Florida
'There is no home:' Floridians find helping hands after floods
After speaking with members of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, a man paddles back into a flooded neighborhood in Valrico, Fla. Flooding from a nearby waterway turned some neighborhoods into rivers, forcing dozens to evacuate their homes.
Ryan Kellman/NPR
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Ryan Kellman/NPR
VALRICO, Florida — As the car pulled up, the few volunteers of Creekside Church of Christ moved quickly in the burning Florida sun, pulling water, hamburger meat and cookies out of the trunk and into the shade of three tents.
They laid out snacks, a pot of spaghetti and prepped the meat for their grill for their neighbors now using the parking lot as a temporary home.
A volunteer works the grill in front of Creekside Church. Members of the church worked together throughout the day to provide food and drinks for anyone who might need it.
Ryan Kellman/NPR
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Ryan Kellman/NPR
Three days before, Hurricane Milton hit the town of Valrico, Lithia and other communities on the west coast of Florida, bringing with it damaging winds and widespread power outages.
After the immediate threat of Milton subsided, another emerged: Major flooding from a nearby waterway turned neighborhoods into rivers, forcing dozens to evacuate their homes. Some reported water reaching up to their chest and needing to evacuate by kayak.
That’s why members of Creekside, just a mile away from one disastrous scene of flooding, gathered Saturday to provide food and drinks to their neighbors, like Shauna Thomas, whose homes are still inundated with water.
“We want to help out,” church elder Robert Clouse said simply of the effort. “I’m concerned about these people now.”
“I don’t think we were prepared for this,” Robert Clouse said of both Milton’s destruction and the subsequent flooding in town. Despite not having power, the church will hold its service this Sunday. Clouse said the service should be “memorable.”
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Thomas and some of her neighbors have been sleeping in their cars in the church parking lot since she managed to escape her home earlier this week.
“It came in so fast and so hard that there was nothing that any of us could do. We already knew it was coming, so we got the basics that we could out. But it was just too fast,” she said.
She grabbed a suitcase of clothes and her dog, Bailey, as flood waters quickly took over her Rose Street home.
Thomas’ low-lying street is just one of several in Hillsborough County flooded by the Alafia River. The waterway crested at 24.34 feet on Friday — reaching a major flood stage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Other residents NPR spoke to said the area has never flooded this bad before. Hillsborough County emergency crews rescued more than 500 residents and 100 pets in the flooding aftermath.
Flood waters inundated several areas of Hillsborough County, including Paul Sanders Park in Brandon, Fla.
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Ryan Kellman/NPR
By Saturday afternoon, some water had receded, but emergency crews and residents still relied on kayaks and boats just to enter the flood zones. NOAA forecasts flooding from the Alafia River to continue in the major or moderate flood stage through early next week.
Thomas is not confident about what remains of her house she’s lived in for two years.
“There’s no home,” she said, tearing up. “The guy that lives behind me lives in a house that’s between nine and 12 feet high, and he had two feet of water in his house. Mine’s lower than that. Mine only sits three feet above ground.”
She gave effusive thanks to the church for providing much-needed resources.
“They brought us food. They brought water. They brought us everything that they possibly could,” Thomas said.
She found that others in the community have shown up, too. One business loaned her a grill to use and another gave her space to park her car on higher ground when Milton first hit.
“It’s a strong community, and we’ll manage to get through one way or another. Now it’s just a matter of praying,” she said. “That’s all we can do.”
In a flooded Valrico neighborhood, a man waits outside of a home after paddling two others, who entered through the window, up to it.
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Florida
Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip
Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.
“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.
“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.
Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”
The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.
“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”
That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
Kearse awoke at 6:30 a.m. He declined a last meal and has remained compliant throughout the day, corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said during a news conference. Kearse met with a spiritual adviser during the day but had no other visitors.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kearse’s final appeals Tuesday afternoon without comment.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop is set to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing. Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
This is Florida’s third execution scheduled for 2026, following a record 19 executions last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The highest number before then was eight executions in both 1984 and 2014, under former governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish pulled over Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse couldn’t produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his vehicle and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, striking the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
Parrish was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died from the gunshot wounds, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called in before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s vehicle and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals filed by Kearse. His attorneys had argued that he was unconstitutionally deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability makes his execution unconstitutional.
Final appeals were pending Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, far outpacing Alabama, South Carolina and Texas which each held five executions.
Besides the two Florida executions this year, Texas and Oklahoma have each executed one person so far.
Two more Florida executions have already been scheduled for this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is scheduled to die on March 17, and the execution of James Aren Duckett, 68, is set for March 31.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
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