Florida News That Impacts You – July 16th, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- The Florida Department of Health has been hit with an apparent ransomware attack that’s prevented the state agency from issuing birth and death certificates for all births and deaths in the state since June 28th. The agency is calling the issue a “temporary outage” while Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Jospeh Ladapo issued a statement saying that the agency is “working around the clock to restore the online Vital Statistics system”. Ladapo also said the majority of FDOH’s operations and services are unimpacted.
- Florida’s litigation expense for dealing with property insurance litigation reached a record high annual expense of $3.5 billion last year according to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s market stability report. The rise in litigation expenses is a result of litigation that was underway prior to the effect of Florida’s property insurance reforms aimed at curbing abuse took effect.
- Operation Southern Slowdown is underway in Palm Beach County. Through Saturday law enforcement agencies across five states are participating in an effort to curb dangerous speeding in highly trafficked areas. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is participating with extra patrols around Jog Road, Lake Worth Road, Northlake Blvd, Okeechobee Blvd and State Roads 7, 80 and 710.
- A mix of clouds and sun today with highs near 90. Temperatures will be about 4 degrees warmer than usual for this date. Thanks in large part to a significant Saharan dust cloud, the National Hurricane Center’s map is clear and the NHC isn’t expecting tropical activity for the next 7 days.
- Gas prices dropped a penny on Monday. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.50 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.66 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.53 and in Indian River County the average is $3.49 per gallon.