Local:
Tropical Storm Don Forming in Atlantic
The fourth named subtropical storm of the 2023 hurricane season has formed in the Atlantic, but experts say it will not make its way to the U.S. WINK News meteorologists are suspecting it will make a u-turn and head back down to the southeast back into cooler waters, where it is most likely to slow down and weaken. WINK News says they will continue to monitor the storm as it is a named storm and has reached over 50mph wind speeds.
Mother Shot by Toddler in One of Three Accidental Shootings
After a shooting on July 7, investigators found a pregnant mother was shot by her four-year-old child. The shooting occurred in Suncoast Estates on Grady Drive according to NBC2. The child found the gun while visiting their mother and Lee County Sheriff’s Office was told by residents that the gun belongs to someone who occasionally stays in the home. The mother was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. This was one of three accidental shootings in Lee County. The other two were deemed self-inflicted while cleaning their guns and were two separate incidents.
Reimbursement to Florida Division of Emergency Management from FEMA is on its Way
After Hurricane Ian, thousands of homes were destroyed and were temporarily replaced by 8,550 non-congregant sheltering trailer units. FEMA is reimbursing the Florida Division of Emergency Management over $173 million to cover the purchase and administration of these shelters, according to Wink News. The state purchased less than 2,500 shelters for eligible applicants. Twenty-seven counties house these shelters and now 1,040 shelters are distributed. There are 471 trailers in Lee County, 202 in Charlotte County, 21 in Collier, 48 in DeSoto and 16 in Hardee County.
Lee County Man Charged with Murder for Involvement in Women’s Fentanyl Death
Cape Coral resident, Joshua Robert Pulley, was arrested Thursday night with a First Degree Murder charge according to NBC2. The woman died of a fentanyl overdose in December of 2022. Investigators have not released the woman’s identity nor where she died. During the arrest, Lee County Sheriff’s Office found other narcotics and firearms in Pulley’s home. He is now facing further charges involving drugs. The sheriff’s office records show Pulley’s criminal history has charges for battery, grand theft, drug possession, and stalking.
State:
Farmers Insurance Ends Policy Coverage in Florida
Farmers Insurance is pulling its home, auto, and umbrella policies from Florida, according to CNN. In the company’s statement, the decision to pull out of Florida was purely a business decision. It was necessary to manage the risk due to Florida being a hurricane-prone area. Farmers provided coverage to 100,000 Florida citizens, all now looking for a new insurance provider. Subsidiaries of Farmers like Foremost Signature and Bristol West will still be providing coverage to Florida. It is a Florida requirement that policy-holders receive a 120-day notice when their policy will not be renewed.
Florida’s Sea Water has Reached Record Temperatures
Sea water off the coast of Florida has reached record-breaking temperatures according to CNN. These temperatures are threatening the coast’s sea life. Scientists are expecting to see the worst coral bleaching the state has ever experienced. Coral bleaching occurs when temperatures are too hot. The coral expels their food source, algae, and starve to death. Temperatures are rising to 97 degrees fahrenheit in some areas. The water warming is happening much earlier in the year than in previous years, this is due to the human-induced climate change.
Florida Baby Dies after Teen Mother put Fentanyl in Bottle
A nine-month-old baby died in Florida after his teenage mother allegedly put fentanyl in his bottle before putting him down for a nap. Nassau County Deputies were called Monday about a baby who had no pulse. Deputies tried to revive the baby before he was taken to a Jacksonville hospital by firefighters and pronounced dead according to CNN. The mother, 17, ultimately “confessed” that she had been tired and put “what she thought was cocaine” in the bottle to get the baby to sleep so she could take a nap, said Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper in a news conference on Wednesday.
Record-breaking Burmese Python Caught in Florida
The longest Burmese Python was caught in South Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve by locals, and was measured at 19-feet. Jake Waleri, 22, caught the snake on Monday and brought it back to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in his hometown of Naples. A video of this record-breaking catch was recorded and posted to Instagram where Waleri can be seen dragging the snake into the road as it lunged at him. The Burmese Python is currently an invasive species in southern Florida according to NPR, which is why Waleri spends his free time hunting these monstrous predators.
National:
AP Launches Investigation into US Supreme Court Justice Teaching Practices
According to APnews, an examination of the ethics practices pertaining to the U.S. Supreme Court Justices was launched in 2022. When court is not in session, justices are able to spend their time as they would like and some choose to pay visits to universities across the country and teach classes. The University of Hawaii law school pays for the airfare and accommodations of the trip as long as justices wish to remain there. Other universities have also created special accommodations for the justices if they choose to visit. In late 2022 and early this year, the AP submitted records requests to the public institutions that justices have visited in order to review the ethics of this practice.
Hollywood Actors Join Screenwriters in Strike
Striking Hollywood actors have now joined film and television writers on picket lines Friday morning. This is the first joint effort strike between these two groups in over 60 years. Actors and screenwriters have gathered to strike outside the offices of Warner Bros, Paramount and Netflix. The actor union SAG-AFTRA announced actors would be joining the picket lines starting this morning due to a failed deal with popular studios including Walt Disney Co and Netflix. This strike has already created repercussions to the industry after 11,500 writers have gone on strike causing late-night television talk shows to go into endless reruns. According to Reuters.com, this strike has also disrupted the autumn TV season production and halted work on big-budget movies.
US Hits Milestone of Deadliest Six Months of Mass Killings
From Jan. 1 to June 30 there were 28 mass killings in the US, all but one involving guns. A mass killing is defined as an incident where four or more people are killed within a 24-hour period, not including the assailant, according to APnews. This milestone beats the previous record which was 27 mass killings recorded in the second half of 2022. A partnership between the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University maintains a database that tracks this large-scale violence dated back to 2006.
$39 billion in Student Loan Debt Forgiven
Over 800,000 Americans with student debt will have a total of $39billion in student loan debt forgiven as part of a government effort to remedy mistakes made by the debt collectors who work for the government, according to the nytimes. This process is expected to continue into next year when millions more can expect receiving even more debt relief. This round of debt forgiveness applies to those who enrolled in income-driven repayment plans or would have qualified for them, and with federal loans owed directly to the Department of Education.
