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DeSantis plans to send COVID relief money to 1st responders

Photo: Kristine Wook
Photo: Kristine Wook

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to use his state's share of the federal coronavirus relief bill to fund bonus checks for tens of thousands of first responders.

Firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel would each get $1,000 bonuses under the governor's plan to spend about $10 billion in federal relief money.

During a Capitol press conference, DeSantis rattled off a laundry list of spending priorities totaling about $4.1 billion.

That's a big slice of the roughly $10 billion Florida is expected to get from the stimulus package President Joe Biden signed last week. The governor also wants to use some of that money to bail out the state's struggling seaports.

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.