The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has announced an initiative beginning this week to make Floridas beach waters and other recreational waters safer.

In a written press statement the department said it has new laboratory tools and assessment methods to identify and reduce the sources of pathogens in recreational waters. It will develop new rules that refine water quality standards to take advantage of this new technology and the data.

The Florida Democratic Party is slamming Gov. Rick Scott over his alleged absence in the wake of the scandal over the deaths of five children with a history of interaction with child-abuse investigators from the Department of Children and Families.