Things To Do In SW Florida

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $100 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that the retailer caused its delivery drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars’ worth of earnings by deceiving them about their pay and tips they could make, the commission said ‌in a ​statement ​on Thursday.

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Joined by 11 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin — the FTC alleges that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer showed drivers inflated base pay and tip amounts in its crowdsourced gig driver delivery program called Spark. read more

By Keith Naughton and David Welch, Bloomberg News

Detroit under Donald Trump has rediscovered its love of the big, roaring engine.

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By gutting climate regulations, the president has freed U.S. automakers to sell as many gas-burning trucks and SUVs as they can. Muscle cars powered by rumbling V-8s and Hemi engines are back, with beasts like the Dodge Charger and Ford’s Mustang Dark Horse laying down rubber at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. Electric vehicles, pushed by years of federal policy, are now purely optional.

The sudden switch promises a new era of fat profits for the companies. They’ve always made their best margins on large vehicles with monster engines. Ford Motor Co.’s top executive even hailed the change as a “multibillion-dollar opportunity.” read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic an ultimatum this week: Open its artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use by Friday, or risk losing its government contract.

Defense officials in the Trump administration also warned they could designate Anthropic, which makes the AI chatbot Claude, as a supply chain risk — or invoke a Cold War-era law called the Defense Production Act to give the military more sweeping authority to use its products, even if the company doesn’t approve.

Some experts say that using the law this way would be unprecedented, and could bring future legal challenges. The government’s efforts to essentially force Anthropic’s hand also underscore a wider, contentious debate over AI’s role in national security.

Here’s what we know.

What is the Defense Production Act?

The Defense Production Act gives the federal government broad authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of national defense.

The act was signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1950, amid concerns about supplies and equipment during the Korean War. But over its now decades-long history, the law’s powers have been invoked not only in times of war but also for domestic emergency preparedness as well as recovery from terrorist attacks and natural disasters. read more

Weight loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk will cut the list prices of Ozempic and Wegovy by up to 50% beginning in 2027, the company announced this week.

Wegovy currently carries a list price of $1,349 per month, while Ozempic is listed at $1,028 for a one-month supply. Both drugs will be listed at $675 per month beginning on Jan. 1, 2027, “representing reductions of approximately 50% and 35% for Wegovy and Ozempic, respectively,” according to Novo Nordisk.

The price cut will be designed to make Ozempic and Wegovy more affordable for people who receive the diabetes and obesity drugs through their health insurance, Novo Nordisk said.

Some insurance plans link coverage and out-of-pocket costs to the list price of medications. The upcoming price cuts will be the most helpful for “individuals with high-deductible health plans or co-insurance benefit designs,” said Jamey Millar, executive vice president of U.S. operations.

Novo Nordisk already announced Ozempic and Wegovy price cuts for some people last year, with the drugs now costing $349 per month for those paying full price without insurance. The drugs will also be cheaper for those on Medicare after the company cut a deal with President Trump’s administration. read more

Florida property insurers are keeping secrets.

Empowered by industry-friendly state statutes and court rulings, they’re blocking access to information about how their firms set premiums, handle claims, and shift profits out of the reach of regulators. They insist it wouldn’t be fair for their competitors to learn these critical “trade secrets.”

But Florida’s trade secrets shield also blocks homeowners from comparing insurance companies, and keeps information from policy holders that could bolster claim payouts for repairs.

And state regulators won’t step in to decide whether all this information really needs to be kept confidential. Instead, they force aggrieved information-seekers to fight it out with insurers and their well-compensated lawyers in court.

Jeremy Berman could tell you how well that goes. The Fort Myers Beach homeowner fought for two years to see records his insurer, Olympus Insurance Co., compiled before denying coverage of damage Berman says was caused by Hurricane Ian’s winds in September 2022. He lost, like every one of the dozens of individuals who have challenged Florida insurers’ trade secret designations, according to a South Florida Sun Sentinel review of 15 years of court records. read more