Vice President Mike Pence held a quiet meeting on Tuesday with a group called America’s Frontline Doctors to discuss the use of unproven anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19. The meeting came as video of a Monday press conference held by the group was going mega-viral online, racking up tens of millions of views and leading to a widespread effort by social media companies to remove the video and penalize some people who shared it, including one of the president’s sons.

Pence’s office did not publicize the meeting nor respond to requests for comment, but several members of the group tweeted Tuesday evening that the meeting had just occurred. “Just finished a great meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and his Chief of Staff,” wrote James Todaro, a member of the group who trained as an ophthalmologist. “We are doing everything to restore the power of medicine back to doctors. Doctors everywhere should be able to prescribe Hydroxychloroquine without repercussions or obstruction.”

Todaro, who also presents himself as a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, co-authored a widely circulated Google Docs file proclaiming the benefits of hydroxychloroquine in March. It claimed to be affiliated with Stanford Medical University and several other institutions, but HuffPost reported in March that wasn’t true. Google removed the document for violating its terms of service, but not before it gained the attention of Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, which began promoting the document. Trump advocated for the drug shortly after.

Federal prosecutors say 29-year-old David Hines also made purchases at luxury stores and resorts in Miami Beach.

Loans meant to help businesses get through the COVID-19 pandemic ended up in the pockets of a Florida man who used the money to buy a 2020 Lamborghini, prosecutors allege.
David Hines, of Miami, tried to get $13.5 million in Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans through applications sent to an insured financial institution on behalf of several companies, according to a Department of Justice news release.

The 29-year-old reportedly made several false and misleading statements about the companies' payroll expenses and ended up with $3.9 million in loans.
Within days, prosecutors said Hines used the money to buy a $318,000 Lamborghini Huracan. He, too, allegedly didn't make payroll payments that he claimed on loan applications but did go out to luxury stores and resorts in Miami Beach to make a few purchases.
Authorities seized $3.4 million in Hines' bank accounts and the Lamborghini at the time of his arrest, the release states.

The state also broke its record for hospitalizations by adding 411 over 24 hours. The previous high for new hospitalizations was an increase of 400 people, recorded in mid-May.

Along with the 11-year-old who died from the virus, one additional death recorded Thursday was someone between the ages of 15 and 24, the ninth death recorded in the state for that age group.

Prins said though politicians have emphasized how younger people are making up a large share of the new positive cases compared to previous months, cases in people age 65 and over have continued to grow, too. The number of cases in that age group doubled in June from where they were in March, April and May combined, she said.

Though the elderly are most at risk, young people can get severely sick or die from the virus. Thirty-one percent of hospitalizations have been people 54 and younger, more than 5,500 people across the state; 7 percent of deaths statewide are in that age group

State health officials confirmed 120 deaths due to COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, putting the state’s death toll at 4,009 as of Thursday morning.

That shatters the single report death toll record set May 5, when 72 Floridians died. Over the prior week, the state had averaged 48 new fatalities reported per day.

The Thursday update also shows 232,718 total diagnoses in Florida, an increase of 8,935 positive cases in the last 24 hours. That marks another day of several thousand new instances of the virus while the pandemic is on the decline in some of the country’s former hot spots.

An additional 333 residents were hospitalized, raising the count during the pandemic to 16,758.

In what may be one of the most disgraceful comments made by a Florida Governor in our collective decades of observing Florida politics, Gov. Ron DeSantis mused Thursday that the media likes the spiking coronavirus numbers.

But to say the media LIKES this, to suggest we’re spreading fear porn, that is not only totally crazy, it’s rude as hell. It’s heartless. It’s passing the buck because he’s afraid of the political fallout.

Unlike those who think you, Governor, deserve an apology, we don’t believe anyone does. We don’t even want one from you for your hurtful comment yesterday.

What we do want is for you to recognize that we are doing our jobs, as best we can, during this pandemic.