Florida Board of Governors

After Richard Corcoran left his role as Florida’s education commissioner in 2022, he joined the lobbying firm Continental Strategy LLC, where he began cashing in on his political connections. State records show Corcoran lobbied for his clients almost exclusively the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close political ally who’d appointed him not only as education commissioner but also to the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system.

At issue is a directive from The Board of Governors to “conduct a keyword search on course descriptions and course syllabi for the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews.”The directive had made many university professors and others uncomfortable.

The Florida Board of Governors, on Thursday, unanimously confirmed Dr. Aysegul Timur as Florida Gulf Coast University’s fifth and first female president.

The Florida Gulf Coast University Board of Trustees voted, Tuesday, to approve a proposed employment contract for President-elect Aysegul Timur. Before officially taking over as FGCU’s new president, her confirmation will have to be approved by the Florida Board of Governors.

A notice issued by FGCU Wednesday identified online sites in the State University System Prohibited Technologies List identified as high-risk technologies as Kaspersky, VKontakte, Tencent QQ, TikTok and WeChat. Most other state universities in Florida have join in the ban.

State health officials reported 7,925 COVID-19 cases, Wednesday, for a total of 905,248 cases. The Florida Department of Health also reported 87 new coronavirus-related deaths, Nov. 18, increasing the statewide death toll to 17,949 fatalities.Over the past seven days, the single-day average number of new infections reported has increased to nearly 6,735 cases. The average number of daily deaths reported over the past week now stands at nearly 56 fatalities a day.

State health officials reported 2,974 new cases of COVID-19, Sunday, pushing Florida over the 600,000-case threshold, with 600,571 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.The Florida Department of Health also reported 51 new coronavirus-related deaths, Sunday, bringing the statewide death toll to 10,462 fatalities.On Saturday, state health officials reported 4,300 new cases and 106 deaths.

State health officials reported 966 new cases of COVID-19, Monday, increasing the statewide total to 64,904 confirmed cases. Monday’s data marks the first time since June 3 that the single-day increase in reported cases did not exceed one thousand people.The Florida Department of Health also reported 12 new coronavirus-related deaths, Monday, bringing the statewide death toll to 2,712 fatalities. The total number of virus-related hospitalizations in Florida stands at 10,942 patients.

State health officials reported 651 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, Thursday, bringing the statewide total number of cases to 53,285. The Florida Department of Health also reported 45 new coronavirus-related deaths, yesterday, increasing the state's death toll to 2,364 fatalities, including 1,163 deaths in long-term care facilities.Of the 953,321 tests that have been performed in Florida so far, 5.6% have been positive for the virus.

State health officials reported 542 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, Tuesday, for a statewide total now of 37,439 cases. The latest update from the…