Tuesday's Afternoon Update
Five big voter registration takeaways
Florida has 14,503,978 registered voters for the general election. That is up more than 9 percent from the 13,278,070 registered voters during the 2018 midterm election. The state this year has 5,277,394 registered Republicans, 4,971,444 registered Democrats and 3,992,985 unaffiliated voters, with the rest of the voters scattered among third parties. The Coalition With A Purpose Party has the fewest registered voters, with 69. More from the News Service of Florida.
Florida offering $5 million to help needy hurricane victims pay insurance deductibles
The Florida Housing Finance Corp. is providing $5 million to help low- to moderate-income families and individuals in six counties hit by Hurricane Ian to pay their homeowners’ property insurance deductibles. The corporation serves as the state’s housing finance agency and receives state funding for the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, known as the SHIP program. Some $5 million is set aside to be used in natural disasters and that money will now be allocated to homeowners in Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Lee and Sarasota counties in southwest Florida. More from the Insurance Journal.
There are now 3 disturbances in the Atlantic basin, and one may turn into a depression
The tropics are heating up Tuesday, with forecasters watching a disturbance near Bermuda that might turn into a “short-lived” tropical depression soon, though its window to do so is closing. They’re also monitoring two other areas, one in the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico and the other in the Caribbean Sea. More from the Miami Herald.
Scaring up business: A history of Halloween in Orlando’s theme parks
Halloween events have proved to be monstrously popular at Orlando’s theme parks, prompting fans to spend hundreds of dollars for tickets to be frightened and/or delighted. That wasn’t always the case. Walt Disney World’s first haunted celebration at Magic Kingdom was actually before its second-ever Halloween in 1972, when it promoted free admission for paying park visitors to get into its Haunted Mansion attraction, no E ticket necessary. SeaWorld Orlando also had modest promotions its opening year in 1973, when it gave pumpkins to children in attendance. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Free on-demand ride service Freebee is coming to another Broward city
Residents and visitors in several South Florida cities, including Hallandale Beach in southeastern Broward County, will soon have access to free door-to-door rides they can order from their smartphones. Freebee, an electric vehicle shuttle headquartered in Miami, currently provides service to 24 Florida cities and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Plans call for the service to soon expand into three more cities — Hallandale Beach in southern Broward County and the coastal Miami-Dade County cities of Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbour Village. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Profile
This year’s Florida Python Challenge winner wrangled 28 snakes. Here’s how the teen did it.
The 2022 Florida Python Challenge culled a total of 231 of the invasive snakes from South Florida. Close to 1,000 participants from 32 states and as far away as Canada and Latvia fanned out across the southern tier of the peninsula over a 10-day period from Aug. 5 to 14 to poke and prod through swamps and grasslands in search of the snakes, which are well camouflaged and often hide in dense underbrush. The winner of this year’s competition was 19-year-old Matthew Concepcion, of Palmetto Bay, who snatched 28 Burmese pythons from South Florida ecosystems, and bagged the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize, courtesy of the Bergeron Everglades Foundation.
» More from the Orlando Sentinel.
End of an Era
Longtime Cortez nautical antique shop closing and auctioning off goods
Even as a child, Jan Holman would talk incessantly about moving to Florida and opening an antique store with items inspired by the nearby sea. Her grandmother's so-called "knick knacks," like 1940s furniture and clunky, staticky radios, inspired that passion. For the past two decades, Holman has been living that dream.With a fenced-in outdoor area that prominently displayed merchandise like shells, aquamarine windows, fountains, mermaid statues and even a pilothouse, The Sea Hagg drew curious drive-by customers for years.
» Read more from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.