![Troy business owner is the life of the party [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321422_0_HHFR7ANPQ5HGFFMF6SYEBVYN2Ujpg.jpg)
Troy resident Jennifer Senn always dreamed of owning her own store. Now its safe to say her business is blowing up.
make money at home
![Floridas home insurer of last resort is in serious trouble. Will Milton put it over the edge? | Money [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321413_0_38113d50603e11eda31ef38c773c2bbajpg.jpg)
New York (CNN) An exodus of national insurance companies from Florida, combined with local private insurers canceling plans, has left many homeowners there with only one option: Citizens Property
![Satellite images reveal vast scale of destruction left in wake of Hurricane Milton as cleanup operations get underway [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321392_0_907440750imagem1381728658491194jpg.jpg)
Hurricane Milton downed power lines, inundated homes, and ripped to shredsfabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field after making landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
![Hurricane tested aging Tropicana Field roof. Denver airport tents are also nearing limits | Business [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321383_0_670837845afcdimagejpg.jpg)
As Hurricane Milton passed over Florida as a Category 3 storm, eyewitness videos flooded social media showing the rooftop of the Tampa Bay Rays home stadium shredding in the wind.
![Hurricane Milton leaves at least 16 dead as Florida cleans up [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321345_0_670932f488e1eimagejpg.jpg)
The death toll from Hurricane Milton rose to at least 16 on Friday, officials in Florida said, as residents began the painful process of piecing their lives and homes back together. Nearly 2.5 million households and businesses were still without power, and some areas in the path cut through the Sunshine State by the monster
![Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321303_0_670932f2469e6imagejpg.jpg)
Kyrgyzstan has opened a criminal probe into the destruction of glacial ice by a private company, a rare move pointing to concerns over water shortages in the Central Asian country. Glaciers are thick masses of ice that form on land from centuries of compressed snow. They provide a vital source of freshwater in Kyrgyzstan, a
![Stranded traveler gifted flight upgrade after chance encounter with airline CEO [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321294_0_planesplitjpg.jpg)
A traveler from Chicago, Illinois, was stranded in the airport feeling overwhelmed when an encounter with an airline CEO landed her in business class on a flight, she says.
![At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321285_0_67048a331ab6eimagepng.png)
At least 11 people died as Hurricane Milton sent tornadoes spinning across Florida, officials said Thursday as the state grappled with flooding, power outages and other woes from a milder than expected storm that many had feared would be catastrophic. The hurricane blasted across the state late Wednesday before roaring into the Atlantic, leaving behind
![Florida’s barrier islands are battered by Hurricane Milton [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321273_0_c174d0021acdb526d962cdd0b720dd68.jpg)
Hours after hurricane Milton slammed Florida’s barrier islands, residents and business owners were allowed to return to survey the damage.
![Video ABC News Live Prime: Thursday, October 10, 2024 [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321240_0_241010abcnlprimefullhpMain16x9jpg.jpg)
ABC News Live reports from Florida, where daybreak reveals damage to homes, businesses and roads from Hurricane Milton; at least one dead and others injured in an elevator accident at a tourist mine.
![Elk Park North Carolina residents recount Helene tragedy [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321213_0_4b3c753bb53f45588ee728776ac3241ajpg.jpg)
STORM AND ITS DESTRUCTION HERE IN NORTH CAROLINA. RECOVERY EFFORTS REMAIN AFTER HELENE. THE AVERY COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE SAYS SEARCH EFFORTS CONTINUE AND PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY TAKING THINGS ONE DAY AT A TIME. OUR SARAH SOWERS SPOKE TO RESIDENTS ALONG PARK ELM FALLS WHO WITNESSED HOMES FLOAT DOWN ALONG THE RIVER. I SPOKE WITH A MAN WHO SAYS HE IS STILL HEARTBROKEN AFTER WHAT HAPPENED TO TWO OF HIS NEIGHBORS, THE DEVASTATION AROUND HIM, HE SAYS, MAKES THIS CORNER OF AVERY COUNTY NEARLY UNRECOGNIZABLE. IF IT HAPPENED ONCE, IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN AND MORE THINGS YOU KNOW, MORE THAN THE TRAGEDY OF LOSING A HOME IS LOSING A DREAM. JOHN BEAR SAYS FOR MANY NEIGHBORS, THAT VACATION HERE, ELK RIVER FALLS, IS AN ESCAPE FROM REALITY. BUT FOR HIM, ITS HOME. 30FT OF FLOODING, NEARLY REACHED THE ONLY ROAD IN AND OUT OF HIS DRIVEWAY. IT CAME UP TO ABOUT RIGHT HERE. YEAH, YEAH. SO THIS WHOLE THING, YOURE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE YOUR EYES WHEN YOU SEE THIS DOWN HERE LATELY, HIS STREET HAS BEEN FILLED WITH THE SOUNDS OF RESCUE TEAMS AND DOGS, INCLUDING CREWS FROM THE WINSTON-SALEM FIRE DEPARTMENT AND HELICOPTERS SEARCHING FOR ANY REMAINING SIGNS OF LIFE. MAYBE ITS BETTER EXPLAINED AS A BIBLICAL EVENT. NEVER SEEN 66 YEARS OLD, NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT, BEAR TOLD US. HE FIRST SENT OUT AN EMERGENCY SIGNAL THROUGH HIS IPHONE WHEN THE RIVER TOOK OUT HIS NEIGHBORS HOME. KNOWING THAT ROD AND KIM WERE IN THEIR HOUSE FLOATING DOWN THE RAGING RIVER. YEAH, IT WAS. YEAH, THATS EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS. YEAH, IT WASNT FOR IT WASNT FOR ME. BECAUSE WE WERE SAFE ON THIS SIDE OF THE ROAD. THAT SIDE OF THE ROAD WAS NOT SAFE. HE DESCRIBES THE COUPLE AS SOME OF HIS DEAREST NEIGHBORS AND SAYS ROD BUILT THE TWO STORY WOOD CABIN HOME HIMSELF. ROCKS AND RUBBLE REMAIN WHERE IT ONCE STOOD. THAT WAS HIS DREAM. RIGHT, SIR. THAT WAS HIS DREAM. BEAR SAYS WHEN HE SAW RODS TRUCK FLOATING DOWN THE RIVER, HE REALIZED THEY MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE HOME THAT STARTED FLOATING SHORTLY AFTER IT. ROD WAS FOUND ALIVE AFTER BEING SWEPT INTO THE RIVER WHEN THEIR HOUSE SPLIT INTO PIECES, BUT KIM HAS NOT YET BEEN FOUND. YOU THINK YOURE OVER IT AND THEN YOU TALK TO A LOVED ONE, AND YOU JUST START GETTING EMOTIONAL AGAIN. AS FOR SURVIVORS IN THE COMMUNITY, POWER IS STILL OUT IN MUCH OF ELK PARK FALLS. BEAR TOLD US THAT WHAT WOULD HELP MOST NOW IS FREE FUEL OR SOLAR POWERED GENERATORS FOR THE HOMES, AS WELL AS RESTORING THE BRIDGES.
![Kansas City council postpones vote on menthol tobacco ban [Video]](https://smallbizsage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/mp_321171_0_796e4d1a88da4a5b947129f6fa41286djpg.jpg)
Following a national trend of proposed bans on menthol or flavored tobacco products, the Kansas City Council postponed a vote Thursday afternoon to disallow local businesses from selling such products as of Jan. 1, 2025.This ordinance and the debate surrounding it will be discussed and voted on in the Council Subcommittee in two weeks.Five city council members sponsored the ordinance that prohibits “the sale of flavored tobacco, nicotine, and vapor products within the city.” The Council began its effort to ban menthol cigarettes only over a year ago, which proved unsuccessful and was voted down at that time. Today’s vote to ban came as a shock to local business owners.”We’re going to lose 25 to 35% of sales,” said FavTrip gas station owner Babir Sultan. “We don’t sell lottery or liquor. My livelihood depends on this business.” He pointed to a glass case full of rows of vaping products with flavors like Tropical, Ice, and Juicy Peach. “This will be empty,” he said. Sultan owns four FavTrip stores three in Kansas City and one in Grandview. He said he was attending the National Convention of Convenience Store Owners in Las Vegas on Wednesday and rushed home to attend the council meeting.If the ban is approved, he says he will move all banned products from his Kansas City stores just three miles south to his Grandview store, where they will be legal to sell. He understands the need to prioritize public health, but he says this ordinance lacks common sense.”We lose all that tax revenue. What’s to stop someone from buying menthols from Independence, Grandview, or Lee’s Summit and selling them on the street? The Council is making choices for adults,” he said. The Council collects a cigarette tax stamp that brings in about $1.6 million a year. With this proposed ban, that revenue will be lost, but the Council says data backs up its decision to ban flavored products. It cites a recent study showing that 85% of Black smokers prefer menthol cigarettes, which carry a minty flavor. A Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study shows that with a ban on menthol cigarettes, 24% of daily menthol smokers quit smoking entirely, compared to non-menthol smokers.More than 170 U.S. cities have already banned menthol or other flavored tobacco products.