- [Narrator] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Narrator] "Florida This Week" is made possible in part by support from the Tampa Bay Times.

- [Rob] Coming up next, as the number of Coronavirus cases continues to rise in Florida, we'll look at the battle over masks in schools.

Lawsuits are filed against the owners of a Piney Point plant in what many believe is the cause of that massive red tide disaster.

And a victory for those who want to amend Florida's constitution.

All this and more, next on "Florida This Week".

(serious music) Welcome back.

Just as students were returning to school, the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida continued to climb With the state again breaking a record for the number of cases, averaging more than 21,000 a day.

That's a seven day average, even higher than the previous peak back in January.

One in five of all new cases reported in the country were recorded right here in Florida during the second week of August.

And Florida is experiencing the highest rate in the country of children who are hospitalized with COVID.

According to data from The COVKID Project, which uses hospitalization numbers from the US Department of Health, as of August 7th, Florida reported 8.1 children hospitalized for every 100,000 residents.

Data from the project also shows that this week, Florida saw 341 new hospital admissions among people aged 17 and younger, that's the most in the US.

Despite the high numbers, Governor Ron DeSantis has attempted to block school districts from imposing protections for students, such as mask mandates.

He says parents should decide whether their child should wear a mask at school.

More of the COVID crisis in just a moment, but first, as tropical storm Fred passes by the west coast of Florida, residents here are hoping the rains will bring some relief from the red tide outbreak that is persistent for weeks.

Last week, the State of Florida filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Piney Point phosphate plant.

A giant reservoir at the plant was in danger of collapse earlier this year, so the company dumped 215 million gallons of polluted water into Tampa Bay this spring.

And many believed the dump led to the massive red tide outbreak and the fish kills this summer.

The state's lawsuit is not the only one against the phosphate plant, environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity have sued the plant owner, HRK, and the State of Florida.

Jaclyn Lopez is the Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity and she joins us now.

Jaclyn, thanks for coming on.

- Thank you for having me.

- So are you convinced that the red tide outbreak was tied to the Piney Point dump?

- The red tide that we've seen in Tampa Bay is unprecedented.

We've not seen anything like this in recent history.

To have such prolific red tide killing so many tons of marine wildlife in Tampa Bay is something that you only see when you have a really massive contribution of nutrients, which is phosphorous and nitrogen to a freshwater system or to an estuary system, like what we saw with the Piney Point disaster.

Why scientists believe that the two are linked is because of that approximately 215 million gallons of discharge was a lot of nitrogen, estimated to be about 200 tons of nitrogen, which is the equivalent of what the lower part of Tampa Bay receives over the entire year.

It received it in just under two weeks.

And the type of nitrogen it received was more bioavailable.

It was already broken down.

It was very concentrated as opposed to nitrogen that might be in the form of leaves and twigs that come down into the water.

This was like liquid fertilizer, ready to fuel the red tide.

Now there was red tide that was already in the area.

Red tide, as we know, is naturally occurring off the Gulf Coast, as it moves near shore, though, sources of nutrient pollution can fuel it, and that's exactly what happened here.

It was like throwing gasoline on a fire.

- Jaclyn, do you think that the state could have prevented the spill from happening and the subsequent red tide?

- The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is the regulatory agency in Florida charged with overseeing the maintenance of the phosphogypsum stacks in Florida, of which we have just over two dozen.

That's what Piney Point is.

It's a phosphogypsum stack.

It's where the waste from creating phosphoric acid goes to, and it's put in these really big piles, and on top of the piles are ponds of process water.

Now, when the company that used to own it, about two decades ago, went bankrupt, the Florida DEP took over the oversight, the management, the ownership of Piney Point for a period of time, for about five years, and oversaw the installation of liners.

And even when it wasn't the direct owner, it was the regulator of that gyp stack.

And we know that the 12 months preceding the Piney Point disaster, HRK Holdings, the company that owns Piney Point now, was telling DEP that it was reaching a critical capacity and that any additional amount of rainwater would put it in a really difficult position.

So DEP was on notice, not just that year leading up, but for up to two decades before.

In fact, when it originally took over ownership of it in 2001, the first thing it did was assess Piney Point and it determined that it needed to be closed.

Instead of closing it, DEP, along with the Manatee Port Authority, allowed Piney Point to be the site where the discharge of and the dredge material from Bishop Harbor dredge was placed there, and that was against the recommendation of the Army Corps of Engineers.

That was against the better judgment of anyone who knew what was going on at Piney Point.

So to answer your question, absolutely.

DEP could have prevented this catastrophe by taking earlier action, by listening to all of these warning signs that were coming for decades, and most recently within the last year.

- Jaclyn, we only have a minute, but a lot of rain is heading our way.

We've had a lot of rain this summer.

Are we out of the woods when it comes to the need to release more water from Piney Point?

- The DEP's lawsuit against HRK says that Piney Point is still at a place of eminent failure.

Now we don't know what the details of that means, but potentially with the addition of rain and wind, there's a threat.

All of these phosphogypsum stack present a threat.

We've seen releases from other phosphogypsum stacks of this polluted water into our freshwater and our marine ecosystems in the past when hurricanes have come through.

So we're still in hurricane season and we have our fingers crossed that we're not gonna see any more environmental damage or crisis for the communities around these phosphogypsum stacks.

- Jaclyn Lopez, thanks a lot for coming on the program.

- Thank you.

- And stay tuned.

A court ruling has blocked Tallahassee's effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution, and we'll have more on that, next.

(serious music) A federal judge has blocked a new Florida law that would cap contributions to political committees that are backing new ballot initiatives.

The judge says the new law runs a foul of the first amendment.

The law was passed by the legislature this spring, and would have imposed a $3,000 limit on those contributions.

Sean Shaw is an attorney and former candidate for Florida attorney general, and he's working on a number of ballot initiatives himself, and he joins us now.

Sean, welcome back.

- Rob, happy to be here.

- Were you surprised that the judge's ruling blocking the new Florida law?

- Not at all.

I did not go to an Ivy League school like Governor, but the University of Florida taught me pretty early on in my law school career that you can't impose a law like the legislature was trying to do.

- The legislature and the Governor say, look, we don't want rich people or special interests to come to Florida and buy their way onto the state constitution.

Is that the way you see the intention of that law or the outcome of that law had it been enacted?

- No, you don't.

I mean, clearly the legislature is displeased that these ballot initiatives are getting on the ballot and that the people of the State of Florida are passing them.

Now keep in mind, 60 plus percent of people have to vote for this, for these initiatives to become part of the constitution.

That means Democrats, Republicans and MBAs have to approve of these things, and the legislature still is mad that we have medicinal cannabis.

They're mad that we got amendment four, restoring the rights of our returning citizens.

They're mad that the people are putting these things on the ballot and so, they're reacting to it.

And quite frankly, I think it is super hypocritical for politicians who can take unlimited contributions to their PACs to tell the people of the State of Florida that they're limited at $3,000 a pop.

No person that has ever run, in recent history for statewide office in Florida, has been under the same rule that the legislature is trying to put the people in the State of Florida in.

All of us have PACs and really receive unlimited contributions, so the hypocrisy is stunning in and of itself, but so is the legal vulnerability of it.

And I'm glad the judge ruled as he did.

- Your group, People Over Profits, is proposing three constitutional amendments for the ballot to make it easier for people to vote around the state.

Are your plans on hold?

Or what's happening with those proposed amendments?

- Well, it's not just my group.

I'm proud of my group, but it's also, we were working with other groups, the Alliance and the ACLU.

But we are probably gonna move these ballot initiatives to the 2024 ballot.

And partially, the reason is that the legal maneuvering required to get this declared unconstitutional created, unfortunately, a lot of confusion.

A lot of donors don't wanna get involved in something that is literally the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, and so by the time we got to where we were, we'd lost a lot of time.

And although we had a lot of awesome grassroots support and people gathering signatures, volunteering and things, you and I both know that the petition gathering process is a mixed of volunteer and paid, and the money required or the timing required just made it a little untenable.

And we thought it was more prudent to move it to 2024.

But I wanna thank everybody that was involved.

We're gonna re-engage.

This is see you later, it's not goodbye.

But dealing with this law just took a lot of precious time and so we're gonna move it to 2024.

- I wanna ask you about redistricting.

The new census numbers came out this week and the process here in Florida and around the country of redistricting has begun.

How sure are you that it's gonna be fair this time around?

- It is my understanding that there has been no schedule of public hearings set forth.

There's been no kind of framework from the legislature and the redistricting committee about how this is going to work, how public input might happen, do you have to go to Tallahassee or are there gonna be meetings around the state, and the fact that I've received no input about how the public may be involved in this process, I think gives a huge indication of where this process is going to end up.

And so, if you remember last time, there were public hearings and there were other things where citizens could offer maps.

And this, I have a unfortunate feeling that that is going to be very limited, that it's gonna be a quick and closed process and the legislature is gonna do what the legislature is gonna do.

And we're not we, but some people are certainly gonna have to probably get lawyers involved because this process needs to be transparent.

It's the most important thing we do every 10 years.

These congressional seats, state senate seats, state rep seats are important and we've passed constitutional amendments to prevent gerrymandering and to prevent some of these things that unfortunately, keep propping up.

So we're keeping a close eye on it, Rob.

- Sean Shawn, thanks for coming back on the program.

- I appreciate it.

Thank you.

- There's an ongoing debate about how to keep our kids safe in school.

The governor and the legislature have said no to mask mandates.

We'll get a parent's perspective in just a moment.

(serious music) Schools across Florida opened their doors this week to students, and front and center was the concern over COVID-19.

Hillsborough County students are required to wear a mask, but parents do have the choice to opt out.

Masks are encouraged, but not required in Pinellas and Pasco Counties.

Damaris Allen is the immediate past president of the Hillsborough County PTA and a parent, and she joins us now in the studio.

Damaris, welcome to "Florida This Week."

- Thank you.

- You're one of the parents who've joined the lawsuit, challenging the orders from Tallahassee that prevented schools from implementing mask mandates.

Why'd you join the lawsuit?

- Because I'm concerned about the health and safety of all of our kids.

I'm also really concerned about governmental overreach.

I really believe that local decisions should be made locally by our locally elected leaders.

- The governor says, look, parents should have the choice, not school districts.

And so, if a parent chooses to have their kids wear masks, that's where the power should be.

What do you say?

- I would say that the challenge with parental choice is that you're always going to end up elevating one parent's decision over another, especially when it comes to masks.

We know that masks work by protecting both sets of kids, both the transmitter and the one who's receiving it.

And specifically, you're less likely to transmit it if you're wearing a mask.

So while I could choose to have my child wear a mask, that's not necessarily gonna protect him as effectively as if both students are wearing masks.

- So you're saying that in the equation, the governor's really forgetting about the safety of everybody else and only thinking about the safety and freedom of one half of the equation.

- Correct.

In addition to that, I would also say that the vast majority of parents would like to have their students masks because it helps to keep us safe.

And it also keeps us out of quarantine.

- The governor said this week, though, that there is no statistical difference in COVID cases when it comes to mask mandates.

He also said that people warned him last year when he asked that schools be reopened and they warned him there would be a spike in cases that didn't happen.

What do you say?

- I would say that a basic understanding of science and diseases would tell us that diseases have mutated, and that is why we have a Delta variant.

We have learned that the Delta variant is significantly more contagious, similar to chicken pox.

And if you're younger than 35, you know how contagious chicken pox are.

In addition to that, I think the issue with that is you have to look at the numbers.

So last year in Hillsborough, we had a mask mandate with an opt out only with a doctor's note.

And you saw that we had a lower number of cases.

Now, on the second day of school or third day of school, we have over 509 cases in our schools just having been back in school three days.

We also had, as of day two, 2,933 students alone in quarantine.

And that's time that's lost with learning that wouldn't have happened had we had masks because quarantine rules state, that if both kids are masked, they won't quarantine.

- You're a parent, you've got two kids in public schools, and are you talking to other parents?

What are you hearing from parents about how concerned they are about school reopening?

- Parents are incredibly concerned.

They are incredibly stressed.

They're not sleeping at night, they're waking up crying and worried about their kids, especially students who are under 12, because they don't have the option of being vaccinated.

Students over 12, thankfully have that extra layer of protection that parents can opt into or opt out of.

Parents are anxious to see how they can get involved and how they can help to make sure that we keep all of our kids safe, not just some of them.

- So what do you say to parents that say, "It's my choice."

So they're gonna be parents watching this program.

Let's say, it's my choice to tell my kids what they should do when they go to school.

What'd you say to those parents?

- I would say that at some point we have to be responsible citizens and responsible to our community that we live in, right?

We all stop at stop signs, we don't drive drunk, we obey speed limits, we wear seat belts.

There are plenty of rules that have happened because of the public safety and health.

Think about smoking indoors.

When I was a kid, there would be a non-smoking section in the smoking section.

And they've ruled that out because they've discovered that secondhand smoke is more harmful to us.

And so, there are rules that we follow on a regular basis that when it comes to health and safety of others.

- So when the legislature mandates to local school districts that they can do something or cannot do something and takes away the decision making power from local school districts, what do you think about that?

- I think that's incredibly problematic.

It doesn't recognize the diversity of our state.

I think sometimes in rural districts, especially when you're looking at public health issues, they don't have the spread of disease that we had.

Obviously this requires us to have a closer population, so it's silly to mandate masks statewide if it isn't necessary based on the positivity rates.

But we need to have the freedom if our positivity rates rising for us to be able to make those decisions based on the need of our own community.

- Well Damaris Allen, thanks a lot for coming on the program.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Well, Governor Ron DeSantis clearly has presidential ambitions, so has his response to the pandemic help those ambitions.

Longtime Republican Political Strategists Mac Stipanovich weighs in next.

(serious music) Mac Stipanovich was the chief of staff to Former Florida Governor Bob Martinez, and a campaign advisor to Former Governor Jeb Bush.

He's been a long time Republican strategist.

He's currently not affiliated with a political party.

He's been observing Governor DeSantis' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he joins us now.

Mac, welcome back.

- Well, thank you for having me back.

I appreciate it.

- I wanna put on the screen some of the things that you can buy if you go to Governor DeSantis' campaign website.

And there's a flag that says freedom, then there's these beer mugs that say, that you can't drink beer through a mask.

And he also is advising people, don't fauci Florida, seeming to take issue with the nation's top expert on the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, Mac, what do you think of these being sold on the governor's website?

- Well, I think that it is disgraceful.

He is attempting to make money and secure votes by making fun of and minimizing a very serious situation, which is the COVID pandemic.

But I think it's in the process of catching up with him right now.

When he started doing all this stuff, the Delta variant had not arrived in Florida in full force yet, so I'm not sure that he would do that all again right now, given another chance.

- The governor's number one job as the head of the state is to keep Floridian safe.

On that score, how do you think he's done?

- Well, he hasn't done anything.

I mean, basically with the exception of locking down assisted living facilities and nursing homes in the very beginning, for which he should be congratulated, he has not only not done anything to prevent the spread of COVID in Florida from the beginning, he's prevented local governments and private businesses from doing so.

He's just trying to wait it out and then claim that he was the champion of freedom and hope that people have this short memory they usually have.

- I think the governor would respond and he said, look, I kept the state open mostly.

I shut it down just for a short time.

And that businesses are thriving here in Florida.

He's kept the economy going and that's what he's gonna run on.

- Yeah.

I think that's right.

That is what he's gonna run on.

And we will see when that narrative is tested and how the people of Florida will respond.

I mean, right now he's tangling with school boards in Florida about mandatory masking.

And I think he's made a mistake.

I mean, two thirds of the people in Florida, polling shows, support mandatory masking in public schools right now.

And so, he's kind of on the wrong side of that.

And unusual, for the first time, people are bowling up to him in colony, on his bluff, particularly the school board and a lot too in Broward County.

- The Tampa Bay Times looked into the number of times that Fox News invited Governor DeSantis to come on, and found that from the November election through February, the Governor was invited on Fox News programs 113 times.

What does that say?

- Well, Ron DeSantis has always been a creature of Fox News.

That's how he attracted Donald Trump's notice.

And then Trump reached out and basically made him the Republican nominee, narrowly won the election.

So it's no surprise that he's gonna continue to ride that horse, and they're gonna continue to exploit him.

So it's kind of a mutual aid society, if you will.

So I'm not surprised at all.

- Mac, finally, we only have a minute.

Friday, the 13th, August 13th was supposed to be reinstatement day.

Michael Lindell, the MyPillow guy, said that former President Trump would be reinstated to power on August 13th, Friday the 13th.

It didn't happen.

What happens to those folks that believe what they see on some of these conservative channels and the stuff doesn't come into fruition?

- Well, Mike Lindell obviously is crazy as a sprayed roach, and he'll come up with something new.

And some of those people will believe him again.

If you will flake off and come to their senses, but the delusional world in which most of those people live is impenetrable.

They will find some rationale that the whole thing was kind of a dodge, kind of a fake because the real play is this.

And then they'll believe that until it doesn't happen.

- Mac Stipanovich, always great to see you.

Thank you for coming back on the program.

- No problem.

Thanks for having me.

(serious music) - Thanks for joining us.

You can view this and past shows online or on the PBS app.

And "Florida This Week" is now available as a podcast.

You can subscribe to it on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.

Before we go, Miami singer-songwriter Gloria Estefan enlisted some locals and rewrote the lyrics to one of her songs to create this safety message.

Stay safe, take care of each other.

We'll see you next week.

♪ Put on your masks ♪ ♪ When you go out in public ♪ ♪ Put on your masks ♪ ♪ Help save the world from COVID ♪ ♪ I know it's true ♪ ♪ Where we're going through ♪ ♪ This nasty virus ♪ ♪ We understand if we wash our hands ♪ ♪ We can survive this ♪ ♪ We gotta keep looking on ♪ ♪ To tomorrow ♪ ♪ There's so much in life ♪ ♪ That's meant for you ♪ ♪ Put on your mask ♪ ♪ When you are buying groceries ♪ ♪ Put on your mask ♪ ♪ It might help our prognosis ♪ ♪ Put on your mask ♪ ♪ Don't stop before it's over ♪ ♪ Put on your mask ♪ ♪ This hell is far from over ♪ ♪ Put on your mask ♪ (serious music) - [Narrator] "Florida This Week" is a production of WEDU who was solely responsible for its content.

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