People under the age of 65 with “at-risk” medical conditions are now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the state of Florida, according to an executive order issued Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The executive order states that doctors, registered nurses and pharmacists may vaccinate people “determined by a physician to be extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.” This means that anyone…
Florida's Manatee County Public Safety Department has ordered a complete evacuation of the Piney Point reservoir site and surrounding areas due a leak that could cause a collapse of phosphogypsum stacks, waste that is created during fertilizer production and phosphate rock mining.
Manatee plant potential collapse: What you need to know
Gov. DeSantis, state, local officials addressed the situation at Piney Point.
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Updated Apr. 4
At a Sunday afternoon press conference, Manatee County officials reported âno news was good newsâ from the Piney Point reservoir leak.
Vanessa Baugh, chairman of the Manatee County Commission, said that âwe have thankfully avoided an uncontrolled breach.â
Baugh assured county residents that their drinking water was safe, saying, âThere is no threat to our primary source of drinking water Lake Manatee.â
Dr. Scott Hopes, acting Manatee County administrator, said that there is now below 300 million gallons of water left to be pumped from the leaking reservoir. Last week that number was around 480 million gallons. Hopes said with the additional pumps being provided by the state, by tomorrow morning the amount of water being pumped out will be nearly doubled.
Gov. Ron DeSantis to Hold News Conference in Manatee County The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says a break was detected Friday in one of the walls of a 77-acre pond, holding millions of water containing phosphorus and nitrogen from an old phosphate plant
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Updated 3 hours ago
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Gov. Ron DeSantis will be holding a news conference in Manatee County Sunday to provide updates regarding the significant leak in the Piney Point reservoir that authorities fear could lead to floods and possibly the collapse of a system with radioactive material.
The governor will be speaking at the Manatee County Emergency Management at 2101 47th Terrace in Bradenton, Florida at 11 a.m.