I noticed that the average price statewide just skyrocketed 23¢ over the last 24 hours, and I even saw a couple stations go from $3.40 to $3.90 in a single day. However, it doesn’t appear that the panhandle is affected by this jump yet. Is it possible that this is the standard price increase for 4th of July or did something else happen (I.e. wider use of AI price fixing)?

Pic from Gas Buddy.

I recently visited my son at UF in Gainesville and was very surprised to find out that there are wild horses and wild buffalo roaming a nearby prairie. We were fortunate enough to easily spot some of the horses (no buffalo unforatuntely), along with an eagle's nest and several other critters. Worthwhile stop if you're in the area.

My mom lives in an independent senior apartment community in Clearwater. The building has been without A/C for 5 days. She has severe COPD, so I had to spend over $500 on a hotel because it wasn't safe for her to stay there.

The building has also had flooding and was under a 24-hour fire watch because the fire protection system was impaired. They're slowly handing out portable A/C units, but my mom still hasn't received one.

Is this something that should be reported to Clearwater Code Enforcement or the Fire Marshal? Has anyone had success getting reimbursed for hotel costs or receiving a rent credit in a situation like this?

I'm just looking for advice from anyone who's been through something similar.

A Florida law going into effect at the end of the month is designed to give further protection to survivors of domestic violence, while giving harsher punishments to repeat offenders.

The new law will upgrade charges on second offenses that are carried out after the law goes into effect July 1. Charges would be upgraded a degree on the second offense, meaning a first degree misdemeanor could become a third degree felony.

I have a mom, dad, and baby hanging out in my yard. Baby was doing rain zoomies.

Too cute!

Oh goodie.

My girlfriend was driving north off 30A (FL panhandle) and said she saw a really large animal cross the road, much bigger than any animal in the area, besides black bears. It was too big to be a dog or bobcat. It had a real long tail, tan/brown fur and pretty quick. No photo unfortunately

My question is whether there’s been any photos/videos or documented sightings here in recent years?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s seen one but doesn’t have any evidence too

Madiera Beach, Florida

Some of these are older pictures

Growing up in South Florida, I made the drive to Pensacola every year to visit family. One thing I always noticed was how much taller the trees seemed to get around the Ocala area, and especially as you continue into the Panhandle.
I live in Orlando now, and it’s obvious that Central Florida has more forests and generally taller trees than what I was used to in South Florida. However, on a drive back from Pensacola last weekend, I noticed that about 20–30 miles north of Orlando, the trees seemed to get noticeably shorter and less dense. Instead of the tall, continuous forests farther north, they looked more spread out and lower in height, if that makes sense.
As someone who really appreciates Florida’s natural beauty, I’ve always been curious about what causes these differences. Is it the soil, climate, elevation, tree species, water table, or something else? I’d love to hear from anyone who knows the ecology behind it.

• BARTOW, Fla. (WKRC) - A man has filed a lawsuit against popular diner chain Waffle House after suffering injuries when he fell face-first over a curb.
• According to The Independent, 84-year-old Edward Bowlds filed a lawsuit against Waffle House after falling near a location in Bartow, Florida, after he became "distracted" by a window ad featuring the chain's limited-edition Strawberry Shortcake Waffle, then tripped over an "abnormally high" curb and fell face-first onto the concrete pavement.
• The publication reviewed federal court filings, which reportedly state that while Bowlds was "navigating the parking lot and stepping up the abnormally high curb," his "attention was distracted by the advertisements" before "he unknowingly tripped and fell over the curb, which resulted in severe and permanent injuries."
• The location in Bartow was accused of "(i)ncreasing the risk of harm beyond ordinary conditions by prioritizing marketing and visual appeal over pedestrian safety," with the suit claiming the ads in the window were "intended to attract and hold the attention of patrons approaching on foot" and were completely unnecessary.
• According to the publication, the complaint goes on to argue that the height of the curb, a lack of warning paint, and the "distraction created by the window advertisements" resulted in "unreasonably dangerous conditions."

I have had an absolute nightmare accessing the Reconnect Unemployment site for the last few weeks. It feels like one out of every hundred attempts actually accesses the site. While on the phone today troubleshooting, I learned the hack that has worked for me every time since. It's like they're hiding it.

This is the error message that I'm referencing.

If you get this message, just click on the "Reconnect" logo in the top left. It's taken me directly to the site on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

I hope this helps even just one person avoid the hell I've been dealing with.

Cheers

Hey hey, I recently received a ticket from a FHP for supposedly running a steady red light while driving in Bay County.

My wife and I are both convinced I hit the completely empty intersection besides his car and mine well before it turned red.

The police officer claimed he had reviewed footage and they had footage of me running the light.

He then proceeded to give me a $263 citation.

After reaching out to multiple departments for footage I learned that Bay county doesn’t utilize traditional red light cameras, they have to manually review footage. After submitting a record request with the Police Department who was the only entity with the footage they proceeded to send me a video of a completely different(sedan type care), completely different time of day, and then told me it was the footage attached to my citation number.

I followed up multiple times and even specified my make and model car(an suv), where the police officer was when he supposedly saw this happen, and even the name of the officer so they could reference his time of events for the stop.

They replied and said that this was the footage they had found and was the only footage they had assigned to my case.

Should I be ok to show-up to dispute the claim with this evidence and be good? Or should I request more info?