Most Florida flood zone property not insured

As Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, an Associated Press analysis shows a steep drop in flood insurance across the state, including the areas most endangered by what could be a devastating storm surge. In just five years, the state's total number of federal flood insurance policies has fallen by 15 percent, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency data.

US Navy to evacuate 5,000 as military preps for Hurricane Irma

The US military has ordered the evacuation of over five thousand personnel from a Naval Air Station in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Irma. Currently, it is threatening to slam into Caribbean islands including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with "potentially catastrophic" force on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

Wasserman Schultz leads efforts to remove Confederate names, statue

If U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., gets her way, the names of three Confederate generals will be removed from street signs in Hollywood, Fla., and the statue of a Confederate general representing Florida will be removed from the National Statuary Hall in Washington. Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee who resigned from the post in July 2016 amid allegations that she favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for the party's 2016 presidential nomination, has asked local leaders in Hollywood to remove the names of Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Bell Hood from city streets.

In Wake of Hurricane Harvey, Consumers Should Research Charities Before Giving

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey and historic flooding across southeast Texas, Commissioner Adam H. Putnam encourages Floridians to visit FloridaConsumerHelp.com to research charitable organizations before donating money to help those in need. "Our hearts go out to the people of Texas, and I hope that Floridians can respond with the same generosity that our state has received time and time again," Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam said.

Nelson calls on HHS to oversee state’s handling of 13,000 kids removed from CMS

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson today called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "to exercise its oversight and enforcement authority" to protect more than 13,000 Florida children with special needs who were improperly removed from the state's specialized care program, known as Children's Medical Services. Nelson's request comes on the heels of recent reports that despite a Florida judge's ruling two years ago that required the state to stop using a new screening tool that declared thousands of kids ineligible for the state's specialized care program, the state of Florida has still not yet notified all of the families who were improperly removed from the program to provide them an opportunity to reenroll.

A Florida first: White man will be executed after getting death penalty for killing black man

Since Florida reinstated the death penalty in 1976, at least 20 black men have been executed for killing white victims, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center. On Thursday, Mark James Asay - a former white supremacist prison gang member once inked with a swastika tattoo - is scheduled to become the first, by way of lethal injection with a drug never before used in a U.S. execution.

In a Florida first, white man to be executed for killing black man

For the first time in state history, Florida is expecting to execute a white man Thursday for killing a black person - and it plans to do so with the help of a drug that has never been used before in any U.S. execution. Barring a stay, Mark Asay, 53, is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. Asay was convicted by a jury of two racially motivated, premeditated murders in Jacksonville in 1987.

Navy pilot rescued after crashing fighter jet off Florida coast

A Navy pilot needed to be rescued after crashing his fighter jet of the coast of Key West A U.S Navy pilot crashed his fighter jet into the ocean off the coast of the Florida Keys on Wednesday. The U.S. Coast Guard were notified at 1:07 p.m. on Wednesday that a Navy F-5N jet pilot needed to be rescued after crashing 20 nautical miles off the coast of Key West, according to a U.S. Coast Guard news release .

Jeb Bush: Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s ‘incompetence and terrible judgment’ is ‘jarring’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lashed out at Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., amid an information technology procurement scandal involving one of her former staffers. "The incompetence and terrible judgment displayed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Democrats is jarring," Bush tweeted Saturday, with a link to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece detailing the controversy surrounding IT aide Imran Awan.

LETTERS: “Volunteer one to two hours per week to help with the…

As a 28-year member of the Volusia Literacy Council, I remember when I first joined, 1 in every 4 folks in Volusia County could not read or write past a fourth-grade level. Fast forward 28 years later, and as many as 1 in 4 adults still cannot read past a fourth-grade level.

How Florida explains our polarized politics

The strategists plotting Florida Gov. Rick Scott's re-election bid in 2014 faced a problem: The state's explosive growth, especially in liberal cities like Miami, Orlando and Tampa, was being fueled by an influx of voters likely to back Scott's Democratic opponent. To win a second term, Scott would have to find votes in unlikely places.

FBI, Coast Guard investigate newlywed’s sea disappearance

When the Coast Guard found Lewis Bennett on a life raft between Florida and the Bahamas, he told rescuers that about three hours earlier he had been asleep inside the cabin of the catamaran he shared with his new bride, Isabella Hellmann, and was jolted awake when the craft hit something. He said he went up top and found Hellmann gone.