Things To Do In SW Florida

By Kevin Hardy, Stateline.org

While states have cheered the new tax revenue from sports gambling, some new studies have linked the burgeoning industry to lower consumer credit scores, higher credit card debt and less household savings.

With access on their cellphones, gamblers can bet more often and easily than in traditional casinos, heightening concerns about problem gambling and the financial fallout for sports fans. The rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as it is for other gamblers, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Legal sports gambling is more widespread than ever. Missouri voters in November became the latest to approve it, making it legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, Americans bet more than $121 billion on sports, according to the American Gaming Association. While betting revenues are exploding, the industry is still relatively young — only blossoming after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Damage from Hurricane Milton is driving down citrus production from what was already expected to be a historic low in the current growing season, according to a federal report released Tuesday.

An updated forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Florida is projected to produce enough oranges to fill 12 million 90-pound boxes, 3 million less than expected before Milton. The industry produced 17.96 million boxes of oranges during the 2023-2024 season, which ended in July.

Similarly, the new forecast reduced expected production numbers for grapefruit and specialty crops, such as tangerines and tangelos. Milton swept across the heart of the citrus industry in October.

“It definitely had an effect,” U.S. Department of Agriculture State Statistician Mark Hudson said Tuesday in releasing the updated numbers.

The citrus industry, which has long struggled with deadly citrus greening disease, development pressures, foreign competition and damage from other hurricanes, faces the smallest harvest this season in more than a century. read more

Brooks Johnson | (TNS) The Minnesota Star Tribune

Minnesota-based Michael Foods has lost 12% of its egg supply after millions of egg-laying chickens were exposed to avian influenza and euthanized at a contracted facility in Iowa, according to parent company Post Holdings.

Michael Foods is one of the nation’s largest egg processors for restaurants and other foodservice outlets and as an ingredient for other food manufacturers. Post, which also owns cereal and pet food maker Post Consumer Brands, said Monday the loss of nearly 4.5 million birds won’t affect its financial outlook for the year ahead.

Longtime dinosaur fans and curious kids are invited to the Paleontology Party at Orlando Science Center this weekend.

The event includes hands-on activities, live shows and appearances by experts, including Jimmy Waldron, founder of the “Dinosaurs Will Always Be Awesome” podcast.

“It’s the perfect scenario for kids and adults to come out and just reconnect with these incredible animals that we used to play with in the sandbox and kind of get caught up on everything that we’ve missed in paleontology,” Waldron said. “There have been so many new discoveries in the last 30 years, in the last five years.”

He was bit by the dinosaur bug at age 4 during a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, he said.

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“This was back in the ‘80s, so this is when the T. rex [skeleton] was still standing upright, tail on the ground, and I was just blown away by just the magnitude of this creature,” he said. “Ever since then, it’s like, how could something so gigantic and so fierce-looking just be gone now?” read more

By TRÂN NGUYỄN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California, home to some of the largest technology companies in the world, would be the first U.S. state to require mental health warning labels on social media sites if lawmakers pass a bill introduced Monday.

The legislation sponsored by state Attorney General Rob Bonta is necessary to bolster safety for children online, supporters say, but industry officials vow to fight the measure and others like it under the First Amendment. Warning labels for social media gained swift bipartisan support from dozens of attorneys general, including Bonta, after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to establish the requirements earlier this year, saying social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.

“These companies know the harmful impact their products can have on our children, and they refuse to take meaningful steps to make them safer,” Bonta said at a news conference Monday. “Time is up. It’s time we stepped in and demanded change.” read more