Who said that? | 4/12/2021 I couldn’t tell you whether it’s 30 or 50, but there are a good number of them that make that flight on the way south and again on the way north.
Ron Smith
Smith, 63, a retired St. Petersburg police officer and author of A Birder’s Guide to Pinellas County (Florida), has been an avid birder since 1987 and has sighted more than 700 bird species out of an estimated 850 found in North America. He said some 400 species have been spotted in Pinellas, considered one of the best birding spots in the Southeast.
Smith, who leads birding tours at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg the first Saturday of every month, talked with the
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Monday s Daily Pulse | 4/12/2021
Florida sues CDC: Governor demands cruise ships be allowed to sail immediately
DeSantis said the no-sail order is outdated and hurts the state as the industry generates billions for the economy and employs tens of thousands of Floridians. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,” the Republican governor said at a news conference at the Port of Miami. [Source: WJW]
Florida will get more than 550,000 COVID vaccines this week. Here’s where they’ll go
Florida will receive 554,370 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government this week, a significant drop from the previous week as production issues all but halt shipments of Johnson & Johnson doses. Last week, the state received 811,400 doses that included the largest shipment of Johnson & Johnson doses to date. Next week, only 43,000 of the single-shot doses will come
| 3/1/2021
At the end of January, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a $96.6-billion budget $4.3 billion over the current year. In making his request, DeSantis cited higher-than-expected revenue for December and January and optimism that Florida’s economy is gaining momentum. But lawmakers, who’ll consider DeSantis’ priorities as they craft the budget, are warning of deep cuts as they grapple with a projected $2.75-billion deficit in general revenue for 2021-22 fiscal year.
Online Sales Tax Potential Revenue: $480 million-$1 billion
The Florida Retail Federation and its allies have tried for years to pass legislation that would require online vendors without brick-and-mortar stores in Florida to collect and remit sales tax to the state. Some Republicans have balked at the idea in the past, for fear they could be seen as increasing taxes, but a $2.75-billion budget gap may make the idea more palatable. The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference says collecting those taxes would
Cycling Through
Keith Overton, a former president of the TradeWinds resort in St. Pete Beach, and Paul Teutul Sr., a motorcycle maker and co-star of the American Chopper reality television show, plan to open a motorcycle-themed restaurant in Pinellas Park. The Orange County Chopper Roadhouse & Museum will display motorcycles and other memorabilia from the television show, which started on the Discovery Channel in 2003, and items from Teutul’s Orange County Choppers motorcycle factory in Newburgh, N.Y. “This just makes sense,” Teutul told the Newburgh Times Herald-Record newspaper. “There’s more of a sense of freedom in Florida, more of a fan base, and you can ride for about nine months out of the year. There are also motorcycle events that take place all over Florida throughout the year.”