Florida’s governor ends his presidential campaign

Ron DeSantis ended his 2024 presidential campaign on Sunday, less than 48 hours before the New Hampshire primary, a contest that he had virtually no chance of winning. The decision comes less than a week after DeSantis finished in a distant second-place in the Iowa caucuses. In a video posted online just two hours before a scheduled campaign stop in Manchester, N.H., DeSantis acknowledged that he had no path forward in the 2024 presidential race. More from the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald, the Tallahassee Democrat, and the Gainesville Sun.

The drug shortages Floridians will face in 2024. Here’s what you should know

The pandemic may be over, but drug shortages are not. From cancer drugs to ADHD medications, drug shortages threaten to disrupt treatment for short-term diseases and chronic illness, and potentially threaten people’s health. In South Florida, the shortages have some people going from pharmacy to pharmacy to get their prescription filled. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Thanks to eased restrictions, craft distilleries on rise in Florida

David Cohen has watched the number of licensed distilleries in Florida roughly triple since he opened Jacksonville-based Manifest Distilling in 2016, growing from about 30 to more nearly 100 today. Cohen is the president of the Florida Craft Spirits Association, a group of 50-plus distillers supporting development of the industry statewide. [Source: Jacksonville Daily Record]

A Miccosukee-led plan could finally end new oil drilling efforts in the Everglades

A new plan, hatched by the Miccosukee tribe and a nonprofit, might mean the end of future prospecting and drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres of land within Big Cypress, a crucial part of Florida’s Everglades. The deal, which has been quietly in the works for nearly two years, includes an inked agreement with the politically powerful family that holds all the rights to hunt for oil and gas within the preserve’s boundaries. And this time, the Miccosukee feel like success is in sight. [Source: Miami Herald]

They studied, passed the exam but were denied nursing licenses. Is Florida at fault?

A number of Florida nursing candidates have been burned after attending private, for-profit schools, which, in some cases, can have shaky accreditations and disappear overnight. It’s happening at a time when nurses are in short supply. According to Nurses.org, a clearing house for those in the profession, Florida is in the top five states projected to have the largest shortage of nurses. [Source: Miami Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Metro Jacksonville unemployment falls to 2.9% in December, the lowest since May [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell slightly in December to its lowest level since May, the Florida Department of Commerce reported Jan. 19. However, job growth slowed in Northeast Florida. The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties fell from 3% in November to 2.9% in December, the lowest since it was 2.7% in May.

› What’s next for ousted Tampa state attorney after favorable court ruling? [Tampa Bay Times]
Earlier this month, two bombshells dropped in the case of Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, who was booted from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis and has been battling in the courts to win his job back. Warren announced Jan. 8 he wouldn’t run in November because, he said, DeSantis would likely suspend him again if he won. It sounded like farewell. But two days later, a federal appeals court ruled in Warren’s favor.

› Investigators are looking into Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s lucrative side jobs [Miami Herald]
County investigators are making inquiries into a wide array of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s private business relationships, according to new records that highlight the broad scope of an ongoing probe into the mayor’s work outside City Hall. Now, a public records request filed this month with the city indicates that investigators are casting a much wider net than previously known, and looking into at least 11 of Suarez’s other side jobs.

› Birds and their fest flock back to Space Coast, a sign of a healing lagoon [Florida Today]
As the seagrass that is the foundation of the lagoon's ecosystem died off in recent years, the migratory birds that had been calling Brevard home stopped coming. COVID-19 seemed to put a final nail in the coffin of the festival, which had been one of the world's premier birding events. But a boost in birds, thanks to seagrass and other signs of renewed lagoon life, means a return of the birders and the festival, along with flutters of their much-coveted "eco-cash."

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› South Florida's nearshore reefs less vulnerable to ocean acidification, study finds [Phys.org]
Researchers studying South Florida's coral reefs found that the region's nearshore reefs and more sheltered inshore areas are less vulnerable to ocean acidification than previously thought—a major climate-related threat to coral reefs as ocean waters absorb more atmospheric CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels.

› CSX wins permission for new, larger LED headquarters signs [Jacksonville Daily Record]
A new sight is in store for the Jacksonville skyline after the Downtown Investment Authority board voted Jan. 17 to allow CSX Corp. to install new signs on its Northbank headquarters. The board’s vote came after a request by CSX to replace the signs on its high-rise office building at 500 Water St. with programmable LED signage.

› Florida’s Miami-Dade school district to soon have 100 electric buses on the road [Tampa Bay Times]
Thousands more Miami-Dade students will be catching an emissions-free ride to school soon, thanks to a federal grant that doubles the number of electric buses that the school district plans to purchase. Nearly $20 million from the Environmental Protection Agency will cover the costs of 50 new electric school buses and 16 fast chargers, bringing the district to 100 green school buses on the road and on order.

› Orlando Museum of Art drops ‘Basquiat’ owners from lawsuit — but not former director [Orlando Sentinel]
Caught in a cash crunch, Orlando Museum of Art will drop its lawsuit against a consortium of owners of artwork once attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat, the institution announced Friday afternoon, while stressing its case against ex-director Aaron De Groft will continue. The museum also revealed it was served with a fourth subpoena by the FBI in August, about two weeks after filing its lawsuit, causing it to rack up even more unbudgeted legal fees in the fallout from its ill-fated “Heroes & Monsters” exhibition in 2022.