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Florida Faces Another Potential Hurricane – Here’s What We Know

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Florida Faces Another Potential Hurricane – Here’s What We Know


As much of the western Florida Peninsula, including the Tampa Bay area, recovers from massive storm surge damage associated with Hurricane Helene, the next hurricane threat for the United States is also focused on Florida. Here’s what we know right now about the next storm.

At the time of writing on Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring two hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean (Kirk and Leslie) and a system in the western Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Kirk is a powerful, major hurricane, but it nor Leslie will threaten the U.S. However, the system in the Gulf of Mexico is a different story. NHC’s morning discussion said, “Showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure located over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico are gradually becoming better organized.” The storm has a 70% chance of further development within the next two days, and a 90% chance within the next five days. My experience tells me that we could be looking at a tropical depression or named storm (Milton) later today or Sunday.

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We use several models when evaluating these threats, but I will focus on the American GFS and European models, respectively. Both of them are in strong consensus that the storm could move towards the western Florida Peninsula with a potential landfall by the middle of the week. NHC warned, “By early next week, the system is forecast to move faster eastward or northeastward across the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico where additional strengthening is likely.”

At this point, I will not anchor to any single model solution outcomes. However, several outcomes show that the storm could intensify into a hurricane and potentially very strong one. Weather expert Michael Ventrice makes this point in the post above, but I caution you that is only one of the potential outcomes shown. His greater point is one that also worries me. When a storm like this gets into the likely climate-charged, abnormally warm Gulf of Mexico, I am always on high alert. If you are in Tampa Bay, Ft. Myers or anywhere along the Florida Peninsula or the Keys, I advise you to pay close attention to this storm. More immediately, the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico is likely to be affected.

There are several things that concern me about this potential storm. Irrespective of name (and it probably will get one), it is going to produce a significant amount of rainfall in Florida. Like Helene, it appears that rainfall could inundate Florida well ahead of the eventual tropical storm or hurricane. This is a recipe for flooding. Much of Florida is already recovering from Helene so this is the last thing they need. Also, both models suggest a landfall in a region spanning Tampa Bay to Fort Myers. There is still uncertainty, but the range of possibilities start to narrow since we are within the five-day window. With current track projections, even places like Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah, Miami, and the Bahamas should be paying attention.

Not surprisingly, the misinformation machine has been firing on all cylinders after Hurricane Helene. It is not unusual to have hurricanes in September or October. In fact, the peak of the Atlantic season is in September. The 2024 season was always projected to be quite active due to anomalously warm sea surface temperatures, La Nina and other factors. That’s it, that’s the explanation.



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Florida Republican Party members put House speaker Perez on defense

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Florida Republican Party members put House speaker Perez on defense


TALLAHASSEE — House Speaker Daniel Perez was on the defensive, fielding questions from rank-and-file members of the Republican Party of Florida in a 45-minute video call Thursday about why he is battling with the governor over immigration enforcement.

Carmen Edmonds, the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Hillsborough County, said she and her members were concerned about the “optics” of Perez and the Senate president rejecting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ special session on assisting the president with immigration enforcement only to hold their own.

“If there were things that still needed to be worked out with the governor, people are wondering why you didn’t just adjourn, go back to the drawing board, bring the White House and the governor’s house in and make this the best bill it could be on the front end?” Edmonds asked.

She added: “It looks underhanded. It looks like, unfortunately, our (Legislature) in Tallahassee is trying to pit the president against the governor. And, you know, people in Florida still love our governor. But we also love President Trump. So, I think it’s just the optics of it all.”

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Perez said: “The reason that didn’t happen is because the governor didn’t want to.”

The conference, which the state party chairperson estimates was attended by roughly 200 members, represents a political flashpoint in the Republican Party of Florida, which for decades has had a reputation for being efficient, effective, on message and in lock-step with its top-down leadership.

The feud between Perez, a Miami Republican, and DeSantis over who has the best plan to assist the president with deporting immigrants living in the country illegally has already roiled the intricate ecosystem of veteran politicos and conservative media. It is now extending to the boots-on-the-ground members who are integral to winning elections and spreading conservative talking points, as both sides have been using the party to message their case to Republican constituents.

A main sticking point in the conflict is that Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton pushed a bill the Legislature passed in a matter of two days this week to transfer the power to oversee Florida’s immigration enforcement system from DeSantis to one of his top political rivals — the Republican agriculture commissioner, who is a likely gubernatorial candidate in 2026.

The governor’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier, posted on social media Thursday morning that DeSantis’ office “has not declined any effort to discuss policy” and has been “open to any legislative member that would like to sit down and talk policy.”

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The speaker is adamant, though, that it is DeSantis who won’t work with Perez, not the other way around.

“The reason we are in this position is there’s been a lack of communication between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature,” Perez said. “And it’s been like that for six years.”

He reiterated what he’s told the Times/Herald as well: Two weeks ago, he got off a plane in Tallahassee and was greeted by a voicemail from DeSantis that he was planning a special session to help the Trump administration carry out a sweeping deportation program.

Perez said he called DeSantis back but the governor didn’t answer. He said he’s still not heard from the governor.

“I mean, guys, put yourself in my position for a second. As soon as I landed I got blindsided by this,” Perez said. “Completely blindsided.”

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Vic Baker, a Republican state committeeman from Volusia County, asked why lawmakers were limiting Desantis’ power to enforce immigration laws in Florida.

“The chief law enforcement officer in the United States is the president,” Baker said. “Drawing from that, I’d say that the chief law enforcement officer in Florida is our governor who manages the executive branch, and that’s where it belongs.”

Baker added: “And I don’t see how the agriculture commissioner, who is operating in the interest of the farming community, doesn’t find a conflict of interest in also enforcing immigration, which the farming community obviously relies upon immigrants, in many cases, to run their farms.”

Perez said the immigration program wouldn’t be run by the “chief law enforcement officer” but rather by the “chief immigration officer that is going to administer the program with the federal government and in conjunction with law enforcement.”

“The enforcers are going to be the law enforcement officers. They’re the ones who are going to catch the bad guys and make sure that we deport the bad guys,” Perez said, noting the sheriffs were supporting the Legislature’s proposal. “That’s why we have so much money going towards the resources to make sure that law enforcement can do their job.”

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Republican State Committeewoman Kathryn “Kat” Gates-Skipper from Polk County said she, too, had concerns about a potential conflict of interest for the commissioner.

“As a veteran, immigration’s important to me. As a cattlewoman, agriculture is important to me,” Gates-Skipper said. “Why would you put a department impacted by immigration in charge of immigration?”

Perez said that it was his “understanding” from working with the federal government that “of the illegal immigrants that are being caught and sent back to their country, 1% works in agriculture.”

“Look, that 1% should be gone,” Perez said. “But there’s another 99% that no one’s talking about that aren’t in agriculture.”

Duval County School Board Member April Carney said that the biggest concern she’s heard from parents and grandparents was regarding a potential deal legislative leaders may strike with Democrats to put money in the budget for students living in the country illegally who will be losing in-state college tuition under the bill.

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“I want to know if there was any truth to that,” Carney said. “A lot of parents that I’ve spoken to are concerned about funding continuing for illegals and not for Florida residents.”

Perez said he will “never negotiate with the Democrats to take out the in-state tuition portion for illegal immigrants that we repealed. Never. You can take that to the bank.”

“Every Democrat in our chamber voted against this bill,” Perez said. “That’s ridiculous.”

It is not Perez who would need to strike a deal with Democrats to override the governor’s impending veto to the bill the Legislature passed late Tuesday night — it is the Senate president, who doesn’t have the necessary votes after six Republicans went against the bill, three of whom are DeSantis loyalists.

It’s unclear whether those exact deals will center on funding tuition for students in the country illegally or other Democratic priorities. That will likely be worked out during the regular legislative session starting March 4.

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“I don’t believe that any illegal immigrant in the state of Florida should be getting in-state tuition, which is essentially given by the government,” Perez said. “I want to make sure that is something you all completely understand.”



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Were any Florida ice skaters on the Washington DC plane that crashed? What we know

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Were any Florida ice skaters on the Washington DC plane that crashed? What we know


On Wednesday night, the unthinkable happened when a passenger plane with 60 passengers and four crewmembers aboard crashed into an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport and fell into the frigid Potomac River.

American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, attempted to land and collided in midair just before 9 p.m. with the Blackhawk helicopter, which was carrying three people. Officials announced Thursday morning that they believe there were no survivors and 28 bodies have been found so far in the massive search effort, complicated by the river’s near-freezing water and low visibility.

Among the people on board the plane were a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, according to a statement from U.S. Figure Skating, the sport’s American governing body. Some skaters competing at the event had Florida ties.

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“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. A group of Russian figure skaters and other Russian nationals were also on board and Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that renowned Russian figure skaters Evgenia and Vadim Naumov, 1994 world pairs champions, were traveling as coaches.

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the most prestigious event for American figure skating and the final event before the World Championships, were held in Wichita from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26, awarding national championships in four categories — Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Pairs and Ice Dance — in junior and senior levels. According to U.S. Figure Skating, nearly 150 up-and-coming athletes stayed after the event for the National Development Team, an advanced training program for young skaters held Monday and Tuesday.

These are the current U.S. skaters with Florida ties.

Timmy Chapman, 24, of Orlando

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Partnered with Ellie Korytek of Los Angeles, California. They began their partnership in March 2022. They were the U.S. junior champions in 2023 and 1st in the 2025 U.S. Pairs Final.

Korylek and Chapman competed in the Senior Pairs competition of the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita, and came in 7th, earning a score of 57.54.

It is not yet known if either skater was on the flight.

Valentina Plazas, 24, of Pembroke Pines and Maximiliano Fernandez, 29, of Miami

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Teamed up in May 2020, Plazas (born in Bogota, Colombia) and Fernandez (born in Hialeah, Florida) were the first U.S. pairs team with both partners of Latin descent to compete in the World Championships. They were 14th in that, 3rd in the 2024 U.S. Championships, 2nd in the 2023 Golden Spin of Zagreb and 5th in the 2023 U.S. Championships, among others.

Plazas and Fernandez did not compete in the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita. Both skaters have posted messages on social media about the flight.

“My heart breaks for the skating community right now,” Plazas posted on X, formerly Twitter, Thursday morning. “The moment i heard i only imagined all the athletes and families coming back from the camp. This is a shock to the system”

Fernandez can also be marked safe. He posted “Prayers to all those on Flight 5342” last night, and “Just devastating. Praying for everyone who was on board” Thursday morning.

Annabelle Morozov and Jeffrey Chen trained in Estero

Morozov, 23, and Chen, 22, are from New York City and Fremont, California, respectively, but they trained in Estero.

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They began their partnership in May 2024 and were 1st in the 2025 U.S. Ice Dance Final and 2nd in the 2024 Lombardia Trophy.

Morozov and Chen competed in the Senior Ice Dance competition of the 2025 U.S. Championships in Wichita, and came in 10th.

Has there ever been a similar tragedy in the figure skating community?

On Feb. 15, 1961, a plane carrying the U.S. national team U.S. national team to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia crashed en route from New York City, USA to Brussels, Belgium. 72 people were killed.

The U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund was established to offer skating and academic scholarships to promising members of the national figure skating community in tribute to the lives lost in the crash.

(This story was updated with new information.)

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Drew Doughty returns, but slumping Kings lose to Florida

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Drew Doughty returns, but slumping Kings lose to Florida


Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots for his second shutout of the season, and the Florida Panthers beat the Kings 3-0 on Wednesday night.

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett also scored for the Panthers, who entered the game a point back of Toronto for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. Bobrovsky got his 46th career shutout.

It was the second time in eight days the teams played each other. The Kings beat the Panthers 2-1 in Los Angeles last Wednesday.

Veteran Kings defenseman Drew Doughty played about 24 minutes in his season debut after missing the first 47 games with a broken ankle suffered during the preseason.

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Darcy Kuemper made 36 saves for the Kings, who have lost three straight and seven of their last 10 games. Eight of those games have been played on the road.

Tkachuk recorded his seventh multi-assist game of the season. He’s up to 31 assists on the season.

Key moment

Barkov doubled Florida’s lead during a five-on-three power play 4:43 into the third. That was his 16th point on the man-advantage this season.

Key stat

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Dmitry Kulikov’s assist in the first period came during his 1,000th career game. He’s the 13th Panthers player and 402nd skater in NHL history to hit that mark.

Up Next

The Kings play at Tampa Bay on Thursday, and the Panthers host Chicago on Saturday.



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