Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran on Thursday outlined a plan to fully reopen school campuses in the fall.
It’s pricy.
The state will use more than a billion dollars in CARES Act money deposited across four funds: the Governor’s, K-12, higher education and child care.
Of that money, the Department of Education’s plan details how the state will use $474 million the department and Governor’s office have a say on.
The $224 million Child Care Fund will be used for first responders and health care workers, emergency child care relief grants, high-quality reopening support grants and the Successful Transition to Kindergarten program.
The plan also includes assistance and recommendations for districts to consider as they plan their fall reopening.
The overall goal of the outlay is limiting the achievement gap that was exacerbated by the digital divide when the coronavirus pandemic shifted K-12 education from the classroom to the computer screen.
“Achievement gaps are expected to significantly widen across the nation due to COVID-19-related school closures and the shift to distance learning,” DeSantis said. “In Florida, we plan to work together to provide tools and strategies to close the achievement gap.”
Of course, education outcomes aren’t the only concern for reopening. There’s also the risk of unflattening the curve, which may already be happening depending on whether one interprets the state’s weeklong spate of 1,000-plus cases a day as a result of reopening or higher testing numbers.
To that end, the plan includes several recommendations that have become commonplace in the coronavirus era: rigorous disinfecting and cleaning as well as maintaining social distancing.
Coronavirus Numbers
Positive cases:
— 67,456 FL residents (+1,677 since Wednesday)
— 1,613 Non-FL residents (+21 since Wednesday)
Origin:
— 2,234 Travel related
— 32,064 Contact with a confirmed case
— 2,142 Both
— 31,016 Under investigation
Hospitalizations:
— 11,571 in FL
Deaths:
— 2,848 in FL
Unemployment numbers
As of Wednesday:
Total claims: 2,436,366
— Confirmed unique claims: 2,239,552
— Claim verification queue: 173,430
— Claims processed: 2,066,122
— Claims paid: 1,349,589 (+14,374 since Tuesday)
Total paid out: $5.1 billion (+$140 million since Tuesday)
Evening Reads
“Pentagon’s top general apologizes for appearing alongside Donald Trump in Lafayette Square” via Dan Lamothe of The Washington Post
“The Millennial mental-health crisis” via Olga Khazan of The Atlantic
“Federal arrests show no sign that antifa plotted protests” via Neil MacFarquhar, Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman of The New York Times
“National media coverage of Black Lives Matter had fallen during the Trump Era — until now” via Dhrumil Mehta of FiveThirtyEight
“Long lines, delayed mail ballots portend November election chaos” via Ryan Teague Beckwith and Kartikay Mehrotra of Bloomberg
“U.S. stocks end sharply lower as investors grow jittery” via Akane Otani and Caitlin Ostroff of The Wall Street Journal
“Counting the days under virus lockdown by the length of Justin Trudeau’s hair” via Catherine Porter of The New York Times
“Val Demings wants to investigate whether foreign adversaries are exploiting protests” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics
“New weekly unemployment claims in Florida touch post-pandemic low” via Rob Wile of the Miami Herald
“‘A heap of broken promises’: Democrats decry racial disparities in unemployment, other issues” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
“August reopening: Ron DeSantis details CARES Act education expenditures” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics
“GOP convention to Jacksonville? A Lenny Curry ‘plot’, says Audrey Gibson” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
“Florida relaxes Bright Futures scholarship rules on volunteer hours, test scores” via Ana Ceballos of News Service of Florida
“Former college athlete to decide if college athletes can make money” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics
“‘Equal footing, equal hoof’: Bear poaching crackdown teed for Governor’s signoff” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
“Miami-Dade police to ban controversial chokehold tactic after appeals from community” via Charles Rabin of the Miami Herald
Quote of the Day
“The message should be loud and clear. We are saying with a strong recommendation to our great superintendents that we work with, we want schools fully open in the fall because there is no better way to educate our kids than have that great teacher in front of that child.” — Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, on reopening K-12 schools for the 2020-21 academic year.
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