Florida News That Impacts You – May 8th, 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 signed the Data Center bill into law on Thursday. The new law prohibits utility companies from passing data center costs onto residential and small business customers, allows communities to fully handle zoning, permitting and land use decisions for the construction of data centers – including the ability to veto proposed projects.
- Alligator Alcatraz appears likely to wind down as ICE detentions and deportations have slowed, and operational costs of the facility are higher than other like facilities given its remote location in the Everglades. Governor DeSantis stated 22,000 illegal aliens have moved through the facility since it came online last year.
- Florida’s air is the cleanest in the country according to the American Lung Association’s annual report. The 2026 State of the Air report shows over half of the state has “A” rated air – this includes Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties.
- This week is NOAA and the National Weather Service’s annual Hurricane Preparedness week in advance of June’s start to hurricane season. Each day has a specific area of focus. Today’s focus is Use Caution After Storms. This includes Only returning home after an evacuation when told it’s safe to do so, using caution when cleaning up after a storm, checking on neighbors and using generator safety. Historically in Florida more people have died after hurricanes have passed than during the impact of the storms.
- It’ll be sunny and hot today with highs near 90 throughout the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast – much warmer than usual for this date. We’ll have similar weather through the weekend.
- Gas prices dropped by 2 cents per gallon on Thursday to $4.50 per gallon statewide. In Palm Beach County the average price is $4.60 per gallon, in Martin the average is $4.50, it’s $4.47 in St. Lucie, and in Indian River County the average is $4.47 per gallon.