Florida's Latest News

Municipal elections abound in Miami-Dade this November

Voters in 22 Miami-Dade County municipalities will settle mayoral contests, fill Council and Commission seats and weigh in on dozens of ballot questions in the Nov. 3 General Election, with runoffs in some cities stretching into December.

Seventeen of those cities, towns and villages have candidates on the ballot, including nine mayoral races. Ten are putting a combined 43 referendums to voters, from pay raises for elected officials to a $450 million public safety bond.

Runoff dates vary by charter. El Portal and Pinecrest hold theirs Nov. 17, while Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Medley, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Palmetto Bay and Sunny Isles Beach follow on Dec. 1. Doral and Opa-locka go last on Dec. 8.

Miami Gardens is the outlier. The Nov. 3 ballot includes the city’s runoff from its Aug. 18 General Election.

Union power: Support for labor is at a high in last 25 years, Gallup says

Nearly half of Americans want unions to be more powerful, in a showing of labor support that’s at an all-time high in the last 25 years, according to a new poll by Gallup.

The poll said 47% wanted unions to have more influence, while 26% wanted unions’ power to stay the same, and 23% said unions’ sway should be less.

“The share wanting greater union influence is up four percentage points from 2023 after rising almost continuously from a record-low 25% in 2009,” Gallup said. “Over the same period, the percentage wanting unions to have less influence has fallen from 42% to a record-low 23%.”

During the 1950s, union approval reached as high as 73-75%.

Breaking the latest poll by political party, about 73% of Democrats supported union influence compared to 45% of Independents and 19% of Republicans. 

What’s Tampa Bay’s biggest flood worry? Residents say extreme rainfall

Flooding from extreme rainfall, not storm surge or high tides, is most on Tampa Bay residents’ minds.

That’s according to recent results from a survey that asked residents to map and describe flood-prone spots. The survey, which spanned Tampa Bay counties from Citrus to Sarasota, had nearly 400 respondents.

A few themes emerged. Among them, rainfall was the most identified cause of flooding across the region. Additionally, respondents cited development as a cause for worsening flooding woes, and said that solutions could come from reviving natural systems, such as restoring mangroves or replenishing wetlands.

“We’re seeing flooding from a bunch of different drivers, not just surge,” said Alana Todd, the principal environmental planner at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.

'Exciting step': FSU launches School of Design amid program expansion

Florida State University kicked off the fall semester with the launch of a new academic unit for some of its creative and detail-oriented students – the School of Design. 

As someone passionate about the world of design, 21-year-old Dallas, Texas native and FSU senior India Skipper is one of nearly 200 students in the school who are stepping into the new era with the university. 

“To be able to have our own school is really valuable,” Skipper, an interior design major graduating in the spring, told the Tallahassee Democrat. “This is my last year, so I'm not going to be able to see a lot, but as a future alumna, I'm excited to see how it grows and how the professors are able to create something new out of an already really strong program.”

FSU’s College of Fine Arts launched the new School of Design for the 2026-27 academic year that began last month, which comes after the college's design program has been around for over 50 years. It is housed in the William Johnston Building on campus, which is located near Landis Green.