Florida News That Impacts You – September 29th, 2026
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you throughout the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast.
- Approximately 1.467 million vote-by-mail ballots have been sent to Florida voters for this year's midterm elections – with 2,295 Floridians who've returned ballots thus far as voting is underway in the state. As has been typical in recent election cycles Democrats requested the most ballots, 659k+ with Republicans requesting about 486k.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthemeier filed a motion for a temporary injunction against OpenAI, the parent of ChatGPT, in a lawsuit filed against the company on June 1st. The AG's motion is aimed at attempting to speed up a decision by the Tenth Judicial Circuit court to bring what Uthmeier states to be violations of state law. Uthemeier seeks to stop OpenAI from developing AI models without independent input and 'guardrails', serving minors, collecting data on children under 13, and to limit potentially addictive interactions with users – among other asks.
- A significant wildfire in western Broward County has burned over 330 acres and is visible along portions of I-75. The fire has burned hundreds of acres and is 16% contained according to the most recent update from the Florida Forest Service. Populated areas aren't currently at risk.
- It'll be cloudy for much of the day today with a chance of afternoon and evening showers with highs in the mid- 80’s – typical for this date. Similar weather with increased rain chances remains in the forecast throughout the week. The National Hurricane Center is tracking Tropical Depression Fay in the mid-Atlantic. Depression is expected to dissipate in the mid-Atlantic over the next day. Tropical Storm Hanna has formed in the northern mid-Atlantic, is moving east and is also expected to quickly dissipate. Saharan dust from the coast of Africa extends over much of the southern and mid-Atlantic with dust moving through the Caribbean, Cuba, and the Gulf of America.
- The price of gas fell four cents per gallon on Monday. The average price for regular unleaded fuel statewide is currently $4.30 per gallon. In Palm Beach County the average price is $4.45 per gallon, in Martin the average is $4.24, it’s $4.34 in St. Lucie, and in Indian River County the average is $4.31 per gallon.