These are some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida. After both a machine and hand recount were completed, Republican Ileana Garcia has officially defeated incumbent Democrat Jose Rodriguez in the Senate District 37 race, which was the closest race in Florida this cycle. After leading by 18 votes following initial tabulations, Garcia netted 16 additional votes through the recounts to win by 34.
Florida's employment picture continues to improve as weekly unemployment filings reached yet another new low since the onset of the pandemic lockdowns in March. It’s the fourth consecutive week that’s occurred. Although, Florida’s daily and weekly averages for new COVID-19 cases have remained above 5,000 daily. This despite several COVID-19 testing sites offline this week due to tropical storm Eta. The weekly average for cases remains the highest since August 17th.
Lastly, data analytics company Niche has provided rankings for the top 25 Florida School Districts for the 2020-2021 school year. The top ranked district in the state is the St. Johns County District. Monroe county ranked 14th, Palm Beach County is 19th, Miami-Dade's 21st, and Broward County is 28th.
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