Comment on Florida’s ‘cat fund’ for damage could face $4.6 billion tab after Hurricanes Milton, Helene

MIAMI GARDENS — As Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa debuted a new look Wednesday with a dyed hairstyle, it’s the Dolphins, as a team, that quickly need to put a new look on the trajectory of their season. Tagovailoa played his first game back last Sunday from missing four recovering from his latest concussion. He returned to a team in a dire situation, having lost three of four while he was on injured reserve.

By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials on Wednesday reported more cases of E. coli poisoning among people who ate at McDonald’s, as government investigators seeking the outbreak’s source identified an “onion grower of interest” in Washington state. The Food and Drug Administration said 90 people across 13 states have fallen ill in the outbreak, up from 75 at the end of last week.

Warren Sturman, a longtime resident and cardiologist, scored a narrow victory in a crowded race for Fort Lauderdale commission two years ago. Now he’s facing three challengers for the District 4 seat in the city’s Nov. 5 election: Kevin Cochrane, the software executive he narrowly defeated by 49 votes in 2022; Ted Inserra, a community activist and retired chef; and Ben Sorensen, an executive coach who held the District 4 seat before resigning two years into his term to make an unsuccessful run for Congress. The winner will earn $89,100 a year representing District 4. The district encompasses the southern end of Fort Lauderdale, extending from the beach on the east all the way west to State Road 7 and from Southwest 34 Street on the south all the way north to Broward Boulevard. Sturman has won key endorsements from both the police and fire unions. Sturman says he and his staff respond to every email and every complaint — including those critical of the city’s controversial plan to remove the famous tree-lined median on Las Olas. If not for him, the trees and the median would have already disappeared to make room for wider sidewalks, Sturman says. “If it wasn’t for me being elected, it would be gone by now,” Sturman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Since Sturman’s election, critics have complained about him not providing timely responses to issues brought forward by neighborhood leaders. In response, Sturman says he and his staff are focused on community engagement. “We have a workshop once or twice a month,” Sturman told the Sun Sentinel.

One half of a Lake Worth Beach couple who pleaded guilty to selling fentanyl to a woman whose infant ingested a deadly amount of the extremely potent drug has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Darnell Mendez, 36, prepared and packaged the fentanyl as well as set prices for the capsules that he and his girlfriend and co-defendant Samantha Yi distributed together, according to a factual proffer in their case, the facts agreed upon by the defense and prosecution. In March 2022, a woman called 911 from the parking lot of a shopping plaza in Boynton Beach to report that her baby was having trouble breathing, the court document said.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and CLAIRE RUSH PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The man suspected of setting fires in ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state is an experienced metalworker and may be planning additional attacks, authorities said Wednesday. Investigators believe the man who set the incendiary devices at ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and nearby Vancouver, Washington, had a “wealth of experience” in metal fabrication and welding, said Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner. The way the devices were constructed and the way they were attached to the metal drop boxes showed that expertise, Benner said. Authorities described the suspect as a white man, age 30 to 40, who is balding or has very short hair. A fire-damaged ballot drop box bin is seen next to the drop box during a news conference at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct.

TALLAHASSEE — A state program that provides critical backup coverage for property insurers could pay out an estimated $4.6 billion because of claims from hurricanes Milton and Helene, officials said Wednesday. If that preliminary estimate holds, the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund would have adequate cash to cover its share of losses, leaders and a financial adviser told members of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Advisory Council.