FBI Director Kash Patel has defended the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files as he returned to Capitol Hill for a second day to face intense questioning from Democrats over his promises of transparency surrounding the convicted wealthy financier’s case.

With another potentially active Atlantic hurricane season on the horizon, Florida is preparing for the possibility the federal government won’t respond like it has in the past.

A second group of U.S. House lawmakers toured the building where Parkland high school students were massacred in 2018.

Gunfire again erupted at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as part of a reenactment of the 2018 massacre that left 14 students and three staff members dead.

Michigan’s attorney general says her office will review events that occurred before the mass shooting that left four students dead at Oxford High School, despite the district’s rejection of her offer to be a third-party investigator.

Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a news conference in Fort Lauderdale.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 683,070 vaccine doses will be allocated in Florida next week, an increase of 146,420 from the previous week. We want to follow the executive order of the state of Florida,” Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said. “In Osceola County, we’ll continue to operate 50 on up, as per the executive order from the governor,” Lanier said. He may issue an additional executive order,” Lanier said. “But as of now in Osceola County, we’re sticking to the guidelines -- anyone ages 50 years and older.

As such, DeSantis said, the number of COVID-19 deaths among long-term care residents has plummeted. According to the latest state report, 523 long-term care facilities --- which include assisted living facilities, nursing homes and institutions for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities --- in the state had COVID-19-infected residents and staff. Caregivers for Compromise Florida founder Mary Daniel has been pressing the administration in recent weeks to rescind the October executive order on visitation policies. Daniel made national news last year for working as a dishwasher at the long-term care facility in Jacksonville where her husband is a resident. The bill is supported by the Florida Heatlh Care Association, the Florida Hospital Association and other healthcare groups.

OCALA, Fla. – This weekend, more than half a dozen places of worship around Florida will host vaccine events, including several in the Orlando area. The state is identifying new vaccine sites at places of worship through several partnerships in order to reach underserved communities. Ad“We’ve done dozens and dozens and dozens of vaccine sites at churches, predominantly African American churches, since the beginning of January. This weekend, there are seven churches, according to the Florida Department of Health, hosting vaccine events and already four days next week with vaccine locations at churches. Orlando, FL 32811Manifest Church | 2275 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A massive winter storm impacting a large portion of the United States and causing major travel issues delay shipments of coronavirus vaccines to Florida, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The newspaper reported Monday that Jared Moskowitz, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said the state had been alerted about the delay. [TRENDING: Winter storm shuts down Fla. schools | Fla. man arrested in Capitol riot: I was following Trump’s orders | Shoe removed from 341-pound croc]AdIt’s not known how many doses will be affected and when deliveries will resume. The storm has sparked emergency declarations in Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas. A Florida school district was even forced to close due to icy road conditions.

He's done a fantastic job,” DeSantis said. AdMoskowitz, a Democrat and former member of the state House, assumed the state's top emergency job shortly after DeSantis, a Republican, took office in 2019. As director of emergency management, Moskowitz likely expected to focus on such events like hurricanes. During his tenure, Moskowitz has instead overseen the emergency response to the coronavirus outbreak, including setting up testing sites — and now vaccination facilities — across the state. AdBut Moskowitz at times expressed his independence, such as when, earlier this year, he acknowledged the chaotic rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

| Fla. begins COVID vaccine appointment system]Federal regulations and guidance from emergency managers agree that there cannot be residency requirements for receiving the vaccine. The state is also administering the vaccine at Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, whose district includes parts of Miami, called it a bad idea to let cities reserve vaccine doses for their residents. “We’re working on a registration system that we plan to launch in the coming weeks to help integrate site registration and fix some of the problems that we’ve all read about,” he said. In Pinellas County, reservations for 10,000 vaccines were filled in about one hour after registration opened on Friday morning.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s director of emergency management said Thursday that a statewide appointment system for COVID-19 vaccinations should be ready within weeks, bringing order to the chaos marking Florida’s rollout of vaccines to its most vulnerable residents. He said a registration system could help alleviate the strain counties are now under as they deliver vaccinations. New claims for jobless benefits tripled last week in Florida as the new coronavirus continued taking its toll on the tourist-dependent state. Although some snowbirds who own homes in Florida say they have gotten vaccines while here in the Sunshine State. At some vaccination sites, seniors have had to be turned away because vaccine allotments had dried up.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Brevard County is gearing up to begin administering COVID-19 vaccinations to people ages 65 and older, as well as health care workers who provide direct patient care. We are appreciative of @GovRonDeSantis and @FLSERT Director Jared Moskowitz, for their efforts to provide us with nearly 2,000 Pfizer vaccines. — Health First (@Health_First) January 8, 2021“Health First is honored to be able to continue to protect our community from COVID-19,” Health First Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Stalnaker said. Healthcare workers who sign up to receive a vaccine must bring a photo ID or healthcare badge for proof of identity. They should also include COVID-19 vaccine as the reason for their visit and fill in all of the required fields.

Around 20,000 frontline workers signed up to receive a dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, with healthcare professionals who work in intensive care and COVID-19 units to be some of the first in line, according to the hospital system. Not phased by the delay, DeSantis said the Food and Drug Administration was set to green-light Moderna Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine later this week. [WATCH BELOW: Mass vaccination facilities across Florida are coming]Moskowitz said the general public will likely gain access to the coronavirus vaccine in early spring. On Wednesday, Florida reported 11,355 new COVID-19 infections. Editor’s note: Along with the resources previously utilized by News 6 (state and county-by-county data), as of Dec. 7, WKMG has added state data pulled from the Florida Department of Health’s Florida COVID19 State Testing Totals.

In an exclusive interview with News 6, Florida Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said the general public will likely gain access to the coronavirus vaccine in early spring. “These facilities where these folks who live have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis, this is not the first medicine that these folks are getting. “There could be a bunch of different ways, we’ll analyze which approach the state will take,” Moskowitz said. Just like we have testing facilities, there will be mass-vaccination facilities.”Moskowitz expects the Moderna vaccine will be approved by the end of the week and start arriving in Florida as soon as Monday. [RELATED: Here’s when the general Florida population could receive a COVID-19 vaccine]He said doses of the vaccine are allocated weekly to all states.

Florida will receive 400,000 rapid-test kits a week that can be used to detect COVID-19 infections at schools, senior centers and long-term care facilities, Gov. Molecular tests, such as RT-PCR tests, detect the virus' genetic material but can take from a day to a week to get the results. Antigen tests detect specific proteins on the surface of the virus and come back within 15 minutes. Nevertheless, DeSantis said Tuesday that he may use some of the rapid test kits coming to Florida to supplant PCR testing that the state is conducting, saying it would reduce costs by 75%. In all, DeSantis said Florida would receive 6.4 million rapid test kits under the federal government’s plan to provide more than 150 million kits across the nation.

Ron DeSantis announced last Friday that Florida, effective immediately, is moving to the third and final phase of its reopening plan. DeSantis honed in on restaurants, hinting then that he’d lift capacity limits soon and on Friday, he made that move official. He’s also enacting a measure that will prohibit local governments from capping capacity at anything less than 50%. Plans released by the state earlier this year indicated that salons could do away with capacity limits come phase three. [READ: Here’s what to expect when Florida enters phase 3 of reopening | Bars across Florida allowed to reopen]“I think people should still understand that the virus, it doesn’t go away.

The Division of Emergency Management said in a tweet Thursday that it has been conducting biweekly testing at the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee for several weeks. According to the Democrat article, 12 employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “The EOC (Emergency Operations Center) is open, we’re operating,” Moskowitz said. Protocols have also been set up that will limit occupancy at the Emergency Operations Center if a hurricane threatens the state. More than 315,700 people in Florida have tested positive for the virus since March.

The Associated Press surveyed more than 70 counties and states from Texas to Virginia, with more than 60% of coastal counties saying as of late May that they're still solidifying plans for public hurricane shelters. Everything that we do will be affected in one way or another, big and/or small, by COVID-19, Florida Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz said. Our biggest change to our hurricane plan is sheltering. During tornadoes in April, the state used hotels as shelters, which was good practice for hurricane season, he said. By August and September, typically the height of Louisiana's hurricane season, the number of infections and social distancing requirements may have changed, he said.

THE VILLAGES, Fla. – Florida officials say they are gearing up to equip the state with what it needs to fight the spread of COVID-19, calling their efforts the largest logistics mission in the state’s history. Ron DeSantis announced a partnership between city health officials and the University of Florida Shands Hospital to host a drive-thru testing site in the area. “Another site is going to be opening on Wednesday in Orange County at the Orange County Convention Center,” DeSantis said. When asked if he had considered enacting a shelter-in-place for the state of Florida, DeSantis said emergency, health, and state officials are looking at different options to manage the spread of the coronavirus. “We have 20 counties with zero infections," DeSantis said, adding 23 counties in Florida have only a few confirmed cases.