Florida News That Impacts You – January 13th, 2025
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Flu cases remain ‘very high’ in Florida according to the CDC’s weekly data with overall reported cases up 19% from a week ago. The H1N1 virus remains the most common strain of the flu. Cases are still rising across most of the state including throughout South Florida, although cases have decreased along the Treasure Coast over the past week.
- DNA has linked an illegal immigrant from Honduras, who crossed the border in 2023, to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in West Palm Beach on January 3rd. According to authorities, the suspect, who was on a bike, assaulted the girl near Pinehurst Park and Forest Hill Blvd.
- An arrest has been made in Stuart in what’s been identified by authorities as an international scam that’s defrauded seniors in Martin County. The Martin County Sherriff’s Office arrested a 39-year-old California resident from India operating a scam described this way by Sheriff John Budensiek to CBS 12: They act as if they made a mistake and deposited a large amount of money into the victim’s account. Then they tell the victim to withdraw the money and claim a courier will come to pick it up. It was during one of these “pickups” that MSO made the arrest. There are multiple known victims of the scam with at least $100,000 lost by previous victims.
- The turnpike will be closed to northbound and southbound traffic between Boynton Beach Blvd. and Lake Worth Road from 8 pm until 5 am through at least Wednesday for construction. The current plan is to have the work completed on Wednesday, but crews will continue with a similar schedule beyond Wednesday if needed.
- Today will be warmer with sunny skies and highs in the mid to upper 70’s, a little warmer than usual for this date. Lows are expected to be milder the rest of the week, with high highs also lower than today’s high.
- Gas prices dropped a bit through the weekend but are higher than a week ago. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.12 per gallon - two cents higher than a week ago. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.24 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.12 and in Indian River County the average is $3.07 per gallon.