While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Family friend accused of murdering 23-year-old Stuart mom
Loved ones knew something was wrong when 23-year-old Perrin Damron didn't pick up her two-year-old child. Investigators said quick police work and a doorbell camera helped zero in on the suspect.
Deupties say accused killer Eric Westergard led detectives to an overpass at the Okeechobee waterway at Highway 710, near Indiantown. That's where they recovered her body.
Westergard, a Jupiter Farms resident, is in the Palm Beach County jail. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
2. August was the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida
As of mid-August, Florida was averaging 244 deaths per day, up from just 23 a day in late June and eclipsing the previous peak of 227 during the summer of 2020. (Because of both the way deaths are logged in Florida and lags in reporting, more recent figures on fatalities per day are incomplete.)
The state reported more than 5,721 deaths in August, overtaking the previous monthly high of 5,469 deaths in January
In a positive sign, the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 in Florida has dropped over the past two weeks from more than 17,000 to 14,200 on Friday, indicating the surge is easing.
3. DoJ vows to protect women seeking abortions in Texas
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday said the Justice Department is "exploring all options" to challenge a bill that severely limits a woman's access to an abortion in Texas.
Garland added that federal prosecutors are exploring ways to protect access to abortion in Texas through the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act or the FACE Act.
According to the Associated Press, the FACE Act prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to prevent a person from seeking reproductive health care. It also prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and similar facilities.
4. Tropical disturbance to move across Florida
Larry is still a category 3 hurricane but will weaken to a cat 2 by tomorrow then move east of Bermuda. By the weekend, it will move towards Newfoundland as a category 1 hurricane, then continue a path towards the North Atlantic where it will eventually die out.
An area of showers and storms over the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan Peninsula will move into the northeastern Gulf where it has a low chance of development.
For us, it just means a boost in rain chances tomorrow and Thursday. Some development possible once the system crosses over Florida and moves into the Atlantic.
5. Jill Biden heads back to classroom as a working first lady
After months of teaching writing and English to community college students in boxes on a computer screen, First Lady Jill Biden resumes teaching in person on Tuesday from a classroom at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has worked since 2009.
She is the first first lady to leave the White House and log hours at a full-time job.
Today's Forecast
Tropical disturbance to increase rain chances across Florida
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On This Day In History
On September 07, 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot several times in Las Vegas after attending a boxing match. Shakur was riding in a black BMW with Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight when a white Cadillac sedan pulled alongside and fired into Shakur’s car. Knight was only grazed in the head, but Shakur was hit several times. He died in a hospital several days later.
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