The morning edition

Okeechobee County declares a state of emergency as flooding rains close schools for Monday

Monday, November 2, 2026

Monday, November 2, 2026

Good Morning! On Nov. 2, 1925, the 32-bed Sarasota Hospital opened on Hawthorne Street, the first modern hospital in Sarasota County, after residents spent four years raising money to build it. The Sarasota Herald called it "the dream of many made possible by the intensive efforts of a few and the generosity of all." Renamed Sarasota Memorial in 1954, it has grown into a public hospital with about 900 beds.

In This Issue: Okeechobee County declares a state of emergency as flooding rains close schools for Monday, NASA's Artemis III rocket comes together at Kennedy Space Center, and Florida State fires football coach Mike Norvell. Plus Universal's Epic Universe drew about 4 million visitors in its first seven months.

Weather: The soaking goes on for Central and South Florida Monday, and a Flood Watch runs until 3 p.m. Monday from Orlando, Volusia and the Space Coast south through Lake Okeechobee to Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade. Okeechobee picked up 6 to 8 inches Sunday afternoon, and forecasters expect another 1 to 3 inches through Monday night, with isolated spots near 5 inches or more. Coastal Flood Advisories are up until 7 p.m. Monday from Duval and the St. Johns River down to Miami-Dade, while North Florida and the Panhandle stay drier and warmer, with highs near 80. (NWS)

Tropical: The National Hurricane Center's 7 p.m. Sunday outlook says no tropical cyclones are expected to form in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf in the next seven days. Hurricane season ends Nov. 30. (National Hurricane Center)

Rip Current Report: The risk of rip currents is HIGH along the entire Atlantic coast, from Nassau County to Miami-Dade, through at least Tuesday, with High Surf Advisories from St. Johns County to Martin County and breakers up to 5 to 7 feet. The risk is also high on western Panhandle beaches from Pensacola to Destin through Wednesday, moderate in Walton and Bay counties, and low along the Gulf coast from Levy County to Collier County. (NWS)

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Business Jet Bound for the Bahamas Goes Down in Palm Beach County Neighborhood; All 9 Aboard Lost

A Learjet 60 that left Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas for the Bahamas went down in Palm Beach County just before 1 p.m. Sunday near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, by a mobile home park in the Cresthaven area, according to the FAA. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that all nine people aboard died, and Gov. Ron DeSantis said no one on the ground was hurt; about 600 nearby residents were evacuated.

Air traffic recordings show the pilots reported icing and turbulence at 35,000 feet and asked to climb 2,000 feet before the jet entered a steep, fast descent and the crew declared an emergency. The NTSB is sending a team to investigate; no cause has been given and the people aboard have not been publicly identified.

Okeechobee County Declares State of Emergency as Flooding Closes Schools and Roads

Okeechobee County declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon after widespread flooding, urged residents to stay home, opened a general and special-needs shelter at Seminole Elementary School, and offered sandbags (10 per vehicle) at the county road department; the district closed schools Monday. The National Weather Service reported 3 to 6 inches of rain in the area, with parts of State Road 70 and U.S. 441 around the city of Okeechobee impassable and water entering some buildings.

Neighboring Glades County also closed schools Monday because of flooded roads and will hold class on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, to make up the day. A flood watch runs through Monday for much of South Florida, where 6 to 8 inches fell near Palm Beach Gardens and forecasters see 3 to 5 more inches possible.

Strong El Niño Could Bring a Wetter, Stormier Winter to Central Florida

A strengthening El Niño could make Central Florida's usually dry winter wetter and stormier, raising the odds of heavy rain, severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and tornadoes, WFTV reports; NOAA's latest winter outlook favors above-normal rainfall for the region. Forecasters note the 1998 and February 2007 Groundhog Day tornado outbreaks both came during strong El Niño winters, but a seasonal outlook cannot predict when or where storms will hit.

Meteorologists advise having more than one way to get alerts, including phone emergency alerts and a NOAA Weather Radio, and picking a safe interior room on the lowest floor ahead of time.

NASA's Artemis III Rocket Comes Together at Kennedy Space Center

The 212-foot core stage of NASA's SLS rocket for Artemis III has been attached to its twin side boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center; next it rolls to Launch Complex 39B for fueling tests and a countdown rehearsal. NASA still targets a summer 2027 launch.

Artemis III will stay in Earth orbit to test Orion docking with lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, ahead of a planned 2028 Artemis IV landing. Its four-person crew includes Miami native Andre Douglas, the mission's only rookie.

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❖ Miami-Dade — Sandbox VR Opens Its Second Miami-Area Venue at The Falls: Kendall: Sandbox VR, the full-body virtual-reality chain, opened a more than 4,100-square-foot venue with four private holodecks on Oct. 30 at The Falls, 8888 SW 136th Street, joining its Wynwood location. Groups of up to six play together wearing body trackers and haptic vests, and tickets start at $50 a person on weekdays.

❖ Tampa Bay — Warby Parker Is Headed to St. Pete's EDGE District: St. Petersburg: Eyewear retailer Warby Parker is preparing a store at 1124 Central Ave. in the EDGE District. No opening date has been announced; Warby Parker's website lists the store as opening soon, and What Now Tampa reports it is expected to open before the end of the year, adding a national brand to one of downtown St. Pete's busiest shopping strips.

❖ Orlando — Savoy Gets Its Instagram Back After Meta Suspension: Orlando: Savoy, a gay bar in Orlando, has its Instagram account back about 10 days after Meta flagged it on Oct. 20 under a "human exploitation" policy, two days after the bar posted photos from Come Out With Pride. Owner Brandon Llewellyn said Instagram admitted it "got it wrong," and the bar is now calling on Meta to add real human review as other LGBTQ+ bars remain locked out.

❖ Jacksonville — Two Towers, a Hotel and a Marina Planned for the School District's Southbank Site: Jacksonville: Ashco Centers is planning "The Seaport at St. Johns," with two towers of high-end residences and a luxury hotel, 110,000 square feet of retail including a grocer, a marina and a riverfront promenade. It would rise on the 4.87-acre Duval County Public Schools headquarters site at 1701 Prudential Drive, which the district agreed to sell to Ashco for $15.1 million; the district has three years to relocate.

❖ Broward — Kodiak Fitness Opens in Coral Springs' Former Planet Fitness: Coral Springs: Kodiak Fitness Center has opened in the former Planet Fitness at 2101 North University Drive, with boxing, Pilates, saunas and recovery rooms. Memberships run $99.99 a month.

❖ Palm Beach — Vietnamese Coffee Lands a Full-Time Spot at the GreenMarket: West Palm Beach: Ba Cafe, a mobile Vietnamese coffee company started by West Palm Beach native Kimberly Truong and named for her late father, is now a full-time vendor at the West Palm Beach GreenMarket. Truong says she wants to bring more Vietnamese representation to the city's downtown market.

❖ Gulf Coast — Naples-Designed Arthrex Implant Named 'Coolest Thing Made in Florida': Naples: Arthrex's TightRope PRO, an implant for high-ankle sprains that is designed in Naples and made in Ave Maria, won the Florida Chamber's second annual Coolest Thing Made in Florida contest. It beat Northrop Grumman's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, built in St. Johns County, in the final round.

❖ North Florida — Costa Family Buys Eight Area McDonald's, Plans 200 Jobs: Pensacola: Costa Family McDonald's bought eight more restaurants on Oct. 29, including 123 East Nine Mile Road in Pensacola, two in Milton, two in Pace and one in Flomaton, Ala. The franchisee now runs 27 locations across Northwest Florida and South Alabama and plans to add about 200 jobs over the next six months.

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❖ UPDATE: Early Voting Ends With More Than 5.2 Million Floridians Already Voting — More than 5.2 million of Florida's more than 13 million registered voters had already voted by mail or in person as early voting closed Sunday, according to University of Florida figures cited by ABC Action News. It is now too late to mail a ballot back, so voters still holding one should drop it off at their supervisor of elections office, or surrender it and vote in person Tuesday. In Duval County, Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said 232,465 voters, 35.8% of active eligible voters, had cast ballots by the end of early voting, which ran Oct. 20 through Nov. 1. Polls there open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

❖ Florida's Senate Race Tightens as Forecasters Move Moody–Nixon to 'Likely Republican' — Sabato's Crystal Ball and the Cook Political Report moved Florida's U.S. Senate race from "Safe" to "Likely Republican" this week, with most polls putting incumbent Republican Ashley Moody ahead of Democrat Angie Nixon within the margin of error, including a St. Pete Polls survey for Florida Politics showing 49% to 45%. Because the race is a special election to finish Marco Rubio's term, the winner would take office once the result is certified and must run again in 2028.

❖ Officials Find No Sign of Immigration Agents Targeting Florida Polling Places — Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said he called the FBI after U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles were seen at a Tallahassee early-voting site and learned the agents were there to vote themselves before leaving the state. PolitiFact's Amy Sherman called a large ICE presence at polls "highly, highly unlikely," noting about 100,000 voting sites nationwide and federal and state laws against voter intimidation. Monroe County's elections office has also finished reviewing a report of masked agents near a Key Largo polling site.

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❖ American Airlines Brings Back Daily Miami Flights to Cap-Haïtien — American Airlines restarted daily nonstop service from Miami International Airport to Cap-Haïtien International Airport on Sunday, flying a Boeing 737 on the route. Travelers waiting at MIA welcomed the flights, and one passenger, Daniel Moise, said visiting home has been hard because the airport in Haiti's north is the only one open. In 2024 the Federal Aviation Administration halted flights to Port-au-Prince for 30 days after planes there were fired on. The U.S. State Department still has a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory on Haiti, which has been under a national state of emergency since March 2024.

❖ Epic Universe Drew About 4 Million Visitors in Its First Seven Months — Universal Orlando's Epic Universe welcomed about 4 million visitors in its first seven months, according to the Themed Entertainment Association, and helped lift Central Florida theme-park attendance by more than 4% in 2025. The newest park added a sizable crowd of guests to the region's tourism totals in its first year. Even so, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom held on as the most-visited theme park in the world, drawing nearly 18 million visitors in 2025. WFTV reports the figures underline Central Florida's standing as a global theme-park destination, with Epic Universe adding another major attraction to an already competitive market.

❖ Blackstone Lends $220 Million for Key Biscayne Oceanfront Condos — Terra and Fortune International Group got a $220 million predevelopment loan from Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies for a planned oceanfront condominium at 301 Ocean Drive in Key Biscayne, in a deal arranged by Walker & Dunlop. The 4.25-acre site is the former Silver Sands Beach Resort, which the developers bought for $205 million in 2025, the largest land sale in the island's history. Touzet Studio and ODP are designing a boutique, tropical-modern building, with rain gardens, bioswales and a cistern planned to keep stormwater on site. Preconstruction sales are expected to start before the end of 2026.

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FSU Fires Mike Norvell, Taking On a Buyout of Nearly $50 Million

Florida State fired football coach Mike Norvell on Sunday, about 12 hours after a 36-24 home loss to Clemson in a game the Seminoles were favored to win by 5 points. The school will owe him about $47 million, 85% of his remaining salary through 2031, and the total tops $50 million once his assistants are included. Norvell went 10-22 since the start of 2024 and 41-39 overall, including 24-30 in the ACC. Rick Stockstill takes over as interim coach for the rest of the season. FSU (3-5, 1-4 ACC) plays at Boston College on Saturday, about seven weeks after the school also fired athletic director Michael Alford.

Bucs Shut Out Atlanta 16-0 Without Completing a Single Pass

The Buccaneers beat the Falcons 16-0 in a soaking rain at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday even though Baker Mayfield went 0-for-3 passing. Tampa Bay ran for a team-record 324 yards. It was the first NFL team since Buffalo on Sept. 29, 1974, to finish a game with no completions, and the first to win by double digits that way since 1945. Bucky Irving ran for 170 yards and a touchdown, Kenny Gainwell added 140, and Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals to stay perfect at 19-for-19. The defense intercepted Michael Penix Jr. four times. The Bucs (3-5) sit a half-game behind Carolina in the NFC South.

Jaguars Rout the Colts 42-7 to Build a Three-Game Division Lead

The Jaguars beat Indianapolis 42-7 in the rain at EverBank Stadium in their first home game since September and now lead the AFC South by three games at 5-2. Trevor Lawrence threw a 31-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher, and Bhayshul Tuten broke a 39-yard scoring run. Rayuan Lane III returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 halftime lead. Lawrence went 10-for-14 for 210 yards and three touchdowns before sitting early in the fourth quarter. Indianapolis hasn't won in Jacksonville since Sept. 21, 2014. The Jaguars are 18-6 under Liam Coen but have injury worries before Thursday night's trip to Baltimore.

Scoreboard

NFL: Buccaneers 16, Falcons 0 (final)

NFL: Jaguars 42, Colts 7 (final)

NFL: Patriots 24, Dolphins 19 (final)

NBA: Celtics 108, Magic 97 (final)

NWSL: Seattle Reign 1, Orlando Pride 0 (final)

MLS: Inter Miami 2, Revolution 1 (final)

Schedule (all times ET)

Mon Nov 2 — NCAAM: No. 14 Miami vs. No. 1 Florida, Tampa, 6pm ET, ESPN2

Mon Nov 2 — NCAAM: FAMU vs. FSU, Tampa, 9:30pm ET, ESPNU

Mon Nov 2 — NHL: Red Wings at Panthers, 7pm ET, Scripps Sports

Mon Nov 2 — NBA: Wizards at Magic, 7:30pm ET, MagicTV 27

Mon Nov 2 — NBA: Heat at Lakers, 10pm ET, NBA League Pass

Tue Nov 3 — NHL: Red Wings at Lightning, 7pm ET, The Spot

Wed Nov 4 — NHL: Blackhawks at Panthers, 7:30pm ET, TNT

Thu Nov 5 — NFL: Jaguars at Ravens, 8:15pm ET, Prime Video

Thu Nov 5 — NCAAF: UTSA at FAU, 7:30pm ET, ESPN

Fri Nov 6 — NCAAF: USF at East Carolina, 7:30pm ET, ESPN2

Sat Nov 7 — NCAAF: FSU at Boston College, 12pm ET, ACC Network

Sat Nov 7 — NCAAF: UCF at Kansas, 3:45pm ET, ESPN2

Sat Nov 7 — NCAAF: No. 1 Miami at No. 4 Notre Dame, 7:30pm ET, NBC

Sat Nov 7 — NCAAF: Oklahoma at Florida, 7:45pm ET, SEC Network

Sun Nov 8 — NFL: Lions at Dolphins, 1pm ET, Fox

Sun Nov 8 — NFL: Bucs at Bears, 8:20pm ET, NBC

More Scores: NFL | NBA | NHL | NCAAF

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Florida's average for regular is $3.87 a gallon, AAA says, down about a penny from yesterday's $3.88 and about 24 cents below a week ago ($4.11). That's about 30 cents under the national average of $4.17. West Palm Beach–Boca Raton is the most expensive metro at about $4.04; Pensacola is the cheapest at about $3.65.

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❖ Villager Aces 89-Yard Hole, Heads Straight for a Lottery Ticket: Steve Gineris of the Village of Oak Hollow got the first hole-in-one of his life on Saturday, using a pitching wedge on the 89-yard fifth hole at Live Oak Executive Golf Course. He took it as a sign his luck was running and said he was off to buy a lottery ticket.

❖ Milton Couple Welcomes a Halloween Baby at 1:53 a.m.: Emerson Perrine was the first baby born on Halloween 2026 at Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola. He arrived at 1:53 a.m. on Oct. 31, weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 20½ inches. He is the fourth child of Cady and Nate Perrine of Milton, who own Revival Coffee there.

❖ FGCU's BB Washington Back on the Court After Open-Heart Surgery: FGCU guard BB Washington learned he had an anomalous right coronary artery and had open-heart surgery more than a year ago. Now he is cleared to play as the Eagles open their season Monday night. His brother, George Washington III, transferred to FGCU to be with him.

❖ Boater Found Safe 16 Miles Out After Three Days Adrift off Marco Island: His boat lost power off Marco Island, and after more than 24 hours without word from him, someone close to him called for help. Crews found him uninjured about 16 miles southwest of Coon Key Pass after a three-day search. He had come to the area to buy a boat.

❖ West Palm Mom Takes Her Breast Cancer Fight to the NYC Marathon: Kristen Dugan, a West Palm Beach mother of three daughters, was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2024 and went through five months of chemotherapy. She set out to run Sunday's New York City Marathon to raise money and awareness so her girls face a different future.

❖ An 83-Year-Old Two-Time Survivor Dances Through Jacksonville's Making Strides Walk: More than 13,000 people in pink walked three miles from VyStar Ballpark on Saturday and raised about $390,000 for breast cancer research and patient services. Joane Pankey, 83 and a two-time survivor, danced along the route. "I am a stone-cold survivor. And I believe you can heal," she said.

Today’s Quote

"This spirit of courtly hospitality and neighborly good will seems to be as unfailing as the Florida sunshine."

— Winthrop Packard, Florida Trails as Seen from Jacksonville to Key West and from November to April Inclusive (1910)

Florida Almanac

Moon: Waning crescent, about 41% lit, a day past Sunday's last quarter; the new moon arrives Nov. 9.

Sunrise / Sunset: Orlando: sunrise 6:38 a.m., sunset 5:40 p.m. EST, 11h 2m of daylight. Times are Eastern Standard now that clocks fell back Sunday (Pensacola and the western Panhandle are on Central time); times vary across the state.

Gardening Notes: It's prime time for radishes, which UF/IFAS says grow best in Florida from September through March. Sow seeds directly, no more than a quarter-inch deep, and they're ready to pull in 20 to 30 days; sow a new row every few weeks for a steady harvest. Try 'Cherry Belle', 'Sparkler' or 'White Icicle.'

Coastal / Red Tide: FWC's latest update (Oct. 30) finds red tide only in Northwest Florida, with bloom levels in six samples from Bay and Gulf counties and fish kills and breathing irritation reported in Gulf County; it was not seen in Southwest Florida or on the East Coast. FWC's next update is due Friday, Nov. 6.

Florida by the Numbers

$415,000: The statewide median sales price of an existing single-family home in Florida in September, up 1.2% from a year earlier, while closed sales slipped 3.5% to 20,537.