Tuesday’s primary elections feature two top Florida Democrats squaring off for the right to face Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A state investigator’s report says there’s nothing to indicate the Florida Department of Health told an employee to falsify COVID-19 data and she wasn’t fired out of retaliation.

A Florida judge has refused to dismiss a criminal case against a former state employee who suggested she was asked to manipulate COVID-19 data.

Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health data analyst, has been permanently suspended from Twitter.

A former Florida Department of Health employee is getting whistleblower status a year after being fired for repeatedly violating the agency’s policy about communicating with the media.

Rebekah Jones, the data scientist fired from her position at the Florida Department of Health last year, has moved to dismiss her lawsuit against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement over an armed raid on her Tallahassee townhome in December, according to News 6 partner Florida Today. Jones was arrested after the raid and is currently facing a criminal charge of violating Florida’s computer crime laws. It would give them the opportunity to get discovery from us to use in their criminal case,” he said. Jones said she disobeyed orders to doctor the state’s COVID-19 data to benefit Gov. She also launched a national project to collect COVID-19 data related to schools and published academic work based on these data.

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – A colony of African vervet monkeys has lived in Dania Beach, near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, for decades, but more people have been noticing them lately. Missy Williams, of the Dania Beach Vervet Project, was able to create a sanctuary for the colony of 40 monkeys near the Park N’ Go, an off-airport parking operator, News 6 partner Local 10 reports. Williams, a Florida Atlantic University researcher, has named them all and she has a database with files for each of the monkeys. Unlike different species of monkeys in northern Florida, the vervet monkeys do not carry herpes in their saliva, urine or feces, Williams said. Feeding wild primates is prohibited by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and harassing them is also not allowed.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The new state attorney for Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit is getting to work by filing charges in several high-profile cases. New court filings show charges filed in two, unrelated cases involving an Orlando rapper and a former UCF football player. Unrelated to that case, Worrell has also filed a felony charge of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit against 22-year-old Antwan Collier. Collier was a defensive back for the UCF football team at the time of his arrest. In the days following the incident, UCF athletics announced Collier and three other athletes involved in the incident had been let go from the team.

OSCEOLA, Fla. – As Central Florida works to speed up the process of getting vaccines into the arms of seniors, officials can’t keep up with demand. Bill Litton, Director of Osceola Emergency Management said the county has been working to juggle vaccine availability, appointment slots, and waitlists. Health officials sent an update about the new online vaccine request form for seniors who want their first or second dose. CLICK HERE FOR FORMThe new vaccination request form can be accessed through the FDOH website. Litton said the county hopes to resume vaccinations this week.

APOPKA, Fla. – It’s been almost 53 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the activist, and civil rights leader continues to be remembered around the world for his legacy and what he stood for. The city of Apopka celebrated its 12th year of commemorating Dr. King and his life work with a parade. “I would like them to reflect on the dream that Dr. King had,” Chairperson for the parade Monique Morris said. Apopka High School assistant principal Marcia Owens says the day of remembrance should be used to teach the importance of education. “As Dr. King said, everyone has a dream and my dream is that all my kids are successful.

During the pandemic, Hussain said patients suffering from COVID-19 have experienced heart attacks and inflammation of the heart muscles. While the full extent of long-term effects due to COVID-19 are unknown, Hussain said problems with the cardiovascular system are difficult to treat. “As a cardiologist, what we find is many times stress is what’s the problem, that’s what actually disrupts the vulnerable plaque in your heart,” Hussain said. Get the COVID-19 vaccine if you can and, while you wait for a vaccine, wear a mask. “One of the messages that you should give your viewers is that, take COVID very seriously, it can give you long-lasting effects,” Hussain said.

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Osceola County’s Emergency Management Director Bill Litton said they are expecting 2,900 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that could arrive as early as Tuesday. Litton said they were able to do more than 600 doses at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church on Monday. He said the focus of the vaccine distribution event at the church was to reach out to parishioners who are over the age of 65. Litton said in working with the church, it allows them to reach another demographic, and he said it helps those who may be unsure about getting the vaccine. The church’s pastor Father Emmanuel Akalue said even with the high number of parishioners who came out, the day still ran smoothly.

ORLANDO, Fla. – On Friday, Orlando International Airport leaders spoke on a conference call to discuss what to “look for” with regard to possible threats to the presidential inauguration this week. Law enforcement is also taking no chances in Florida’s capital. Lookout teams and snipers were seen on rooftops in downtown Tallahassee and Florida Highway Patrol cars swarmed the area around the state capitol building. “We are a resilient community and a resilient state, and we will not be intimidated,” Tallahassee’s Mayor tweeted. “We are encouraged that things have been quiet in Tallahassee, but we are not letting our guard down.”

Cold air will continue to move into Central Florida on Monday night. A Frost Advisory is also in effect for the rest of Marion County and interior parts of Flagler County and Volusia County. Northern Lake County and all of Sumter County are also included in this Frost Advisory. The low in Orlando will be 40 degrees Monday, in Ocala, the low is set to hit 32 degrees. For Tuesday, Central Florida gets just a little warmer with a high of 68 degrees in Orlando.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)Cases of the U.K. COVID-19 variant that’s believed to be even more contagious have more than doubled in the past 11 days in Florida, bringing the total as of Monday to 46. On Jan. 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were 22 cases of the new variant in the Sunshine State. More than a third of those cases are in Florida, which has more instances than any other state in the country. According to the health agency, there’s no evidence to suggest the U.K. variant, which was first detected in September 2020, is more deadly. Scientists have said there is no indication the U.K. variant reacts any differently to coronavirus vaccines.

A section of State Road 40 in Ocala is closed after a person was hit by a car on Monday, according to the police department. OCALA, Fla. – A section of State Road 40 in Ocala was closed after a person was hit by a car on Monday evening, according to the police department. Officials with the Ocala Police Department said the crash happened on the 2000 block of West State Road 40 just east of State Road 11. Anyone driving through this area is asked to find a different route. We will update this story as more information becomes available.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A 27-year-old woman was killed Monday in a motorcycle crash on State Road 520 in Brevard County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers said the crash took place Monday afternoon near Cox Road. All westbound lanes of SR 520 were temporarily shut down following the crash, according to troopers. A truck trailer was in the left lane on SR 520. According to a witness, the motorcycle rider attempted to make a right turn on a red light into the left lane hitting the rear of truck trailer.

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A man stabbed a 15-year-old boy because the victim and the suspect’s girlfriend were in a shoving match as they fought about sexual allegations, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the victim and the 17-year-old girl had been exchanging messages back and forth on Snapchat that included at least one stabbing threat for about a week. Deputies said Jared Wayne Douglas, 19, saw the boy fighting with his girlfriend and intervened. As Douglas was physically fighting with the teenage boy, he stabbed the victim in the chest with a silver pocket knife, records show. Really?” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a news release.

Uncertainty over the pace of federal COVID-19 vaccine allotments triggered anger and confusion Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in some states where officials worried that expected shipments would not be forthcoming. On Monday, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the testing site at the Orange County Convention Center had little to no wait. You can wait more than 28 days, you can wait 30 days,” Dr. Raul Pino from the Florida Department of Health in Orange County said. [READ YESTERDAY’S REPORT: Florida reports 10,000 new COVID-19 cases, over 7,000 people currently hospitalized]CasesThe Florida Department of Health reported 7,884 new cases on Monday, bringing the state’s overall total to 1,579,281 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began in March. VaccinationsThe Florida Department of Health recently began releasing a daily report on COVID-19 vaccines administered throughout the state.

TITUSVILLE, Fla. – A man who fled from officers said he was trying to get home to his mom and claimed he was driving too fast to pull over, according to the Titusville Police Department. Debetes claimed he was speeding because his mother wanted him to come home for an unknown reason and he added that he was driving too fast to stop, the report said. “If I would have tried to stop quicker I would have crashed the vehicle,” Debetes said, according to the affidavit. He was arrested on charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding, operating an unregistered vessel and reckless driving. Click here to subscribe to ClickOrlando.com’s Strange Florida newsletter, delivered every Friday.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The Volusia County DOH and county government will hold another three-day vaccine event at the Volusia County Fairground in DeLand beginning this Thursday. The COVID-19 vaccination event held on Jan. 21, 22 and 25 is for people age 65 and older by appointment only. County of Volusia & @HealthyFla Volusia County holding COVID-19 vaccination event for 65+ at Volusia County Fairgrounds, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Jan. 21, 22, & 25. Appointments required; online registration opens 9 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20 at and must be made at https://t.co/l8rBgCRyWe. There is a maximum of two registrations per transaction online and three registrations per transaction via telephone.

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A man now faces a murder charge for supplying the drugs that caused a 19-year-old woman’s death, according to the state attorney’s office. David Hare was indicted Jan. 15, on a charge of first-degree murder by distribution of a controlled substance. Ackerman died Jan. 22, 2020, after doing drugs with Daniel Bachert, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies say that Bachert noticed Ackerman was in distress but waited more than four hours to take her to the hospital. Jessica Ackerman and Daniel Bachert (Seminole County Sheriff's Office)Bachert provided the fentanyl to Ackerman but he received it from Hare, according to a news release from the state attorney’s office.

COCOA BEACH, Fla. – Pedestrians had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a man who was driving a van on the beach and another area not open to vehicle traffic, according to the Cocoa Beach Police Department. Pedestrians who were in the area had to jump out of Tumey’s way, according to the affidavit. When police arrived, they said Tumey was gathering belongings from his vehicle. Tumey was arrested on charges of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license. Click here to subscribe to ClickOrlando.com’s Strange Florida newsletter, delivered every Friday.

MIAMI – Patricia Guerrero had been dealing with squatters for months. Guerrero had been working full time to pay the mortgage of a home invaded by squatters who showed police officers a fraudulent lease. Miami-Dade remains under an eviction moratorium. While the moratorium is to protect legal renters who can’t afford to pay rent due to COVID-19 issues, it’s also protecting squatters who never paid rent in the first place even with a judge’s order to remove the squatters. Guerrero said she had been trapped for more than nine months when she learned the squatters hadn’t been in the home for a few weeks.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health data analyst who helped develop the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, was arrested on a charge of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices, officials announced Monday morning. [TRENDING: Data scientist Rebekah Jones arrested in Florida | Disney World not selling any new annual passes | Orlando police search for missing 12-year-old girl]Online records show Jones bonded out of jail just before 11 a.m. Monday. During her first appearance, her judge set her bond at $2,500, conditional on her having no contact with any of the people whose personal information was allegedly downloaded and no contact through state of Florida computer systems. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said an investigation into Jones began Nov.10 when the FDLE received a complaint from the Florida Department of Health that someone illegally accessed a state emergency-alert messaging system, known as ReadyOp. Evidence retrieved from a search warrant on Dec. 7 shows that Jones illegally accessed the system sending a message to about 1,750 people and downloaded confidential Florida Department of Health data and saved it to her devices, according to authorities.

The accuracy of Florida’s coronavirus data on the state’s dashboard is back in the national spotlight. Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health data analyst who had her home raided by investigators on Dec. 7 and has a warrant for her arrest, announced on Twitter that she was turning herself in to authorities on Sunday, but it’s unclear if she’s in custody. Jones helped develop the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, but was fired for insubordination early last year. Jones posted a message Saturday on Twitter that she would turn herself in. — Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) January 16, 2021The raid was based on a lie.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A former Florida Department of Health data analyst who says a raid on her home by state investigators was payback for speaking out about what she describes were efforts to falsify COVID-19 figures is demanding that they return seized computer equipment and cell phones. Rebekah Jones said in a court filing on Wednesday that what the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is accusing her of doing isn’t a crime, according to the Miami Herald. Bennett Cyphers, a technology expert with the the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, said in Jones' court filing Wednesday that the FDLE failed to provide “sufficient evidence” linking the IP address of the unauthorized message to Jones’ home. An IP address “cannot be used to identify a particular device or person,” since IP addresses used by one customer in one week “may be used by a different customer next week,” Cyphers said. Jones helped develop the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, but she was later fired for insubordination and has since publicly questioned the accuracy of the data.

Rebekah Jones says she was fired from the Florida Department of Health after she refused to "manipulate" COVID-19 data (Photo: Courtesy photo)TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A former Florida Department of Health employee sued the state on Monday over a search warrant executed on her house after investigators said they identified a message sent from a computer at the address to health department employees. Rebekah Jones, who was fired in May for insubordination after repeatedly violating department policy about communicating with the media, helped create the state's coronavirus dashboard. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement served the search warrant earlier this month. [RELATED: Video shows FDLE agents outside data scientist’s home | Florida COVID-19 dashboard creator’s home raided]The message that led to the search warrant implored employees still at the Health Department “to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. Be a hero.”Jones has had several run-ins with law enforcement over personal issues, but has gained international attention by disputing Florida's COVID-19 statistics.

On Monday, state agents served a search warrant at the home of Rebekah Jones, an ex-health department employee. According to the warrant, Jones’ IP address was connected to a message sent in November on the alert system. Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health in May for unauthorized public comments about the state’s COVID-19 data. “They did a search warrant. Why did they do a search warrant on the house?

State law enforcement agents waited about 20 minutes outside the home of Rebekah Jones, an ex-health department employee, Monday before serving her with a search warrant, body camera video released from the FDLE Thursday shows. Jones initially refused to answer the door for 20 minutes and hung up when agents called her, according to FDLE. On Thursday, FDLE released two body camera videos totaling about 30 minutes showing Tallahassee police and FDLE agents trying to serve Jones with a search warrant for her electronics. FDLE Commissioner Richard Swearingen said in a statement the agency released the video to show “FDLE agents exercised extreme patience” and agents had been “vilified over the past few days.”“I am proud of the way these FDLE agents performed. Jones previously released video from inside the home showing agents walk inside with guns drawn but it does not show upstairs.

Hong Kong on Wednesday reported an additional 100 cases, bringing its two-week total to 1,274. Hong Kong has reported a total of 7,075 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, with 112 deaths. The Texas Department of State Health Services also said 9,028 people were hospitalized across the state. Since late November, the new daily cases have soared past 10,000 on several days, with 15,103 new cases reported Tuesday, according to state health officials. ___BOISE, Idaho — Idaho public health officials abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday evening after the Boise mayor and chief of police said intense anti-mask protests outside the health department building — as well as outside some health officials’ homes — were threatening public safety.

Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided the home of a former Department of Health employee Monday credited with creating the state’s COVID-19 tracking dashboard. Agents were looking for evidence that she unlawfully gained access to a health department messaging platform, according to the warrant. Rebekah Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health in May after she says she declined to “manipulate” state virus numbers. Agents were given permission in the warrant to seize computer hardware, software and other documents in the Dec. 3 warrant. Officials with the Florida Department of Health declined to comment for this story, directing News 6 to the FDLE.

She said Health Department managers urged her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back. Asa Hutchinson announced plans Monday for a series of community meetings across Arkansas to address the growing surge of coronavirus cases. The state Department of Education is expected to give public school systems the green light to follow the relaxed quarantine rules. But the health department is sticking to a 14-day recommendation for prisons and nursing homes where people live together in tight quarters. When averaged out over seven days, South Carolina is seeing about 2,300 new COVID-19 cases a day.

ORLANDO, Fla. The accuracy of Floridas coronavirus data on the states dashboard is back in the national spotlight. Weeks after former Florida Department of Health scientist Rebekah Jones was ousted, she launched her own coronavirus dashboard to renew the publics trust in data. The DOH website she said she curated was touted by the White Houses coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx as a model of transparency.' However, Jones claims the career-boosting recognition wasnt enough. In a statement to News 6 DOH claims its Jones dashboard that is unreliable:The Rebekah Jones Dashboard sources much of its data directly from the Departments Dashboard.

Now there are dueling data dashboards to track the new coronavirus in Florida, New 6 partner Florida Today reports. Visually, the new COVID-19 dashboard has a striking resemblance to the Florida Department of Health's officials dashboard of new coronavirus data, although with darker, earthier color tones, and many more cases and deaths. Jones' site on Friday showed 77,799 "COVID-19 positive people," while the Florida Department of Health's dashboard showed 70,971 total cases, including 1,630 positive non-residents. Jones dubs her new dashboard — www.FloridaCOVIDAction.com — “A People’s Dashboard for Florida during COVID-19,” or the Florida COVID Community Action website. “We put the data in context, clearly stating each variable’s limitations and caveats, for all the data on the site, including DOH’s data,” Jones’ press release said.