Things To Do In SW Florida

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued his ruling Tuesday after the historic antitrust trial wrapped up in late May. His decision follows two separate rulings that branded Google an illegal monopoly in both search and online advertising, dealing yet another regulatory blow to the tech industry that for years enjoyed nearly unbridled growth.

The Federal Trade Commission “continues to insist that Meta competes with the same old rivals it has for the last decade, that the company holds a monopoly among that small set, and that it maintained that monopoly through anticompetitive acquisitions,” Boasberg wrote in his ruling. “Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now. The Court’s verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so.” read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Kroger said Tuesday it’s closing three automated fulfillment centers as part of an effort to make its delivery operations faster and more profitable.

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The nation’s largest grocer said it will close facilities in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; Frederick, Maryland; and Groveland, Florida, in January. The company said it will monitor the performance of its five remaining facilities.

“We are taking decisive action to make shopping easier, offer faster delivery times, provide more options to our customers, and we expect to deliver profitable sales growth as a result,” Kroger Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent said in a statement. read more

This holiday season at Orlando’s theme parks is a bit like that comfy cardigan you’ve had stowed away for several months. It’s totally familiar, full of memories, and, oh, there are a couple of things in the pockets you’ve completely forgotten about.

Let’s unpack the proceedings at SeaWorld Orlando and the Disney Jollywood Nights after-hours event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park as examples.

SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration features multiple activities throughout the day, including “O Wondrous Night,” a stage show with carols and puppets surrounding the birth of Jesus story, and the “Sesame Street Christmas Parade.”

Returning to its holiday entertainment lineup after a seven-year absence is “Clyde & Seamore’s Countdown to Christmas.” The stage show starring a pair of sea lions has been reworked but kept a humorous approach and a few local jokes. This year, there’s an unexpected nod to The Villages, although it feels like maybe there was more snark in previous editions. read more

By MARC LEVY

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The forecasts are eye-popping: utilities saying they’ll need two or three times more electricity within a few years to power massive new data centers that are feeding a fast-growing AI economy.

But the challenges — some say the impossibility — of building new power plants to meet that demand so quickly has set off alarm bells for lawmakers, policymakers and regulators who wonder if those utility forecasts can be trusted.

One burning question is whether the forecasts are based on data center projects that may never get built — eliciting concern that regular ratepayers could be stuck with the bill to build unnecessary power plants and grid infrastructure at a cost of billions of dollars.

The scrutiny comes as analysts warn of the risk of an artificial intelligence investment bubble that’s ballooned tech stock prices and could burst.

Meanwhile, consumer advocates are finding that ratepayers in some areas — such as the mid-Atlantic electricity grid, which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already underwriting the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not. read more

State-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. may continue to pursue more than 400 claims through an alternative dispute system that critics say produces rulings favorable to the insurer.

A circuit judge from Leon County, Jonathan Sjostrom, signed an order on Friday saying that state law authorizes the company to send pending lawsuits to the Department of Administrative Hearings rather than the court system.

The ruling requires DOAH to move forward on pending arbitration cases that have been stalled since Aug. 1. A Citizens spokesman said Monday that he doesn’t know whether the order allows it to send new cases to the panel. Seven other cases recently approved by judges will proceed, the spokesman said.

The ruling by Sjostrom overturns a statewide injunction issued by Melissa Mary Polo, a Hillsborough County circuit judge overseeing Citizens policyholder Martin Alvarez’s challenge of Citizens’ right to divert a claim to the DOAH panel.

Alvarez and other plaintiffs have argued that Citizens’ diversion of the cases — permitted under a 2023 law and required by a policy provision that cannot be declined — violates policyholders’ constitutionally guaranteed access to the courts. read more