The Florida Roundup - Florida's outsized role in national politics and how snowbirds are handling more storms

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

Just over a week after winning a second term, President-elect Donald Trump is moving swiftly to nominate key cabinet positions. He’s named his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. (00:40). And snowbirds have sought refuge in Florida for decades. But could back-to-back hurricanes and the prospect of more extreme weather chill their enthusiasm for our balmy winters? (19:36). The Florida Public Radio Emergency Network talks about the latest tropical disturbance (37:36). And as severe storms bring increasingly more rainfall to Central Florida, flooding remains a top concern (40:36). Also, it’s been a year since the Seminole Tribe slowly started to roll out mobile sports betting in the state (44:25).

Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty and for Tom Hudson. Well, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen veteran Florida political operative Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. Coming up, you'll hear how Wiles could help shape key decisions for Trump's second term. But first, Wiles is just one of a slew of high-profile Floridians Trump wants in his cabinet. The flurry of announcements this week includes Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Congressman Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor,

and in a move that's raised some eyebrows, Congressman Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. The appointments, if confirmed, will trigger reshuffle in Florida politics as their replacements are picked through special election or appointment. Meanwhile, in another piece of news, Rick Scott missed out on getting the Senate majority leadership role he's coveted for some time. Well, for insights into what the cabinet appointments say about Florida's influence on national politics and what it means for politics in the state, here's Miami Herald state government and politics reporter Ana Ceballos. Ana, thanks for joining us. And let's start with Trump's picks and kind of what they mean for Florida's influence on the United States. What do we know about Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz and what they would bring to those roles of Secretary of State, National Security Advisor and Attorney General, respectively?

Yes, thanks. Thanks for having me. It's certainly been a busy week to be following all these selections. These announcements have really cemented the idea that Florida is certainly emerging as like a new hub for political power in the country. You know, it was once a pretty prominent battleground state, but little by little after a few election cycles it has really solidified itself as a pretty red state and really has become somewhat of a hub for Trump's most fierce allies and the MAGA crowd. So seeing Florida people come into this administration just shows just how influential the Florida Republican politics has become in the nation.

Florida has been touted by Republicans as something of a testing ground for conservative ideas that could be exported to the rest of the country. Do these appointments back that idea up? I think it remains to be seen, right, exactly how Trump will be executing his MAGA agenda. I think that's certainly going to be an influence in how federal policy will shape out, you know, including with Marco Rubio, right? I mean, he's been pretty, living in a state like Florida and governing a state like Florida has entailed some level of foreign policy with Latin America. And it will just be interesting to see how he brings that into the table. With Matt Gates,

for example, he has been, you know, not just a firebrand at the national level, but he has been a pretty vocal person here in the state. He was one of the key transition members of Governor Ron DeSantis' administration when he first came into office. And it's not just about the influence that they will bring, but it's also just the domino effect that these positions bring into the Florida political landscape and how these new people will be coming along and kind of remaking Florida and lovers of power. Now, Matt Gaetz's nomination has apparently caused some ripples among his colleagues in Washington. He's been the subject of a House Ethics Committee investigation.

Can you just remind us of the backstory there? House Ethics Committee investigation. Can you just remind us of the backstory there? Right. So Matt Gaetz has been facing an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation that related to allegations that he had engaged in some sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. So that was very much ongoing. And there's reports from Capitol Hill, from different outlets,

including Punchbowl News, that show that there was a planned vote on Friday of this week that would have gone into whether or not that report should be very damning, but all this said, Matt Gaetz has resigned from office, and he resigned from office on Wednesday, just a few hours after Trump announced that he was his pick for U.S. Attorney General. And the House does not have jurisdiction over a person who is no longer a member of the US House of Representatives. So there is a lot of questions and legal questions as to what is going to be happening with this report in terms of what the public will learn about what took place throughout that investigation. Now, talk us through what would happen if these appointments are confirmed.

How would their replacements be selected? So that is another very contentious part of this whole debate, right? If these appointments are confirmed, how would their replacements be selected? So that is another very contentious part of this whole debate, right? There's a lot of the reaction from GOP senators in Capitol Hill has been pretty much a resounding stunned reaction, right? Whether or not their initial reaction will be reflective of their final vote when there is a confirmation of these appointees remains to be seen because history has shown that, you know, Trump tends to be pretty aggressive when he wants to get something done in terms of, you know,

threatening potentially primary challenges for Republican lawmakers who do not go along with what he wants, whether or not he will threaten that more publicly, we will see. There has been reports that Gates is currently calling all of the senators as to whether or not that's going to be able to go through the Senate. So there's just like a lot of balls up in the air as to how that will go, including reports that they might bypass the confirmation process. So it's really uncertain as to what can take place. And, you know, in politics, sometimes, you know, a week can be an eternity. So it just really depends on what happens when these confirmations

come to play. What about the power that Governor DeSantis then has in shaping what happens next for these congressional seats and the Senate seat as well? Governor Ron DeSantis finds himself in a pretty good spot for, you know, having the chance and the opportunity to put a stamp again on, you know, his legacy here in state politics because he will have a chance to appoint someone to replace Marco Rubio in the US Senate. There is a lot of internal considerations right now. There's a lot of names being floated around. DeSantis has been in Italy all week, so there is really no insight as to where he is at

on that position, but there has been a lot of people in MAGA world trying to float Trump's daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, as a potential pick for that seat, but there's also other names that are more aligned to DeSantis' world. So whether or not DeSantis will balance out his allegiance or alliance with Trump world or whether he will forge his own path on who he picks remains to be seen. But he will also be able to call or he has to call special elections on the two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that will be left vacant by Representative Gates and Representative Walz. Now, in a twist to the tale, Senator Rick Scott has been angling for a leadership role for a while. He tried to take Senator Mitch McConnell's job as then-Senate minority leader

back in 2022. And this week, again, he didn't quite get the votes he needed. John Thune, the Republican from South Dakota, will be the next Senate majority leader after Republicans won back the Senate. So what does that kind of tell you about Scott's influence in state and national politics? I think, you know, Rick Scott is still very much an influential member of the Republican Party, but it was a resounding no for him. You know, it kind of just says he's a Republican lawmaker, but maybe not so much a leader for the chamber at a time where, you know, Republicans hold the majority, maybe they were looking for something different.

Just thinking about this broadly, what does it tell you about the influence that Florida will wield in national politics, at least for the next four years, if not longer? I really do think it really does say a lot about how Florida's position, not just in politics, but in policy, could potentially shape federal policy. I mean, we have seen a big movement in how even Trump campaigned on the issues of immigration, education, health care. A lot of those issues align with the Florida policies that have been implemented in the last few years when it was moving from a purple state to a red state. So whether or not there's a continuation of that remains to be seen, but I would say would be likely, especially if we're seeing the power brokers really of like, like the people who shaped these policies in Florida are

now going to be in very important positions of power, and they will be able to influence the administration and making sure, considering even that it's aligned, right, with the values of the Republican Party. So I think we could expect to see a lot more of Florida's influence in national politics for the years to come. Ana Ceballos covers state government and politics for the Miami Herald. Thank you so much for your insights. Appreciate it. Of course. Thank you so much. You're listening to the Florida Roundup.

Coming up in about 10 minutes, a spate of powerful hurricanes pummeled the state this season. Could that have an impact on snowbirds who choose to winter in Florida? You can share your thoughts. Call 305-995-1800. That's 305-995-1800. Or send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. But let's get back to Florida's outsized role in national politics right now. Just over a week after winning a second term, President-elect Donald Trump is moving swiftly to nominate key cabinet positions. And he's named his campaign manager Susie Wiles as chief of staff. Well, Michael Cruz, his profile of Wiles, the most feared and least known political

operative in America, was published in Politico magazine back in April. Michael, thank you so much for joining us. Sure thing. Glad to be here. Now, Susie Wiles helped Trump win Florida back in 2016, but she also helped Ron DeSantis win his gubernatorial campaign in 2018 before falling out with DeSantis. How did that dynamic affect the 2020 Republican presidential preference primary? Trump these last four years, as opposed to Ron DeSantis, in some ways can be seen as perhaps a linchpin of how the presidential primary in the 2024 cycle and the presidential election, therefore, went. There are people, and they might not be wrong, who think that if she had been working for DeSantis earlier on in the 2024 cycle, he might have been the Republican nominee, not Donald Trump. All of which is to say there are plenty of people on both sides of the political aisle who see Susie Wiles

as one of the more important people in American politics right now, certainly the most important advisor to Donald Trump. For sure. And you go into a lot of detail. You talk to pretty much everyone you could talk to who knows something about Susie Wiles for your piece, as well as Susie Wiles herself. There's a bit of detail too in your profile about her father, Pat Summerall, who played for the New York Giants before her career in broadcasting. Why is that important to understanding her connection with Trump and her role with President-elect Donald Trump now? Sure. So Susie Wiles, Susan Summerall Wiles, is the daughter of Pat Summerall, a former professional football player, perhaps better known as a football and golf and tennis announcer, was a quite famous man. Also was a quite flawed man by his own account, by his daughter's

account, was for a long stretch of time an alcoholic, was key stretches of time in Susie's upbringing and adulthood, an absent father, was a philanderer. So Susie had to learn how to navigate a difficult family dynamic. Susie had to learn how to manage, in some sense, a strong personality and a complicated personality in her father. And there are plenty of people in the course of my reporting who suggested that this, in some way, in retrospect, was quite the training ground to learn how to navigate these complicated dynamics and manage a similarly complicated but very talented man in Donald Trump. Now, what comes through in your article for Politico magazine and the folks that you speak

to who know Susie Wiles, and this is Democrats and Republicans, people who have been involved in politics and lobbying for a long time, some of them can't quite reconcile what they know of her and how she can work with Trump. What would you say about that? Yeah, and still do. I've heard from people in the last week since she became chief of staff. In some sense, it's still quite surprising to them that she is working for Trump, in large part because of her past in politics. As a political professional, she started in politics working for Jack Kemp in Congress, certainly a different in terms of demeanor kind of political figure than Donald Trump was a scheduler in the Ronald Reagan White House. Along the way, worked for Republican mayors

in Jacksonville, who were considered at the time and still quite moderate, briefly ran John Huntsman's presidential campaign, certainly a moderate Republican. So lots of people in Jacksonville, where the metro area where she's from, and throughout Florida and throughout the country, for that matter, I think prior to her working for Trump, saw her in that lane as a common sense, moderate Republican. And certainly in terms of her disposition, she is the opposite of some sort of firebrand or radical. And so it still is difficult for, I think, people to reconcile, or at least some people, that she is playing such an important and influential role with a politician, with a political figure like Trump.

At the same time, there are plenty of people who have seen her as a person who will reflect. Maybe moderate some of his instincts. I just wanted to get a call on the air, if I could, real quick. We've got Susan calling in from Jacksonville. Susan, you're on the air. Yes, thank you. I had heard, I read actually, that Susie Wiles was fired by DeSantis for leaking the fact that she was, and DeSantis was selling access to him, which, you know, is very worrisome if that's the role she's going to play with Trump is selling access to him.

Great question, Susan. What about that, Michael? And just kind of real quick, what do you think of that idea? Yeah, certainly one of the main reasons, Bandit, about that she had a falling out with DeSantis, not the only one, is the one that was just mentioned, that the governor and the governor's wife suspected her of leaking that information, which led to a story first in the Tampa Bay Times. It's hard to prove for sure that she was that person. At the same time, it's not unbelievable to people who worked with her, for her, around her throughout her time in Jacksonville politics that she certainly had cultivated, kept, still keeps relationships with an array of reporters.

Sometimes that involves exchange of information, whether you want to use the word leak or not. But certainly that wasn't, I think, the only reason, at least based on my reporting, the only reason Governor DeSantis kicked her to the curb and kicked her to the curb in a quite punitive and personal way. Now, the subtitle of your piece, and we've got about 30 seconds or so left here, but the subtitle of your piece is, is she a MAGA hero or an enemy of democracy? I mean, are there still some unanswered questions for you about her work with the Trump campaign and her upcoming role as chief of staff? I mean, you know, TBD, and I think the answer

to that question is very much a function of what a reader brings to that piece, what a reader sees in the person, in the political figure of Donald Trump, what the person sees when reading about Susie Wiles. Is she this or is she that? We are at this point, unfortunately, a two Americas kind of situation. So it's not actually, I think, up to me to answer that question. It's up to citizens to answer that question. And we'll have more data to feed into that important question in the days, weeks, months, perhaps years to come. And how influential just finally is she going to be in sort of shaping his policy going forward?

As influential as she has been the last four years in her role as whether the title is chief of staff or not, that is what she's been since early 2021. She is the most influential advisor he has. So I have no reason to think, of course, now that she is actually formerly the chief of staff in the coming second Trump administration, that that reality would change. Michael Cruz, senior staff writer at Politico and Politico magazine. You can read his profile, Susie Wiles, the most feared and least known political operative in America on Politico dot com. Thank you so much, Michael. Thanks so much.

Up next, could back to back hurricanes and the threat of more powerful storms make snowbirds think twice before winging their way to Florida? That's when we come back. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Covering Florida Navigator Program provides confidential assistance for Floridians looking to explore health care coverage within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty. Well, for decades, Florida has been the place to be for people looking to escape

the harsh winters in the northern United States and in Canada. But could back-to-back hurricanes chill snowbirds' enthusiasm for our balmy winters in the northern United States and in Canada. But could back-to-back hurricanes chill snowbirds' enthusiasm for our balmy winters? It's not just the threat of more extreme weather. For snowbirds who own property here, there's also the knock-on effect of ever-increasing homeowners insurance rates, HOA fees, and taxes. I think fewer people will choose to own homes in Florida because they don't want to pay for property taxes, insurance costs, HOA fees, and choose to rent for only the weeks or months that they use the home instead. Because I think that those winter rental rates are going to go up because somebody has to

own the home and incur those costs. Well, that's Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist with Redfin, talking with NBC10 Boston. Now, if you're a snowbird or if you appreciate what they bring to Florida's economy and culture, you can share your questions and comments. What impact do you think the threat of hurricanes could have on Florida's allure for snowbirds? The number to call is 305-995-1800.

That's 305-995-1800. You can also send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We're joined now by NBC10 Boston reporter Matt Fortin. Matt, thanks so much for being here. Matt, are you with us? Well, we've also got Ashley Gerbel-Kreitzer, real estate editor for the Tampa Bay Business Journal on the line. Ashley, are you there? I am. Thank you so much for having me. Business Journal online. Ashley, are you there? I am. Thank you so much for having me. All right. Sounds good. So let me start with you, Ashley. You've reported on the impact of businesses from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. What about the impact of residential and rental

properties? I mean, it's kind of a complex situation in terms of the number of storms we've had, the different impacts from all of them. I'm sure folks who own property are still trying to unpack what exactly this means. It is a really nuanced, complex situation and far more nuanced than anything in the national media would have us believe. Those of us on the ground in the Tampa Bay area know that it's in some cases, street by street, house by house, in terms of what saw damage during the two hurricanes this past fall. And I think that's going to be the question. I think the answer right now is it depends. It depends on what are snowbirds, what kind of media they're consuming. And I think we also need to remember not all snowbirds are wealthy. It depends on what answer or what type of area they

lived in. It depends on how much financial means they have to come down and rent a new place or repair the property they had. So I think we are going to see, I think we'll see a lot of, I think we'll see people making decisions that vary based on their own personal financial situations. Yeah. I mean, your point about not all snowbirds are wealthy is a good one. That's kind of been the lure of Florida, not just for snowbirds, right, but for people retiring in Florida for a long time, right? You know, where the folks are coming to buy a nice little kind of trailer home and not

spend too much money in their retirement. The ground has shifted though. What about the kind of, you know, what snowbirds bring to the Tampa Bay economy and what's your sense of their place in this economy in the broader Tampa Bay region? Well, especially for businesses in our coastal areas, they are critical. There are businesses in and around our beaches that absolutely depend on that snowbird traffic and the season, bars, restaurants, hotels. It can be kind of slow here in the summer when it's very warm and frankly, not very pleasant to be in Florida. And to make up for those slow periods, those businesses really depend on that boom they see during the traditional snowbird season.

boom they see during the traditional snowbird season. Yeah. And thinking about kind of how these series of storms, and of course, we are still in hurricane season. It officially doesn't end until the end of November. And we do sometimes get storms out of season as well. But let's not think about that just now. Just thinking about the impact that we have seen so far in storm season 2024. I mean, are you seeing in the folks you've been speaking

to decisions about whether to rebuild or not impact one sector of the population more than others? Or does it kind of cut across income levels and neighborhoods? You know, this is an unfortunate way to phrase this, but it really is the bottom line that ultimately some of the damage we saw from these storms is going to benefit people of great wealth, right? If you have the ability to rebuild, or if you have the ability to purchase a property that was destroyed, you can buy what's essentially now a lot, a piece of land, and build a home that's a little more resilient, built up off the ground, built for hurricane wind speed. So I think there's going

to be a lot of opportunity for very wealthy people to make inroads here. Maybe they've been looking for homes and now there's their sites available where there were some older homes that just washed away in the hurricanes. And I think that if you're not of great wealth and affluence, I think that your calculus is a little different. Maybe you try to sell the property for a lot value and get what you can from insurance and be made whole that way. Yeah. Hey, Matt, talking about me. Oh, yeah. Go for it. Matt Fortin. Sorry. I'm glad you're with us. Yeah. Chime in. Yeah. So sorry about that. You know, sometimes with the mics. Yeah. No, I just wanted to. Yeah. Ch chime in with this conversation, just that, you know, from here and up in New England here, where I live and report from,

it's a lot of the same story because there are so many people in this region who for really generations have gone to Florida, especially that West Coast of Florida to spend their winters. And it's becoming more and more of a hassle for people up here, just dealing with these properties being hit by these storms, especially managing them from afar can be a major headache because hurricane season is typically a little bit before these snowbirds would head south for the winter. A lot of people leave around Thanksgiving time and, you know, hurricane season, early September, October. But yeah, I mean, Florida has long been seen as a more cost effective way to spend your retirement because people up north are able to sell their homes and in a lot of cases buy these houses down

south with cash. And in that case, they don't always need to get flood insurance because it's not backed by a mortgage. And that causes major headaches for people because for people who aren't from these southern states, they don't really always know what they're getting into. So some retirees, you know, hearing just anecdotally are getting really frustrated with, you know, living under the constant threat of these storms. And also, anecdotally, talking to people that are a little bit younger and maybe haven't made that investment yet, who are like later millennials, like 40, and starting to plan out their retirement, they're not looking at Florida as much. They're looking at other areas such as Nashville, Tennessee.

They're looking at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They're looking at Savannah, Georgia, and more Midwestern states. And that's in part due to the weather risk that we are seeing right now in Florida. If you're just joining us, you're listening to the Florida Roundup. We're talking about snowbirds and whether the recent bout of hurricanes, back-to-back storms we've seen in Florida could dissuade them. If you want to weigh in, you can call 305-995-1800. So that's 305-995-1800. So that's 305-995-1800.

If you're a snowbird or if you've spent some time with some snowbirds, appreciate what they bring to the economy, give us a call. You can also send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. And we're talking with NBC10 Boston reporter Matt Fortin and Ashley Gerbel-Kreitzer, the real estate editor for the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Ashley, just on that notion of flood insurance, I mean, some of your reporting in the aftermath of these storms, you've spoken to business owners who are grappling with that very fact, right? They haven't had to think about flood insurance before, but now all of a sudden they're seeing their businesses inundated and just figuring out what do we do next? You know, that was one of the heartbreaking things that came out of my reporting on Davis Islands, which is a neighborhood here right in Tampa, right outside of downtown

Tampa after Hurricane Helene. A lot of those businesses didn't have flood insurance despite being in a low-lying area. One woman who owned a bakery there said the last person who occupied her storefront had told her, oh, this hasn't flooded in 100 years. You'll be fine. Some folks had policies and didn't realize that hurricane insurance doesn't necessarily cover flood damage. You need a separate policy for that. And we're talking about adding tens of thousands of dollars to someone's cost of doing business if they are going to invest in flood insurance. So it is a very tricky calculus, especially now that they've seen the damage that floods can wreak. Matt, back to you. I mean, is Florida, I mean, you said it's been a destination for folks and

you talk to people in New Bedford about the connection they have with the likes of Fort Myers and Cape Coral. Can you just kind of explain a little bit of what the lure of those particular communities in Florida is for the folks in New Bedford? Yeah, so it's funny. So, you know, when I started doing this story and I got the idea, so I'm from, I'm actually from originally the South Coast area, which is where New Bedford is in Massachusetts. And, you know, growing up, it was kind of a tradition for, you know, in middle school and high school, we would all, I felt like everyone I knew, all my friends would go down on February break to like the West Coast of Florida to visit with their grandparents and get out of the wintertime. And, you know, even now some of my older family members

have property in Florida. And that's where I really got the idea to like kind of just look into this from the New England perspective, because there are so many people who own homes in Florida. So New Bedford, it's a city of about 100,000 people. It's a working class city. It's a huge fishing port. There's a huge Portuguese population there, just if you're unfamiliar with that area. And I spoke with a city council member there, Ian Abreu, and he owns a coffee syrup company. And coffee syrup, you've

never heard of it. It's just like chocolate. You put it in your milk. It's a New Bedford delicacy. And it's coffee milk instead of chocolate milk. So he started going down to Fort Myers a couple years ago to attend the annual New Bedford Day that they have in Fort Myers. And it's an event that was started around 20 years ago by a former mayor of New Bedford for all of the people from New Bedford to get together, reminisce about the old days, you know, talk about their hometown. And drink some coffee syrup. And drink some coffee syrup, exactly.

So he brought down crates of this coffee syrup for New Bedford Day and sold it at a table there. And he's found himself kind of in charge of New Bedford Day now. And it's funny, I don't know that there's a specific reason that people from New Bedford chose Fort Myers and Cape Coral other than I think it's word of mouth when it comes to things like this with migration, with, you know, snow burning. It's like, oh, hey, we got a place down here. You guys should come down so we can go we can hang out in the wintertime or hey it's pretty cool down here why don't y'all come check it out you know I used to live in South Carolina as well and Myrtle Beach is another big destination as I said and there would be whole streets it seems like of people from the

same town so anyway yeah you see a lot of New York Yankees caps I gotta say in certain parts of Florida as well so there are plenty of people who you know they're not just supporters of the Yankees they're lot of New York Yankees caps, I've got to say, in certain parts of Florida as well. So there are plenty of people who, you know, they're not just supporters of the Yankees. They're also from New York, another place which, you know, people like to come down to Florida from the chilly climes of the Northeast. Let's get to Bruce. He's a longtime snowbird, I believe, in Longboat Key. Bruce, are you with us? I am. How are you? Yeah, very good. What's on your mind? Well, I'm just driving around beautiful Longboat Key right now.

I am a snowbird from Connecticut. I won't have a Yankee cap, though, to be a mess. But, yeah, you know, it's interesting. You're talking about going to safer climes. I've been here 20 years. These are the first serious bad hurricanes. I mean, we got brushed by wind and had some damage from that. But, you know, there were a lot of storms that went through the state in 2005

and did a lot of damage in a lot of places. And, you know, I don't think there were wholesale evacuations, I mean, people leaving the state after that. There's definitely plenty of damage up and down the coast from the last two storms. But Asheville, North Carolina, in the mountains of North Carolina, where nobody dreamed there was flooding, and look what happened there. There are very few places. I've been to Michigan for many years, and Michigan becomes the tornadoes.

It's really tough to find a climate in the United States where you're going to see storms. Yeah. Just real quick, Bruce, are you reconsidering Florida as a destination? Have you thought about heading somewhere else, or are you here for the duration in terms of your snowboarding? Well, I think that never say never, but these storms, while they were depressing, it's not like I just said, where am I going to go? So I've actually had storms in Connecticut that were fairly devastating. So there's really no place that's totally safe for many of them. I think for the time being, we are going to snowboard. Stick it out. Thank you so much for your call, Bruce.

I'm Matthew Petty, and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida public radio station. So, Ashley, what about that? I mean, Bruce talking about the fact that there kind of are a limited range of safe havens, I guess. I mean, places where people haven't thought that might be impacted by these storms are now seeing some impacts from serious storms. We just saw over the previous hurricane season, as you mentioned, in North Carolina. I mean, is that something that goes into the calculus of people thinking about whether to rebuild, where to go? It absolutely does. That was a really common refrain here in the weeks following Hurricane Milton, when folks were saying, oh, maybe we should move or even just, you know, even if it wasn't a serious consideration, talking about moving and getting out of the path

of these hurricanes. And then, you know, like Bruce pointed out, there was the real life example of the Western North Carolina mountains and how no one expected it there. I do think there are legitimate havens from climate change, right? If you want to talk about maybe upstate New York or Milwaukee or some places in the Midwest, you could argue their, you know, their winters are getting more harsh, but that's a different type of storm than a destructive hurricane. So I absolutely think people are looking around the country and saying, where would I go? California, Oregon are on fire. There's extreme blizzard, there's tornadoes. I do think a lot of people say, you know what, natural disasters are going to happen. Yeah. Matt, Florida is still a popular destination,

of course, for people who want to relocate permanently or just spend part of their year somewhere warmer. I mean, are you hearing from snowbirds in your neck of the woods that this could make different cities in Florida more of a a destination like perhaps away from the coast yeah um and you know i think a lot of the when we try when we do these stories you know obviously there's so much nuance and florida is a huge state right and you know the the kind of real estate experts that i did interview in doing my story they were clear that florida it's not like it's going to be a switch and people are like oh we're not going to go winter down there anymore that's not the case at all it's going to be a switch and people are like, oh, we're not going to go winter down there anymore. That's not the case at all. It's, you know, I think that there could be some long-term trends based on what I'm hearing in terms of the rising costs and the

risks. But, you know, a lot of this is going to be at a much more localized level in terms of, you know, possible properties that are on the water and aren't viable anymore because of flood risk, you know, people might look for other areas. You know, some people on the West Coast, and I'm not a Floridian, so I don't know the ins and outs of what each coast looks like weather-wise, but, you know, anecdotally, some people on the West Coast were thinking about alternatives on the East Coast. I don't know how much better that is, but that's what they were saying. And some were looking at alternatives out of the state. But, you know, by and large, I do think people will continue to, you know, to spend time in Florida from up north.

One different dynamic that may come from all of this weather is that people may opt to rent and not buy. So they may go down there for shorter bouts of time for like a month or so and just kind of Airbnb so that they're not having to own the property and have the burden of that. But those rates I'm hearing may be higher because the property owner is going to be incurring those rising costs. Yeah. Just in the last 30 seconds or so here, Ashley, I mean, what do you think about that? Rents are potentially going to go up? Oh, absolutely, because all the insurance costs are being passed on to renters, whether you're a long-term renter or just here for an Airbnb. But I think that's already happening. My husband and I spent a few days on Ana Maria Island this summer before the storms, and almost all of Ana Maria Island is short-term rentals.

There's very few permanent homeowners there. So I think we are, I agree with Matt, we're going to see more of that. Well, Ashley Gerbel-Kreitzer, real estate editor for the Tampa Bay Business Journal, thank you so much. Also, thanks to Matt Fortin, reporter with NBC10 Boston. Coming up next, a look back at the first year

of mobile sports betting in Florida, plus a check of the tropics and how one central Florida community is grappling with ongoing flooding. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. within the federal health insurance marketplace. Open enrollment ends January 15th. 877-813-9115 or coveringflorida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty. It's been a brutal hurricane season for Floridians. Many of you are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton.

But hurricane season isn't officially over just yet. Meteorologists are keeping an eye on the Caribbean, where Tropical Storm Sarah formed on Thursday. For the latest on the storm season that just doesn't seem to want to quit, here's Megan Borowski, Senior Meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. Megan, what is the latest with the storm? It's still on Friday morning, Tropical Storm Sarah, right? But predictions are it's not going to be for much longer. Correct. Yeah. So right now, Sarah is moving very slowly, hugging the coast of Honduras, moving westward at about five miles an hour. It should actually make landfall with Belize sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. And it's just creeping

along, creating very heavy rainfall for Central America. Now, we do expect it to move inland into Belize, the northern part of Guatemala, and then into the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Really, through the weekend, it'll stay in the vicinity of the Yucatan Peninsula and disintegrate or dissipate, rather, as it slowly tracks through that land area. Now, there was quite a bit of uncertainty a couple of days ago about just where the storm was going to go and how strong it would get. Why was that? Some of the models were actually taking the disturbance over the open waters, kind of nudging between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, keeping the core of the system over the waters. And if that did verify, then you have all that fuel from the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico that in theory could have intensified this system the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico that in

theory could have intensified this system and brought it into the Gulf of Mexico. So thankfully for us in the States, the steering winds are not really there. The system is slowly creeping into land and because it's going to be moving into a very rough terrain, that will help to scramble it up and disorganize it and make it weaken. So thankfully for us, we shouldn't encounter any sort of tropical system over the next week or so. What does it tell you, though, about this storm season that there's a system in the Gulf this late in the season in November? It doesn't happen very often. We have had a handful of systems named in November, but it just goes to show that the forecast from the National

Hurricane Center is verifying we are at above average activity. But yeah, you know, this late in the game does happen, doesn't happen too often. So this season will be one for the record books. Is that it for us for hurricane season, do you think? Well, the remnants of Sarah actually are going to be picked up by a storm system that's going to impact the Midwest. So we're looking at the remnants of Sarah toward the middle to the end of the week. Not sure exactly where the rain is going to set up over the state of Florida, but you can expect unsettled weather. Thankfully not a tropical system. You know, I would say, Matthew, there's still two weeks left. I don't see anything in the models, but you never know. And the official end of hurricane season is November 30th. We have had

systems into the off season. So fingers crossed, though, I don't see anything in the models that make me worry. But I always say stay prepared. That was Megan Borowski, senior meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. As severe storms bring increasingly more rainfall to Central Florida, flooding remains a top concern. And flooding can also create other problems like contamination from wastewater. From our partner station, Central Florida Public Media, environment reporter Molly Duregg has this story. That's the sound of me walking through flood water four days after Hurricane Milton hit Central Florida. I'm in Astor, a small unincorporated community right where Volusia and Lake counties meet, and right along the St. Johns River. On this day, the water in the river is so high it almost blends into

the street. Go slow! Slow down! That's Astor resident Rich Williams trying to get cars to slow down as they plow through the floodwaters, sending small waves rippling all the way up to his garage. William says all his flood damage is inside. The problem we had here was sewage water coming in the house from under the toilet. This is the room that was affected the most. William says in his 13 years of living here, it's the first time he's seen wastewater coming up from below right into his home. He shows me where it seeped in from under the toilet. I found where the water was coming from and as you can see I have a test plug in there now to stop the water from coming out. Otherwise it'd be coming right out? Otherwise

it would be flowing out of there. Here in this pocket of Astor where Williams lives, only about 143 people depend on this wastewater system. The Florida Government Utility Authority owns and operates it. John Nieves with FGUA says Milton's heavy rains flooded the system. Basically, it was submerged underwater. Anytime that you have the lift station submerged, you're going to have issues with the flow of sewage. Lift stations, often used to pump wastewater in Florida. You can't rely on gravity alone to move sewage around here, given the state's low elevation. We know that at some point, almost every lift station is going to fail at some point in its life. That's Valerie Harwood, a microbiologist and University of South Florida professor who studies sewage. She says there's a reason most

lift stations are built near small bodies of water, like retention ponds and creeks. Although we certainly don't want to chronically release large amounts of sewage, if it has to happen, it's better that it goes into a water body and gets diluted and carried off rather than, you know, going directly into places where people live and work and shop. Like when raw sewage backed up into the homes in Astor. But under Florida law, Nieves says FGUA didn't need to report it to any higher agency. That's not considered a contamination. It is, I understand, in a person's home to any higher agency. That's not considered a contamination. It is, I understand, in a person's home.

I mean, obviously it's not sanitary, but it's not the, it doesn't fall under the DP guidelines where we need to notify them for a contamination. Sewage spills of more than 1,000 gallons are required to be reported to Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, but issuing a public notice of pollution that's readily available online, that's optional. State legislation requires local governments to evaluate and analyze long-term needs for their wastewater

infrastructure to ensure it's resilient to sea level rise. To achieve that resiliency costs a lot of money, ultimately coming from taxpayers. Here's USF professor Valerie Harwood again. People have a hard time looking at, you know, a several million dollar bill to upgrade sewage infrastructure because they're like, my toilet is working fine. Why do we need to spend millions of dollars on this? Harwood says more public awareness campaigns from regulatory agencies would help. Back in Astor, the permit for the sewer system serving Rich Williams' house will expire next October. Before then, Nieves says FGUA is hoping to break ground on some necessary system upgrades, like elevating a lift station to higher ground.

He says that should help prevent future backups. In Orlando, I'm Molly Dureg. I'm Matthew Petty, and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. I'm Matthew Petty, and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida public radio station. It's been a year since the Seminole Tribe slowly started to roll out mobile sports betting in the state. It's big business, with the state raking in more than $350 million in the first six months. But there have been some hurdles, including legal challenges to the tribe's mobile sports betting operation. Central Florida Public Media's Talia Blake spoke with Keith Buckley about the rollout of sports betting in Florida.

Buckley's a business and sports management professor at Rollins College and the school's head soccer coach. Last time we spoke back in September 2023, you said that there is an expected $2 billion in bets that will pass through Florida each month. Are we living up to those numbers? Oh yes, no problem at all. And that's legal bets I mean there still is a very significant illegal betting market out there but the expected revenues I think

is going to be an about 13 billion in profits and the expectation of the betting revenues over the next 10 years in Florida alone is very significant because one, the ease of use, and two, especially with younger people, spot betting, where you're betting on particular plays is very popular, especially college football and NFL, which just gravitates to that type of betting. So the revenues are exceeding expectations. So speaking of that, over the last year, how many people have been mobile sports betting here in Florida? Well, we actually don't know. Because, you know, that I would imagine that when they do their report to the state that they will say that, you know, as it stands right now, it's how many people have downloaded the app and how many people are actually using the app.

And that information, as far as I know, is not out there. information, as far as I know, is not out there. What we do know is that it's a very vibrant industry that we know anecdotally that people are using it. And as we go through the college football and the NFL football season right now, it's extremely popular. Although we don't know exactly how many people have been partaking in sports betting, I'm wondering what's been the impact on people here? You know, have there been more concerns about gambling addictions? You know, I guess I'm just wondering what's the real overall impact on people? Yeah, I mean, the latest research I saw was it was about 2% to 3% of people that bet regularly become addicted. And of them, the majority are males

and the majority are under 54 years old. And there clearly is a long-term projection of gambling addiction. And again, the app is so easy to use. And especially as young people, especially young males, like to bet. And maybe they don't have the income that they need for their betting needs as it were

I think we can see some real problems and that's something we kind of talked about before there were some concerns or just some talk about whether there would be consumer protections put in place once sports betting got underway in Florida and it sounds like we still haven't really seen any movement on that front here. Yeah, I mean, that's the last thing that gets put in place. The problem's got to be seen first before they really will put the regulations in. So based on how we've seen this play out over the last year in Florida, what can it tell us about the future of mobile sports betting?

It's not going away. It's going to get more entrenched in basically a way of life. I think revenues in the next five years are supposed to increase by a minimum of 10%. So this is an industry that's growing exponentially. That was Keith Buckley, a business and sports management professor at Rollins College, talking with Central Florida Public Media's Talia Blake.

And finally, the Tampa Bay Rays have a temporary home for the 2025 season in Tampa. The team announced it will play home games at Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees' spring training ground, after Hurricane Milton shredded the roof of Tropicana Field. It will cost more than $55 million to repair the trop, but there's questions about whether the city of St. Petersburg would spend the money when the stadium only has a couple more seasons before it's torn down to make way for a new ballpark. That's our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami

and WUSF in Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and the program's Technical Director is Peter Meads. Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Ernesto Jay and Gio Gorvin. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. If you missed any of today's show, you can download it and pass programs at wlrn.org slash podcasts

or find us on the NPR One app. Thank you for calling in and listening.