Online gambling on hurricanes is becoming quite popular. The gambling operators who offer these types of bets claim that the historical data on hurricanes make for great odds due to unpredictable weather predictions. For example, wagers can bet on a range of hurricanes formats from the total number of hurricanes that occur to wagering on the odds of category strength status to how many storms will hit Florida residents or certain areas along the coastline.

A group of thieves in Florida stole 270-kg (595. 2 lbs) Buddha statue from a Japanese restaurant in southeastern Florida. "I don't think they're going to have good luck," the distraught restaurant owner Ako Tarallo said.

The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany has been turned into world's largest reef. The famed carrier was rescued by US Navy from the salvage yard after a contract to turn it into scrap metal fell through, reports CNN news.

Sending flowers in time for Valentine's Day may be a little harder this year. The building housing the nation's largest flower shipping business burst into flames in southern Florida -- a week before Valentine's Day. The owner of Armellini Industries in Palm City said that 53 trucks transporting Valentine's Day flowers already were on the road when the building caught fire. The owner says the fire could not have come at a worse time.

The U. S. Small Business Administration is warning Americans applying for disaster assistance in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to be on the watch for scam artists posing as federal officials offering help, while trying to take advantage of those in the midst of rebuilding their lives. SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto says, "The SBA will not tolerate the defrauding of those who have already lost so much in the aftermath of these devastating storms. Those who are found taking advantage of the disadvantaged will be prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law provides. "