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Month: January 2026

Health inspectors shut down 4 Central Florida restaurants last week

Health inspectors shut down 4 Central Florida restaurants last week

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation shut down four Central Florida restaurants for health code violations during the week from Dec. 28-Jan. 3.

LAKE

Lechonera El Barrio Clermont Restaurant LLC at 1800 S. U.S. Highway 27 in Clermont shut down on Dec. 29. Inspectors found 14 violations, three of which were high priorities. Those violations included raw food stored over ready-to-eat food and roach activity. A second inspection occurred on Dec. 31. Inspectors found two violations, one of which was a high priority for covering the closing sign posted by the inspectors. The restaurant required a follow-up inspection, but didn’t pose a threat to the public. A third and final inspection happened on Jan. 5. There were 10 violations, two of which were high priorities. The restaurant met inspection standards.

VOLUSIA

Sicily Pizza at 20 S. Atlantic Ave., Suite B in Daytona Beach shut down on Dec. 29. Inspectors found 15 violations, three of which were high priorities. Those violations included an employee failing to wash their hands before putting on gloves to work with food, roach activity and food held at the wrong temperatures. A second inspection occurred on Dec. 30. Inspectors found eight violations, one of which was a high priority for roach activity. The restaurant remained closed. Two more inspections happened on Dec. 31. On the first inspection, inspectors found one violation, but none was a high priority. The restaurant met inspection standards. The final inspection found one high-priority violation for covering up the closure sign. A follow-up inspection is required, but the restaurant wasn’t an immediate threat to the public. read more

Prediction markets could change sports betting nationwide, report says

Prediction markets could change sports betting nationwide, report says

By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal

A gambling research company says prediction markets could become a $1 trillion industry nationwide when fully mature, with $435 billion of that coming from contracts on sports outcomes.

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The battle between prediction markets and states that offer legal sports betting may not be resolved for months, even years.

Newport Beach, California-based Eilers & Krejcik issued a December report, “U.S. Prediction Markets: How Big, How Fast, What’s Next?” that estimates how much the federally regulated markets could slice into traditionally state-regulated sports wagering and that it may not be until 2027 that legal disputes wind their way through court appeals that may ultimately end at the U.S. Supreme Court level. read more

Automakers face an ‘EV winter’ in 2026 as sales growth slows

Automakers face an ‘EV winter’ in 2026 as sales growth slows

By Kyle Stock and Lili Pike, Bloomberg News

Growth in global sales of electric vehicles is expected to slow this year as China winds down some subsidies, Europe wavers on its phase-out of combustion engines, and U.S. producers and policymakers make a U-turn from the segment.

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BloombergNEF expects drivers to buy 24.3 million passenger EVs this year, an increase of only 12% on 2025 and weaker than the 23% growth in sales last year.

In the U.S. in particular, electric vehicle makers are facing an “EV winter,” and will need to navigate bumpy months ahead before a likely revival in sales in 2027 and 2028, said Nathan Niese, Boston Consulting Group’s global lead for EVs and energy storage. Though the long-term trajectory for battery-powered vehicles remains positive, there isn’t “a 2026 story buried in there that says there’s lots to be optimistic about,” he said. read more

Alaska Airlines pilot who safely landed plane after panel blew out says Boeing unfairly blamed him

Alaska Airlines pilot who safely landed plane after panel blew out says Boeing unfairly blamed him

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

The Alaska Airlines pilot who has been universally praised as a hero for safely landing a jet after a door plug panel flew off shortly after takeoff is suing Boeing because he believes the plane maker wrongly tried to blame him and the rest of the crew in past legal filings.

Captain Brandon Fisher was commended by the heads of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration and even Boeing executives for helping ensure none of the 177 people aboard flight 1282 were killed when the blowout happened in January 2024.

FILE – This photo released by the National Transportation Safety... FILE – This photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows the door plug that fell from Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Jan. 8, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (National Transportation Safety Board via AP, file) File – A door plug area of an Alaska Airlines... File – A door plug area of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft awaiting inspection is pictured with paneling removed at the airline’s facilities at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Jan. 10, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) FILE – The door plug from the Alaska Airlines Flight... FILE – The door plug from the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282’s Boeing 737-9 MAX airplane is shown at the National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, in Washington, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

But Fisher’s lawyers say that Boeing’s attempts to deflect liability in past lawsuits despite what the NTSB investigation found led to the pilot being sued by some passengers and caused him great distress.

“Boeing’s lie infuriated Captain Fisher as well, as he was being castigated for his actions as opposed to being lauded,” Fisher’s lawyers, William Walsh and Richard Mummalo, wrote in the lawsuit filed in an Oregon court. “Because he had flown Boeing aircraft for the entirety of his employment with Alaska Airlines, Boeing’s attempts to blame him felt like a deep, personal betrayal by a company that claimed to hold pilots in the highest regard.” read more

Musk’s AI chatbot faces global backlash over sexualized images of women and children

Musk’s AI chatbot faces global backlash over sexualized images of women and children

By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is facing a backlash from governments around the world after a recent surge in sexualized images of women and children generated without consent by the artificial intelligence-powered tool.

On Tuesday, Britain’s top technology official demanded that Musk’s social media platform X take urgent action while a Polish lawmaker cited it as a reason to enact digital safety laws.

The European Union’s executive arm has denounced Grok while officials and regulators in France, India, Malaysia and Brazil have condemned the platform and called for investigations.

Rising alarm from disparate nations points to the nightmarish potential of nudification apps that use artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit deepfake images.

FILE - Elon Musk attends the Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE – Elon Musk attends the Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Here’s a closer look:

Image generation

The problem emerged after the launch last year of Grok Imagine, an AI image generator that allows users to create videos and pictures by typing in text prompts. It includes a so-called “spicy mode” that can generate adult content. read more