Orlando Sentinel WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has been indicted on public corruption charges and is expected to arraigned in federal court in Jacksonville on Friday, two U.S. law enforcement officials said Thursday. The charges are related to the Jacksonville Democratic lawmaker’s involvement with an unregistered charity in Virginia. The officials, citing grand jury…
By JIM TURNER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE — The 2016 Florida Legislature appears to have been the richest in recent history. And a couple of incoming freshmen, recently elected without opposition, could help make the 2017 class even wealthier. The makeup of the 160 members of the 2016 Legislature, considered a “part-time” lawmaking body…
Palm Beach Post I recently attended a forum hosted by Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate Sha’Ron James in Boca Raton to discuss the explosion in insurance claims related to water damage. During the event, multiple speakers talked about problems associated with Assignment of Benefits (AOB), and how it is harming the insurance market and increasing rates…
News Service of Florida – Jim Turner Floridians won’t get to cast a ballot for more than one-fourth of the people in charge of making laws and piecing together the state budget over the next two years. Of the 160 offices that make up the Florida House and Senate, 42 drew only a single candidate…
LobbyTools More than one-third of the House races were affected by the qualifying period which ended June 24. House District 4 — Christopher Eugene Schwantz joined the race as a write-in, closing the crowded Republican primary to GOP voters. House District 8 — NPA Richard Burns did not qualify for House District 8. Frantz Millien…
LOBBYTOOLS Several state Senate races saw shake-ups in the final moments of the qualifying period which ended June 24. Senate District 1 — Two write-in candidates, Aaron Matthew Erskine and Miriam Woods, have joined the Senate District 1 race. That closes the Republican primary between Reps. Mike Hill and Doug Broxson to GOP voters. Senate…
Sun Sentinel Ron Hurtibise Some property insurance companies are not taking on new business in ZIP codes with high claims rates in South Florida and canceling or deciding not to renew customers in high-risk areas. The action is a result of rising water damage claims in the region, the same problem that is leading to…
Citizens Board of Governors has approved recommended rates for 2017 that equal an average rate increase of nearly 7 percent statewide. The company said the increase is a necessary response to rising non-weather water losses and assignment of benefit (AOB) abuse that is now affecting all regions of the state. By unanimous vote, board members…
It’s the worst-case scenario: You get in your car to drive home, to work, or to the grocery store, but you never make it there. How common are fatal traffic accidents? Motor vehicle crashes claimed 32,675 lives in the U.S. in 2014 – around one person every 16 minutes. Although the country’s rate of traffic…
By Charles Elmore – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer One state legislator calls it “ridiculous.” A West Palm Beach lawyer whose firm collected about $5 million in a controversial role as “coach in the press box” for other attorneys at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has stopped doing that job at least a year ahead of…