Gas prices in Florida are dropping again, according to AAA.

Last week, the state average price per gallon increased 2 cents before falling 10 cents in the past four days.

The state average Sunday was $3.11 per gallon, the lowest daily average price point in two weeks.

AAA spokesperson Mark Jenkins attributed the change at the pump to a recent drop in crude oil prices. The price for crude oil plummeted by 12% — $7 a barrel — in the past two weeks. During that time, gasoline futures moved 24 cents per gallon lower.

“The state average could drift back down near the $3 per gallon threshold this week,” Jenkins said in a statement.

The cheapest metropolitan market in Florida for motorists is the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach area, where gas costs $2.81 per gallon on average, followed by Pensacola ($2.85) and Panama City ($2.87).

The most expensive markets are the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area ($3.25), Naples ($3.21) and Sebring ($3.21).

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The Florida Aquarium’s Stingray Beach is getting a piece of Major League Baseball, and it’s not the Tampa Bay Rays’ touch tank that featured stingrays just behind center field.

With repairs on the way at Tropicana Field after Hurricane Milton’s winds turned its iconic domed roof to tatters, the Tampa Bay Rays have gifted four of its stadium seats to the Florida Aquarium to bring ballpark nostalgia to its own stingray home.

The blue seats sit atop a square of artificial turf, in front of a giant mural of adoring Rays fans waving golden towels to cheer on their home team.

The Aquarium has partnered with the Rays for about two decades, and the touch tank at Tropicana Field, installed in 2006, belongs to the Aquarium. It is home to seven cownose stingrays who survived the hurricane and are now thriving.

But with extensive damage to Tropicana Field, the Rays are now playing — for this season — at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa while repairs to its home field are completed. The four gifted seats at the downtown Tampa Aquarium give fans a chance to still interact with stingrays, while sitting in real Rays stadium seats.

“This one-of-its-kind experience is truly a homerun for our guests and allows Rays baseball fans and aquarium stingray enthusiasts to recreate the stadium experience in a unique and fun way,” Florida Aquarium President and CEO Roger Germann said. “Like the Aquarium, Rays baseball is ingrained in our region’s identity, and we’re excited to enhance our partnership by replicating an in-game experience Rays fans have come to love.”

Stingray Beach is located on the second floor of the Aquarium. The Rays began sponsoring the exhibit last year. It offers a hands-on encounter with cownose stingrays.

As presenting sponsors for Stingray Beach, the Rays offer visitors 10% off regular season home games by scanning an on-site QR code. Rays Rookies Kids Club MVP members get free Aquarium admission with a full-price adult admission.

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Terrance Freeman hasn’t made his intentions to run in House District 12 official yet. But the former Jacksonville City Council President’s political committee is raising money like an announcement is imminent.

In the first three months of the year, the “For the Future We Want” committee raised nearly $103,000. That’s the strongest reporting period yet for Freeman’s PC.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Dream Finders Homes contributed nearly half of that between them, with each putting $25,000 in.

Other donors of note include Associated Industries of Florida, Mori Hosseini’s ICI Homes Residential Holdings, BestBet, Vestcor and J.B. Coxwell Contracting.

Freeman will be termed out of the Jacksonville City Council in 2027, so his run in 2026 to replace term-limited House Speaker Pro Tempore Wyman Duggan would be well-timed in ensuring he’s not out of office for any length of time.

No candidate has actually filed in HD 12 yet, further suggesting that the path is clear for Freeman to run should he decide to.

It’s worth noting that he hasn’t committed to run yet. He has said he’s keeping his options open. But we understand that Duggan would welcome Freeman as a potential successor. The two are similarly pragmatic Republicans and there likely would be few major issues on which they diverge.

Freeman was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the City Council by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2018. He chose to run for an at-large seat the next year, then was re-elected in 2023.

HD 12 encompasses parts of Jacksonville’s Westside and Southside, crossing the St. Johns River. The district has a GOP plurality, with more than 47,000 Republicans, more than 38,000 Democrats and more than 25,000 independent voters.

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