Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
NTSB: Oversight Could Have Prevented Miami Bridge Collapse
Dec 16 2019 // By Adriana Gomez Licon A Miami university bridge that collapsed and killed six people while under construction had basic flaws that should have been caught before it was built, federal officials said last month. The...
Florida Reports Second Vaping-Related Death, Increase in illnesses
Dec 13 2019 // The Florida Department of Health says a second person in Florida has died due to complications from vaping. The Orlando Sentinel reported Wednesday that the department also reported a slight increase in the number of...
Florida Officials Plan to Raise $100M for Reef Restoration in Florida Keys
Dec 13 2019 // Federal officials have announced plans to raise $100 million to fund projects to restore seven significant coral reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. “Mission: Iconic Reefs” calls for...
Burns & Wilcox Promotes Heaner in Florida
Dec 13 2019 // Burns & Wilcox has promoted John Heaner to associate managing director from underwriting manager, commercial insurance. Heaner is based in the Burns & Wilcox Tampa, Fla., office Heaner will oversee and manage...
Law Enforcement Investigating Cyberattack on Florida City Where Navy Attack Occurred
Dec 11 2019 // Federal authorities are investigating a cyberattack on the city of Pensacola, Florida, home to the naval air station where a Saudi flight student killed three sailors and wounded eight others on Friday. Mayor Grover...
Southeast Insurance Chiefs Farmer, Altmaier Elected to Top NAIC Posts
Dec 11 2019 // South Carolina Department of Insurance Director Ray Farmer and Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier have been elected to the positions of president and president-elect, respectively, of the NAIC (National...
Gold 2019 Best Agency to Work For – Southeast: Acentria Insurance
Dec 10 2019 // A Growing Agency With a Small Business Feel Florida-based Acentria Insurance has been busy since its founding by industry veteran Kendall McEachern in 2010. The personal and commercial lines agency has acquired several...
Florida-Based Neptune Flood Realigns Leadership Team
Dec 9 2019 // Neptune Flood, based in St. Petersburg Fla., has realigned its leadership team, announcing that its CEO and chairman are switching roles. Trevor Burgess will assume the role of CEO and Jim Albert will take on the role of...
Scientists Forecast Faster Rising Seas in South Florida
Dec 9 2019 // New scientific projections released Wednesday predict that ocean levels will rise even faster than previously forecast over the next four decades in low-lying southeastern Florida, which is already prone to frequent...
Worldwide Facilities Acquires Risk Management Advisory Group of Florida
Dec 6 2019 // Worldwide Facilities, LLC, a national wholesale insurance brokerage, managing general agency and program manager, has acquired Risk Management Advisory Group (RMAG), a managing wholesale broker based in Miami Lakes, Fla.,...
Companies Face Class Action Suit Over Sugar Field Burns Plaguing Poor Florida Towns
Dec 5 2019 // For residents of the Glades, a string of poor, predominantly African American rural towns dotting the southern shore of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, the beginning of the annual sugar cane harvest in October means the...
Sitte Appointed Government Affairs Director for Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
Dec 5 2019 // Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier has appointed Allison Hess Sitte as Government Affairs director for the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), effective Monday, Dec. 2, 2019. Allison Sitte Sitte most recently...
New Higher-Speed Florida Train has Highest U.S. Death Rate
Dec 4 2019 // After Richard Branson announced his Virgin Group would partner with Brightline, Florida’s new higher-speed passenger rail service, a train whisked the British billionaire, VIPs and journalists from Miami to West Palm...
Florida-Based JAG Insurance Group Hires Portes as Chief Insurance Officer
Dec 4 2019 // JAG Insurance Group – a South Florida-based commercial insurance agency with offices in Coral Gables, Delray Beach and Charlotte, N.C. – has added Leo Portes to the firm as chief insurance officer. Portes joins JAG...
Insurers Pay $4.1M in Claims During Recent Hurricane Michael Claims Villages
Dec 3 2019 // Claims villages hosted by the Florida Department of Financial Services since August 2019 have led to the resolution of $4.1 million in insurance claims for nearly 750 residents impacted by Hurricane Michael, according to a...
Boat Explosion at Florida Marina Injures 1
Dec 3 2019 // Authorities say one person was injured when a boat exploded at a Florida marina. Citing the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, news outlets report 50-year-old David Weil fueled up his fiberglass boat Sunday at a Largo...
Patriot Growth Insurance Services Acquires Shapiro Insurance Group of Florida
Dec 2 2019 // Patriot Growth Insurance Services, LLC, a national insurance agency, has added Shapiro Insurance Group (SIG) to its platform. The partnership with SIG marks Patriot’s entry into the Florida marketplace and...
Brightway Insurance Franchise Owners Pojero, Jones Open Second Store in Florida
Nov 27 2019 // Veteran Brightway Insurance Franchise Owners David Pojero and David Jones have expanded their business enterprise with a second Brightway store in Central Florida. The business partners opened their first Brightway office...
Florida Investigating Attorney Charged with Lawsuit Fraud
Nov 26 2019 // The Florida Bar has opened an investigation of a New York lawyer who it says may have been practicing in Florida without a license. The Bar’s investigation of Stuart Finkelstein stems from federal charges this week...
E-Cigarette Maker Juul Pulled Into Tobacco Product Liability Case
Nov 26 2019 // A Florida state court judge ordered the co-founder of the e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. to answer questions under oath in a case involving a woman suing the cigarette-maker Philip Morris USA. While Juul has challenged...
