Education · Broward County
School districts in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties are urging voters to approve a one-mill property tax renewal on the Nov. 3 ballot, warning that rejection would eliminate hundreds of millions in funding for teacher pay, school safety personnel, and mental health services. District leaders fear voter confusion with Amendment 3, a separate measure that would reduce property taxes used for public services. Miami-Dade officials estimate a $500 million loss could drop teacher salaries from $73,030 to $57,814; Broward faces a roughly $358 million annual shortfall affecting about 13,400 teachers receiving supplements; Palm Beach warns approximately 900 choice-program teachers would lose jobs and pay would fall $8,000 annually. The one-mill levy costs homeowners about $418 per year in Broward County. State law requires these referendums every four years, with the current authorization running through mid-2031.
Community News · Broward County
Florida leads the nation in Medicare Advantage plan discontinuations for 2027, with about 81,000 enrollees across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties affected by plans ending or merging. In Broward County, available plans drop from 119 to 106, while Palm Beach County falls from 121 to 111; Aetna PPO plans are being terminated in Palm Beach County, and HealthSpring is exiting all three South Florida counties entirely. Enrollees whose plans end must select a replacement by Dec. 31 or automatically fall into Original Medicare without prescription drug coverage or a Medigap supplement. Insurers including Humana and UnitedHealthcare are shifting from PPOs to HMOs, trimming supplemental benefits like dental, vision and gym memberships, while Special Needs Plans grow to about two-thirds of Florida offerings.
Housing & Development · Boca Raton, FL
At a town hall Oct. 14 at the Spanish River Library, Boca Raton Mayor Andy Thomson told residents that a citywide ban on new residential construction would likely be illegal and could expose the city to takings claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars, citing vested development rights under Ordinance 4035. Thomson said the city's main growth tools—the downtown plan's 8 million square feet, the Planned Mobility Development district, and the CIMD program—are near their caps with no current discussion of raising them. He warned that Amendment 3 on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot, which would raise the homestead exemption to $250,000, could force Boca Raton to reduce services or introduce new fees such as an annual library charge or higher water/sewer rates. Thomson also outlined a three-part homelessness plan involving additional police officers, a community resource coordinator, and a working group with service providers.
Crime · Boca Raton, FL
Luke David Schlauder, 25, of Boca Raton was arrested Oct. 15, 2026, by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after leaving three threatening voicemails at the office of state Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman on Oct. 12, expressing anger about mail sent to his address. He faces a second-degree felony charge of making a written or electronic threat to kill or do bodily harm and a third-degree felony for using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony. Schlauder was booked into the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center; a judge set no bond on the threat charge and $50,000 on the communications-device charge, ordering no contact with the victim. A pretrial detention hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Oct. 19 before Circuit Judge John Parnofiello in Palm Beach County Circuit Court (case 50-2026-CF-007783-AXXX-MB). The charges are allegations and Schlauder is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
About Your Local News in Palm Beach County
Every night we go through the news sites and public notices that cover Palm Beach County, FL. When several outlets report the same council vote, you read about it once.
The email goes out before 6am. Where the original article is free to read, we link to it.
