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Early voting shows strong enthusiasm. Keep it up | Editorial

It was not yet sunrise on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday, and more than a dozen people stood in line to vote. The early-bird voters, some clutching cups of coffee, others using walkers, lined up before 7 a.m. outside ArtServe, a center for the arts and popular early voting site in Broward.

Through three days of early voting, nearly 200,000 people already voted in Broward. The countywide voter turnout number at 3 p.m. Wednesday was 17% of the county’s pool of 1.1 million voters.

That lags behind smaller, neighboring Palm Beach County, where at 3 p.m. Wednesday the combined total of mail and early ballots represented 23% of the county’s voters. Broward has about 200,000 more voters than Palm Beach. The lines of voters are an encouraging sign of enthusiasm, but it’s too soon to say for certain which side will benefit the most.

So far, Democrats are far outpacing Republicans in early voting in Broward and Palm Beach counties, but Republicans are strongly ahead statewide. The Republican turnout surpassed 1 million Wednesday, or 43% of the statewide turnout. Democrats accounted for 37% and independents and others, 20%.

Republican Haridopolos, Democrat Kennedy face off in congressional race to succeed Posey

With less that two weeks to go before Election Day, Republican Mike Haridopolos and Democrat Sandy Kennedy are making their final pushes to become the next member of Congress representing Brevard and Indian River counties.

The winner will succeed Republican Bill Posey of Rockledge, who has represented the district in Congress for nearly 16 years, but chose not to seek reelection this year to a ninth two-year term.

Haridopolos, an Indian Harbour Beach resident who describes himself as "a mainstream conservative Republican," owns MJH Consulting, a business and political consulting company. Before that, he was a member of the Florida Senate from 2003 to 2012, including serving as Senate president from 2010 to 2012. He also was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2003.

Kennedy, a resident of unincorporated Brevard north of Cocoa, is an attorney, with a specialty in construction law. She says "I fall within the moderate category" on the political spectrum.

'Check My Contract!' State launches fraud prevention portal for victims of Hurricane Milton

Florida state officials have rolled out a contract fraud prevention program to help protect people impacted by Hurricane Milton.

The new Check My Contract portal is a free service that helps property owners understand the fine print in home repair contracts to ensure they are in compliance with Florida law following the major storm that spawned destructive tornadoes.

"If you're going to take advantage of our citizens, it's my job to put you behind bars," the state’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis told reporters at a news conference in West Palm Beach on Wednesday afternoon. "You are not going to take advantage of our people when they're vulnerable trying to put their lives back together," he added.

If there is any indication of fraudulent activity by contractors, restoration professionals or public adjusters, the state department will advise policyholders on how to terminate those contracts, said local and state officials during a press conference in the western part of Palm Beach County, where Hurricane Milton spawned a series of tornadoes that ravaged nearly 150 homes.

New weekly jobless claims spike big in Florida after Hurricane Milton

Hurricane Milton did more than pound the Florida peninsula Oct. 9 and 10, wreaking havoc on structures and people. It also delivered a powerful punch to the state’s employment.

First-time unemployment claims for the week ending Oct. 19 saw the biggest increase for one week this year and the total number of initial jobless claims were highest this year. There were 10,574 initial unemployment filings last week, the highest number of single-week claims this year before seasonal adjustments, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced Thursday. That’s up 4,275 claims from the week ending Oct. 12, the biggest weekly jump this year.

Hurricane Milton appears to have hit jobs in Florida harder than Hurricane Helene, which slammed the Gulf Coast Sept. 26. That week saw 9,377 initial unemployment claims, at the time the highest number of filings this year. That was up 3,842 claims over the previous week.

But the week ending Oct. 12 saw a return to more normal new jobless claims as that figure dropped by 3,428 filings to 6,128, which is consistent for most of this year.