Florida's Latest News

DeSantis approves changes to election procedures for hurricane affected counties

Florida voters and election supervisors in hurricane affected areas will have extra time and flexibility to ensure they still have the ability to vote in November elections after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended several election rules and deadlines in an order issued Thursday.

Among other things, DeSantis extended early voting to Election Day for Taylor and Pinellas Counties, and modified deadlines for elections supervisors to designate polling locations and send out vote-by-mail ballots. He also suspended requirements for poll worker training in affected areas.

“I think that there’s obviously going to be a need in some of those counties. Some of the others may be in good shape depending on how they fared for the storm,” DeSantis said.

The election supervisors’ association sent a letter Tuesday to Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who oversees elections, explaining the troubles elections supervisors are facing in storm-affected counties and asking for rule flexibility. Most of the affected counties are on the Gulf Coast, where both storms caused major damage.

Wilton Simpson says Milton delivered a $2 billion+ hit to Florida agriculture

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said Thursday that the financial damage to the state’s agriculture industry from Hurricane Milton will likely exceed $2 billion.

Speaking alongside Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott outside of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association building in eastern Hillsborough County, Simpson said that Milton, which made landfall in Siesta Key in Sarasota County eight days earlier as a Category 3 hurricane, was yet another blow to the industry, which ranks just below tourism as the top driver of the state’s economy.

“These are obviously preliminary numbers, but we believe in dollar terms it’s probably between $2 to $2.5 billion in damage,” he said. “When you look at the strawberry industry right here where we are today and you’ve seen the flooding and the destruction of the property here that they’re hoping to recover, that’s another $30 to $50 million of issues.”

Simpson said those figures add to the more than $1.5 billion in damage already suffered from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Debby, and Hurricane Idalia that hit the Big Bend area of North Florida over the past 13 months.

Florida Sens. Scott, Rubio propose bill to replenish FEMA disaster relief fund after hurricanes

Four Republican U.S. senators, led by Florida’s Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, unveiled a fresh push to provide additional relief to those recovering from recent storms in the Southeast, proposing legislation to add an additional $20 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster fund. 

It comes amid a growing debate in Washington over how quickly Congress should act on appropriating new funds in the wake of Hurricanes Milton and Helene as one key relief program has already run dry. 

“I’ve been on the ground in Florida surveying damage and talking to Floridians for weeks as our state prepared for and now responds to and recovers from Hurricanes Helene and Milton,” Scott said in a statement. “What’s clear is that Florida families and businesses need their federal government to show up where they are and help them get back on their feet.”

Scott, who joined President Joe Biden when he visited Florida after both hurricanes, argued that over the last two years, the federal response to hurricanes has left Florida residents, especially farmers, with “unmet needs.”

New migration to Florida drops by half in 2023, AARP urges state leaders to address cost of living

Florida has long been seen as one of the top destinations for retirees from around America, but the AARP is warning that may no longer be a guarantee.

The organization for retired Americans is pointing to new U.S. Census Bureau data that raises a concern about retirees continuing to buoy Florida’s economy. According to 2023 figures recently released by U.S. Census officials, the usually reliable migration to the Sunshine State by people coming from other states may be on the wane.

“In 2023, the Census reports, Florida’s net migration fell by half from the previous year,” an AARP news release said.

“While in 2022 Florida netted almost 250,000 new Floridians from other states, the highest total since 2005, that number fell to just over 126,000 in 2023. More concerning, the number of people leaving the state, 510,925, was the highest since the Great Recession in 2008. As of last year, more people are still moving to Florida than are leaving it, but that gap is quickly narrowing.”