The national press continues to try to assess Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' pandemic response, and this time Politico's Michael Kruse, a former enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, spent a week chasing the governor around the Sunshine state.

Setting the scene: Kruse casts DeSantis as a "small-government conservative with a libertarian bent" who "was hesitant to shut down from the start."

• So hesitant, in fact, that DeSantis allegedly told U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fellow Trump ally, that he’d do just one thing differently if he could have a re-do. "He told me," Gaetz said, "that his biggest regret as governor is that we ever locked down for even one day."

Why it matters: A year after the pandemic’s start, the third most populous state is neither the best nor the worst in some key categories.

Flashback: DeSantis instituted a month-long stay-at-home order on April 1. And refused to do so again, Kruse points out.

What they're saying:

• "It could have potentially gone very wrong," said Brian Ballard, the powerful Trump-tied lobbyist.
• "He could have killed a bunch of us," said lawyer and Democratic donor John Morgan. "But he didn’t."
• "He made the right decisions," said Christian Ziegler, the vice chairman of the state GOP.
• U.S. Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist called DeSantis’ pandemic response "horrific" and "immoral."

Of note: Mayors say DeSantis didn’t make the hard decisions — they did.

• "I like how now he’s taking credit for how well the state did while it was really local governments and mayors that put orders in place that kept our residents safe," St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said.

The big question: "What’s an acceptable death toll — the actual number of people lost — to try to keep as much of everything else intact?" Kruse writes.

• In Florida, that number is 32,741 and climbing.

Worthy of your time.

Nursing students who attempted to launch their careers with the Medical Prep Institute of Tampa Bay are stuck in limbo as the school refuses to release their transcripts, ABC Action News reports.

What happened: MPI lost accreditation and was put on probation with the state in 2020 for poor passing rates on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Licensure exam, ABC reports.

• Students who thought they had graduated never received diplomas and were told they had to take remediation classes after MPI was placed on probation.

"It’s ruined my life, pretty much. I am out all that money. All that time."

Points of intrigue:

• State records show MPI director Fadziso Jena's nursing assistant license expired in 2010, a year after MPI opened.
• Jena was arrested in 2013 for failing to provide workers' compensation insurance for her employees and was charged with workers' compensation fraud.
• IRS liens against MPI total $262,000 for federal unemployment taxes, corporate taxes and fines for failure to file correct information, according to the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court.
• The school continues to recruit students for the $20,000 program.

⛽️ For the first time in three years, gas prices in Florida are averaging more than $2.90 per gallon. (WFLA)

👩‍🏫 The Polk County School Board voted to give veteran teachers a $650 increase, less than half what the teachers' union asked for, and rejected moving paraeducator and support personnel salaries up to $10 an hour. (Lakeland Ledger)

🍊 Florida is one of the states least dependent on federal aid, according to a report that compared return on taxes paid to the federal government, federal funding as a share of state revenue and share of federal jobs. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)

💉 States such as Florida that raced to offer the vaccine to ever-larger groups of people have vaccinated smaller shares of their population than those that moved more slowly and methodically. (Associated Press)

As a local realtor for Smith & Associates, Dex Fabian is also the creator and publisher of I Love the Burg and That's So Tampa, overseeing what he says are Tampa Bay's largest independent social media network and most popular hyper-local blog. 

• I Love the Burg and That's So Tampa cover "all things good" about St. Pete, Tampa and the surrounding areas.

Plus: Dex is a marketer, a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, a board member of The Studio@620, a proponent of environmental sustainability, and an avid Crossfitter.

We asked him about his tech habits (answers have been lightly edited):

💻 Device of choice: "My MacBook Pro. It goes wherever I go especially since taking the office virtual about three years ago. As a publisher, creative and realtor, it's really the only way to multitask efficiently."

👇 First tap of the day: "Shortly after the coffee maker, I enjoy starting the day with my CBS friends Gayle King and Jane Pauley. I enjoy the relaxed pace and unique topics CBS Sunday Morning brings, especially those surrounding international arts and culture. The trumpet at the start of the show makes me happy."

📰 Go-to news source: "The New York Times. And, of course, I like to stay informed about local arts, businesses and our community through I Love the Burg and That's So Tampa."

🎧 Podcast of choice: "Just recently got turned on to the Rabbit Hole by the NY Times."

🎶 On rotation: "My music playlists are personally curated into just two sets: DexFabulous and Moody Vibes. Otherwise it's Indie Chillout on Spotify."

📚 Reading list: "Anything lighthearted and humorous, like David Sedaris or Kevin Kwan. I recently finished 'Qualityland' by Marc-Uwe Kling. For magazines, I enjoy Wallpaper, Vanity Fair, Bazaar, and People to catch up with the goss when I'm traveling."

📲 Most-used app: "Mostly Instagram and Facebook for work and personal throughout the day. WhatsApp to stay connected with family in the Philippines especially since the onset of the pandemic."

Just about a week left of Women's History Month. If you're in need of some inspiration, we've got the woman for you.

Meet Luisa Capetillo. The Puerto Rican labor organizer worked as a lectora in Ybor cigar factories, reading workers their rights in the early 1900s.

After she was arrested for wearing pants in public in 1915, she told the judge:

"Your honor, I always wear pants. On that night, instead of wearing them underneath, I wore them just like men do — based on my perfect civil right to do so — on the outside."

She wrote the first Spanish-language feminist manifesto while in Ybor, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Learn more about her in this awesome Rejected Princesses comic.