5 Things To Know Today (March 17): Insurance Fraud, Eric Darius, Emergency Drill and More

The fight against auto insurance fraud gets a boost, Eric Darius performs with middle school students, a mock emergency tests medical and first responder skills and a support group for families with challenged members gets set to meet tonight.

Rounding out this collection of five things to know, as March 17 gets underway, is a reminder that March is “Red Cross Month” — and in St. Petersburg a museum pays tribute to the history of the American Red Cross.

Five things to know:

• In the nation, one state stands out at the leader in auto insurance fraud. That state, Florida, has three of the nation’s top five cities for questionable medical claims associated with staged accidents, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Tampa is one of those three cities, along with Miami and Orlando. More than 3,000 staged accidents were reported in Florida between 2007 and 2009, more than twice the number reported in New York, the No. 2 state on the list. Today, March 17, MetLife, in a joint effort with the National Crime Bureau to combat insurance fraud, are will donate to Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee two vehicles to be used in his office’s undercover work to put a dent in insurance fraud. The donation is to take place at 9:30 a.m. at Tampa Executive Airport, 6582 Eureka Springs Road in Tampa.

• Jazz artist Eric Darius is set to perform today, March 17, with the jazz band at Progress Village Middle Magnet School of the Arts. Following the 9:40 a.m. concert, Darius is set to talk to about 250 eighth-graders about his life and music. Darius graduated from Blake High School in Tampa, where he attended the arts magnet program, and Progress Village is billed as the first stop on his national tour visiting schools to promote the importance of music education.

• The Parent 2 Parent Connection meets tonight, March 17, at  in Brandon, at 1310 John Moore Road. The connection is a support group for families with a member living with challenges. The meeting kicks off at 6:30 p.m.

• Pretend there is a “mass casualty event” at or near Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Suppose, too, that the “stricken” are taken to the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College. That pretty much sets up the mock emergency exercise set to take place today, March 17, from 9 a.m. to noon, with some 300 participants representing the college, Hillsborough Emergency Management, the City of Tampa, the Hillsborough County Health Department and the Medical Reserve Corps. Students from HCC’s EMT/Paramedic, nursing and other health sciences programs will assist first responders with triage and treatments.

• President Barak Obama has proclaimed March as "Red Cross Month,” which continues a tradition first established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. Nationally, the American Red Cross responds to an average of nearly 200 disasters every day, providing shelter, support and other necessities. The Tampa Bay chapter of the American Red Cross calls upon area residents to volunteer their time, make a donation or enroll in a lifesaving class. On exhibit through May at the St. Petersburg Museum of History is a Red Cross exhibit entitled, “A Tradition of Helping Others: The American Red Cross.” The museum is at 335 2nd Avenue N.E. in St. Petersburg.