Here's the morning headlines for Thursday, Dec. 16
A Surfside condo collapse grand jury report calls for immediate reforms
A Miami-Dade County grand jury on Wednesday released a series of recommendations for condo safety throughout Florida after a deep examination of the deadly collapse in Surfside earlier this year. Read more here.
A tantalizing clue to why omicron is spreading so quickly
Preliminary data, published online Wednesday, gives us the first look at how omicron likely behaves inside the respiratory tract — and the data offers a tantalizing clue as to why this heavily mutated variant is spreading so fast and even outcompeting delta. Read more from NPR here.
DeSantis adds fuel to critical race theory fight
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis teased legislation that he said would, in part, allow parents to sue schools that teach the theory. Flanked by Republican lawmakers, parents, and Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, the governor held an event in Wildwood to announce what he called the “Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act,” or Stop W.O.K.E. Act. Read more here.
Long-term solutions sought for Florida manatees
Wildlife officials said Wednesday an infusion of projects to improve water quality is a good start, as they seek to avoid a recurrence of large numbers of manatee deaths due to a lack of seagrass and degraded water in the Indian River Lagoon. Read more here.
Study shows heat-related deaths rose in Florida nursing homes after Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma impacted millions of people across Florida when it made landfall in 2017, leaving the state with power outages that lasted days and, in some places, weeks.
An article in the Nov. 24 issue of the JAMA Health Forum reported a 25% increase in nursing home deaths a week after Irma came on shore in Florida on Sept. 10, 2017, and a 10% increase in mortality rates 30 days after landfall. Read more here.