Category Archives: Florida

Obama campaigns for Biden in Florida as Trump heads to battleground Ohio – as it happened

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It’s been a lively day on the election trail. We’re closing this blog now but will be back with all the developments in US political news, as it happens, tomorrow.

Here are the main events of the day:

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris is calling for an administration that is frank about racist police brutality in America.

“There isn’t a Black man I know, be it a relative or friend, who has not had some sort of experience with police that’s been about an unreasonable stop, some sort of profiling or excessive force,” she said.

We can’t just speak the truth about police brutality in our nation—we must act to change our systems of justice and demand accountability. pic.twitter.com/arSdFLi7Wj

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Trump holds packed rally after Covid diagnosis as he struggles in polls

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President addresses mostly maskless crowd in key swing state of Florida: ‘I feel so powerful’

Keen to appear lively and well after his recent hospitalization for Covid-19, Donald Trump held his first rally since being diagnosed, addressing a packed, largely maskless crowd in Florida – a state he desperately needs to win.

Related: California investigates unauthorized ballot boxes installed by Republicans

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US Covid cases climb as midwestern states report steep increases

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  • Infections also ticking up in north-east
  • More than 57,000 tested positive for coronavirus on Friday

Covid-19 cases are again climbing in the United States, with the highest daily rates of new infections since August, when major states such as Florida became hotspots, new data from Johns Hopkins University’s Covid-19 tracker shows.

Now, several midwestern states are posting steep increases in Covid-19 cases, with at least one setting up a field hospital to cope with the flood of patients. Cases are also ticking up in the north-east, where tight restrictions had the virus under control for most of the summer.

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How Covid is accelerating the fight for Black voting rights in the US – video

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Donald Trump’s election campaign in 2016 targeted nearly 3.5 million Black Americans to deter them from voting, and the battle for the right to vote is just as important in 2020. Kenya Evelyn travels to Florida where it's the Democrats' most loyal bloc, Black women, who are also bearing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak, with its impact accelerating the fight for voting rights. From mail-in ballots and early voting, to felon disenfranchisement, Black voters are wielding their power to demand more from Democrats ahead of November


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The US supreme court ruled against my voting rights. As an ex-felon, my scarlet letter is back | Raquel Wright

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The supreme court ruled in favor of Florida Republicans trying to take away the voting rights of people with felony convictions. We will continue to fight this

This month, the supreme court ruled in favor of Florida Republicans in their quest to take away the voting rights of people with felony convictions – people like me.

Related: San Francisco could soon allow 16-year-olds to vote. The country should follow | Isabel Hope

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The Florida patrol attempting to enforce a loosened mask mandate

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A Key West team is expected to enforce a new mandate allowing people to go maskless outdoors if they are 6ft apart – an impossible task among partygoers

Key West code enforcement officer Paul Navarro was halfway through his shift and beginning to see signs of trouble. The crowds on lower Duval Street swelled just after 9pm, and social distancing quickly became impossible on the sidewalks.

Navarro is the last line of defense against the high-risk behaviors which spread Covid-19 and is one of the principal enforcers of the Florida city’s mask mandate – an effort to protect public health and the local economy. Until 16 September part of that balancing act had included a strict mask mandate, now that rule has been loosened.

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Hurricane Sally: level-two storm hits Florida and Alabama – video

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Hurricane Sally, a huge grade two storm with 100mph winds and torrential rain, has hit the US’s Gulf coast, reaching Florida and Alabama with fears of ‘life-threatening flooding’.

The storm was moving at only 2mph before dawn on Tuesday, centered about 115 miles south-south-east of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 60 miles east-south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river

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Hurricane Sally: storm hits Gulf coast with ‘life-threatening floods’ still expected

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Torrential rain battering Alabama and Florida is forecast to continue for up to 12 more hours, with wind gusts over 80mph

Hurricane Sally made landfall on the US Gulf coast early on Wednesday morning, with pounding rain and winds whipping above 100mph but with the huge category 2 storm system grinding along at just 2 mph – a turtle’s walking pace – increasing the danger of flooding.

The slow-motion storm exhausted residents in Alabama who listened through the night to tornado-warning sirens, phone alerts and howling winds, many frightened, sheltering but also sweltering indoors after power failures, as the storm approached.

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Trump repeats claims he received ‘Bay of Pigs Award’, which doesn’t exist – video

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Donald Trump repeats claims he earlier made online, boasting of winning the 'Bay of Pigs Award' – an honour that doesn't exist. Trump twice visited a Bay of Pigs museum in Miami in 2016, where he received 'a hand-painted Brigade 2506 shield', which his campaign insisted was the award in question. Trump made the claims while courting Latino voters in Nevada, a state where he trails rival Joe Biden in polls, and one where the  president failed to overcome Hillary Clinton  during the 2016 campaign

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Trump boasts about getting ‘Bay of Pigs Award’ – which doesn’t exist

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Attacking Joe Biden and seeking to exploit reports that his rival is struggling with Latino voters, Donald Trump boasted on Sunday of receiving “the highly honoured Bay of Pigs Award” from Cuban Americans in the battleground state of Florida.

Perhaps inevitably, and to the glee of the internet, no such award exists.

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Marco and Laura could hit US coast as hurricanes, forecasters say

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  • Louisiana in path of two tropical storms now in Gulf
  • Mississippi governor heralds ‘unprecedented times’

Tropical Storm Marco was swirling over the Gulf of Mexico early on Sunday, heading for a possible hit on the Louisiana coast as a hurricane, while Tropical Storm Laura knocked utilities out as it battered Hispaniola, following a track forecast to take it to the same part of the US coast – also as a hurricane.

Related: Could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season?

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Could the US and Caribbean be heading for their worst hurricane season?

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Experts say they are concerned as two potential hurricanes head north – and coronavirus is complicating matters

Two potential hurricanes are heading towards the northern Caribbean and mainland United States – with a third building in the Atlantic – in apparent confirmation of meteorologists’ predictions that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season will become one of the worst on record.

Related: US faces threat of two Caribbean storms hitting simultaneously as hurricanes

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Florida’s coronavirus death toll hits 10,000

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Florida’s coronavirus death toll hit 10,000 on Wednesday as the state continues to struggle to get the ongoing pandemic under control.

Almost six months since Florida’s first case was identified, the state reported 174 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,067.

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Florida closes beaches as Hurricane Isaias barrels through Bahamas

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State readies evacuation centers with social-distancing measures as Bahamas and North Carolina order evacuations

Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early on Saturday and headed toward the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.

Miami’s mayor, Carlos Giménez, said on Friday that 20 evacuation centers were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.

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Hurricane Isaias drenches Bahamas as Florida braces for storm

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Storm expected to produce 4-8in of rain in Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands and remain hurricane for few days

Forecasters declared a hurricane watch for parts of the Florida coastline on Friday, as Hurricane Isaias drenched areas of the Bahamas devastated by Dorian last year, on track for the US east coast.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 75mph and was expected to remain a hurricane for a few days, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

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Covid-19: Florida reports record one-day deaths as concerns grow for other states

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  • 191 people died in Florida in 24 hours and Texas cases rise
  • Pressure on Congress to pass another huge stimulus package

Florida reported another record one-day rise in coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, and cases in Texas passed the 400,000 mark, fueling fear that the United States is still not taking control of the outbreak and adding pressure on Congress to pass another massive economic aid package.

Related: Coronavirus live news: Italy extends state of emergency as WHO warns of 'one big wave'

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‘So happy I have this on bodycam’: Bemused US police catch kangaroo on the run – video

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Police officers captured an unlikely suspect bouncing through a Florida neighbourhood on Thursday morning. One officer is heard saying: 'I am so happy I have this on bodycam. Bob, in your how many years have you ever seen a kangaroo?' After receiving a call about a kangaroo running loose, Fort Lauderdale police officers managed to tie a lead around the two-year-old male and place him in a squad car. The marsupial was taken to a stable where the police department keeps its horses.

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Florida reports 15,000 new coronavirus cases, a record single-day total in the US

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Rise is the biggest in any state since start of the pandemic as its daily average death toll continues to also rise

Florida broke the national record Sunday for the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any state since the beginning of the pandemic, adding more than 15,000 cases as its daily average death toll continued to also rise.

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded. California had the previous record of daily positive cases 11,694, set on Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on 15 April.

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Coronavirus report: India reports record spike as cases double in South Africa

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Indian cases pass 800,000; Johannesburg struggles to find vital equipment; Texas warns ‘worst is yet to come’

India reported a record spike in coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the national total to more than 800,000 and pushing several states to bring back lockdowns, despite the punitive economic cost.

Now the world’s third-worst affected country by case load, it reported a spike of 27,114 cases on Saturday, although mortality rates have been lower than in other badly affected countries with confirmed death toll now 22,123.

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