Photo: Dirk Shadd \ Tampa Bay TImes
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Wednesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
As DeSantis tackles coronavirus, Supreme Court picks, 200 pending laws and the state budget have to wait
Gov. DeSantis has spent nearly all of the past two months responding to the coronavirus pandemic, saying he has little time to address other matters. But his to-do list has grown larger while attending to the crisis. He’s already past a self-imposed deadline of May 1 to fill two Florida Supreme Court vacancies. There’s also a $93 billion budget that lawmakers passed in March but haven’t formally sent to him, either. More from the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Lawsuit seeks to change Florida’s mail-in ballot requirements
Florida, which is again expected to be a key state in November’s presidential election, has faced numerous lawsuits over the years about its election procedures and laws. As Monday’s lawsuit was filed, for example, a federal judge heard testimony about the constitutionality of a 2019 state law dealing with restoring the voting rights of felons who have done their time behind bars. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Number of deadly crashes increased in Florida
New numbers about traffic deaths show, while they are down nationwide, the number of deadly crashes increased in several states, including Florida. News4Jax reporter Lena Pringle explains how the data shows deaths only rose in one region of the country. [Source: WJXT]
After nearly a decade, humans will finally launch from U.S. once again later this month
Two NASA astronauts are ready to launch to the International Space Station later this month from Kennedy Space Center. It will be the first human launch from the U.S. since 2011. NASA’s Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are making final preparations to launch to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon capsule May 27, marking the first trip on a commercial spacecraft. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the duo from Kennedy Space Center. Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has relied on Russia for rides to the station. [Source: WGCU]
Hertz gets lenders’ forbearance in bid to avert bankruptcy
Lenders granted Hertz Global Holdings Inc. an eleventh-hour reprieve from a potential bankruptcy, giving the struggling rental-car company more time to work out a rescue plan after it missed debt payments. The forbearances and waivers give Hertz until May 22 to “develop a financing strategy and structure that better reflects the economic impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic,” the company said in a regulatory filing. More from Bloomberg News and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› South Florida farmer launches online marketplace to make picking up orders easier
A South Florida farmer is turning to technology to keep his company alive during the coronavirus pandemic. This innovation coming as the Federal Government’s Small Business Administration announced a new loan program to help agriculture businesses. In crisis, Sam Accursio found opportunity, swiftly pivoting to a direct-to-consumer model when COVID-19 business closures collapsed traditional markets during south Miami-Dade’s peak growing season.
› Sarasota appears to favor turning Main Street into dining avenue
City commissioners appear to have an appetite for a proposed plan to turn Main Street, or at least part of it, into an avenue of restaurants. Under the plan, the city would close all or parts of Main Street so it would available for walking and seating. That vote of confidence came late Monday, after restaurants earlier that day welcomed patrons again under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to reopen Florida.
› JEA board names Paul McElroy as interim CEO
The new JEA board voted Tuesday to bring back retired top executive Paul McElory as interim CEO, hoping to bring stability to an authority rocked by scandal and controversies in the last two years. He will work under a six-month contract through Nov. 8 as a full-time employee. He would receive $280,183 for a six-month period from next Monday through Nov. 8. If he continues after that point on a part-time basis, he would be paid at a rate of $323 per hour.
› David Siegel’s Westgate timeshare company wanted to use government aid to promote its resorts
An executive at Westgate Resorts, the timeshare company run by Orlando businessman David Siegel, offered to use coronavirus relief money from the federal government to give short-term jobs to travel bloggers to write stories promoting the company’s resorts, according to an email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
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