Florida News That Impacts You – September 6th, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- The State of Florida has ordered a review of signatures gathered as part of the qualification process for Amendment 4, the abortion amendment. On Thursday, the Florida Department of State requested Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola and Palm Beach County’s election supervisors gather approximately 36,000 signatures to review for possible fraud. Over 891,000 signatures are required for citizen-led ballot measures to move forward in Florida. The backers of Amendment 4 produced approximately a million signatures that were theoretically validated earlier this year. The signature deadline for this year’s amendments was February 1st.
- Florida’s retailers are the top performing in the country according to a new report by Colliers. According to the analysis Florida’s sustained economic outperformance has led to the lowest retail vacancy rate in the country, with only 3.2% of Florida’s retail spaces vacant. This is the lowest since 2007 – just prior to the impact of the Great Recession following the state’s housing boom.
- South Ocean Blvd. between South County Road and Southern Blvd. is closed until further notice. The Town of Palm Beach announced the closure would once again take effect starting today as the Secret Service has boosted security measures around Mar-a-Lago following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
- It’ll be hot and humid today with highs in the upper 80’s. Temperatures will be about 4 degrees warmer than usual for this date. The National Hurricane Center is tracking four disturbances, all with a low chance of development. A disturbance in the Caribbean Sea is drifting towards the Yucatan Peninsula with a 20% chance of development. A second disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico near the Texas coastline has a 10% chance of development. A third disturbance has developed northwest of Bermuda with a 30% chance of development and a fourth disturbance off the coast of Africa has a 10% chance of development. We’re continuing to experience a historically low amount of tropical development during the peak weeks of hurricane season.
- Gas prices dropped another 2 cents per gallon on Thursday. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.21 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.41 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.23 and in Indian River County the average is $3.23 per gallon.