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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Florida utility gets $500K fine, probation for fatal blast
A Florida utility has been fined $500,000 and placed on three years’ probation for a 2017 deadly explosion at a coal-fired power plant that killed five workers. The U.S. Justice Department said in a news release Friday that Tampa Electric Co. also must adhere to a new safety compliance plan. The fine is the maximum allowed for willful Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace rules violations such as this.
› As polio surfaces in other states, how vulnerable are Floridians?
For the first time since the U.S. declared polio officially eradicated in 1979, Floridians are concerned about their odds of getting the disease. Florida is beginning the groundwork to learn if polio is in the state after one person was diagnosed with paralytic polio in Rockland County, New York, and the disease was discovered in New York City’s wastewater.
› Boca's Brightline station exterior complete; interior next as officials anticipate end of 2022 start
A Brightline train whizzed past its newest station Tuesday morning, moments after Boca Raton city officials signed the last beam that had been placed on the platform of the city’s first high-speed train stop. Kaufman Lynn Construction broke ground on the $56 million project — which stands next to the Boca Raton Public Library, minutes from the city’s downtown area — in January 2022. The eight-month construction period followed a hiatus in Brightline operations due to COVID-19, from March 2020 through November 2021.
› JEA insurer earmarked nearly $3 million for defense lawyers for two former executives, records show
Records from a JEA insurance firm indicate it has advanced nearly $3 million to defense lawyers representing former CEO Aaron Zahn and CFO Ryan Wannemacher as they fight federal fraud and conspiracy charges, an arrangement the utility objected to years ago and that, unbeknownst to some officials, appears to still be in effect.
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