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Today's top Florida stories
• Fresh Take Florida: Florida lawmakers strip vaccine mandate from bill to provide disability, death payouts to first responders. "The changes to the legislation – eliminating an entire section dealing with mandatory vaccinations – reflect the national debate over whether governments can require vaccinations for first responders. Firefighters, law enforcement officers and others in public safety are on the front lines putting their lives at risk but also working directly with the public. Since April last year, about 60 Florida law enforcement officers have died from COVID-19."
• The Tributary: Florida Senate releases first redistricting maps: ‘This isn’t the bloodbath we’re seeing in other states.’ "The Florida Senate has released its first eight drafts of map proposals for congressional and Senate redistricting, and the first signs are that the maps won’t be the gerrymandered nightmare that other states have pushed or that fair-districts advocates feared."
• News Service of Florida: The final Florida school districts ditch their mask mandates. "The decisions by the boards in Alachua, Miami-Dade and Broward counties mean that all eight school districts that faced state financial penalties because of mask mandates have reversed course."
• Florida Politics: Jennifer Bradley now at more than $450,000 for state Senate re-election. "As currently mapped, (Bradley's district) covers a broad swath of North Florida, including the whole of Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Union counties as well as a piece of western Marion County. The current configuration is a strongly Republican district, with more than 51% of its registered voters members of the Republican Party."
• Florida Today ($): After delays, NASA and SpaceX launch four Crew-3 astronauts to ISS from Florida. "Despite nearly two weeks of delays, four NASA and SpaceX astronauts launched from Kennedy Space Center late Wednesday, kicking off a roughly day-long trek to the International Space Station."
• WSVN-Miami: Opa-locka mayor abruptly resigns, citing ongoing corruption. "'Accept this as my resignation from the position of mayor from the City of Opa-Locka. I will not be a figurehead for corruption,' said former mayor Matthew Pigatt as he grabbed his backpack and walked off the dais. He cited ongoing corruption among the city’s leadership and his inability to bring about substantial change during his tenure."
• Miami Herald ($): Make it stop: Tripadvisor says America is eyeing Miami Beach, Key West for winter travel. "They’re coming, Key West and Miami Beach. The tourists, that is. They’re eyeballing us and making their reservations and all too soon will be clogging highways, restaurants and beaches. We know it’s good for business after a tough year, but we’re already weary."
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From NPR News
• Health: New clues to the biology of long COVID are starting to emerge
• Health: 10 states sue Biden administration over COVID vaccine mandate for health care workers
• National: Black veterans remember Colin Powell and offer him a final salute for the ages
• World: Zombie river? London's Thames, once biologically dead, has been coming back to life
• World: A citizen journalist who shined a light on the pandemic in Wuhan may die in prison
• Politics: After judge's ruling, Trump faces an uphill battle in dispute with Jan. 6 panel
About today's curator
I'm Ethan Magoc, a news editor at WUFT. Originally from Pennsylvania, I've found a home telling Florida stories. I’m part of a team searching each morning for local and state stories that are important to you; please send feedback about today's edition or ideas for stories we may have missed to emagoc@wuft.org.