Florida Governor Rick Scott announced the commitment of an additional $3 million to battle Florida's red tide mitigation efforts.

Several major airlines have waived change fees as Hurricane Lane is barreling toward the islands.

Hawaii is preparing for the worst as it begins seeing the first signs of Hurricane Lane Thursday, August 23, 2018, although reports indicate the storm will likely not have a direct hit on any of the islands. The category 4 storm is moving closer to the Hawaiian Islands with winds of 145 mph, and it is estimated that if the storm doesn’t make landfall, the islands will experience winds of 39 mph to 73 mph and rains of 5 inches to 15 inches.

The ways in which events are becoming sustainable, sometimes to the goal of zero waste, are increasingly innovative and exciting.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) acquired WINiT for Women, a career development network aimed at increasing visibility, mobility and development for women in the travel, meetings, events and exhibition industries. The acquisition will increase services for both organizations.

ASAE’s Annual Meeting & Exposition, held August 18-21 at Chicago’s McCormick Convention Center, set an attendance record for the association of associations as well as featured the unveiling of a bold pricing strategy for its experimental XDP event held in the Washington, D.C., area each April. Perhaps the biggest news item was the radical “pricing strategy” of offering free admission for association professionals to ASAE’s XDP, or Xperience Design Project, held April 11-12 next year at the Washington, D.C., area’s Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.

Omni Hotels & Resorts launched a new meeting planner loyalty program modeled after its Omni Select Guest program, which awards amenities and tier levels for free stays for planner activity. The program was announced August 20, 2018 at ASAE’s Annual Meeting & Exposition in Chicago.

799 killed and 1,418 wounded in 250 incidents. These are the sobering statistics for multiple casualty events in the U.S. between 2000 and 2017, occurring at schools, workplaces, medical institutions, houses of worship and most certainly events, among other locations, according to data presented during the “A First Responders Guide to Handling Active Shooter and Terrorism Threats” educational session at ASAE’s Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Association management and services company SmithBucklin launched SmithBucklin AXP, a methodology and range of tools that aids its association clients’ conversations about priorities, progress and opportunities for improvement, according to the Chicago-based firm.

Travelers at Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport were plunged into darkness Wednesday, August 15, 2018, around 10 p.m., a situation that provides an opportunity for meeting planners to think about and assess their own risk management strategies for power outages. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said a Dominion Energy issue caused the outage, according to a report from Washington, D.C.’s NBC4.