Florida News That Impacts You – September 10th, 2024
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- Florida State University is third in the country in allowing for free speech on college campuses according to the 2025 College Free Speech Rankings conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse. FSU, which is the highest ranked college in the free speech study, in Florida is said to: foster an environment where students can engage in open debate and the exchange of ideas. FSU moved up two spots from last year and is one of only three colleges in the country to receive a “good” ranking for freedom of expression. The University of Virginia and Michigan Technological University ranked 1 and 2 this year. University of North Florida, the University of Florida, and the University of South Florida were given “green light” ratings in the study meaning that while the colleges don’t foster an open environment for freedom of expression, they don’t have policies in place restricting speech.
- Less than a month after Stuart officials voted to ratify agreements with Martin County and Brightline, the city officials have done a 180. In a 3-2 vote on Monday, Stuart officials rescinded their recently approved agreements with Martin County and Brightline that would have provided up to $30 million to bring a planned station to Southeast Flagler Ave. near the Martin County Courthouse. With the project now up in the air Martin County commissioners are set to meet today and will consider what the next steps in this process will look like.
- Jupiter Police Chief David England, a 26-year veteran of JPD, announced his retirement on Monday. England announced he would serve through October 31st. He has served as police chief since February of 2021.
- It’ll be another warm and stormy day today with showers possible throughout the day and highs in the upper 80’s. Temperatures will be about 2 degrees warmer than usual for this date. The National Hurricane Center is tracking three systems. Tropical Storm Francine is expected to develop into a category 2 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico over the next day prior to making landfall in Louisiana Wednesday night. A disturbance in the central Atlantic has a 40% chance of development over the next seven days, lower than yesterday, while a disturbance just to the east of it has a 70% chance of development a bit higher than yesterday. Today marks the historical peak day of hurricane season activity.
- After reaching seven-month lows over the weekend gas prices rose two cents per gallon on Monday – though prices continued to fall locally. The average price for regular unleaded in Florida is currently $3.17 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $3.34 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.13 and in Indian River County the average is $3.13 per gallon.