to not allow
questions from the public.
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July 13,
2023 1:50 pm | 11 min read
FLORIDA/NATIONAL
– While Florida has long been treated as a
punchline to a national joke about
regressive politics, “this is about to be
the entire country’s problem,” warned Lorna
Bracewell, women’s, gender and sexuality
studies program coordinator and an associate
professor of political science at Flagler
College in St. Augustine. “Every
Republican-dominated state legislature is
watching closely what is happening in
Florida.”
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July 7,
2023 6:20 pm | 2 min read
FLORIDA –
With the rising costs of dental
procedures in the United States, many
patients are turning to neighboring
countries like Mexico to get care at
significantly lower prices. Dental care
in the U.S. can have a hefty price tag,
especially for complex procedures like
dental implants, orthodontics, and
cosmetic dentistry.
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June 16,
2023 11:50 am | 3 min read
FLORIDA – On
Thursday Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s
$117 billion spending plan. There’s $12 million to continue the
flights carrying migrants from border states
to blue jurisdictions. $25 million was set
aside to remake New College, a small liberal
arts college on Florida’s west coast, into a
new model for a conservative public
university. The budget also factors in tax
breaks on baby care products like diapers
and a multi-billion dollar expansion of
school choice.
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June 15,
2023 01:45 am | 4 min read
FLORIDA –
Florida ranks 31st in child well-being,
according to the 2023 KIDS COUNT® Data
Book, a 50-state report of recent
household data developed by the Annie E.
Casey Foundation analyzing how children
and families are faring. Our country’s
lack of affordable and accessible child
care short-changes children and causes
parents in Florida to frequently miss
work or quit their jobs. Those who can
find care are paying dearly for it.
These child care challenges cost the
American economy billions of dollars.
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May 28, 2023
05:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Millions of Americans celebrate Memorial Day,
honoring the memory of those service members who
have been lost. It is also important to
recognize the millions of veterans who made it
home and struggle with substance use, mental
health disorders, or suicidal ideation.
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May 25, 2023
10:03 am | 4 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Yesterday morning in
Lake City, a group of representatives of North
Florida counties met for an hour to discuss the
idea of working together to form a regional
utility consortium. North Florida Professional
Services President Greg Bailey thought of and
organized the meeting.
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May 19,
2023 01:40 pm | 2 min read
FLORIDA –
Following what's described as a "hostile
takeover" by right-wing conservatives at
the progressive New College of Florida,
students and prospective graduates are
protesting daily.
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May 10,
2023 01:50 pm | 2 min read
FLORIDA –
On May 5, 2023, the Florida Legislature
voted on the state budget. Hardly
noticed in the record $117 billion
budget was $2 million in recurring
funding to promote oral health
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May 6, 2023
1:35 pm | 3 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – HCA's (Hospital
Corporation of America) Lake City Hospital, the
old LCMC, invested $36 mil in expanding its
emergency room. The addition adds 18 new private
emergency room beds.
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April 28, 2023 11:20 am
MACCLENNY, FLORIDA – The Woman’s Club of
Macclenny is sponsoring its 2nd Annual
Community Health Fair tomorrow - Saturday,
April 29, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Baker
County Fair Grounds. The Community Health
Fair is a family-friendly event with items
of interest for those from four to one
hundred.
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April 25,
2023 12:05 pm
ORLANDO, FL – The Sunshine State has
hundreds of “collateral consequences”
related to occupational licensing for people
with past criminal convictions, which makes
it difficult – if not impossible – for
returning citizens to become
barbers/hairdressers, cosmetologists,
contractors, or enter numerous other
professional fields.
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April 14,
2023 08:55 am
FLORIDA –
Florida's newest aquatic preserve is
officially set to move forward with a
management plan aimed at protecting
350,000 acres of seagrass, almost 10,000
acres of salt marsh, 121 acres of mangrove
swamp, and archaeological and cultural
sites. The Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve off
Florida's west coast is the first new
preserve designated in more than 30
years and part of the largest seagrass
bed in the Gulf of Mexico.
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April 3,
2023 07:10 am
FLORIDA –
Florida ranks last (50th out of 50
states) of children receiving a dental
health visit during the previous 12
months. Identical bills in the FL House
& Senate aim to change this.
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March 31, 2023 12:50 am
FLORIDA – The United States Attorney's
Office (USAO) closed out March in Florida
with cases ranging from Lake City to Miami
and Ocala to Pensacola. The indictments and
crimes range from firearms possession by a
convicted felon, drug offenses, targeted
attacks on pregnancy resource facilities,
and a guilty plea by an Assistant U.S.
Attorney for conflict of interest.
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March 22, 2023
06:20 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
Dollar-store chains are rapidly growing
across the country, with more locations
than McDonald's, Starbucks, Target, and
Walmart combined, according to a new
report, which claims their rapid growth
is due in part to targeting low-income
communities.
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March 17, 2023
5:55 pm
FLORIDA
– Today, three organizations that oppose
legislation that would create a
universal voucher and education savings
account program, released statements
following the Florida House's passage
House Bill,
HB 1.
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Posted
March 8, 2023, 11:35 pm
GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI – A Mississippi man
was sentenced today before U.S. District
Judge Halil S. Ozerden to 42 months in
prison, followed by three years of
supervised release and restitution. Axel
Cox, 24, was responsible for restitution of
$7,810 for burning a cross in his front yard
with the intent to intimidate a Black
family.
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Posted
March 1, 2023, 07:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Yesterday, after
the referral of HB 999 to committee,
National Nurses United (NNU) urged the
bill's rejection, calling it "a new Florida
bill intended to ban funding for diversity,
equity, and inclusion programs and eliminate
majors focused on the study of race and
gender in Florida colleges and
universities.”
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Posted
February 28, 2023 6:00 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Chris Doolan has
been a household name in small county
governments for four decades. During the February 23, 2023, North
Central Florida Regional Planning Council
monthly meeting, after the elected and
appointed North Florida officials finished
their taxpayer-funded fried chicken dinners,
Mr. Doolan spoke about legislation affecting
small counties. Everyone listened.
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February 20, 2023 3:55
pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Beginning tomorrow
evening, February 21, and continuing on the
following two evenings, the Suwannee River
Water Management District will be meeting
and inviting the public to discuss updated
flood risk maps for the Santa Fe Watershed.
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Children made up 48.2% of Florida's
total Medicaid enrollment growth during
the pandemic – significant health
coverage disruptions could lie ahead.
February 16, 2023 10:20 am
ORLANDO, FL – Florida's Medicaid and
Children's Health Insurance Program
(CHIP) proved to be a critical lifeline
for more than 65.7% of the state's
children during the COVID-19 pandemic,
according to a new report by the
Georgetown University Center for
Children and Families at the McCourt
School of Public Policy.
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Manager Williams to interview
(poll?) the Board for members opinions.
February 8, 2023
7:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – After over
two-and-a-half years of foot-dragging,
excuses, dead-ends, propaganda, special
meetings, and fear-mongering, the vacated
Lake Shore Hospital Authority hospital,
Shands at Lake Shore may finally have an
occupier.
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February 3, 2023 01:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Florida's proposed
HB 1 would implement a massive expansion in
Florida's public school voucher program. It
would broaden eligibility to include all
K-12 students statewide and redirect
billions in state school aid from public to
private schools.
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February 2, 2023 6:35 pm
MARION COUNTY, FL – Marion County Fire
and Rescue is mourning the loss of a second
firefighter/paramedic to suicide in 20 days.
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25 Years of Online Experience Pays
off for Saint Leo Students
January 25, 2023 7 pm
ST.
LEO, FL – Saint Leo University, one of
the early leaders in online education,
earned honors in four categories for
providing the best online bachelor’s and
master’s programs in the United States,
according to the 2023 U.S. News & World
Report’s Best Online Programs edition,
released Tuesday, January 24.
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January 24, 2023
03:39 am
LAKE CITY, FL – Last Tuesday evening, January
17, one of the biggest sweetheart deals in the
history of Florida went down in Lake City City
Hall. Negotiations between Lake City and HAECO
(Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company), which
began approximately 18 months ago, ended with
all but one of the City Council clueless about
the fair market value of its airport.
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Black History Month begins in 10
days.
January 20, 2023
10:05 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL – The administration of
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has rejected plans to
expand an Advanced Placement African American
Studies course for high schools, claiming it
violates state law and calling it historically
inaccurate.
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A college degree: Now you see it -
now you don't.
January 19, 2023
3:15 pm
LAKE CITY, FL – The unraveling of Lake City
continued at the tail end of Tuesday's
drama-filled City Council meeting. Buried at the
bottom of the agenda was the undated rewrite of
the Assistant City Manager job description.
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Posted Jan. 16,
2023 9:00 am
Originally Posted Jan 17, 2011, in a more
civilized time for LC
LAKE CITY, FL – In 2011, the MLK day
celebrations were a celebration of a life well
lived. Today, Lake City is a City with the
"Scarlet Letter." It has gone backwards in time.
Had the Columbia County/Lake City community
heeded the words of Reverend Joy L. Gallmon,
Reverend J. T. "Billy" Simon, and Dr. King, Lake
City/Columbia County would not be where it is
today.
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Thinking About Burning a Cross In Your Yard
To Send a Message… Mississippi Man Sentenced
for Federal Hate Crime for Cross Burning
