Florida sues federal government over cruise industry shutdown
CBSN
Florida is suing the federal government to demand the reopening of the cruise line industry, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday. The suit follows weeks of legal threats against the CDC's no-sail order implemented last March in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It is time for us to vindicate the rights of the state in court and to vindicate the rights of tens of thousands of Floridians," DeSantis said in a news conference at the Port of Miami. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Tampa, names the CDC, Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. government as defendants. Prosecutors alleged that the cruise industry "has been singled out" as more Americans receive COVID-19 vaccines and begin to travel more. The lawsuit has asked to set aside and declare the no-sail order as unlawful immediately.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.