Fresh Take Florida

Three hundred and fifty-eight. That’s how many times Akil P. Patel, Florida’s luckiest lottery player, beat the odds and cashed in a scratch-off ticket of at least $600 since 2015. To expect to win that many times, Patel would need to buy enough tickets to stack – like a deck of cards – from the ground past the top of New York City’s One World Trade Center, nearly 1,800 feet up.

Twenty hours each week, Cassie Urbenz acts as a therapist, lawyer and customer service representative. As president of the Graduate Assistants United chapter at the University of Florida, Urbenz handles the grievances of over 4,000 fellow union members, helps them fill out paperwork and shows them how to access their benefits.

In Orlando, Carrie Black’s government job is to move Orange County toward renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which she says could save millions in energy costs. In Tallahassee, state lawmakers have moved to block such local efforts. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in Jacksonville on Thursday, which was celebrated as Earth Day, with a theme focused on renewable energy, accelerating the green energy transition and building a sustainable future.