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Lawmakers call on FEMA to provide housing assistance for evacuees

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Florida lawmakers, led by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), are calling on FEMA to quickly approve the governor of Puerto Rico’s request for additional assistance to help provide temporary housing for evacuees in Florida and elsewhere.
Nelson, in a letter he sent today with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and others, urged FEMA Administrator Brock Long to approve Puerto Rico’s request for Transitional Shelter Assistance, or TSA, a FEMA program designed to provide short-term lodging to individuals and families whose homes are uninhabitable following a natural disaster.
“The TSA program provides short-term lodging for individuals and families who are unable to return to their homes,” the lawmakers wrote. “With more than 3.5 million individuals affected by this storm, approving Puerto Rico’s request for TSA will provide desperately needed living accommodations for affected Puerto Rican families.”
FEMA’s TSA program makes direct payments to participating hotels and motels to provide temporary housing for evacuees.
If authorized, evacuees in Florida and elsewhere will be eligible to use the program to stay in a hotel or motel for a limited time and have the costs covered by FEMA.
According to the state of Florida, more than 73,000 evacuees from Puerto Rico have already arrived in Florida since October 3rd, many of whom have no ties to the area and are unable to afford housing.
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello requested Transitional Shelter Assistance for evacuees on Oct. 25.
In addition to Nelson and Rubio, the letter urging FEMA to quickly approve that request was also signed by Reps. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), Val Demings (D-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Al Lawson (D-FL), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), John Rutherford (R-FL), Darren Soto (D-FL), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).
Following is the text of the lawmakers’ letter, and a PDF copy is available here:

October 26, 2017

The Honorable Brock Long
Administrator
Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20472
Dear Administrator Long:
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, we write in full support of Puerto Rico’s request for assistance under the Transitional Shelter Assistance (TSA) program. It is critical that we provide Puerto Ricans with essential lodging assistance during the recovery process.
The TSA program provides short-term lodging for individuals and families who are unable to return to their homes for an extended period due to a natural disaster, such as a hurricane. With more than 3.5 million individuals affected by this storm, approving Puerto Rico’s request for TSA will provide desperately needed living accommodations for affected Puerto Rican families.
Unfortunately, it will be months before we fully realize the devastation Hurricane Maria has caused to Puerto Rico. While families seek stability and safety in the aftermath of this storm, we request swift approval of this invaluable program.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Audubon Names Senator Rob Bradley as Champion of the Everglades

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Bradley Celebrated for Passing Landmark Everglades Bill

State Senator Rob Bradley was presented with Audubon’s Champion of the Everglades Award at the Audubon Assembly in St. Augustine on October 25 for his leadership in Everglades conservation. Senator Bradley addressed Florida’s largest conservation gathering and spoke to the ecological importance of the Everglades.
“I am extremely honored to be recognized by Audubon Florida,” said Senator Bradley. “The ecological importance of the Florida Everglades reaches far beyond our state. I’m proud to have sponsored the legislation that will reduce harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee and will allow for a large volume of water to be cleaned, stored and moved south into the Everglades and Florida Bay.”
Audubon is Florida’s oldest and largest conservation organization and presents the Champion of the Everglades Award each year to a person who has gone above and beyond to protect Florida’s water and wildlife in the River of Grass. Previous award recipients include Nathaniel Reed, Senator Bob Graham, and Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Bradley was the sponsor of Senate Bill 10 (2017)- considered the most important Everglades legislation in a decade.
“Senator Bradley’s leadership on behalf of the Everglades proves his dedication to protecting Florida’s land and water resources,” said Julie Hill-Gabriel, Audubon Florida’s deputy director. “He secured support in the Florida Legislature for the biggest legislative victory for Florida’s environment in 2017. We applaud Senator Bradley and are glad to name him as this year’s Champion of the Everglades.”

Gov. Scott Directs FDOT to Examine Ways to Increase Fuel Capacity During Emergencies

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Governor Rick Scott today directed the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to work with other state agencies, Florida ports, law enforcement and fuel retailers to begin examining ways to increase fuel capacity during emergencies such as hurricanes. FDOT’s report will be submitted in January 2018 and will include recommendations for fuel distribution and availability to consumers.
Governor Scott said, “Today, I am directing FDOT to begin examining ways to increase fuel capacity so we can be sure families and visitors have the resources they need to safely prepare and evacuate during times of emergencies. Last month, 6.8 million Floridians evacuated in preparation for Hurricane Irma, the largest evacuation in U.S. history, and we are committed to making sure our state remains fully prepared for any potential disaster. Increasing the availability of fuel for evacuations at Florida gas stations is a top priority and I look forward to reviewing FDOT’s findings.”
This directive is in addition to Governor Scott’s October 12th order directing FDOT to begin examining ways to help expedite evacuation routes from the I-75/ Florida Turnpike Interchange near Wildwood to the Florida-Georgia border during times of emergencies.

Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez Proposes to Block FPL From Passing Turkey Point Clean-Up Costs onto Consumers

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Following evidence of water contamination emanating from Turkey Point potentially impacting our drinking water and Biscayne Bay, that Florida Power & Light was aware of for years, Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Miami) has filed legislation that would prevent FPL from asking customer to pay more to remediate the contamination. The bill would block utilities from recovering costs to remediate environmental damage they knowingly caused. 
FPL has already made such a request. Yesterday, the Public Service Commission heard expert testimony on FPL’s request to charge customers $200 million in clean-up costs for the contamination coming from Turkey Point’s cooling canals. The Commission will vote in November on the request.
Sen. Rodriguez said:
“If FPL makes the mess, FPL shareholders should clean that mess up not consumers. FPL has known about water contamination coming from Turkey Point’s cooling canals for at least five years and potentially for decades and has done nothing while the problem worsened. It is outrageous that FPL would even think to ask consumers rather than their shareholders to shoulder the costs of an environmental mess they caused, tried to hide and could have resolved a long time ago at a fraction of the cost.”

Holly Hill woman turns $5 into $500,000 playing GOLD RUSH DOUBLER Scratch-Off game

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The Florida Lottery announces that Sharnasia Mclendon, 32, of Holly Hill, claimed a top prize in the $500,000 GOLD RUSH DOUBLER Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. She purchased her winning ticket from Stop N Save Food & Beverage, located at 1096 Mason Avenue in Daytona Beach.
The $5 Scratch-Off game, $500,000 GOLD RUSH DOUBLER, launched in January, and features more than $182.8 million in prizes, including 44 top prizes of $500,000. The game’s overall odds of winning are one-in-3.98.
Scratch-Off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 68 percent of ticket sales and generating more than $784 million for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in fiscal year 2016-17.

Destination Marketing Organizations Statement on Speaker Corcoran's Announcement

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Statement by Robert Skrob, Executive Director, Florida
Association of Destination Marketing Organizations

Regarding new accountability agenda items, legal action and trade
secret reform announced today by Speaker Richard Corcoran

“Florida’s Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are fully transparent and in compliance with all state and local laws. Adding more government bureaucracy and redundancy just adds costs. Our state tourism numbers are at record levels. The current structure is working.
If there are ways to further strengthen accountability, we welcome the opportunity to have a dialogue on an approach that protects the jobs of the 1.4 million Floridians whose livelihoods depend on tourism.”

UCF Part of National Team Helping Protect Infrastructure from Future Hurricanes

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The simple words spoken by an elderly woman in Cape Coral are as an example of why UCF engineering Assistant Professor Luis Arboleda-Monsalve works so hard to make a difference in his profession, which in turn has a direct impact on hurricane readiness.
“She told us to make sure to do something good with the report,” said the structural and geotechnical engineer. “That’s what we are doing, issuing a set of recommendations about building codes and standards so we not only help infrastructure be more resistant, but also more resilient so that after the next disaster, people can return to their normal lives as quickly as possible.”
The woman was one of hundreds in Cape Coral who saw the canal seawalls behind their homes collapse under the brunt of Hurricane Irma last month. These walls help keep the canals from flooding homes, protect them from the wave impact, and keep the soil under the homes stable.
Arboleda-Monsalve was one of three researchers who traveled from Cape Coral to Everglades City and from Miami to Key West taking inventory of geotechnical and infrastructure damage caused by Hurricane Irma’s storm surge, waves and subsequent flooding.
Arboleda-Monsalve is part of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association, a National Science Foundation-funded group based at the University of California at Berkeley. The volunteer organization dispatches experts in civil engineering to areas hit by natural disasters. GEER’s mission is to turn disaster into knowledge that can be used for future improvement of engineering standards and practices nationwide. Reports with observations and recommendations are posted to the GEER website, creating a national, centralized hub of peer-reviewed post-storm technical reports that can help guide the community to create, improve or modify construction practices and codes.
GEER had teams in Texas after Hurricane Harvey, in Florida after Hurricane Irma, and in Mexico after a recent 7.1 magnitude earthquake. The GEER teams arrive after emergency personnel have assembled so they don’t get in the way of distributing services to people who need it.
Two teams worked in Florida following Irma. Arboleda-Monsalve’s team included Professor Nina Stark from Virginia Tech and Professor Inthuorn Sasanakul from the University of South Carolina. They focused on geotechnical damage on bridges, roads, canals and shoreline damage from hurricane-related erosion in the west and south side of Florida. Another team focused on the north and east part of the state. A different team of structural engineers handled damage caused by wind and focused on other parts of the state affected by the hurricane.
The team collected more than 1,500 photos, and the U.S. Geological Survey, NSF, Florida Division of Emergency Management and other agencies helped them gain access to areas and target the visit to the most affected areas in the state.
“We saw a lot of seawall collapses, especially the older seawalls. The newer ones did their job,” Arboleda-Monsalve said. “Riprap, typically used to prevent erosion under bridges and coastline, did help. We also saw a lot of exposed foundations and some areas decimated. I wasn’t prepared for the human toll.”
The first Irma report was uploaded to the GEER website last week. Reports about the earthquake in Mexico and other natural disasters, including massive flooding, landslides and tsunamis in the United States and around the world, also are posted on the GEER website. “In a few months the report about Irma will be updated to include official recommendations about codes and standards. This will happen after the teams have time to go through all the data collected during their visits, Arboleda-Monsalve said.
“It’s civil engineers who come up with solutions and recommend codes and standards to help keep highrises from collapsing during earthquakes, bridges from failing under heavy truck loads and homes from being destroyed during tropical storms and hurricanes.”
“I know I’m not curing cancer, but I am making a difference,” Arboleda-Monsalve said. “By researching how our work holds up in the real world and making recommended changes when needed, we are helping keep people safe. That person from Cape Coral, I’ll never forget her words. She reminded the team that it is our responsibility to help secure our shores from the next natural disaster.”

DEO Awards Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grants to Eight Florida Communities

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More than $90,000 in grant funds will be
used to support economic development projects

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) recently awarded $91,000 in Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grants to eight communities across the state. The grants provide funding that assists local governments in pursuing specific economic development projects or supplementing existing projects.
DEO Executive Director Cissy Proctor, said, “DEO is committed to using our resources to help all Florida communities flourish. The Competitive Florida Economic Development Project grants offer valuable tools to help support communities in reaching their local economic development goals.”
Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grants are available to all counties and municipalities to help communities learn more about local assets and economic conditions, and develop specific local projects. Grant awards range from $5,000 and $15,000.
The Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grants for 2017-18 are:

The Competitive Florida Partnership is a two-year program that provides technical assistance and support to rural areas seeking to improve their communities through an asset-based economic development strategy. The Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grants are offered for communities that may already be undertaking economic development efforts and allows local governments to pursue a particular facet of the Competitive Florida model without obligating to the Competitive Florida Partnership.
For more details on the process and provisions of this facet of the Competitive Florida Partnership grant, visit the Competitive Florida Economic Development Project Grant.

Step Up For Students Honors Insurance Industry, Tower Hill for Record-Setting Contributions

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More than 3,200 Volusia County children
benefit from Florida Tax Credit Scholarships

Florida insurance companies have been protecting more than just Floridians’ homes this hurricane season, as they have made generous contributions to Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that helps administer the needs-based Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship Program.

Tower Hill Insurance, a significant contributor from the insurance industry, and Step Up For Students hosted an event at Calvary Christian Academy in Ormond Beach to celebrate the insurance company’s contributions and the work Step Up continues to do for Florida’s lower-income families. Since 2011, Tower Hill has contributed over $3 million to Step Up For Students, providing scholarships to more than 600 of Florida’s most underprivileged students who are given access to a private school or financial assistance for transportation to attend an out-of-district public school.

“By investing in the future of our students, we are investing in the future of Florida,” said Don Matz, president of Tower Hill. “One of our top priorities at Tower Hill is to give back to our community as much as we can, and we choose to start with these deserving students.”

Step Up For Students provides opportunities to nearly 105,000 lower-income students across Florida this school year with 3,213 scholars in Volusia County.  

“We are so grateful for Tower Hill’s investment in our program and the children who depend on it,”  said Joe Pfountz, CFO of Step Up For Students. “The company’s generosity is crucial to the work our team does and shows just how much they really care about Florida’s kids and its future.”

The typical scholarship student comes from a single-parent household where the average income is $25,353. A recent study found that students who receive these scholarships for at least four years are 40 percent more likely to attend college than their public school counterparts, and 29 percent more likely to earn an associate degree.

During the event, Step Up For Students fourth-grade scholar Mia Rauseo shared her experience.

“I am so happy to be given the chance to come here,” said Rauseo. “And I know it would not have been possible without the help of Step Up For Students and companies like Tower Hill Insurance. I am doing well in my classes and I truly enjoy coming to school.”

To learn more about Tower Hill Insurance, visit www.thig.com. To learn more about the impact of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program or how to support Step Up For Students, visit www.StepUpForStudents.org.

Commissioner Adam Putnam Announces 50th Concealed Weapon Permit Partnership With County Tax Collectors

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Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam today announced that the 50th concealed weapon permit partnership with county tax collectors’ offices will go live Friday, Oct. 27. With the addition of the Franklin County Tax Collector’s Office, Florida residents can now apply for or renew concealed weapon licenses at 57 tax collector office locations in 50 counties.
“We’re dedicated to making our concealed weapon license application and renewal process as convenient as possible for law-abiding citizens,” said Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam. “By partnering with county tax collectors, we’re increasing efficiency while enhancing customer service.”
In 2014, Commissioner Putnam implemented this first-of-its-kind partnership, which allows tax collectors to receive applications, take fingerprints and photographs and send the information to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to process the request for a concealed weapon license. Tax collector offices also offer on-site, same-day printing of renewal licenses for Floridians.
The convenience of applying at a tax collector’s office does not affect the integrity of the concealed weapon license program. Since the partnership with tax collectors began, more than 217,000 concealed weapon license applications have been accepted by tax collector offices. There are currently more than 1.8 million concealed weapon licenses.
The 50 tax collectors participating in both the application and renewal process for concealed weapon licenses include the following counties: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Flagler, Franklin, Gulf, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Holmes, Indian River, Jackson, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Walton, Wakulla and Washington.
Consumers can still apply for or renew a concealed weapon license via mail or at one of the department’s eight regional offices in the following locations: Doral, Fort Walton, Jacksonville, North Port, Orlando, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach. Concealed weapon licenses are valid for seven years.
For more information on Florida concealed weapon licenses, visit FreshFromFlorida.com.