Florida News That Impacts You – September 12th, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Governor DeSantis provided an update to the recently called review of tens of thousands of signatures collected as part of the state’s requirement for Amendment 4. On Wednesday, the governor said “We now know that there are signatures that have been accepted by some of the supervisors that don’t match the voter file so they’re investigating this”. DeSantis indicated many of the signatures were of deceased Floridians. Palm Beach County is among the counties the signatures were collected from as part of the state’s review.
- A new report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that Florida’s new law limiting abortions at 6 weeks, with exceptions, led to a 30% reduction in abortions after the law took effect. Monthly abortions have averaged 5,400 since the law was implemented in May, down from an average of approximately 8,000 in prior months. Overall abortion rates have declined by 7% year-to-date with Florida accounting for about a third of the decline.
- A year after the worst coral bleaching event in recorded history for Florida’s reefs, the Coral Restoration Foundation has said that the reefs are still “in an alert level” but that they are recovering. Last year coral bleaching, which is a mass die off of the reefs, resulted from record recorded temperatures in Florida’s waters during the summer. This year, despite similar concerns, water temperatures were elevated but not at destructive levels. The only monitored bleaching occurred in the Keys at “normal” levels. The reefs are critical for fostering and supporting marine life.
- It’ll be another warm and rainy day today with showers possible throughout the day and highs in the upper 80’s. Temperatures will be about 3 degrees warmer than usual for this date. The National Hurricane Center is tracking five systems. Tropical Storm Francine is making its way into Mississippi after having made landfall as a hurricane in Louisiana Wednesday night. The two western most disturbances in the Atlantic have both been downgraded with each now only having a 10% chance of development. A third disturbance is setting up off the coast of the Carolinas with a 30% chance of development. Tropical Depression Seven has formed in the eastern Atlantic and is expected to develop into a tropical storm, though it's unlikely to impact populated areas.
- Gas prices dropped a penny per gallon on Wednesday. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.17 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.36 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.19 and in Indian River County the average is $3.18 per gallon.