The morning edition

King tides flood streets from Fort Lauderdale to St. Augustine, with coastal flood warnings through Wednesday

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Good Morning! On October 27, 1795, the United States and Spain signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo, also called Pinckney's Treaty, at San Lorenzo de El Escorial in Spain. It fixed the border between the young country and Spanish Florida, and a joint American and Spanish survey team set Florida's northern boundary at 31 degrees north latitude, running east to the St. Marys River and out to the Atlantic. Spain and the United States kept arguing over the line until the U.S. acquired Florida in 1821.

In This Issue: King tides are flooding streets from Fort Lauderdale to St. Augustine under coastal flood warnings through Wednesday; USAA is cutting auto insurance rates an average of 7% for nearly 500,000 Florida policies; and patients describe five-figure bills from freestanding ERs. Plus: a Florida company's AI-run plant lab heads for the space station, and the Rays face elimination down 3-0 in the World Series.

Weather: Showers and storms are likely Tuesday from West Palm Beach to Miami, while most of the rest of the state is mostly sunny. (NWS)

Tropical: The National Hurricane Center does not expect any tropical cyclones to form in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf over the next seven days. (National Hurricane Center)

Rip Current Report: The rip current risk stays high Tuesday from Nassau through Miami-Dade, with surf of 9 to 12 feet in St. Lucie and Martin and 7 to 9 feet from Nassau through St. Johns and in Palm Beach County, under High Surf Advisories. The risk is moderate across the Panhandle and from Charlotte to Collier, and low from Levy to Sarasota. (NWS)

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King Tides Flood Streets Along Florida's East Coast as Coastal Flood Warnings Run Through Wednesday

A coastal flood warning covers Miami-Dade, Broward and the upper Keys through 8 p.m. Wednesday, WSVN reports, with a wind advisory, a gale warning offshore and a high rip current risk. Parts of Fort Lauderdale saw major flooding Monday morning as peak tides pushed water up through storm drains and over seawalls in neighborhoods such as Riviera Isles, off Las Olas Boulevard.

In Martin County, flooding left SW Dyer Point Road in Palm City impassable and deputies brought in three high-water vehicles, while flooding also closed roads in Boynton Beach, CBS12 reports.

In Volusia County, the tides are leaving beaches bare and seawalls exposed. At New Smyrna Beach, a county project placed 550,000 cubic yards of sand along more than four miles of shoreline only months ago; officials say some of it may have shifted offshore and that a full damage assessment must wait until the tides ease later this week.

Floodwater returned to St. Augustine streets Monday morning, including Coquina Avenue, repeating weekend scenes. The city says trash pickup will be delayed on flooded streets, and Action News Jax forecasters expect tidal flooding through Tuesday.

USAA Auto Insurance Rates Dropping for Nearly 500,000 Florida Policies

Florida Insurance Commissioner Mike Yaworsky approved a series of USAA Group auto rate decreases that average 7% across more than 498,000 policies, the Office of Insurance Regulation says.

Savings vary by program, from a 0.4% cut to an 11.2% cut. USAA's biggest Florida concentrations are in Brevard, Escambia and Okaloosa, where average decreases are 5.8%, 8% and 8.4%.

The state says USAA provided nearly $1 billion in rate reductions and member returns to Florida members between December 2025 and July 2026, including a $500 million dividend to about 830,000 members. CFO Blaise Ingoglia credited the state's tort reforms.

Regulators say Florida's five largest auto insurance groups, 81% of the market, show a combined indicated rate change of minus 12.6% for 2026, and Florida had the nation's lowest personal auto liability loss ratio in 2025, at 52.5%.

Florida Freestanding ER Bills Stun Patients After Routine Visits

Patients told the Tampa Bay 28 I-Team about freestanding emergency room charges of more than $8,000 to treat a dislocated finger, $35,000 for rabies vaccinations and more than $17,000 after a head injury.

Florida has 166 hospital-based, off-campus emergency departments, accounting for nearly 2 million visits. Unlike urgent care clinics, they operate as hospital ERs and bill at emergency department rates.

A 2021 Florida House analysis put average urgent care treatment at about $193, compared with more than $2,000 at a freestanding ER. State law requires the facilities to post signs saying they are emergency departments, not urgent care, and to list their average facility fees, which can top $5,000.

The Florida Hospital Association declined an interview but said in a statement that standalone ERs bring emergency care closer to home and cut wait times as the state grows.

Florida Company Plans AI-Controlled Plant Experiment Aboard Space Station

Florida-based Voyager Technologies has signed a contract with Interstellar Lab to host BioPod EDEN, an autonomous plant-growth chamber, aboard the International Space Station, research that could help grow food on future moon and Mars missions.

The chamber's AI system monitors and adjusts the growing environment while researchers compare results with a matching experiment on the ground. The first mission is planned to last between 30 days and three months in orbit.

The project has a Kennedy Space Center connection: Interstellar Lab's space science leader, Ralph Fritsche, spent 34 years with NASA at Kennedy, most recently managing space crop production. The company earlier won NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge grand prize.

The system is designed to run largely on its own, saving astronaut time; at the end, a crew member will freeze plant samples for return to Earth. No launch date has been announced.

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❖ Miami-Dade — Homestead Nonprofit Plans 100 Affordable Homes: Homestead: Touching Miami with Love is working to turn unused land behind its building into a five-story development with 100 affordable housing units, a $53 million project, NBC6 reports. Leader Trina Harris says the nonprofit has seen residents and its own staff struggle to afford rents in the community where they grew up.

❖ Tampa Bay — Tampa Bay Wave and Vanderbilt Health Launch Joint HealthTech Accelerator: Tampa: Tampa Bay Wave picked 15 startups for its 2026 HealthTech|X Accelerator with Vanderbilt Health, the program's first expansion beyond Florida, spanning Tampa and Nashville. The companies are developing mental health and addiction treatments, including San Diego-based CARI Health, which monitors medication levels to personalize methadone treatment.

❖ Orlando — AdventHealth Surgeon Performs Remote Robotic Telesurgery 35 Miles Away: Celebration/Minneola: Dr. Vipul Patel at AdventHealth Celebration remotely operated on a 66-year-old prostate cancer patient in Minneola on Oct. 25 as part of an FDA-approved investigational study, with an on-site team ready to intervene. AdventHealth says published evidence has not documented a robotic telesurgery between two U.S. locations before.

❖ Jacksonville — $100M+ Town Center West Planned for Former Neptune Beach Kmart: Neptune Beach: TriBridge Residential plans to demolish the former Kmart at 500 Atlantic Blvd. and replace it with a hotel, two restaurants, and office and retail space, a project expected to cost more than $100 million. It still needs variances and development plan approval, then about 9–12 months of design and permitting.

❖ Gainesville — Harn Museum Opens New 3,600-Square-Foot Gallery Today: Gainesville: The University of Florida's Harn Museum of Art opens its new 3,600-square-foot gallery and 1,000-square-foot Bishop Study Center Tuesday, Oct. 27. The first show, Beyond the Brush, features 70 works of Florida art by nearly 60 artists, including Winslow Homer and the Highwaymen; admission is free.

❖ Palm Beach — $17 Million Boys & Girls Club Opens at Dreher Park: West Palm Beach: The Julie and Mike Connors Boys and Girls Club at Dreher Park is set to open Tuesday, a $17 million project expected to serve about 250 kids a day, CEO Jaene Miranda said. It includes a teen workforce center for robotics and drone, healthcare and culinary certifications, and a 12,000-square-foot gym; membership is $30 a year.

❖ Gulf Coast — Two Fort Walton Beach Family Doctors Open New Practice in Destin: Destin: Drs. Chris Pappas and John Loudermilk are opening an MDVIP-affiliated family medicine practice at 4608 Opa-Locka Lane after leaving their Fort Walton Beach practice July 31. They plan to see about 10 patients a day; membership is $2,600 a year, and the office is expected to open in a couple of weeks.

❖ North Florida — Eglin FCU Gives $23,548 to Preserve DeFuniak Springs Woman's Club: DeFuniak Springs: Eglin Federal Credit Union donated $23,548 to the DeFuniak Springs Woman's Club for electrical, insulation, flooring, painting and attic work at its historic clubhouse at 23 S. Sixth St. Founded in 1915, the club is the city's oldest civic organization and runs the Fashions to Share thrift boutique.

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❖ Nearly 2.8 Million Floridians Have Voted as Early Voting Goes Statewide — About 2.8 million votes had been cast for the Nov. 3 election after the first weekend of mandatory early voting in all 67 counties, WUSF reports. By Monday morning, 1.38 million people had voted early, about 600,000 of them Republicans and 505,000 Democrats. Of the 1.4 million mail ballots, Democrats returned 604,000 and Republicans just over 500,000. The 2022 midterm drew 7.8 million voters.

❖ Donalds and Jolly Lay Out Competing Plans in One-on-One Interviews With WPTV — In separate WPTV interviews, Republican Byron Donalds pledged to "DOGE all governments" in the state and promised funding help for fiscally constrained counties if Amendment 3 passes. Democrat David Jolly listed his priorities as "housing, healthcare, education, and no data centers."

❖ Republican Deborah Adeimy Challenges Rep. Lois Frankel in Trump's Home District — Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel, 78, is seeking an eighth term in the redrawn, Democratic-leaning 23rd District, which includes Mar-a-Lago. Republican financial planner Deborah Adeimy, 56, is making her third run for Congress. Trump left Adeimy off his Oct. 22 list of 24 Florida congressional endorsements, and she has said she never sought his endorsement.

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❖ Former Sarasota Big Lots to Become Florida's Antique Mall — Florida's Antique Mall plans to open in the 42,000-square-foot former Big Lots at 501 N. Beneva Road in Sarasota by the end of 2026, its second location after an Inverness flagship that has grown to 350 vendors. More than 170 people attended a vendor dinner last week, over 40 prospective vendors placed deposits, and the company plans to hire about seven employees.

❖ Local Farms and Markets See a Boom After Cyclospora Lettuce Outbreak — About 500 Florida cases were linked to this season's cyclospora outbreak tied to processed iceberg lettuce, and some Central Floridians have shifted to local markets since. Rockledge Gardens says its greens "fly off the shelves," and New Smyrna's Fletcher Family Farms says it had its busiest summer in years. USDA data cited in the story show the price farmers got for fresh head lettuce fell from $80.10 per 100 pounds in June to $23.50 in July.

❖ Hulk Hogan's Clearwater Beach Compound Sells for $8.7 Million — Hulk Hogan's Clearwater Beach compound sold Friday for a combined $8.7 million, according to property records cited by Realtor.com: $5.9 million for the larger home and $2.8 million for the neighboring property. The mansion was listed in January for nearly $11 million and had been cut to $6.9 million by September. Hogan bought the homes for $3.33 million in 2012 and $1.6 million in 2016.

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Sumrall Won't Name a Gators Starter for Georgia; Both QBs Banged Up but Practicing

Jon Sumrall said Monday he isn't naming a starter yet between Tramell Jones Jr., who led the 27-24 upset at Texas while dealing with "wear-and-tear" injuries, and Aaron Philo, who is coming back from the shoulder injury that kept him out of that game. Both practiced Monday. Sumrall expects to decide Wednesday but won't make a formal announcement. "Both guys are available. Believe in both guys," he said. Whoever starts faces Georgia's defense, which leads the SEC in scoring defense at 15.9 points per game.

Brewers Rout Rays 10-1 at the Trop, Take 3-0 World Series Lead

Milwaukee scored two runs in the third and eight in the fifth and outhit Tampa Bay 16-3 to win Game 3 at Tropicana Field 10-1. The Rays got their only run in the ninth. Milwaukee now leads the series 3-0 and can clinch in Game 4 tonight at 8 p.m. ET at the Trop, on Fox.

Tampa's New Pro Women's Basketball Team Isn't the First Try: The 1980 Tampa Bay Sun Never Played a Game

The Upshot league, based in Jacksonville, is giving Tampa an expansion franchise for 2027. Creative Loafing looks back at the Women's Professional Basketball League's Tampa Bay Sun, which held a draft and a tryout at MacDill Air Force Base in 1980 before it was sold to New England investors that October and never played in Florida.

Scoreboard

Brewers 10, Rays 1 (World Series Game 3; Milwaukee leads 3-0)

Mavericks 113, Heat 109

Schedule (all times ET)

Tue Oct 27, 8pm ET — MLB World Series Game 4: Brewers at Rays, Fox

Tue Oct 27, 8pm ET — NHL: Panthers at Jets, Scripps Sports

Sat Oct 31 — NCAAF: Florida vs. Georgia

Sun Nov 1, 4:25pm ET — NFL: Patriots at Dolphins

Sun Nov 1 — NFL: Falcons at Buccaneers

More Scores: NFL | MLB | NBA | NHL | NCAAF | WNBA

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Florida regular averaged $4.09 a gallon Monday (AAA, as of 10/26/26), down about 2 cents from Sunday ($4.11) and up about a penny from a week ago ($4.08). That is about 19 cents under the national average of $4.29. West Palm Beach–Boca Raton is the most expensive metro at about $4.25, and Pensacola is the cheapest at about $3.73.

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❖ Nine UF Students Climb Century Tower Twice a Day to Ring Its 61 Bells: Nine students in the UF Carillon Studio, led by professor Laura Ellis, take turns climbing 11 and a half flights of stairs twice a day during the school week to play Century Tower's carillon, which has grown from 49 bells to 61. Master's student Alexis Orr is arranging a duet of "This is Halloween" for the studio's Halloween recital.

❖ South Korean Navy Ship Makes Its First-Ever Port Call in Pensacola: The Republic of Korea Navy training ship Hansando arrived at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Monday, its first stop in the city, during a four-month deployment that trains Korean cadets. Members of Pensacola's Korean community were invited aboard for southern barbecue and ice-cold Coca-Cola. Pensacola is one of only three U.S. stops, with Hawaii and Baltimore, and the ship stays until Thursday.

❖ Lakeland's Newest Hospital Welcomes Its 100th Baby: Orlando Health Watson Clinic Lakeland Highlands Hospital has welcomed its 100th baby, Hudson, son of Abigail and Chance Kiuber, at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, less than four months after the hospital opened July 8.

❖ Westglades Middle Schoolers Take Nine Awards at a High School Debate Tournament: Westglades Middle was the only middle school among 24 schools and 374 competitors at the Western Cat Claw Classic on Oct. 24, and its 36 seventh and eighth graders brought home nine awards. Ayla Harper led the team with a first-place finish in Dramatic Interpretation.

❖ Honor Flight's Retired Wheelchairs Get a Second Life: Joni and Friends picked up 70 used wheelchairs from the Collier-Lee Honor Flight after the group received new ones, and will refurbish and donate them to people in need at home and abroad. The new chairs went into use on the Oct. 10 flight, which took more than 80 veterans to Washington, D.C.

❖ Penny the Senior Fox Gets a Checkup From the Keys' "A-Team": Veterinarians Doug and Geraldine Mader came to the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center in Key Largo to examine Penny the fox. They found that necrotic tissue between her lip and gums was gone, and X-rays showed no infection in the bone around her mouth; biopsy and bloodwork results are pending.

Today’s Quote

"Tuesday isn't exciting. It's dependable, and around here that counts as a compliment."

— original / Front Porch

Florida Almanac

Moon: Waning gibbous on Tuesday, 97% lit, the day after Monday’s full moon; last quarter is Sunday, Nov. 1.

Sunrise / Sunset: Orlando: sunrise 7:34 a.m., sunset 6:44 p.m. ET, 11h 10m of daylight. Times vary across the state, and Pensacola is on Central time.

Gardening Notes: Swiss chard handles heat better than spinach or lettuce, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions says. Plant it September to May in North and Central Florida and September to March in South Florida, 6 to 12 inches apart in at least six hours of sun. Leaves are ready in 40 to 60 days, and colorful types like ‘Bright Lights’ double as ornamentals.

Coastal / Red Tide: FWC’s latest update (Oct. 23) found bloom-level red tide in St. Joseph Bay; elsewhere it was at background levels or absent.

Florida by the Numbers

247,092: active real estate sales associates licensed in Florida in August 2026, according to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. There were also 43,579 active brokers.