Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said she’s getting money for Florida’s school lunches from the federal government after being ignored by Gov. Ron DeSantis. A spokesperson for the Governor called Fried’s allegation “ludicrous.”
Fried announced Tuesday that the federal government is handing down $93 million to Florida schools to help offset school lunch losses during the 2020 school year.
Fried said the federal money comes after DeSantis ignored requests from FDACS to use federal relief money from the CARES Act for the deficit. DeSantis in 2020 largely made decisions about how to allocate around $8 billion of CARES money handed down to Florida to help with coronavirus relief.
“We sent at least one, if not two, letters to the Governor, asking for money to be allocated to the school nutrition program and never received a response back,” Fried said.
The spokesperson in the Governor’s Office said Fried sent the letter in August 2020 but called it a “political gesture” and said it came after the Governor had already allocated the funding for “learning loss recovery” for students who regressed in their learning progress.
These latest federal dollars will only offset a portion of the reported losses due to COVID-19. FDACS reported Florida’s schools had lost $262 million in nutrition funding. The schools would normally make that money off school lunches from either sales or reimbursements for free or reduced lunches, but without children in schools during 2020, much of that money never materialized.
Fried said one million children in Florida are considered food insecure.
“That is in 2021, in a state like Florida, third-largest in the nation. It is embarrassing that we’ve got 1 million of our kids that don’t know where their next meal comes from,” Fried said.
Evening Reads
“‘Should we sell?’ After collapse, hot Florida market faces uncertainty.” via Rick Rojas and Sophie Kasakove of The New York Times
“How the Surfside tower was imploded in just days: Hours of drilling, 128 lbs. of dynamite” via Douglas Hanks, By David Ovalle and Joey Flechas of the Miami Herald
“The stimulus helped these Donald Trump voters pay rent and bills. But they blame it for a range of economic ills.” via Tim Craig and Lenny Bronner of The Washington Post
“From Amazon to Starbucks, what companies paid workers in the pandemic” via Theo Francis and Inti Pacheco of The Wall Street Journal
“When the next animal plague hits, can this lab stop it?” via Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley of WIRED
“Their neighbors called COVID-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” via Peter Jamison of The Washington Post
“The perverse consequences of the NCAA ruling” via Angel Perez of The Atlantic
“Post-insurrection exodus from Republican Party was real, but it didn’t last” via Anthony Man of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
“Federal lawsuit: FL’s trans athlete law ‘has nothing to do with fairness or equality for girls or women in sports.’” via Danielle Brown of the Florida Phoenix
Quote of the Day
“We’re actively searching as aggressively as we can. Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive.” — Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky, on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation in Surfside.
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