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Florida Tech confirms seven student cases of COVID-19, recommends students get vaccinated

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Sonja Michaels | Editor-in-Chief

Florida Tech confirmed seven new cases of COVID-19 among students this week, with no new cases among employees.

“The first half of Spring Semester is behind us and I remain pleased that things are going well overall—thanks to our ongoing precautions and vigilance.” Florida Tech President T. Dwayne McCay stated in the weekly update, “The last thing any of us would want is a surge in COVID-19 cases across our campus community.”

According to the update, four of the students are isolating on campus, with three isolating off-campus.

Florida Tech also recommended students to get vaccinated as soon as possible, through a message from the Pandemic Response Team.

“While there is no federal or state mandate to receive the vaccine, Florida Tech recommends all Panthers to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible,” the email stated, “In addition to protecting each recipient against infection, it is essential that a large enough percent of the populations receives the vaccine in order to achieve “herd immunity” to prevent the continued spread of the COVID-19 virus.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information on COVID-19 vaccination on their website.

Florida Tech announced virtual commencement for spring 2021 earlier this week, due to COVID-19 precautions.

Mindfulness Mondays in March

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Natalia Velásquez, M.S., Outreach Coordinator | Student Counseling Center, Division of Student Life

Florida Tech’s Student Counseling Center welcomes you to join us in the practice of “being in the now” and sharing in the experience of mindfulness. 

Every Monday in March, we will be providing information about what mindfulness is and how you can practice it, as well as offering a brief mindfulness activity for you to engage in throughout the week whenever you want to check in with your body and mind, notice what is coming up for you (thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations), and offer kindness to whatever your experience in the present moment.

You can find these activities every Monday on the Student Counseling Center Instagram.

Mindfulness is defined as the “awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and nonjudgmentally” by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of mindfulness-based stress reduction. 

Mindfulness can help us cultivate the ability to be more attentive to the present moment, both internally and externally, in order to reduce the amount of time we spend in the past and/or future. The present moment is all we have right now, and mindfulness can help us be more in tune with ourselves and engaged in our lives. 

For example, have you ever checked the time at the end of the day and said to yourself “Wow, where did the time go and what have I been doing all day?” 

I guarantee you, the majority of us, if not all, have had this very relatable experience called “living on autopilot.” 

Autopilot is normal, and sometimes very helpful, especially when we have a lot to get done in a short amount of time. However, can you imagine what it would feel like to look back on your life when you are 80 years old and think the same thought? Scary! 

Thus, mindfulness allows us to notice what we are experiencing in the present moment. We might be experiencing thoughts such as “I am going to rock this test,” “I am not good enough,” or “I miss my family” and feelings such as excitement, anxiety, and sadness. 

This could also be bodily sensations such as increased heart rate, steady breath, or teary eyes and even outside experiences such as the warm sun, beautiful palm trees, and loving people around you. Whatever your experience, it is okay. This greater awareness provides us with information on how we might want to live our lives in the most meaningful way possible, in this very moment. 

A major way to practice mindfulness is through regular meditation practice. Typically, meditative practices include sitting or lying down in a comfortable position, closing one’s eyes, and bringing attention to internal experiences, like breathing, for a few moments every day. 

However, there are many additional ways to practice mindfulness and we encourage you to try them out and choose the best way for you! To learn more about mindfulness, follow the Student Counseling Center throughout the month of March where we will be sharing different mindfulness meditation practices via our Instagram page every Monday: instagram.com/fltechstudentcounselingcenter


If you find yourself in need of additional support, please reach out for help! The Student Counseling Center is here for you! Our center provides a variety of mental health and wellness services to assist you and other students in successfully reaching personal, academic, and career goals. Please take a moment to visit our website: https://www.fit.edu/counseling-and-psychological-services/ to learn more information about our services and support, as well as resources for psychological health and well-being. Be the healthiest Florida Tech Panther you can be!

Conversations with a Holocaust survivor

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Tessa Dury | Staff Writer

Irene Zisblatt, a Holocaust survivor, recounted the story of her life at an online event on Jan. 27 for Holocaust Remembrance Day.  

“It’s important while Holocaust survivors are still here, to hear their stories and bring awareness to the atrocities that occurred in World War II,” Barbara Kramer, Miami Multicultural Center Commission liaison, said.

The event was hosted by the Miami Multicultural Center and offered by Florida Tech as part of the Cultural Competency program.

Zisblatt was 13 when she was taken to Auschwitz. She was taken by cattle car, and stuffed inside with 100 other people for three days before she arrived at the concentration camp. The entire car was given one bucket to use as a bathroom, and the only light came from a crack in the cattle car door. 

When Zisblatt arrived at Auschwitz and the passengers stepped out of the cattle car, the SS or SchutzStaffel guards, Nazi military enforcers, began to separate the men from the women, and the older children from the younger. 

“I saw many chimneys with smoke coming out them from big gray buildings close by, and I told my mother that the SS guards must need so many of us to work in the factories to keep the chimneys going like that,” Zisblatt said.

“‘Do not cry! I will find you later,’ that’s what my mother said to me,” Zisblatt said, “It was the last time I saw her, and the last thing I heard her say.”

Zisblatt was directed into a building with a long hallway and told to take off her clothes and hand over any belongings she had. There were people in line ahead of her having gold teeth pulled from their mouths. 

“I had my mother’s diamonds, which she had sewn into a pocket in my dress. I would not let them go. So, I swallowed them,” Zisblatt said.

At Auschwitz, Zisblatt was forced to endure Dr. Josef Mengele’s experiments. 

“He never gave us anesthetics during the experiments, and there was joy in his eyes,” said Zisblatt. 

While enduring Mengele’s practices, Zisblatt made friends with another young girl, Sabatka, even though the two were not allowed to speak to each other.

Sabatka was taken away one day, and Zisblatt assumed her silent friend had been sent, like millions of others, to the gas chambers.

Eventually, Zisblatt was able to escape Auschwitz. A Hungarian boy helped her out of the camp to a train that carried her to another concentration camp, Neuengamme.

Sabatka was there as well. This time, the two could speak to one another.

As the war began to wind down, Zisblatt and Sabatka were sent with 5,000 other women from the camp on a ‘death march.’ 

“As we walked, the SS guards would shoot the wounded, sick and tired women,” said Zisblatt.

On a particularly dark night, Zisblatt and Sabatka split from the rest of the group and ran until they found an abandoned farm to shelter in until morning. 

The two were woken up by American troops who had stumbled upon them. Zisblatt explained who they were to a German-speaking soldier.

After hearing their trials, he was distraught. He took Irene by the shoulders and cried, “Who could do this to little children?” The American soldiers took the girls back to their camp and provided them with beds and food. 

Sabatka fell asleep that night, and did not wake the next morning. An American soldier told Zisblatt that she had died from typhus, one of the illnesses widely spread in the camps. 

Zisblatt was taken to a field hospital, and not long after received word from an uncle living in New York that she could come and live with them. It took her two years to get to America.

No one else in Zisblatt’s family survived. 

Fifty years later, Zisblatt returned to Auschwitz for the first time as part of a program with a group of college students.

She went to the place where Mengele’s building had once stood and shouted, “I have returned, I am alive and I brought young healthy children with me to show them, and you cannot touch them!” 

As Zisblatt ended her story, she triumphantly held up a necklace she was wearing that still carries her mother’s diamonds. 

According to Zisblatt, this time in history must be remembered. Her hope is that others who hear her life story will know exactly what happened, so they can recognize the signs of hatred and prevent it from happening again.

Florida Tech introduces new esports director

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Arianna Schuck | Staff Writer

Dana Hustedt, the new director of esports at Florida Tech, will be coming to campus in March. 

She was first introduced to the world of esports in 2014, and worked at Grand View University as the esports director for the past four years.

Hustedt said her friend group in college was big on gaming, and from that experience, she saw it as a business opportunity. 

“I know how to run events and tournament management, and was able to apply those skills to the esports industry,” Hustedt said. 

Hustedt started the Grand View esports program in 2017 with about four students. The program grew to include nearly 50 students in 2020, where they competed in five different game titles.

“I have been pioneering a lot of the collegiate scene for a few years now, and I’m very excited to get to Florida Tech,” Hustedt said. 

Hustedt recalls having a conversation about building a strong foundation for esports with Florida Tech back in 2019.

Hustedt said that there will be a gaming facility for campus and community engagement, which can hopefully be an esport destination for Florida and beyond. 

“It’s going to be a great tool to help current students build their gaming passion and career path,” Hustedt said. “I am very passionate about that and making sure everybody gets into the community and helps give back.”

The main objective is to first establish varsity, JV, and supported titles for the program, which can lead to building club and community engagement. Hustedt explained that this will foster K12 inclusion. 

Photo by Soumil Kumar from Pexels

William Branca is the student director of esports at Florida Tech.

“I want to build us into the destination for esports in the southeast,” Branca said. “With our new facility opening in the near future, and our new director of esports, Dana, I have no doubt that we can accomplish this.” 

According to Bino Campanini, the senior vice president of Student Life, the esports program first started off as a small organization. After conversations with administration and SGA, Student Life came to realize that there was more interest than what was expected.

“My next step was to see if we could actually facilitate a better place to do this, and that’s why we secured the Ruth Funk Center,” Campanini said.

According to Campanini, the original plan to renovate a few rooms in Evans Hall for esports was no longer feasible because the spaces would not be large enough. The Ruth Funk Center would have more space, allowing the program to grow.

Gaming will, for the most part, take place on the second floor until the first floor is cleared out. Once that is complete, the first floor will be for competitive, varsity esports and the second floor will be for club and recreational gaming. 

Campanini explained that prior to Hustedt being hired, he met her at esports conferences where she was one of the featured speakers, and he thought that she’d be a good fit for the program at Florida Tech.

“The long term goal is to create an esports program that is going to be first class; one of the best in the country,” Campanini said.

Remembering Alan Rosiene

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Radamés Tirado | Staff Writer

Alan Rosiene, associate professor of English and languages at Florida Tech, passed away on Jan. 16 as a result of COVID-19. 

A photo of Alan Rosiene. He is smiling. Rosiene is wearing a dark shirt standing in front of a blue background.

Born in 1960 to Harriet Rosiene and Alan I. Rosiene, Rosiene grew up in Preston, Connecticut. A year after obtaining his doctorate from Northwestern University, he joined the Florida Tech community, dedicating the next 28 years of his life to his work. 

Rosiene’s teaching addressed a diverse group of topics. These topics ranged from dystopian science fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction, to ancient and medieval rhetorical theory. Through his teaching, he took his students on a variety of adventures towards faraway places, and introduced them to concepts in popular culture. He took the time to make these topics as nuanced and varied as possible.

His skill in the classroom, and the effect it had on his students, earned him many awards. These awards included the Florida Tech Student Ambassadors Outstanding Faculty Award in 1998 and the Kerry Bruce Clark Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1999. 

Rosiene received the President’s Award for University Excellence three years in a row, between 2013 and 2015. 

A music enthusiast, Rosiene was a member of the Florida Tech faculty band, Twitchy. In 2008, he donated sheet music to begin a library at Florida Tech in his father’s name.

Gordon Patterson, a professor in the School of Arts and Communication at Florida Tech, shared his thoughts after Rosiene’s passing.

“Alan Rosiene was a principled man.  His intelligence, his sensitivity, his compassion touched all who knew him.” Patterson said. “He was a marvel.  He made a difference in all of our lives. I mourn his loss.” 

Annie Caza, an associate of Rosiene’s and acting head of the English as a second language program, said his death was “a shock to all of us, for sure”.
Former students of Rosiene responded to the news of his death on the Florida Tech Alumni Association’s Facebook page with memories of Rosiene and condolences to his family. 

“To this day, I still remember the lessons he taught me” Facebook user Murilidhar Areti commented.“He was patient when I was struggling and an amazing teacher! Rest In Peace.” 

Rosiene’s family and Florida tech have created the Dr. Rosiene Liberal Arts Scholarship, an endowment intended to help fund students pursuing a liberal arts education at Florida Tech. Donations to the scholarship fund can be made here.

Rosiene is survived by his wife of nine years, Sandra, and his daughter, Kate. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no funeral services are being held at this time.

Social distancing leads to social disconnection

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Juliana Gonzalez | Staff Writer

Students were welcomed back to Florida Tech’s campus two weeks into the spring semester, but many students are attending remotely. For some, it has become more difficult to make social connections. 

“COVID is the life sucker of everything,” Cat Nanney, the director of student activities and Greek life at Florida Tech, said. “It’s really changed the human experience and the college experience.”

Nanney said she believes that students are exhausted from constantly seeing screens and feel the same way about virtual events.

“We’re sitting in front of a camera and it’s more exhausting than being in a classroom. It comes easier when you are around people,” Nanney explained. 

Now that the COVID-19 response team at Florida Tech has given the go for in person events again, Nanney and her team have been working on getting students as involved as possible. 

Nanney explained that Student Involvement looks to the students to voice what they are comfortable doing as far as activities. 

She explained that her team takes student response seriously, whether the feedback is positive or negative. They encourage students to reach out to them for activities or event ideas.

Natalia Velásquez, outreach coordinator for the Student Counseling Center, explained that students may be choosing to stay remote since there is a lot to consider about safety.

“People are really concerned about their safety and figuring out what they feel the most safe with and what other people feel the most safe with,” Velásquez said. “While we are trying to socialize, we also have to keep in mind the community and ourselves.”

She explains that there has been a notable increase around the country in students seeking services from counseling centers.

“A lot of counseling centers have increased in the amount of students who are coming in with different things,” Velásquez said. “Whether it’s depression or anxiety, relationship difficulties or socialization difficulties.” 

Aaliyah Thomas, the Greek life coordinator at Florida Tech, explained that it is simply harder to have that “in-person” connection in the current situation. 

“Some people aren’t able to connect as well through a computer screen,” Thomas said.

Yet, Thomas explained that the Greek life at Florida Tech had successful recruitment among remote interaction. She said that Greek life members can communicate their most authentic selves over a screen.

Velásquez provides ways to socialize while maintaining distance, such as multiplayer games, Zoom yoga, and taking “walks” together over the phone, in a previous Crimson article.

Mindful Eating for a Healthier You

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Natalia Velásquez, M.S., Outreach Coordinator | Student Counseling Center, Division of Student Life

From our humble beginnings, our bodies have known how to survive by understanding when they are hungry versus full. It is essential for us to be aware of and connect with both the physical and emotional aspects of our bodies so that we can be more intuitive and intentional in our eating habits. This is called “mindful eating.” 

According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, mindfulness is the “awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, nonjudgmentally.” 

Being able to increase our nonjudgmental awareness of our internal and external experiences just as they are, without trying to push them away or cling onto them too strongly, allows us to use our thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations as information for what we might need at any moment. In this case, this would mean specific foods, water, body movement, and so on.

Our ability to mindfully eat starts with us acknowledging all of our senses while we eat – sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch – and the emotional, traditional, and cultural ties we have with food. 

This practice helps us to honor our body’s natural hunger and its satisfaction cues in order to nonjudgmentally choose foods for a variety of purposes. These purposes can include nourishment, social enrichment, and enjoyment. enhances our intuitive eating skills, overall. You can practice mindful eating here: Mindful Eating Exercise

When food is seen as a source of stress/anxiety, the natural relationship between the body and mind can be disrupted, especially in a society that emphasizes “diet culture.” This can influence disordered eating. Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions that are influenced by a variety of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors and can cause consequences for emotional, physical, and social health.

Eating disorders affect a diverse spectrum of individuals with approximately twenty million women and ten million men in the United States developing an eating disorder at some point in their lives. Although eating disorders are complex mental/physical illnesses, 60 percent of individuals with eating disorders make a full recovery with psychological counseling.  It should be noted that the earlier a person with an eating disorder seeks treatment, the greater the likelihood of recovery. 

If you or someone you know are experiencing difficulties with their eating, weight, and/or body, please consider taking the free eating disorder screener available on the Florida Tech Student Counseling Center website at: https://screening.mentalhealthscreening.org/floridatech. This eating disorder screening will consist of answering a brief questionnaire about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding food consumption, eating habits, and weight regulation. Afterwards, you will receive an explanation about your eating behaviors, as well as additional information about what you can do to help yourself and how to get professional help. For additional information on eating disorders, please visit the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, and Eating Disorder Hope websites. 

National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA): https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

Eating Disorder Hope: http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/

If you find yourself in need of professional help after taking the screener, please reach out for help! The Student Counseling Center is here for you! Our center provides a variety of mental health and wellness services to assist you and other students in successfully reaching personal, academic, and career goals. Please take a moment to visit our website: https://www.fit.edu/counseling-and-psychological-services/ to learn more information about our services and support, as well as resources for psychological health and well-being. Be the healthiest Florida Tech Panther you can be!

Florida Tech Basketball is Back

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Elena Ciulli | Staff Writer

The Florida Tech women’s and men’s basketball teams are set to open the 2020-21 basketball season, starting off what surely will be an unusual season in program history. 

Photo by Edwin Ariel Valladares from Pexels

The Panthers are one of seven schools from the Sunshine State Conference scheduled to compete. Only a partial schedule has been made available, listing games through March 13. All game dates and times are subject to change. 

The women’s team was the first to hit the hardwood on Feb. 5, starting off with a 64-57 win over Florida Southern. This marked the program’s first game in 339 days.

The team is under the same management as last year. Coach John Reynolds is in command, with Aerial Wilson as assistant coach.

In their opening game, three Panthers scored double figures. First in the list, Severine Uggen with 15 points, followed by newcomers Aiste Vaitekunaite and Zoe Murphy helping the team with 14 and 13 points. The Panthers followed up with two losses and one win.

“Our first game was a bit tough after not playing since March 2020. So, I’m positive that we can do so much better. I think we have a great team this year,” Uggen said. “A good stretch with shooters and inside players, and an overall good team chemistry. I’m very grateful that we get to play again, and I just hope everybody stays safe”. 

Head coach Reynolds said he was satisfied with the team’s performance, regardless of the cold environment of an empty gym. 

“One thing that was a bit weird is playing without fans,” Reynolds said. “Without the fans, and without the buzz in the gym, it’s so different.” 

Florida Tech policy prohibits spectators from attending any sporting events this year, including all basketball games. 

The Lady Panthers’ next game will be Saturday, Feb. 20 against Saint Leo. Live stream will be available.

Security department makes changes to address Clery Act issues

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Brianna Forté | Copy Editor

In an effort to meet the compliance requirements of the Clery Act, Florida Tech has introduced new policies and the security department has undergone additional training.

The title page to Florida Tech’s 2020 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. Image: Florida Tech

According to the Clery Center, the Clery Act is a consumer protection law that requires all colleges and universities to submit an Annual Security Report on Oct. 1, “to provide transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.”

In an email sent out to the Florida Tech community on Jan. 13, 2020, President T. Dwayne McCay stated that various errors in the Florida Tech ASR from the years 2016-2018 included 53 instances of under-reported cases and 115 instances of over-reported cases.

The Florida Tech 2020 ASR was published on Dec. 18 instead of Oct. 1 in response to a delay announced by the Department of Education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report can be accessed here, or a copy can be obtained at Florida Tech’s Department of Security’s office located on the first floor of Shaw Hall. 

Compared to the 2019 ASR, the 2020 ASR contained an additional 27 pages in the report. Previous reports featured two sections, the “Campus Safety and Crimes Statistics” and “Annual Fire Safety Report.” The 2020 report includes two new sections, “Violence Against Women Act Policy Statements” and “Drug, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse Policy Statement.” 

The VAWA section of the report includes information on the university’s educational programs to promote the awareness of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and the procedures and services available that students and employees should follow in the event they do become a victim of one of these offenses. This section on page 51 of the report also includes a fully fleshed-out process for following Title IX procedures. 

The Drug, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse Policy Statement section of the report consists of a page stating Florida Tech’s commitment to creating and maintaining an environment free of alcohol abuse, the university follows federal and state drug laws, and includes a link to the university’s drug and alcohol policy which can be found here. This section also states that in compliance with the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, the school has a drug and alcohol abuse and prevention program.

Frank Iannone, Director of Security and Clery Compliance Coordinator at Florida Tech, stated that the 2020 report included much more additional information when it came to Title IX, the Drug Free Schools and Community Act, and Student Compliance and Student Conduct.

“Those were major additions, whether it was just increased information or categories that were not accurately disclosed or covered in previous reports,” Iannone said. 

Among those changes are an increase in the number of offenses reported for the year 2018 for the total number of dating violence offenses, the total number of drug law violations, and the total number of alcohol violations from the 2019 to the 2020 ASR.

Changes in statistics: In the updated 2019 report, the total number of dating violence offenses was 2, the total number of drug law violations was 14, and the total number of alcohol violations was 75 for the year 2018. In the 2020 report, the total number of dating violence offenses was 3, the total number of drug law violations was 24, and the total number of alcohol violations was 114 for the year 2018.

“Once an institution is made aware of Clery Act reporting errors, they are expected to make corrections the next time they publish the data,” Daniel Carter, the President of Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses, said. “If the numbers for the same year increased this would be consistent with the reporting gaps previously reported by the Crimson.”

Iannone stated that the statistics in the final 2020 security report are the most accurate up-to-date statistics. 

While the annual security report for Florida Tech has implemented new procedures and included more information, the security department has also undergone additional education and training.

This past year Iannone attended additional Clery classes and is on track to become a certified Clery Compliance Officer by the summer of 2021. 

“It was something that I saw was necessary to really do the job accurately,” Iannone explained.

While Iannone is working towards ensuring he has the information necessary for Florida Tech to be compliant with Clery law, he has also introduced additional methods of review.

“About a year ago now, I established a Clery Compliance Committee which meets biannually to review all of the policy statements,” Iannone said.

Security Sergeant and Title IX Investigator Bonnie Rinck completed the Clery Compliance Academy offered through the National Association of Clery Compliance Officers and Professionals in January of 2021.

Rinck stated that she wanted to learn more about the Clery act, as well as “how the crime stats are counted and what exactly the Clery crimes consist of for the annual security report.”

Rinck explained that after completing the course, she has a better understanding of the annual security report she reviews.

“It gives the school two sets of eyes,” ensuring that, “the statistics under review are accurate for the annual security report,” Rinck said.

Iannone said he believes there is still much to improve upon moving forward, and hopes that in the 2021 report these changes will make the report more clear and the statistics more readable.  

“Our entire goal here is really to be the model going forward for any university as far as it comes to Clery,” Iannone stated.

Brevard elects officials, new and incumbent

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Ethan Qualle | Staff Writer

Dozens of new and incumbent officials have been elected to foster the next four years of Brevard County’s legislation, in the age of a global pandemic. 

Brevard County residents voted 57.48 percent in favor of electing incumbent Republican Donald Trump; the minority voted 41.08 percent in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, according to Lori Scott, the supervisor of elections in Brevard County.

Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey was re-elected for his second term on City Council. According to the city of Melbourne, Alfrey is a native of Melbourne and has served in the Sanford, Florida Police Department, Melbourne Police Department, United States Coast Guard, and currently serves in many local, non-profit charity organizations.

Alfrey is assisted by Vice Mayor Tim Thomas, who was also elected for his second term in November. 

Thomas stated in an interview that this term will be heavily focused on small business recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis, and that Melbourne residents are “encouraged to buy local.”

Thomas explained his office will also put an emphasis on creating new jobs, saying that Aerion Supersonic, a pioneer of low-emission supersonic aircraft, will be bringing “up to 660 new jobs” to the Space Coast. 

Vice Mayor Tim Thomas also serves on the Orlando-Melbourne International Airport Authority Board; Tim Thomas and Mayor Paul Alfrey worked closely with FIT Aviation back in 2017 to provide relief to the Bahamas, having been devastated by Hurricane Irma. 

The 2020 election brought another term for Republican Sheriff Wayne Ivey. Ivey is partially known for his viral videos such as the ‘Wheel of Fugitives,’ a weekly series profiling a randomly selected criminal.

Ivey and his deputies were also involved with the controversial death of Black veteran Gregory Edwards in 2018. According to Florida Today, Ivey originally opted to not release video footage of the altercation to the public. 

Vice Mayor Tim Thomas further stated that the City of Melbourne will be investing in police body cameras, in response to the death of Edwards. A profound number of police departments have adopted the use of body cameras, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Republican Kevin Markey was elected for Canaveral Port Authority. Markey has previously served as general counsel for the Titusville Cocoa Airport Authority and the assistant city attorney for Cape Canaveral. 

According to Markey’s campaign website, he will be responsible for, “the current operations and future direction of the port.” According to their website, Port Canaveral is a large hub for maritime operations, both for cargo and cruise operations.

Disney Cruise Lines, a major cruise operator at Port Canaveral states on their website that sailings are suspended “through March 2021.”  Royal Carribean, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Carnival Cruise Lines also operate scheduled cruises from the port, and most sailings will resume in the second quarter of 2021. 

“I’m looking forward to working with my fellow commissioners and Port Canaveral’s leadership to ensure the Port’s economic viability and future success,” Markey stated in an email interview. 

Republicans Rita Pritchett, John Tobia, and Kristine Isnardi were all elected as the team of county commissioners for the next four years.