Orange County, Florida

Election officials in several Florida counties, including Seminole, Broward, and Monroe, are investigating delays in vote-by-mail ballots moving through the U.S. Postal Service. Seminole County has issued more than 500 replacement ballots, with one local delivery taking seven days; a Broward official's son waited 12 days for a ballot sent from Orlando. USPS says it has found no delivery issues in Broward or Monroe. Central Florida counties outside Seminole report no similar problems. With Florida's 7 p.m. Nov. 3 return deadline approaching, officials are urging voters who haven't mailed ballots to instead vote early in person or drop ballots at secure intake stations.

On Nov. 3, Charleston County voters decide whether to extend, for a six-year term, the existing 1-cent sales tax funding school capital projects, a measure they have approved twice before since 2010. Dorchester County voters will consider adopting the tax for the first time, after a May law change made counties with exactly two school districts eligible. Dorchester Two and Dorchester Four would split revenue 85/15 over up to 15 years. Charleston's extension could generate about $1.25 billion; Dorchester's new tax could raise $688.2 million. Funds must go toward construction, renovations, and debt reduction, not salaries or operations, covering new schools, building replacements, and maintenance across both counties.

Orange County, Florida, Mayor Jerry Demings has proposed an $800 million spending plan funded by the county's 6% tourist development tax, to be considered by commissioners. The largest share, $400 million, would go to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, which had requested $750 million. Eatonville would receive $60 million for a museum of culture and history at the Hungerford property and $20 million for a heritage tourism district. The University of Central Florida would get $46 million to expand its soccer stadium and build a track facility. Other projects include a Winter Garden children's museum, a Camping World Stadium parking garage, and arts and ecotourism grants. The plan is not final.

A city-commissioned feasibility study finds that South Apopka, an unincorporated, majority-Black Orange County community excluded from Apopka's boundaries by a 1937 ordinance, could legally be annexed into the City of Apopka. The study covers about 1.93 square miles and roughly 4,063 residents, and concludes the area meets state criteria for being compact, contiguous and urbanized. However, it projects new property-tax revenue of about $1.31 million annually against roughly $6.87 million in added service costs, a preliminary $5.5 million shortfall that excludes utility fees, state revenue sharing and other potential income sources.

Major projected costs include 18 additional police officers, a new $17 million police substation, a new fire station, 25 additional fire personnel, and decades-long sewer infrastructure expansion. Annexation would require an ordinance, public hearings and a referendum of area voters, with no immediate change expected. City commissioners discussed sending the study to Orange County and beginning the ordinance process, with a public vote possibly in 2027 or 2028.

Chief Medical Examiner Joshua Stephany, who led identification and autopsy efforts after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, said he deliberately kept gunman Omar Mateen's body in a separate, smaller morgue from the 49 victims. He said there was no legal requirement to do so, calling it a personal decision: "It's just what I felt was right." Stephany, filling in as medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties with a small staff, set a goal of identifying and autopsying all victims by Tuesday, enlisting two state pathologists to help process the bodies.

Technicians used fingerprints, driver's licenses, tattoos, and other identifiers to confirm victims, with a final John Doe matched through a discarded wallet found at the club. Stephany personally conducted Mateen's autopsy along with several victims' autopsies, saying evidence suggested the victims did not suffer prolonged struggles. By Thursday, all victims' remains had been released to funeral homes; Mateen's body had not. Stephany was named permanent chief medical examiner the same week, amid an unusually heavy caseload including other high-profile Orlando-area deaths.

Former state Rep. Kamia Brown and incumbent Commissioner Mike Crabb are headed to a November runoff for Orange County (Fla.) Commission District 2, under newly redrawn boundaries covering Apopka, Clarcona, Lockhart and Ocoee. The League of Women Voters of Orange County hosted a forum where both candidates agreed on protecting the Wekiva River basin, with Crabb citing septic and sewer infrastructure fixes and Brown calling water quality a public health priority.

The candidates diverged on other issues: Crabb emphasized faster traffic-technology upgrades, while Brown focused on transit education and locating affordable housing near public transportation.

A key flashpoint is Florida's Amendment 3, which would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 and lower the non-homestead assessment cap, requiring 60% voter approval. County officials estimate potential revenue losses of about $165 million in 2027 and $275 million in 2028. Brown called the measure a "tax shift" rather than relief, favoring more time for state action, while Crabb voiced concern over the scale of cuts but said it's premature to decide specifics, noting heavy MSTU reliance for fire services.

Ahead of Saturday's Sept. 5 season-opening football matchup between the University of New Hampshire and Syracuse University, local officials have made a lighthearted interstate bet. Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig, an alumnus of both schools, pledged a jug of New Hampshire maple syrup should the Wildcats lose. Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens, also an SU alumna, countered with a taste of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, the city's well-known barbecue restaurant, if the Orange fall short.

Both officials framed the wager as a fun way to showcase civic pride ahead of kickoff, set for noon Saturday. Owens said she's looking forward to a competitive game and, ideally, some maple syrup afterward, while Selig noted his Durham loyalties will back UNH for the day despite his ties to both universities.

While the game itself carries no direct prediction market stakes, such civic wagers often accompany college football matchups and highlight local enthusiasm surrounding the sport as the season begins.