Florida News That Impacts You – May 28th, 2026
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you throughout the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast.
- Governor DeSantis has called a special session to address property taxes. The session, which is scheduled to begin Monday, will consider the governor’s Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes proposed amendment. His proposal calls for an immediate increase in homestead exemptions from property taxes to $250,000 in assessed property value with the legislature to phase in a plan to raise the exemption to $500,000 – which the governor estimates would exempt 92% of homesteaded property owners from property taxes. The plan also calls for restrictions on how property taxes may be used by local governments and the creation of a state trust fund to assist the state’s rural counties. 3/5th's of the legislature must approve of the proposal to advance it to November’s ballot for voters to consider.
- Florida’s record run for tourism appears to have ended in the first quarter of this year. Visit Florida’s latest reporting shows total tourists visiting the state estimated at 39.89 million visitors during the first three months of the year, 1.2% lower than the first quarter last year. One bright spot was overseas tourism which reached a new pre-pandemic records during the quarter.
- The Palm Beach County School District is preparing a plan for cost cutting that will include layoffs for the upcoming school year. The announcement comes amid a $40 million revenue shortfall following the recently approved 3.5% raise for teachers that was above the 1.5% the District said was manageable. In a note to CBS 12, a district spokesperson said: Given the planned budget reductions, the School District does anticipate position eliminations and subsequent layoffs. Impacted employees have been or will be notified over the coming weeks. The total number and types of positions are still being determined as department and school budgets are reduced. Position reductions are expected to continue through October 2026 as budgets are aligned to enrollment.
- It’ll be warm, partly sunny, with a chance of passing showers during the day with highs in the upper 80’s – a little warmer than usual for this date. The chances of rain and thunderstorms increase late in the day today into Friday.
- The price of gas continued lower on Wednesday, falling by another five cents per gallon. The average price for regular unleaded fuel is currently $4.22 per gallon statewide – 29 cents lower than a week ago. In Palm Beach County the average price is $4.40 per gallon, in Martin the average is $4.18, it’s $4.27 in St. Lucie, and in Indian River County the average is $4.26 per gallon.