Florida's Latest News

Applications reopen for My Safe Florida Home program, with $280M in funding

Florida homeowners can once again apply for the My Safe Florida Home program, a key initiative that helps residents strengthen their homes against hurricane damage.

The reopening comes as experts warn of increased tropical activity through August and September, fueled by record-warm Atlantic waters and favorable storm conditions. The message to Floridians is clear: Now is the time to act.

Backed by $280 million in new funding, My Safe Florida Home offers free wind mitigation inspections and matching grants for storm-hardening upgrades like impact-resistant windows, reinforced roofs and storm-rated doors.

“The program gives homeowners the opportunity to prepare and act before the storm, not after, by strengthening their homes, reducing insurance costs, and protecting what matters most,” said Tim Weisheyer, 2025 President of Florida Realtors.

Since the program’s 2023 launch, thousands have benefited.

Could a partnership between Tampa Bay's airports take flight?

With a new 16-gate terminal expected to open in 2028, Tampa International Airport (TPA) will welcome even more travelers within the next decades. According to Hillsborough County commissioner Harry Cohen (District 1), a future strategic partnership between Tampa International and the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport might be able to help handle increasing foot traffic.

This collaboration would involve a transportation connection between the airports. Potentially, utilizing the new $865 million Howard Frankland Bridge, which has a section for rail systems.

Cohen was hesitant to say what transit technology would be used as this project would take years to plan out. However, he suggested that it might be a train or bus.

“My guess is when we get to that point, we’ll have options that we don’t have now,” he explained to the Catalyst.

As for what a partnership between the two airports would look like, Cohen said that models from other states could provide guidance.

States pass privacy laws to protect brain data collected by devices

More states are passing laws to protect information generated by a person’s brain and nervous system as technology improves the ability to unlock the sensitive details of a person’s health, mental states, emotions and cognitive functioning.

Colorado, California, and Montana are among the states that have recently required safeguarding brain data collected by devices outside of medical settings. That includes headphones, earbuds and other wearable consumer products that aim to improve sleep, focus and aging by measuring electrical activity and sending the data to an app on users’ phones.

A report by the Neurorights Foundation, an advocacy group that aims to protect people from the misuse of neurotechnology, found that 29 of 30 companies with neurotechnology products that can be purchased online have access to brain data and “provide no meaningful limitations to this access.” Almost all of them can share data with third parties.

In June, the American Medical Association called for greater regulation of neural data. In April, several Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether companies are exploiting consumers’ brain data. Juliana Gruenwald Henderson, a deputy director of the FTC’s Office of Public Affairs, said the agency had received the letter but had no additional comment.

States pass privacy laws to protect brain data collected by devices – Sun Sentinel

President Donald Trump’s first confirmed nominee for U.S. Attorney is a Miami-Dade judge whose professional background includes poor job evaluations in the office he will now lead.

On Saturday, Judge Jason A. Reding Quiñones secured a 51-41 cloture vote in the U.S. Senate. He will now head the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida, replacing interim U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne.

Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Very proud of our great Republican Senators for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Reding Quiñones told the Miami Herald, “As the son of a Cuban political refugee and a proud Miami native, I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence that President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, and the United States Senate have placed in me. As the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, I will work tirelessly to protect the American people, restore impartial justice, and defend the rule of law without fear or favor.”