Florida News That Impacts You – April 24th, 2026
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you throughout the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast.
- Governor DeSantis highlighted the success of Florida’s VPK, or Voluntary Prekindergarten program, and Florida’s Prepaid College Savings Plans on Thursday. Under the new program, families are able to apply for VPK and open a Florida Prepaid account funded with $100 from the state simultaneously. Over 13,000 families have participated with the new program withing the first four months of the rollout.
- Amid backlash by residents of proposed area AI-data centers, Okeechobee County officials removed consideration for data center proposals from the county’s Comprehensive Plan.
- West Palm Beach is considering a redesign of its downtown waterfront district. In a video entitled A Vision for a People-First Waterfront, Mayor Keith James outlined a concept he called connected, accessible and centered on people. No formal plans have been publicly announced, though the city is in contact with real-estate developer Steven Ross regarding the redesign concept.
- West Palm Beaches’ Roxy Pub, may soon be forced to sell at auction as a result of unpaid court-ordered judgements now totaling over $1.2 million and rising daily with interest. Roxy’s has until June 1st to pay the judgement, or the property will be sold at auction.
- We’ll have cloudy skies with a chance of showers and highs near 80 throughout the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast – cooler than usual for this date. Temps will rise over the weekend to the mid 80’s on Saturday and mid to upper 80’s on Sunday.
- Gas prices dropped a penny per gallon on Thursday to $3.97 per gallon statewide. In Palm Beach County the average price is $4.15 per gallon, in Martin the average is $3.99, it’s $4.00 in St. Lucie, and in Indian River County the average is $4.00 per gallon.