Good Morning! On this day in 1940, eight winners were announced in the St. Petersburg mayor’s safety slogan contest. See the winning slogans here.
Florida saw more than 25,000 lightning strikes in a 24-hour period last weekend. Here’s hoping this weekend is less electrifying.
On Fridays, Amy Hess dives deeper into Feel Good Friday with heartwarming interviews and stories to kick off your weekend right. Today, she talks about the Kentucky priest who shouted “I love you, Kate!” at Wimbledon. Listen on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple and see why Feel Good Flyover is our most-loved edition.
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Daytona Beach 🌤️ 88°/76° | Ft. Myers 🌤️ 95°/76° | Jacksonville ⛈️ 93°/75° | Key West 🌤️ 89°/83° | Miami 🌤️ 89°/82° | Ocala 🌤️ 93°/74° | Orlando ⛈️ 94°/77° | Pensacola ⛈️ 86°/79° | Port St. Lucie 🌤️ 91°/76° | Tallahassee 🌧️ 90°/75° | Tampa 🌤️ 94°/74°
Don’t feel like reading the national edition of The Flyover? Tune in to The Flyover Podcast! New episodes drop daily—watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, all in under 15 minutes.
Commissioner Sets High Education Standards
Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas delivered his first speech to the State Board of Education on Wednesday. He quoted the Bible and promised to work closely with top law enforcement officers to ensure students aren’t being “indoctrinated.”
Kamoutsas, who started on July 14, wrote a letter to parents and teachers outlining their statutory rights and cautioned superintendents that “if they violate these rights, I will be knocking on their door. This is not an empty threat.”
The new commissioner said another memo was sent Wednesday to school districts, charter schools, and private schools advising them to update information in a statewide online parent portal, My Florida Schools.
Kamoutsas is the former deputy chief of staff for Gov. Ron DeSantis. He started his career at the Department of Education in 2019. He succeeds Manny Diaz, who left the post to serve as interim president at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.
Music Icon Connie Francis Dies at 87
Connie Francis, whose movie and song Where the Boys Are helped make Fort Lauderdale a spring break mecca, died on Wednesday in Florida. Born Concetta Maria Franconero on Dec. 12, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey, Francis lived in Parkland since 1996.
One of the most commercially successful female singers in history, with more than a dozen top 20 hits, her most loved songs include Who’s Sorry Now?, Mama, Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool, and Stupid Cupid.
Francis nabbed her 15th and last Billboard Hot 100 top 10 song, Vacation, in September 1962. This made her the solo female artist with the most top 10 hits at the time, with only Elvis Presley beating her with 16 by then.
Despite retiring from the music industry in 2018, Francis’ track Pretty Little Babyrecently went viral on TikTok, six decades after its release.
Florida Is Good for First-Time Homebuyers
According to WalletHub’s ranking of the best and worst cities for first-time homebuyers, Florida has six of the top 10 best cities. See the full list here.
The study named Palm Bay the best city in the U.S. for fledgling owners with the fifth-highest millennial home-ownership rate. The Brevard County city has the third-highest home appreciation rate, with homes worth 108% more in 2023 than in 2017.
Tampa ranked No. 3 overall and No. 1 in the best larger cities based on population. Cape Coral, Orlando, Lakeland, and Sunrise rounded out the top 10. California had 8 of the 10 worst cities, with Berkeley coming in last.
In 2024, a historic low of 24% of home purchases were made by first-time buyers, down from 32% in 2023. For the 2025 ranking, WalletHub compared 300 cities of varying sizes across 22 key indicators of market attractiveness, affordability, and quality of life.
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➤ Temple Terrace: Residents are raising concerns after an EPA report revealed elevated levels of PFAS and PFOS—chemicals linked to cancer—in the city’s drinking water. (More)
➤ Hillsborough County: Leaders approved a plan to spend more than $709 million in federal aid to fix damage and prevent future disasters following recent hurricanes. At least 70% of the funds will be designated for low-to-moderate income households. (More)
➤Tallahassee: The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida is joining a lawsuit aimed at halting the operation of Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades, which tribal members consider their sacred ancestral homeland. (See Photos)
➤Polk County: The Department of Environmental Protection is investigating whether toxic blue-green algae may be blooming in three county lakes—Lake Crago in Lakeland near the boat ramp, Lake Pierce in Lake Wales, and Lake Hamilton in Dundee. (See Video)
➤Flagler County: A six-month undercover operation dubbed “Summer Slammer” resulted in 24 arrest warrants and 5 kilos of drugs recovered, according to law enforcement. (See Video)
➤Sanford: Rep. Cory Mills, R-District 7, is accused of failing to pay $85,000 in rent for his apartment in Washington, D.C., between March and July and faces eviction. (More)
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➤ Kai Trump, University of Miami golfcommit—and the president’s granddaughter—signed an NIL deal with Accelerator Active Energy, adding another partnership to her $1.2 million NIL portfolio. (More)
➤ The 3ICE hockey league kicked off in Fort Lauderdale yesterday, where future and former pros will be playing three-on-three ice hockey matches for the next five weeks. Tickets to the games start as low as $15. (More)
➤Former FIU wide receiver T.Y. Hilton is set to be inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame on September 12th. (More)
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➤ The future flagship office building of Ken Griffin’s Citadel received the green light from the FAA to move forward with its 1,046-foot supertall skyscraper in the Brickell Financial District in Miami, including the use of the supertall cranes necessary to build it. (More)
➤ A lawsuit has been filed against the Environmental Protection Agency for its approval of a construction company using radioactive material for Florida road construction. (More)
➤ The Brevard Renaissance Fair is leaving the county after a decade in Melbourne over a zoning issue regarding a castle wall. The nonprofit has signed a 15-year lease in another location that will be announced in the next few weeks. (More)
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➤ Summer Hinote, 15, suffered severe leg injuries while fighting a 10-foot alligator that dragged her underwater in Pond Creek. (See Photos)
➤ A Facebook post threatening President Trump landed 34-year-old Miranda Perez of West Palm Beach in jail. Deputies responded to a tip that she wrote a message saying she was going to Trump’s golf course to be “the next shooter.” (See Photo)
➤ A U.S. Coast Guard crew rescued a 55-year-old man after he was struck in the leg by a boat’s propeller near a sandbar off Elliott Key. (More)
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Commissioner Sets High Education Standards
