Florida
With FEMA in limbo, Florida's top emergency leader says state need not worry
SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — With FEMA in the Trump Administration’s crosshairs, Florida’s top emergency management official said Floridians need not worry ahead of the upcoming hurricane season.
Kevin Guthrie, the Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said whether FEMA is eliminated or not, the state’s hurricane response will remain the same.
Watch full report from Chad Mills
With FEMA in limbo, Florida’s top emergency leader says state need not worry
“What the governor is going to do, what I’m going to do underneath his direction is we’re going to continue to perform at a very high level for the residents of Florida,” Guthrie told ABC Action News Thursday, after attending a hurricane preparation workshop in Sarasota.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump have both said they favor dismantling the agency.
Thursday, the acting FEMA administrator, Cam Hamilton, was fired a day after he contradicted both Noem and Trump by testifying he was not in favor of dismantling FEMA.
In a recent Truth Social post, President Trump said FEMA’s power needs to return to the states.
“States and locals need to do more. I agree with that premise,” Guthrie said Thursday.
According to Guthrie, Florida has been practicing that premise for decades, which is why he believes a potential shift in federal emergency response would mean little to the Sunshine State.
Though Guthrie said Florida uses FEMA “extensively,” he said the overwhelming majority of resources Florida needs to respond to hurricanes and disasters come from within the state or partnering states.
The president recently appointed Guthrie, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, and 11 others to serve on the newly-created FEMA Review Council, which will ponder FEMA’s future role: how it should be streamlined, how it should be reformed, and if it should be eliminated.
“I definitely believe that there should be some changes,” Guthrie told ABC Action News. “The complexity of FEMA we do need to streamline.”
However, whether FEMA is eliminated or not, Guthrie thinks the federal government will still need an “emergency management function” to respond to “truly catastrophic events.” He said President Trump does not disagree with that idea.
“He has said he wants to be there for Americans on their worst day — on the truly catastrophic stuff,” Guthrie said. “He has never said, ‘I want to never fund anybody on the worst day — on these Cat 5 hurricanes.’ He’s never said that.”
Guthrie told the crowd in Sarasota that he welcomes Floridians’ ideas and will advocate for the state’s interests while serving on the president’s council.
“I’m looking forward to getting in and diving in and seeing what we might be able to make as suggestions back to the President of the United States,” he said.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking.”
Condo residents voice their concerns after substantial concrete cracks forced an evacuation of a condo building on Sand Key.
Construction crews continued to stabilize condo on Sand Key after crack found in parking garage: CPD
TCPalm staff share their top restaurant recommendations in Vero Beach, Sebastian, Fellsmere.
Indian River County is home to many unique restaurants, far too many to choose from.
There are so many restaurants on the Treasure Coast to try, but it can be hard knowing where to start.
Here are the TCPalm staff’s recommendations for restaurants in Vero Beach, Sebastian and Fellsmere.
Indian River County restaurant recommendations
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
Florida
Pilot program aims to build $200K homes in Central Florida to help low-income families buy, not rent
ORLANDO, Fla. – For many Central Florida families, the dream of owning a home feels further out of reach than ever.
With the median home price now topping $400,000, a new pilot program in Orlando is trying to change that by building new homes for about half the cost.
A lot off Quill Avenue in Parramore may not look like much right now, but organizers say it could soon be the site of a new home priced around $200,000 for low-income families.
“We just really wanted an opportunity to bring actual affordable housing to people who have basically been forever renters,” said Satrina Whithead with the GXVE Homes Initiative.
The GXVE Homes Initiative says the goal is to help families earning between $16,000 and $65,000 a year get a chance at homeownership. Whithead said the homes could range from 500 to 1,400 square feet, depending on the lot size and location.
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association reports the median home price in the area is now more than $400,000. Whithead said GXVE hopes to sell homes for about half that.
“There’s nothing wrong with profit, but at the end of the day, I want to help where the need is greatest,” Whithead said.
Organizers say they are already planning to build in Parramore and are working to close on two additional properties. They also say they have properties planned in Sanford and Mims, with a goal of bringing eight homes a year to Central Florida.
“You can pay 80 percent of your salary on rent just to have a place to live. So getting that number back down to around 50 percent is extremely important,” said Mike Harris, vice president of GXVE Homes.
Florida Made Tiny Homes, which is partnering with the organization, said it plans to build concrete homes that exceed safety requirements for the area.
“I don’t think there’s going to be anything available on the market in that price range, much less new construction,” said Dylan Grace, co-founder of Florida Made Tiny Homes.
Program organizers say they expect to start construction in the fall and hope to complete the first home within six to eight months after work begins. For more information please click here.
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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A former Florida juvenile probation officer is facing more than 100 felony charges after investigators said she leaked confidential court and law enforcement information to people tied to a drug trafficking investigation.
Crystal Gaynell Ann Lawson was booked into the Orange County Jail on Thursday, according to Orange County Corrections records.
Investigators said Lawson improperly accessed the Comprehensive Case Information System, or CCIS, more than 100 times and shared information from active criminal cases with members of a drug trafficking organization.
FOX 35 Orlando reported Lawson was arrested on 113 felony counts of computer crimes for unauthorized access. Investigators said she allegedly accessed the database 106 times between January and May.
Lawson is accused of using the database to search for active criminal cases tied to members of the organization. Authorities said some of the information that was leaked included arrest warrants and documents connected to an active investigation.
Lawson was hired by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in February 2022. As part of that job, she was given access to the CCIS database. Authorities said she was fired later that year after an arrest, but her database access was not terminated.
See also: ‘Elf,’ ‘Couples Retreat’ actor jailed with no bond after Florida arrest
Investigators said the leaks resulted in lost evidence, unrecovered assets and at least one person fleeing to avoid arrest before later being taken into custody.
Lawson previously worked for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, where she had access to the court information system as part of her job. Authorities said she was later fired, but her database access was not terminated.
Orange County Corrections records list Lawson’s case status as “presentenced” and show multiple entries for “offense against computer users.”
The records list the arresting agency as the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and show bond amounts of $10,000 on several listed case sequences. The jail record also notes an “ICJIS Affidavit.”
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