Things To Do In SW Florida

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Black Friday may no longer be the retail bacchanalia of years past, when the promise of one-time bargains caused people to leave Thanksgiving tables for malls where some customers got into fistfights over toys or TVs. But the event still has enough enthusiasts to make it the biggest shopping day in the U.S.

For that reason, the day retains its crown as the official start of the holiday shopping season. This year’s kickoff comes as companies navigate an uncertain economic environment and wrestle with the volatility of President Donald Trump ‘s wide-ranging tariffs on imported goods.

Many have absorbed some of the costs and pulled back on hiring instead of raising prices for customers. Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy fell this month to the lowest since April — when Trump announced his tariffs — in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation, according to a report The Conference Board issued Tuesday.

Shoppers nonetheless have remained resilient and willing to spend, at least judging by the solid quarterly sales reports from Walmart, Best Buy and other retailers. But many retail executives also say customers are focusing on deals and have been selective in what they’re buying. read more

By Nilesh Christopher, Los Angeles Times

Generative artificial intelligence has quickly permeated much of what we do online, proving helpful for many. But for a small minority of the hundreds of millions of people who use it daily, AI may be too supportive, mental health experts say, and can sometimes even exacerbate delusional and dangerous behavior.

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Instances of emotional dependence and fantastical beliefs due to prolonged interactions with chatbots seemed to spread this year. Some have dubbed the phenomenon “AI psychosis.” read more

Nine newspapers owned or managed by MediaNews Group filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday, Nov. 26 against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the tech giants of violating copyright law by stealing the news publishers’ content to build and operate the large language models that power their artificial intelligence applications.

The newspapers are the Los Angeles Daily News, The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Bernardino Sun, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot.

The plaintiffs in the 119-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said they are seeking “in excess of $10 billion” in damages.

“OpenAI pays for its chips. It pays for its computers. It pays its programmers. But it steals the raw material for its GAI products — valuable well-written content — from hard-working journalists without payment and without permission,” said Steven Lieberman, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Rothwell Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, who is representing the newspapers in the case. “Through this lawsuit, the news plaintiffs seek to make OpenAI pay for what it has taken.” read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

The Campbell’s Co. said Wednesday it has fired an executive who was recorded making racist comments and mocking the company’s products and customers.

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Martin Bally, a vice president in Campbell’s information security department, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s employee who said he was fired Jan. 30 after he reported Bally’s comments to a supervisor.

The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both Garza and Bally live. Campbell’s is based in Camden, New Jersey.

In the lawsuit, Garza claimed he met with Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. During the meeting, which Garza allegedly recorded, Bally described Campbell’s as “highly process(ed) food” and said it was for “poor people.” read more

After a long run, home insurance price increases in Florida slowed to a near halt between August and September, raising the question: Now will prices go down?

Statewide average costs for all-perils coverage of owner-occupied homes increased by $1 between August and September, from $3,747 to $3,748, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s analysis of the most recently released insurance cost data from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

That comes out to an increase of 0.03% — or less than a tenth of a percentage point. It’s the lowest increase since the state began releasing its Residential Market Share Reports on a monthly basis earlier this year.

Since January, premium costs have increased by 1.5% and average premiums jumped from $3,691 to $3,748.

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Of course, South Florida homeowners don’t expect to pay those prices. Premiums in the region have long remained higher than the remainder of the state, due to its higher density, higher housing costs, and resulting higher costs posed by the threat of a major hurricane. read more