Brevard County firefighters rally at Viera government center over pay impasse
Firefighters and their families arrived at the Brevard County Government Center Thursday to decry the pay and working conditions that have led to a prolonged contract dispute between the union and the county.
Around a hundred people turned out Thursday to support the union as they bargain for better pay and hours, waving signs outside with slogans like "Support your firefighters like your life depends on it!"
The firefighters union says that so many firefighters have left the agency over poor working conditions that public safety is at risk.
Brevard County Fire Rescue leadership also organized a public negotiation meeting with the union to be held at the government center Thursday morning at the same time as the rally.
Cocoa Beach gets speed limit reduction on A1A along with new crosswalk upgrades
Drivers in Cocoa Beach this week may have noticed the speed limit on State Road A1A reduced from 35 to 30 mph south of Minutemen Causeway. The decrease follows a Florida Department of Transportation policy that includes new crosswalks and follows changes to the highway up and down the thoroughfare along the beach.
Cocoa Beach mayor Keith Capizzi said that the decreased speed limit could result in unwanted traffic congestion near downtown Cocoa Beach.
Cocoa Beach Chief of Police Wes Mullins emphasized in a statement that the change was unilaterally undertaken by the state without input from the city.
State Rep. Debbie Mayfield files suit after getting bumped from Florida ballot
Republican state Rep. Debbie Mayfield filed suit directly to the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday, alleging state election officials broke the law when they blocked her from qualifying for a special election to fill a state Senate seat.
The Florida Division of Elections' director sent her a letter Wednesday, the day after the qualifying period for the Senate District 19 race ended. Because of term limits, it said, Mayfield wasn’t eligible to run since she held the seat for eight years until November.
Mayfield is a Melbourne Republican who served in the House 2008–16 and in the Senate from 2016 until November. Last year she ran for and won a seat in the House, starting her second stint in that chamber.
But the falling dominoes from President Donald Trump’s decisions to place Florida officials in his new administration led Mayfield to look to regain her Senate spot.
Despite Florida’s cap on lawmakers serving more than eight consecutive years in one office, Mayfield and most political observers believed that because she was out of the office for several months she could still run to return to the seat.
State election officials, however, disagreed – blocking her from qualifying for the race.
Florida Gov. DeSantis pushes Legislature for open carry of guns amid immigration tension
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that he would sign a bill to allow open carry of firearms, adding to the ongoing tension with legislative opponents on immigration.
DeSantis has previously indicated he supports open carry or what is known as “constitutional carry” but has not done much to push that legislation while in office. But this past weekend he took to social media to say if lawmakers were to approve such a bill, he would sign it.
Desantis said that Florida needs to join the vast majority of states in allowing open carry. Florida currently allows permitless concealed carry, but not open carry.
Attached to the statement was a video of the director of Gun Owners of America in Florida Luis Valdes and Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey talking about a majority of the state’s sheriffs supporting open carry.
Florida is one of five states, and the only red one in the group, that does not allow the open carry of firearms, according to the gun safety research group Giffords. Open carry had been legal in Florida until lawmakers repealed it in 1987.
More: FloridaToday.com