Saturday, September 26, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall near Stuart as a Category 3 storm. It was the fourth hurricane to strike Florida in six weeks, coming ashore just miles from where Frances hit three weeks earlier.

The Hard Rock Stadium is debuting a diverse array of new food options on Sunday for the Dolphins' opener, including Flaming Hot Cheetos Korean corn dogs. Learn more in Et Cetera.

The age at which Americans can start collecting full Social Security checks could drop for millions of workers. A new bill in Congress would move retirement up years early for some, just as Social Security speeds toward insolvency, and not everyone thinks it's a good idea. So who would qualify, and who gets left out? Amy has the full story on today's episode of The Flyover Podcast. Tune in here!

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Florida Charges 20 with Illegal Voting

Florida prosecutors have charged 20 people with voting illegally, including 16 noncitizens accused of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register.

The other four are convicted felons who allegedly voted while still on probation. Twelve of the 20 were in custody as of Thursday, and most face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier said the cases push the state past 100 voter fraud prosecutions since it created the Office of Election Crimes and Security in 2022. "If you're going to cheat, we're going to get you," Uthmeier said.

Fentrice Driskell, who leads Democrats in the Florida House, said the timing, with mail ballots going out, "reeks of voter intimidation."

Secretary of State Cord Byrd also said he'll leave office after the Nov. 3 election to lead a new national group aimed at spreading Florida's election model to other states.

Kissimmee Airport Lands $21 Million Upgrade

Kissimmee Gateway Airport will move Taxiway A 50 feet east using $21 million in new FAA funding.

The project also widens the taxiway and adds new lighting to bring it up to federal standards. The airport handles about 138,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

A second project will replace the airport's 80-foot control tower with a 110-foot tower, backed by about $12 million in additional federal money.

U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, announced the funding, saying it will help the airport run more safely and efficiently as Kissimmee grows.

Construction on both projects is set to begin in early January 2027, with the tower opening around early 2028. Crews will do the taxiway work in two phases so the airport can stay open.

Florida's Vibrio Death Toll Hits Five

A Pinellas County death has pushed Florida's 2026 toll from Vibrio vulnificus, often called "flesh-eating" bacteria, to five.

That already matches the state's total for all of 2025, with more than three months left in the year. The other deaths this year were in Bay, Broward, Marion, and Palm Beach counties.

Florida has confirmed 23 cases so far, well below 2024's 82 cases and 19 deaths, when floodwaters from Hurricane Helene drove a spike along the Gulf Coast.

The bacteria thrive in warm, brackish water and infect people through open wounds or raw shellfish, especially oysters. State health officials say bloodstream infections are fatal about half the time.

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➤ Tallahassee: Blueprint board members will decide at their next meeting whether to abandon a planned road segment in the Airport Gateway project and shift about $20 million to Tharpe Street improvements. (See Details)

➤ Clay County: The sheriff's office launched a state-funded program offering first responders and veterans noninvasive treatment for stress, anxiety, and PTSD, guided by EEG brain mapping. Sheriff Michelle Cook said she started sleeping better after her third session. (More)

➤ St. Augustine: City officials warn that higher-than-normal tides could flood low-lying areas Sunday through Tuesday. Drivers should avoid water-covered roads or slow down, since wakes can push water onto nearby properties. (More)

➤ Lake Helen: Mold in the walls, ceilings, and attic of Volusia County Fire Station 35, beside I-4, forced firefighters to relocate 4 miles west to DeLand. The county plans to move crews into the nearby Lake Helen Civic Center and hopes to reopen the station by November. (See Details)

➤ Mount Dora: A roundabout project on Old U.S. Highway 441 has cut sales 42% at the Magical Meat Boutique, a British pub that has laid off two workers. Lake County says keeping the intersection open would have added a year and $1 million. A three-month full closure comes next spring. (See Details)

➤ Orange County: Mayor Jerry Demings, who suspended his run for governor in June, says he's cancer-free after prostate surgery July 28. His surgeon credited routine PSA screening, which caught the cancer before any symptoms appeared, and urged men not to skip the test. (Read Story)

➤ Miami: Commissioners approved a $3.7 billion city budget with more money for police and fire rescue, holding the tax rate at 7.36 mills, which the city says is its lowest in 60 years. The city is also bracing for lost revenue if voters pass Amendment 3 in November. (More)

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➤ No. 21 Florida welcomes No. 4 Ole Miss to Gainesville today after beating Auburn 44-39 last weekend. The Gators are slight 3.5-point favorites. (See Preview)

➤ Warren Sapp, a Hall of Fame Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle, sued the city of Tampa, alleging officials violated his First Amendment rights by ordering him out of City Hall during a council meeting. (More)

➤ UCF unveiled a Walt Disney World logo that its football team will wear on the rear bumpers of its helmets. (See Helmet)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: NCAAF | MLB | NHL | Soccer | Golf

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➤ Chuck Norris spent years researching what he believed were hidden threats inside the body that contribute to “rapid aging.” He identified three “internal enemies” that may affect energy, digestion, muscles, and joints. Before his passing, Chuck recorded a short video explaining what he discovered and the approach he believed could help. Watch the video here >>

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➤ A Lake County man got a camera alert during church Sunday: a wild monkey on his Umatilla property, which backs up to the Ocala National Forest. It appears to be a rhesus macaque, a nonnative species released at Silver Springs in the 1930s. (See Video)

➤ Fans at Sunday's Dolphins home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs can try new stadium eats, including mozzarella-stuffed Korean corn dogs in flavors like Flamin' Hot Cheetos and blue Takis, scratch-made tacos from Tacotomia, and a rum margarita. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. (See Details)

➤ South Florida brand GG Maull is turning invasive Everglades pythons into luxury handbags. Its supplier, Amy Siewe, known as the "Python Huntress," has caught about 800 pythons in under eight years. Each batch of 150 bags takes 20 to 40 skins, or about six months of hunting. (Read Story)

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➤ Most Americans think eating sweets for breakfast is unhealthy… But according to Stanford researchers, there's one delicious “dessert” food that Costa Ricans in the famous "blue zone" there eat each morning that… So, what's the #1 “dessert” food that helps Costa Ricans live healthy, lean, and energetic past 100?

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes, straight from the heart of the country.

➤ Some American workers could start collecting full Social Security years early, but critics warn of fallout. (Hear Details)

➤ Coastal flood alerts cover 33 million people as a rare multiday nor'easter threatens the East Coast through the weekend. (Listen Now)

➤ The robotic spacecraft launched to save a failing NASA telescope has itself plunged back to Earth. (Podcast Available)