Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs says she'll 'find the funding' for in-school law enforcement: After Sheriff Jerry Demings announced that his agency hadn't hired enough deputies since the passage of a new state law requiring every public school have security personnel, Mayor Teresa Jacobs – who's running for Orange County School Board Chair – said she would lend a last-minute hand. "Please let me know as quickly as possible how much additional funding you will need to fill this gap, and we will find the funding necessary," Jacobs wrote to Demings in a memo.
Despite mayor's feelings on rabies, a county commissioner will build bat boxes to combat mosquitoes: County Commissioner Emily Bonilla plans to install 30 bat houses in her district for mosquito control, but Mayor Teresa Jacobs says she's more worried about the threat of rabies. At first glance, the implementation of bats for the sake of mosquito control seems a great idea for a region rife with stagnant water and under threat of mosquito-borne illnesses. But Jacobs isn't keen on the idea, citing the death of a 6-year-old Eustis boy from rabies in January after he was either scratched or bitten by a bat as her reasoning. In the U.S., the national death rate for rabies has been one or two people per year since the 1990s.
Florida lawmakers won't hold a special session on 'stand your ground' law: Republican opposition has made it impossible for Democrats to force a session. As of last week, 49 House members had voted against the proposal, blocking the possibility of reaching the three-fifths support required from both legislative chambers to hold a special session. In the Senate, the vote stood at 14-14 in a split along party lines. The request to revisit the self-defense law came in response to Michael Drejka shooting Markeis McGlockton to death last month in a Clearwater parking lot.
Puerto Rican government says Hurricane María death toll estimate closer to 1,400: The Puerto Rican government admitted in a report that more than 1,400 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane María, an estimate much higher than the official death toll of 64 fatalities. The New York Times reports the U.S. territory released that number in a draft plan to Congress requesting $139 billion in reconstruction funds. The draft report also acknowledges a Harvard study that estimated deaths ranged from about 800 to 8,500 – with many fatalities due to delayed or interrupted health care in the months after the storm.
Orlando will likely have 50 percent fewer new apartments by the end of 2018: A recent study from national real estate listing site RentCafe found that the Orlando area's rental construction market is seeing a 46 percent decline in new units projected to be finished by the end of 2018. According to the report, Orlando accounts for nearly half of the total area market, and so far this year has only added 1,700 new apartments, which is 53 percent less than the 3,600 units we built last year.
