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Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Dealing with wrecked belongings and reports of toxic muck, residents of a tiny town where Florida’s Everglades meet the Gulf of Mexico cleared their homes Monday in scorching 92 F (33 C) heat with no air conditioning and no electricity except from a few generators. The isolated Everglades City community of about 400 people suffered […]

Scott PowersSeptember 18, 2017

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson outlined to the U.S. Senate Monday his and U.S. Marco Rubio‘s post-Hurricane Irma tours of Florida describing destruction, tragedy and challenges from the Keys to Jacksonville, and called attention to climate change as a factor. Nelson, a Democrat, on Monday also sent letters to the chief executives of 10 major U.S.-based […]

Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Florida’s agriculture commissioner said Monday that the path of Hurricane Irma “could not have been more lethal” to the state’s farmers and that the scope of damage to the state’s fruits and vegetables is unprecedented. Commissioner Adam Putnam, along with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, flew over hundreds of miles of Florida farmland to view […]

Staff ReportsSeptember 18, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott is telling counties affected by Hurricane Irma to get their act together, asking them “to submit detailed debris clean-up plans” by Tuesday. The plans need to go to the Florida Division of Emergency Management (DEM) by noon, the governor said in a statement. “Let me be clear – debris removal is a function […]

Staff ReportsSeptember 18, 2017

Bill Galvano, the Bradenton Republican set to be the next Senate President, is expected to be officially designated on Oct. 24. Senate Republican Leader Wilton Simpson, who’s in line to be President after Galvano, made the announcement Monday. Galvano will succeed Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican, as head of the chamber for 2018-20. The designation will […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 18, 2017

The pass rate for the summer Bar Exam has jumped a little more than 3 percent from last year, to 71.3 percent for this July from 68.2 percent last July, according to results out on Monday. The Florida Board of Bar Examiners released the figures for the July 25-26 examination. The results are for first-time test takers only, of […]

Staff ReportsSeptember 18, 2017

Students who go to school in counties that were hit hard by Hurricane Irma will be getting meals on the federal government’s tab. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam on Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture accepted his request to allow students in 48 counties subject to a FEMA Major Disaster Declaration to receive free school meals […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 18, 2017

Tallahassee Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum believes Rick Scott did a relatively good job leading Florida through the impact of Hurricane Irma, but he didn’t think much of the Governor’s verbal shot at him last week. “Up until the time when he took a swipe at me, he was doing well,” Gillum said Saturday […]

Associated PressSeptember 18, 2017

Florida’s economy has long thrived on one import above all: People. Until Irma struck this month, the state was adding nearly 1,000 residents a day — 333,471 in the past year, akin to absorbing a city the size of St. Louis or Pittsburgh. Every jobseeker, retiree or new birth, along with billions spent by tourists, […]

Tamara LushSeptember 17, 2017

Across Florida, people spent Sunday trying to get back to normal after one of the worst storms to hit the state since Hurricane Andrew. Keys residents were allowed to visit Monroe County for the first time since Hurricane Irma struck a week ago. Elsewhere, residents are waiting for electricity, cleaning up from floods or just […]

Headlines
Cinnamon Rolls by Omar stand. Image via Instagram.

SW Florida residents clear sodden homes in scorching heat

Bill Nelson relates his and Marco Rubio’s Irma trek, cites climate change

Official: ‘Lethal’ Irma a ‘major calamity’ for Florida crops

Rick Scott to counties: Prioritize your clean-ups

Bill Galvano’s designation ceremony set

Bar exam pass rate bumps up a bit

Free meals for Irma kids

Andrew Gillum didn’t appreciate Rick Scott’s taking a ‘swipe’ at him last week

Irma’s damage a reminder of Florida economy’s vulnerability

Florida recovers, rests, reflects in wake of Hurricane Irma