Latest Florida Headlines

All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Judge Clears Florida Officer in Shooting of UPS Driver, Citing ‘Stand Your Ground’

Sep 23 2025 // A South Florida judge cleared a police officer of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a UPS driver who had been taken hostage during a 2019 robbery. Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra ruled that Jose Mateo, who had been...

Two More HO Insurers Join Florida Market, One Led by Former Metromile CEO

Sep 23 2025 // Florida regulators have approved two new homeowner insurance companies, one led by a San Francisco tech entrepreneur and former head of Metromile auto insurance company. “I focus on companies that can successfully...

Florida Adjuster Convicted for Sending Carrier Checks to His Fake Firm

Sep 23 2025 // A former staff adjuster for a large Florida insurance carrier has been found guilty of defrauding the insurer out of more than $580,000. A federal jury in Orlando last week said James Octavias Tobias Owens, 34, from the...

Billionaire Ross Lures ServiceNow for South Florida Expansion

Sep 18 2025 // ServiceNow Inc. is expanding to West Palm Beach, Florida, opening a location for several hundred employees in a planned office tower being developed by billionaire Stephen Ross, the famed New York real estate magnate who...

Moms Turn in Sons Charged With $50,000 in Vandalism at Florida School

Sep 17 2025 // Two boys were turned in by their mothers Monday to face charges for allegedly causing $50,000 worth of vandalism damage to a central Florida elementary school’s media center, investigators said. The 12- and...

Florida Condo Collapse Probe Zeroes in on Pool Deck Flaws as Preliminary Cause

Sep 12 2025 // Federal investigators have zeroed in on flaws in the pool deck as the preliminary cause of the 2021 collapse of a 12-story Florida beachfront condominium that killed 98 people. The National Institute of Standards and...

SageSure and Affiliate to Acquire Olympus MGA and Olympus Insurance in Florida

Sep 10 2025 // In a three-way deal involving carriers, underwriters, holding companies and more, catastrophe-focused managing general underwriter SageSure announced it will acquire the managing general agent for Florida-based Olympus...

Insurance Agent Next After Florida Farm Manager Pleads in ‘Insurance Farming’ Scheme?

Sep 10 2025 // In a wide-ranging scheme that prosecutors are calling “insurance farming,” a former manager for one of the larger agricultural operations in Florida is now awaiting a sentencing hearing in December. Christopher...

Florida Plan to Drop School Vaccine Rule Is Limited, Won’t Start for 90 Days

Sep 9 2025 // Florida’s plan to drop school vaccine mandates likely won’t take effect for 90 days and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio...

NCCI Calls for 6.9% Average Decrease in Florida Workers’ Comp Rates

Sep 8 2025 // Starting in January, workers’ compensation insurance rates for Florida businesses could drop by an average of 7%. The National Council on Compensation Insurance last week recommended an average rate decrease of 6.9%...

Florida Official Dismisses Need to Study Vaccine Mandate

Sep 8 2025 // Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo said there’s no need to do projections of the potential effects of ending vaccine mandates for children, as Governor Ron DeSantis pushes to make his state the first one to scrap...

Florida OIR Fines Carriers for Adjuster Appointments, Lack of Disclosure Statements

Sep 3 2025 // Florida Insurance Comissioner Michael Yaworsky this year has levied more than $2 million in fines against eight property insurance companies over claims-handling practices flagged by recent market conduct...

Florida’s Once-Pristine Springs Threatened by Pollution, Development, Climate

Sep 2 2025 // Seen from the air, a Florida freshwater spring is a bit of liquid heaven, luring humans and wildlife to enjoy its aquamarine cool. With at least 1,000 of them — more than any other state — the springs serve as beaches...

Florida Appeals Court Underscores That Limits on Attorney Fees Are Not Retroactive

Sep 2 2025 // A Florida appeals court has put another nail in the idea that the state’s limits on attorney fees can be applied retroactively to policies issued before the landmark legislative changes were enacted in 2022 and 2023,...

DeSantis Unleashes ‘Florida DOGE’ in Quest to Kill Property Taxes

Aug 28 2025 // Ron DeSantis is seeking to complete his project of remaking Florida into a conservative paradise with perhaps his riskiest wager yet: a campaign to largely wipe out property taxes. In his nearly seven years in office, the...

Florida Uses Highway Weigh Stations as Immigration Check Points

Aug 27 2025 // Florida law enforcement will begin asking commercial truck drivers about their immigration status during inspections at highway weigh stations after a turnpike crash killed three people earlier this month. State...

Florida Payroll Ops Head Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Avoid Taxes, Workers’ Comp

Aug 25 2025 // The manager of an off-the-books construction-worker payroll operation in Naples, Florida, pleaded guilty last week to a scheme that prosecutors said defrauded the U.S. government of $4 million and swindled insurers out of...

US Halts Visas for Truck Drivers After Fatal Florida Crash

Aug 22 2025 // The US will stop issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, the latest in a series of Trump administration moves to clamp down on foreign workers. “Effective...

Another HO Insurer, Viceroy, Approved for Florida Market, Regulators Say

Aug 22 2025 // Yet another property insurance carrier has been approved to do business in Florida, this one a sister company to Monarch National Insurance, based in Tallahassee. Viceroy Preferred Insurance Co. is at least the 15th new...

Accusations Fly About Immigration Status of Truck Driver in Fatal Florida Accident

Aug 21 2025 // The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Monday that a truck driver accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed three people in Florida was in the country illegally, fueling a verbal tussle with California Gov....