The morning edition

King tides flood South Florida. Jolly, Donalds court Volusia. Mar-a-Lago FBI vets called to grand jury.

Monday, September 28, 2026

Monday, September 28, 2026

Good Morning! At 1:17 p.m. EDT on Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov off Space Launch Complex 40 on the Crew-9 mission. It was the first time people had ever launched from that Cape Canaveral pad, which dates to the Air Force Titan rockets of the 1960s.

In This Issue: king tides flooding South Florida streets, Jolly and Donalds courting Volusia voters, Mar-a-Lago FBI veterans called before a Fort Pierce grand jury, and Putin’s invitation to December’s G20 at Doral.

Weather: Monday is sunny to mostly sunny statewide, with highs mostly in the upper 80s (Jacksonville near 90°). The Keys have the only notable storm chances, and storms are likely in Key West Monday night. (NWS)

Tropical: No Florida tropical watches or warnings. NHC’s 8 p.m. Sunday outlook tracks Tropical Depression Fay far west-southwest of the Azores and a system east-northeast of Bermuda, tagged Invest 91-L (60% seven-day formation chance), that is moving away over the central Atlantic; neither threatens Florida. (National Hurricane Center)

Rip Current Report: High rip current risk Monday on the Atlantic coast from Volusia County through Miami-Dade. The risk is moderate from Nassau through St. Johns and at South Walton, Bay and Gulf County beaches, and low along the Gulf coast from Levy to Collier and in Franklin and Pensacola–Okaloosa. (NWS)

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King Tides Flood South Florida Streets, With More High Water Due Through Thursday

Seasonal king tides pushed seawater onto streets and walkways across South Florida this weekend; in Hollywood, people waded through floodwater along the Broadwalk Sunday, a store clerk said he had to close for two hours Saturday night as water came inside, and a nearby homeowner said the flooding was the worst she has seen (NBC 6).

The exceptionally high tides, tied to the full moon, typically last about three hours and are expected through Thursday, Oct. 1, with peak cycles returning Oct. 7–13 and Oct. 24–31; Hollywood said it is deploying more tiger dams along the Broadwalk, barricading low-lying streets and opening Hollywood Beach garages free to residents through 5 p.m. Tuesday (NBC 6).

Jolly and Donalds Court Volusia as Governor’s Race Runs Through I-4

Democrat David Jolly took his campaign for governor to a Daytona Beach church Saturday, days after Republican Byron Donalds stopped at a Daytona Beach Shores resort and in Kissimmee, as both campaigns treat Volusia County as an I-4 corridor prize; Jolly called for a state fund to respond to major natural disasters and accused Donalds of moving away from President Trump (News 6).

Donalds said this week his campaign is “not distancing” itself from Trump, saying website changes had been planned for about two months, and pressed price transparency as a way to stabilize costs; Jolly focused on affordability, education and health care, with mail voting already under way (News 6).

Mar-a-Lago FBI Veterans Subpoenaed to Fort Pierce Grand Jury

Former FBI employees who worked the classified-documents investigation of President Trump have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Fort Pierce in the Justice Department’s broad “grand conspiracy” probe, and their lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon whether her order restricting release of non-public case information bars them from testifying (WLRN / AP).

The probe, built on a loosely defined theory that officials conspired to deprive Trump of his civil rights, has focused mostly on people who examined Russia’s ties to his 2016 campaign but now also reaches the FBI’s 2022 Mar-a-Lago search; the filing says one witness was subpoenaed for next week and two others for the week after (AP; WLRN).

U.S. Invites Putin to December G20 Summit at Trump’s Doral Resort

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the U.N. General Assembly that the Trump administration has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Group of 20 summit set for Dec. 14–15 at President Trump’s golf club in Doral; the Kremlin had not responded as of Wednesday afternoon (WSVN).

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❖ South Miami: Baptist Health South Florida and Lifepoint Rehabilitation opened the three-story, 100,000-square-foot Baptist Health Rehabilitation Hospital with 62 beds, built to serve more than 1,200 stroke, orthopedic and surgical patients a year and including a practice apartment where patients relearn daily tasks before going home (South Florida Hospital News).

❖ St. Petersburg: Metro Development Group and Porter Development break ground Monday on the first 341 apartments at Azalea Cay on the former Raytheon site at 1501 72nd St. N., with about 102 workforce and affordable units backed by $11.25 million from the city and Pinellas County (Tampa Bay Business & Wealth).

❖ Orlando: LYNX is proposing Dec. 13 bus changes that would drop Link 701 (the Orange Technical College shuttle), cut trips on five routes — including all Saturday service on Link 1 through Winter Park, Eatonville and Maitland — and reroute Link 407 off S.R. 417, while Links 48 and 49 would gain 30-minute Saturday service; a public hearing is Sept. 29 at LYNX Central Station, with comments open through Oct. 12 (WFTV).

❖ St. Johns County: UF Health opened its Durbin Park campus off State Road 9B; the first phase of the 42.5-acre site includes a 99-bed hospital, a 24-hour emergency department and outpatient surgery (News4JAX).

❖ Broward County: School board members are holding firm on closing more campuses, citing an 11,000-student shortfall; the 10 schools on the list include Silver Lakes, Dolphin Bay and Coral Springs elementaries and Walter C. Young and Forest Glen middles, with more community workshops before a final vote Dec. 15 (WSVN).

❖ Palm Beach Gardens: World Market opened Friday at the Prosperity Centre in a former Office Depot space after two years of planning, following Plum Market, which opened next door in March, in refilling the plaza (WPTV).

❖ Sarasota County: County operations moved from downtown into a new 121,160-square-foot administration center at 1 Apex Road off I-75, replacing the Ringling Boulevard building Hurricane Milton damaged; the $100.15 million project was paid for partly with $25 million from selling the old building and more than $22 million in surtax money, and about 275 employees will work there (WWSB).

❖ Tallahassee: Second Harvest of the Big Bend opened its 28,000-square-foot Impact Center, a $10 million expansion that doubles volunteer sorting space and food storage for its 16-county area; the community raised more than $13 million, so the food bank owns the Category 5-rated building and land outright (WCTV).

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❖ President Donald Trump reposted roughly a dozen Truth Social messages Saturday evening attacking U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar after the Miami Republican ran an ad telling him some immigration enforcement “has gone too far,” citing data that more than half of the 50,000 people ICE detained in July had no criminal record; Trump said she “got a little bit soft on the border” (Florida Politics).

❖ A Sachs Media experiment with 1,000 Florida voters (Sept. 23–24) found Amendment 1 — raising the rainy day fund cap from 10% to 25% of general revenue — drew 63% support on ballot language alone but fell to 50%, short of the 60% needed, when voters first read that the roughly $5 billion fund is already full; only 20% knew that beforehand (Florida Politics).

❖ Democratic attorney general nominee José Javier Rodríguez launched an English and Spanish TV and digital ad opening what his campaign calls a multimillion-dollar statewide buy, leaning on his father’s flight from communist Cuba and accusing Republican incumbent James Uthmeier of using the office “to enrich himself and his friends” (WLRN via WUSF).

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❖ Stephen Ross’s Related Ross bought the entire 124-acre former IBM Boca Raton Innovation Campus this month at an undisclosed price, adding 1.7 million square feet of offices to its Palm Beach County holdings; the campus core is more than 90% leased, including D-Wave Quantum’s relocated headquarters, and Ross pitched it as a West Palm Beach alternative for defense tech, tech and finance firms (New York Post).

❖ Ikonick Energetics cut the ribbon on an ammunition-primer factory in Indiantown built to make about 1 billion primers a year at full capacity — one of only a handful of such U.S. plants — and projects more than 200 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, quality assurance and administration, with hiring ongoing; Florida Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly spoke at the event (BladeShopper, company press release).

❖ Florida Polytechnic University released renderings of a three-story, 138,000-square-foot, $87 million Student Achievement Center on its Lakeland campus, designed by HOK and built by Skanska, with groundbreaking targeted for spring and completion for fall 2028 as the school aims to grow enrollment 28% to 3,000 students by 2030 (Florida Politics).

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Vikings Beat Bucs 23–16; Mayfield Dislocates Right Thumb

Minnesota stayed unbeaten Sunday at Raymond James Stadium as Myles Price returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown and Kyler Murray hit Jordan Addison for a 41-yard score; Will Reichard’s late field goals of 56 and 43 yards sealed it after Tampa Bay had pulled within 17–16 (ESPN / AP).

Baker Mayfield dislocated his right thumb on a desperation pass late in the fourth quarter and gave way to rookie Jalon Daniels; Todd Bowles said X-rays were negative and Mayfield will have an MRI Monday. Mayfield was 17 of 34 for 217 yards and was sacked six times as the Bucs fell to 0–3 (ESPN / AP).

Chiefs Beat Dolphins 24–10 After Achane Exits With Knee Injury

Pro Bowl running back De’Von Achane left on Miami’s opening drive with a knee injury, and coach Jeff Hafley said afterward the early word did not “sound optimistic”; Patrick Mahomes threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns and Kenneth Walker III scored twice as Kansas City moved to 3–0 (ESPN / AP).

The Dolphins (0–3) pulled within 14–10 in the third quarter on Riley Patterson’s 37-yard field goal after Ollie Gordon’s 3-yard touchdown run, and rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez intercepted Mahomes before halftime, but Malik Willis threw an interception and lost a fumble (ESPN / AP).

Lawrence Throws Three TDs as Jaguars Rout Patriots 35–6

Trevor Lawrence threw touchdown passes to Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers and Josh Cameron, and Jacksonville bounced back from a 20–13 loss at Denver to beat New England 35–6 Sunday, the Jaguars’ sixth straight regular-season home win. Coach Liam Coen became the first NFL coach to win 15 of his first 20 games since Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur in 2020 (ESPN / AP).

Jacksonville’s defense forced Drake Maye into two interceptions — including Travis Hunter’s first career pick — and a lost fumble before the Patriots pulled him in the fourth quarter; Bhayshul Tuten added 73 rushing yards and a touchdown as the Jaguars improved to 2–1 (ESPN / AP).

Rays Drop Finale 7–3 but Enter Playoffs With AL-Best 98 Wins

The AL East champion Rays (98–64) lost their regular-season finale 7–3 in Philadelphia on Sunday as Zack Wheeler pitched the Phillies into the final National League wild-card berth; Jonny DeLuca homered twice for Tampa Bay (ESPN / AP).

Tampa Bay earned a first-round bye last week and will host the winner of the Yankees–Red Sox Wild Card Series in the AL Division Series starting Saturday (ESPN / AP).

Scoreboard

Vikings 23, Buccaneers 16 — ESPN

Chiefs 24, Dolphins 10 — ESPN

Jaguars 35, Patriots 6 — ESPN

Marlins 5, Braves 3 — ESPN

Phillies 7, Rays 3 — ESPN

Schedule

Rays vs. Yankees–Red Sox winner — AL Division Series Game 1, Saturday, Oct. 3, time TBA, TBS

No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri — Saturday, Oct. 3, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Florida State vs. Virginia — Saturday, Oct. 3, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2, Doak Campbell Stadium

No. 4 Miami at Clemson — Saturday, Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC

UCF at No. 20 Houston — Saturday, Oct. 3, noon ET, ESPN2

USF vs. Temple — Saturday, Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU, Raymond James Stadium

Buccaneers vs. Packers — Sunday, Oct. 4, 1:00 p.m. ET, FOX, Raymond James Stadium

Jaguars at Bengals — Sunday, Oct. 4, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS, Paycor Stadium

Dolphins at Vikings — Sunday, Oct. 4, 4:05 p.m. ET, FOX, U.S. Bank Stadium

More Scores: NFL | MLB | NCAAF | WNBA

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Florida regular averaged $4.368 a gallon Sunday (AAA, as of 9/27/26). That is down about 2.8 cents from Saturday ($4.396) but up about 7.3 cents from a week ago ($4.295), and roughly 11.2 cents under the national average of $4.480. West Palm Beach–Boca Raton is the most expensive metro at $4.519 (Naples $4.478). Pensacola is the cheapest at $4.082 (Panama City $4.108).

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❖ Panama City: Biologists at NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center heard tapping at the front door and found a pelican rapping the glass with its beak — tangled in heavy fishing line, with a treble hook in its right wing and cactus spines in a foot; the bird stayed calm through a 10-minute fix, “almost as if it knew it was in good hands,” researcher Naeem Willett said, then flew off (The Dodo, Sep 24).

❖ Fountain / Bay County: Tonya Hatcher’s family had nearly given up on their cat Tiny Tim, missing three months, until her sister spotted his photo on NewsChannel 7’s Shelter Spotlight — Bay County Animal Control had found him in a dumpster near a landfill about 50 minutes from home, and a telltale bump on his side confirmed it (WJHG, Sep 27).

❖ St. Petersburg: Lynch Elementary food and nutrition manager Jacob Moss ran from the kitchen and performed the Heimlich maneuver on kindergartner Byron King, who was choking on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich — a skill Moss learned in the Boy Scouts more than 25 years ago; Byron is fine, and at their reunion he said, “Thank you, Mr. Moss” (FOX 13, Sep 24).

❖ Ocala: Along the Silver River, a juvenile American alligator was photographed sunning itself on the shell of a Florida red-bellied cooter, the unlikely pair resting together in the riverside greenery; reader Amanda Moeller shared the snapshot (Ocala-News.com, Sep 25).

❖ Bronson: When a Levy County horse owner suffered a life-altering injury and could no longer care for her two horses, she called the sheriff’s office — and its agriculture unit found the pair a new forever home (WCJB, Sep 25).

Today’s Quote

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."

— Booker T. Washington

Florida Almanac

Moon: Waning gibbous, about 95% illuminated Monday, after Saturday’s Harvest full moon (USNO).

Sunrise / Sunset: In Orlando on Monday, sunrise is at 7:16 a.m. and sunset at 7:16 p.m. EDT, for almost exactly 12 hours of daylight. Times vary across the state, and Pensacola is on Central time.

Gardening Notes: UF/IFAS’s Central Florida Gardening Calendar suggests herbs that handle early-fall heat, such as Mexican tarragon, mint, rosemary and basil, for September. It also says to keep watching lawns for fall armyworms, chinch bugs, mole crickets and sod webworms, which are still active.

Coastal / Red Tide: FWC’s latest update (Sept. 25) found the red tide organism at very low levels in Gulf County and at background levels in Charlotte and Lee counties and offshore of Monroe County. None was observed on the East Coast, and no related fish kills or respiratory irritation were reported. The next report is due Oct. 2.

Florida by the Numbers

Florida’s freshwater fisheries cover about 3 million acres of lakes, ponds and reservoirs and roughly 12,000 miles of fishable rivers, streams and canals, with no closed seasons, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.