Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Don’t expect the Office of Medical Marijuana Use OMMU to approve applications for medical marijuana licenses any time soon.
Office of Medical Marijuana Use Director Christopher Kimball said the state currently is reviewing the applications in the two cycles currently underway and that he didn’t expect decisions before April.
Meanwhile, Kimball said his office was “actively working to fill our vacancies,” though he didn’t share how many open positions there are at the OMMU.
He did say, though, that when the two licensure cycles currently underway are completed, he expected the industry to roughly double in size.
So how big is the industry now?
Kimball told subcommittee members that as of Nov. 17, there were 859,524 qualified patients, 8894 registered caregivers; 2,729 qualified physicians; 24 medical marijuana treatment centers; 40 cultivation facilities; 31 processing facilities; 606 dispensing facilities; 15 fulfillment and storage facilities and nine certified marijuana testing laboratories.
The OMMU regularly publishes updates on the state’s medical marijuana market on its website.
Evening Reads
—”Ron DeSantis staffers blocked release of travel records, whistleblower says” via Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post
—”DeSantis’ campaign and allied super PAC face new concerns about legal conflicts” via Steve Peoples and Thomas Beaumont of The Associated Press
—“DeSantis dismisses one endorsement (for Nikki Haley) and plays up another (for him)” via Nicholas Nehamas of The New York Times
—”DeSantis jabs at Haley and Donald Trump while treading familiar ground at CNN town hall” via Lawrence Ukenye of POLITICO
—”As dangerous kratom products go unregulated, lobbyists write the laws” via Kirby Wilson and Sam Ogozalek of the Tampa Bay Times
—“School voucher providers have until year’s end to clarify what parents can purchase” via Christian Casale of the Florida Phoenix
—”Republicans’ thin corruption case against Joe Biden, explained” via Andrew Prokop of Vox
—”Why this math professor objects to diversity statements” via Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic
Quote of the Day
“There is no indication whatsoever, either from the Senate, the House and especially from the Governor’s Office, that any additional resources are going to be given to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and yet you want to take the lion’s share of responsibility (of regulating short-term rentals) and hand it over to an agency that is objectively, woefully ill-staffed and underfunded.”
— Sen. Jason Pizzo, on Nick DiCeglie’s vacation rental bill.
Put It on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
If DeSantis were to buy Trump a drink, it’d probably be a Satan’s Whiskers, seeing as the former President purportedly emboldened the Satanic Temple.
We’d never encourage underage drinking, but if kids are allowed to work during graveyard hours, then they should be allowed to sip on a Night Shift.
Sen. Erin Grall gets a Defender for her legislation exempting the photos, videos and audio recordings of people taking their own lives from public record.
It’s still a ‘work in progress,’ but Sen. Nick DiCeglie deserves a drink for sponsoring this year’s vacation rental bill. How about a classic B&B?
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Heat try to stay perfect in the division
The NBA’s Southeast Division is rapidly becoming a battle of Florida teams. The Orlando Magic lead the division with the Miami Heat three games behind. No other teams in the division have a winning record.
Tonight, the Heat (13-10) try to gain ground on Orlando when Miami hosts the Charlotte Hornets (7 p.m. ET, Bally Sports) in the back end of a home-and-home series. The Heat beat the Hornets 116-114 in Charlotte on Monday.
In the first meeting, the Heat led by nine at halftime, but Charlotte came back to pull to within two after three quarters but could not pull even in the final period. Three Miami players scored at least 20 points in the game: Duncan Robinson (24), Jimmy Butler (23) and Caleb Martin (20). Kevin Love added 19 and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 18 off the bench for the Heat.
Charlotte (7-14) has started slowly this season. The Hornets have won just three of nine road games and Miami is yet to lose a game to a division opponent.
Overall, the Miami continues to fight through injuries. losing five of their last eight, as two of their best players due to injuries. Tyler Herro (ankle) and Bam Adebayo (hip) have been sidelined during the past month-plus.
ALSO TONIGHT
7 p.m. — Florida International Panthers @ Florida Atlantic Owls
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
