Idalia’s wake

Assessment and cleanup are continuing today in north Florida and across the Bay area following Hurricane Idalia. Hours after Idalia struck Florida’s Big Bend area yesterday, Governor Ron DeSantis suggested that residents would shoot people who were looting in the town of Steinhatchee, as he has after some previous emergencies.

Flooding, deaths, and outages

Water levels on the Steinhatchee River rose more than 9 feet in about two hours and a bridge leading into Steinhatchee was not passable. State Road 24 leading into Cedar Key in Levy County was also inaccessible yesterday afternoon. Over 150,000 Floridians are still without power. At least 3 weather-related deaths have been reported.

Linking gun access to hate crime

A gun safety group is making the link between easy access to guns in the U.S. and violent hate crimes. GIFFORDS research director Kelly Drane spoke with Sean Kinane this week on WMNF’s Tuesday Café about the link between violent hate crimes and America’s easy access to firearms.

Medicaid eligibility mandate

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a letter to all 50 states and U.S. territories with a specific mandate: Identify and fix systemic problems for determining Medicaid eligibility, especially for children.

Students rally for gun laws

A crowd of about 600 students and gun safety advocates rallied last night for stricter state gun laws in North Carolina after a school shooting that left one faculty member dead and terrorized students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students were urged to take their pain to the ballot box.

Information from the Florida Public Media, News Service of Florida, and Associated Press was used in this report.

The Scoop: Tampa Bay & Florida headlines by WMNF

The Scoop producer Corey Beltran
WMNF anchors Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Seán Kinane
WMNF News Director Sean Kinane
WMNF reporters Chris Young, Lisa Marzilli, Josh Holton, Seán Kinane, Ta’Leah Van Sistine, Colleen Cole, Taylor Lovejoy
Special thanks to Taylor Lovejoy, Justin Seecharan, Novia Levy, Camilla Carrero, Kayla Allen

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