Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis announces crackdown on ‘porch pirates’ in new Florida bill
A new bill moving quickly through the Florida legislature would intensify penalties for retail theft and “porch piracy,” making it a third-degree felony to steal packages worth over $40.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the crackdown at a Tuesday news conference in Cape Coral, describing it as a measure to avoid a “culture of lawlessness” in progressive states like California and New York.
“You have Amazon will deliver it, they drop this stuff off, and sometimes it’s gone,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “And you have the ability with cameras now on people’s doorsteps, this is easily solvable, but you’ve got to have adequate penalties to be able to do that.”
The bill, HB 549, was added to the Florida House Judiciary Committee agenda on Monday. Its companion bill in the senate is SB 824. In addition to penalties for porch piracy, the legislation also targets retail thefts, adding new penalties for looting and “smash and grab” crimes and lengthening the amount of time in which someone can be prosecuted as a repeat offender from a month to a year.
“If you go into a pharmacy, and the toothpaste is behind lock and key — it’s almost like Fort Knox, some of these places, just for normal items — you know you’ve got some problems,” DeSantis said.
Also in attendance at Tuesday’s news conference were Attorney General Ashley Moody, FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass, State Rep. Bob Rommel, the bill’s sponsor in the House, and John Gavin of Gavins Ace Hardware.
In 2023, Florida was ranked as the state with the lowest number of Google searches related to package thefts, according to a report by Lombardo Living. It also has some of the lowest larceny rates. State law already makes it a third-degree felony to steal a package worth over $100 from someone’s porch.
But Moody said Tuesday that the goal of the legislation is to “keep Florida Florida.”
“You know, all these other states are going to have slogans like ‘make California Florida,’ or ‘make New York Florida,’” she said. “We have to keep Florida Florida, continue to be the leader. And this is a great example of how we do that.”
Some Democratic lawmakers have criticized the bill, calling the new penalties too harsh.
“For a first-time offender who doesn’t necessarily know the value of the item that they’re stealing, to give that person the scar of a felony offense … is incredibly problematic,” Rep. Michael Gottlieb, D-Davie, a criminal defense attorney, told the Tallahassee Democrat.
The new bill also makes it a third-degree felony to commit coordinated “smash-and-grab” crimes, in which a group of people storm a store, loot it, and storm out, a phenomenon that has become popular on social media.
Meanwhile, the legislation includes a provision so that prosecutors add up thefts over the course of a year, rather than a month, to determine whether the suspect will be charged with a felony.
If someone’s total thefts exceed $750 in value, they will now be charged with a third-degree felony. The same is true if someone commits three or more thefts of more than 10 items at two or more locations over the course of a year.
Florida
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida | Latest Weather Clips | FOX Weather
Area to watch for tropical development in Gulf to bring downpours to drought-stricken Florida
While this area to watch for tropical development may not actually become tropical, it will definitely bring rain to Florida, which desperately needs it. The system is likely to bring the most significant rain to the Florida panhandle down south to Tampa, but the entire state can expect some moisture through midweek next week.
Gulf system to bring downpours to Florida
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber is continuing to watch an area in the Gulf that is expected to bring much-needed rain to Florida this weekend. He said the system will likely drift to the north and northwest and will linger before heading to the northeast. He said to get a tropical depression, or a tropical storm there needs to be winds and a closed low and he is not seeing that in the models yet. Weber is also tracking a system off the coast of Africa that has a 10% chance of developing over the next week. He says it will likely enter a hostile environment and dissipate.
TAMPA, Fla. – Forecasters are tracking a broad disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast that could bring much-needed rain to parched communities this weekend.
Gulf tropical development potential
What we know:
Models continue to indicate there is a potential for an area of low pressure to form over the northeast Gulf off the west coast of Florida over the weekend.
The National Hurricane Center says an area in the Gulf has a 30% chance of tropical development over the next seven days.
Models a shifting away from the forecast of the system moving over the state and off the coast of the Carolinas. Models are now indicating a more likely scenario that it lingers in the Gulf over the weekend and may drift more to the northwest near the Florida Panhandle or Louisiana coast. Early next week conditions look like they will become less conducive and may prohibit much development. Regardless of whether it organizes, the system will bring tropical downpours and increased moisture across Florida and parts of the Southeast.
FOX 13 Meteorologist Jim Weber states we are close to 7.50″ below average on our rainfall in Tampa for the year. A weak area of low pressure or tropical system can be beneficial in helping to make up for the rainfall deficit we have been experiencing. Drought conditions continue over much of the state of Florida. If this system ends up drifting more westward, it would limit the total amount of rainfall and the highest totals would be along the immediate west coast.
Atlantic tropical development potential
A tropical wave southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands remains disorganized.
It is moving west-northwest and, according to the NHC, there is a chance for slow development over the next day or two. By the weekend it is expected to move into less conducive conditions and Saharan dust will begin to affect this wave, limiting its moisture. The time for this system to develop is very limited and will not develop after the weekend.
The NHC is giving it a 10% chance of developing.
Weather factors and storm names
What we don’t know:
Officials cannot yet confirm if the disturbance will overcome environmental hurdles like land interaction, wind shear and dry air. Computer models remain uncertain on how much this system will develop over the waters of the Gulf. If it stays over the warm waters of the Gulf longer, it may give it additional time to organize. Interactions with land and wind shear will likely pose obstacles in further development.
To become a tropical system, it must develop a defined circulation with organized thunderstorms. If it reaches maximum sustained winds of 39 mph, it will become a tropical storm and be named Bertha.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13Meteorologist Jim Weber, the National Hurricane Center tropical weather outlooks, as well as forecast computer models.
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