Good Morning! On this day in 1766, John Bartram, the founder of modern naturalism and botany, concluded his journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida to document the flora of the New World.
The 90th Masters golf tournament teed off on Thursday in Augusta, Georgia. More than two dozen golfers who live in Florida are competing, including three natives: West Palm Beach-born Brooks Koepka, Bagdad-born Bubba Watson, and Plantation-born Daniel Berger.
Both The Texas Flyover and Flyover Florida are closing in on 500,000 readers, and now it’s a full-on race to the finish.
The first to hit 500K earns:
A brand-new banner The title of the fastest-growing Flyover state edition
So who’s it going to be? Click below to share with your friends and help Florida get across the finish line.
Calling all Florida readers, it’s time to show them how it’s done.
Today’s sponsor, Oricle Hearing Aids, is helping readers hear more clearly without the sky-high prices—offering a tiny, easy-to-use hearing aid with clear sound and all-day power for under $100.
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Hurricane Outlook Calls for 13 Named Storms
Colorado State University (CSU) released its highly anticipated 2026 Atlantic hurricane season outlook on Thursday, as forecasters monitor a rapidly developing Super El Niño that could significantly impact storm activity.
The 2026 forecast calls for 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes, which is fewer than usual in the Atlantic, with the average being 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. Last year brought 13 named storms with four major hurricanes.
The forecast is below average due to the expected development of an El Niño system this summer. An El Niño typically produces stronger-than-normal wind shear, creating conditions hostile to tropical development.
CSU set the probability of a major hurricane tracking through the Caribbean at 35% (down from the 47% average) and the probability of a major hurricane hitting the entire continental U.S. coastline at 32% (down from the 43% average).
Lawmakers Delay State Budget Session
On Wednesday, lawmakers offered an update on the budget standoff, as House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, sent separate memos to alert members they won’t need to travel to Tallahassee next week.
When the regular session ended on March 13 without an approved budget, “mid-April” was named as a likely time for lawmakers to return. Now, no clear timeline exists. A budget must be in place by July 1, the start of the fiscal year, to avoid a partial state government shutdown.
Discussions between the chambers on top-line budget numbers have failed to result in an agreement. The House and Senate have passed separate proposals totaling about $113.6 billion and $115 billion, respectively.
Lawmakers will return to Tallahassee on April 20, as Gov. DeSantis called for a redistricting special session back in January. DeSantis has pushed for a special session to eliminate property taxes, though no date has been set.
Florida Chamber Spotlights Aviation Challenges
A new Florida Chamber Foundation case study named aviation as a key component in Florida’s total workforce, warning that talent shortages could threaten one of the state’s biggest economic engines.
Released through the Foundation’s Future of Work initiative, the report examined workforce trends in an industry that accounts for 13.5% of Florida’s GDP and supports more than 2 million jobs.
The study points to an aging skilled workforce and finds that without data-driven collaboration among employers, schools, and workforce partners, a labor gap could undermine the industry’s long-term competitiveness amid rising demand for aviation services.
The pressure is pronounced in South Florida and the Panhandle, where aviation operations, logistics, and infrastructure play an outsized role in regional economies.
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➤ Statewide: Attorney General James Uthmeier formed a partnership with forensic technology company Othram, which uses state-of-the-art DNA analysis to better identify suspects in criminal activity, to address the state’s 21,000 unsolved murder cases. (More)
➤ Tallahassee: Gov. DeSantis signed legislation transferring control of the Naples Airport Authority from the city to voters, mandating countywide elections for all board seats starting with the 2026 general election. (More)
➤ Indian River County: Operation Spring Cleaning resulted in 19 arrests and the recovery of 460,000 counterfeit pills, materials for an additional 600,000 pills with a street value of up to $5 million, large quantities of cocaine, fentanyl, meth, and 10 firearms. (More)
➤ Miami-Dade County: Officials confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down in the Palm Springs North community near Miami Gardens on Tuesday as a storm knocked out power, toppled trees, and flipped a boat. (More)
➤ Broward County: A bank robbery suspect, Tommy Duwayne Dennis, 56, was arrested by Plantation police after a high-speed chase and crash on Wednesday. The FBI will investigate the bank robbery at a TD Bank. (See Video)
➤ Lake County: On Tuesday, commissioners rejected a settlement agreement that would have allowed a 79-unit subdivision in unincorporated Clermont, handing a victory to neighbors who have fought the development for months. (More)
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➤ The University of Tampa’s women’s club hockey team won its first national championship, beating Syracuse 4-2 in the AAU Collegiate Hockey Nationals title game. (More)
➤ UCF hired former Tennessee assistant (and Miami native) Gabe Lazo as its new women’s basketball head coach. (More)
➤Five-star tackle Maxwell Hiller committed to Florida on Wednesday, giving the Gators their highest-rated offensive line recruit in over a decade. (More)
➤Florida State pitcherBryson Moore was named ACC Pitcher of the Week following his career-best outing against No. 10 Virginia last week. (More)
➤ Botox Co-Inventor: Wrinkles Don’t Start in Your Skin. URGENT BEAUTY ALERT: No cream, Botox, or facelift compares to this 30-second skin-lifting method. Dermatologists say it’s 10X better than Botox because it attacks wrinkle-causing facial muscle aging at the source. Faster, cheaper, permanent. Watch now.
➤ Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa has secured naming rights to the Motor Enclave’s 1.72-mile racetrack at its 200-acre motorsports campus. The track will officially rebrand as Hard Rock Speedway. (More)
➤ PortMiami is undergoing major upgrades and expansions, including building new cruise terminals, adding a third berth to MSC Cruises’ Terminal AA, buying more ship-to-shore cranes, and completing the second phase of its electric rubber tire gantry cranes program. (More)
➤ Argotec, an Italian space company, opened its first U.S.-based satellite production facility in Melbourne as part of a $25 million expansion. (More)
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➤ Eddie Shannon, a longtime Lincoln Memorial and Manatee High School football coach, died at 104, leaving a decades-long legacy of leadership and character-building rooted in life lessons on and off the field. (See Video)
➤ K9s for Warriors opened a $5 million, 4,284-square-foot vet clinic in Ponte Vedra Beach. Its service dogs help veterans with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. (More)
➤ Several Florida university graduate programs are ranked among the best in the nation in key fields such as healthcare and business in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 list of the best graduate schools. (More)
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A brand-new banner
The title of the fastest-growing Flyover state edition
Hurricane Outlook Calls for 13 Named Storms
