Things To Do In SW Florida

TALLAHASSEE — A tech industry group that has battled Florida social-media laws in court is opposing new legislation dubbed the “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association on Friday sent a three-page letter to the Florida Senate saying the legislation “would impose an expansive and fragmented regulatory regime that risks chilling innovation, undermining free expression and placing Florida significantly out of step with recommended federal and international approaches to artificial intelligence governance.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis has made a priority of what he has called an AI bill of rights, and Sen. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, filed such a bill (SB 482) last month. Rep. Alex Rizo, R-Hialeah, filed an identical House proposal (HB 1395) on Friday.

The legislation addresses a variety of issues, such as establishing a “right” for parents to control children’s interactions with artificial intelligence; saying people have a right to know when they’re communicating with a human or an AI system or chatbot; and setting rules about the unauthorized AI-generated use of people’s names, images or likenesses. read more

For a second straight year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has been ordered to roll back its rate requests, reflecting what the governor insists is an increasingly favorable insurance market for beleaguered Florida policyholders.

A month after the state-owned company’s Board of Governors voted to ask regulators to approve a 2.6% statewide average rate cut, DeSantis called a news conference to announce that the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation had increased the cut to 8.7%.

More than 150,000 of about 400,000 customers of the state’s insurer of last resort would see their rates cut by more than 10%, DeSantis said. Citizens’ new rates would take effect on June 1.

Last February, DeSantis announced that insurance regulators had agreed to raise rates by much less than the 14% requested by Citizens’ governors.

During Monday’s news conference at Broward College’s Davie campus, DeSantis said that Citizens’ recent recommended cuts — the first cuts in a decade — were “milquetoast.” read more

Allegiant Travel said that it plans to buy Sun Country Airlines in a $1.5 billion deal.

The combination of the two small, budget airlines comes as low-cost carriers have struggled with high costs and competition in recent years, putting pressure on some to seek out growth and scale through mergers.

Allegiant and Sun Country generally focus on providing cheap flights to people traveling for fun or to visit friends and family. Together, they expect to serve almost 175 cities in the U.S. and other nearby countries.

Sun Country, which flies out of Orlando International Airport, offers flights from the City Beautiful to destinations including Anchorage, Alaska; Boise, Idaho; Chicago; Denver; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Philadelphia; St. Maarten and the U.S. Virgin Islands via its hubs in Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee.

Allegiant, which flies out of both OIA and Orlando Sanford International Airport, offers flights from Central Florida to places like Albany, N.Y.; Allentown, Pa.; Asheville, N.C.; Cincinnati; Pittsburgh; Provo, Utah; and Wichita, Kans. read more

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press

A federal judge ruled Monday that work on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut can resume, handing the industry at least a temporary victory as President Donald Trump seeks to shut it down.

At the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Senior Judge Royce Lamberth said the government did not explain why it could not take action short of a complete stop to construction on Revolution Wind while it considers ways to mitigate its national security concerns. He said it also did not provide sufficient reasoning for its change in position.

Revolution Wind has received all of its federal permits and is nearly 90% complete to provide power for Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Trump says his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. Three energy developers are challenging the administration’s freeze of their offshore wind projects in the federal courts this week.

FILE – The logo for the Danish company Orsted is displayed on the exterior of the Avedore Power Station in Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Aug. 19, 2025. (Sebastian Elias Uth/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) FILE – A sign for the company Equinor is displayed on Oct. 28, 2020, in Fornebu, Norway. (Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB Scanpix via AP, File) FILE – Wind turbine bases, generators and blades sit at The Portsmouth Marine terminal that is the staging area for Dominion Energy Virginia, which is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portsmouth, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) FILE – Wind turbine bases, generators and blades sit along with support ships at The Portsmouth Marine terminal that is the staging area for Dominion Energy Virginia, which is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portsmouth, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)