Politics

Leonardo Helicopters facility opens in the Panhandle with aim to boost aerospace industry

Published

3 months ago

September 18, 2025

‘Our state has built an environment where aerospace activities are not just welcomed, but accelerated.’

State and business leaders are celebrating the opening of a Leonardo Helicopters facility in Santa Rosa County that will give the region an economic boost with 150 high-paying jobs, they said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Leonardo Helicopters CEO Clyde Woltman and others spoke during a press conference at the ribbon-cutting for the company’s new Florida Support Center.

The 113,000-square-foot center in Milton is adjacent to the Naval Air Station Whiting Field and will support the Navy’s TH-73A training fleet.

“This project and as example what can be achieved when private industry and national defense come together with purpose and precision,” Woltman said. “From military readiness to civil and emergency response missions, we are both meeting the operational requirements of our partners and shaping the future of vertical flight.”

The company described how it will use the facility for aftermarket support for Leonardo’s aircraft facility. “The new facility will provide major component repair and overhaul, transmission testing and repair along with new tooling, a full-sized paint booth, and a spacious warehouse for spare parts,” the company said earlier in a press release.

Robert Long, President and CEO of Space Florida, called the facility an important milestone made possible with partnerships.

“Our state has built an environment where aerospace activities are not just welcomed, but accelerated,” Long said. “It’s no surprise that a global leader like Leonardo chose to base these activities right here in the hotbed of military aviation — Northwest Florida.”

DeSantis, who traveled with Leonardo on a trade mission to Italy last year, said the new center will help grow Northwest Florida’s economy.

“We’ve very bullish on this project,” DeSantis said. “We know it’s going to be 150 high-wage jobs, but I think you’re going to continue to see the manufacturing base and the industrial base in this part of the state continue to grow.”

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Politics

Meta rolls out a new centralized support hub with 24/7 help across Facebook and Instagram

Published

29 minutes ago

December 16, 2025

May Greene

New AI systems are powering the changes.

Meta is introducing a central hub for account support on Facebook and Instagram that is designed to make help faster and easier to find in the event of being hacked or locked out, or when needing guidance on settings and safety.

The hub will bring together reporting tools, recovery options, and AI-powered answers in one place on iOS and Android devices. On Facebook, Meta is also testing out an AI support assistant on Facebook intended to deliver instant and personalized help, and they plan to expand this service to other apps as well over time.

Within this new hub, users can report account issues, use AI-powered searches, and access recovery tools without the need to comb through numerous resources. The preview of the AI support assistant on Facebook is intended to guide users through account recovery, profile management and settings updates. Users on other platforms can expect this feature to arrive on Instagram and other apps soon as well.

The goal of the new feature is to prioritize accessible support that is always available. Meta acknowledges that their support on these matters has not always met expectations, and with this latest announcement they express their commitment to investing in an improvement on these kinds of user services.

Thanks to the assistance of AI, Meta highlights security improvements that have taken place across their platforms over the past year. These improvements include a more than 30% decrease of new account hacks on Facebook and Instagram as well as a more than 30% increase in hacked account recovery.

New AI systems have supported these trends by blocking suspicious logins, flagging compromised accounts, and distinguishing legitimate users from hackers in real time.

If a user loses access to their account, they will now see recovery options at the right time while also receiving improved email and SMS alerts about risky activity. There is new and enhanced recognition of trusted devices and familiar locations, and a selfie video is now optional to verify users’ identity when needed. Other built-in safeguards include Security Checkup, two-factor authentication, and passkeys on Facebook and Messenger.

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Politics

UWF Ph.D. student develops AI program to track and map impacts of wildfires

Published

2 hours ago

December 16, 2025

May Greene

The UWF AI mapping systems can help first responders handle fast-moving wildfires and assist in the recovery process.

University of West Florida researchers are now using artificial intelligence to track data that will improve how damage from wildfires is mapped.

UWF Ph.D. student Valeria Martin has introduced what’s being called CalFireSeg-50, a dataset that was formulated from satellite imagery and data from 50 of the largest wildfires in California between 2019 and 2023, said a UWF news release.

Martin conducted her research with assistance from Brent Venable, UWF Director of the Intelligent Systems and Robotics Doctoral Program at UWF, and Derek Morgan, UWF Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences. They collected satellite images and provided the examples to AI, which developed recognition of fire-damaged areas. Then, using the images, the AI developed mapping systems.

“By pairing satellite data with deep-learning models, we can detect wildfire damage with high accuracy,” Martin said. “The insights from this work can support emergency response, environmental monitoring and long-term recovery planning.”

The AI programming helps develop models to indicate where fires might burn the hottest. That data helps emergency responders understand how wildfires burn and spread while pinpointing areas of priority. The AI imagery and maps also help analyze damage and track vegetation patterns across land after a blaze in the recovery phase.

“This project showcases how advanced GeoAI techniques can meaningfully support environmental monitoring,” Venable said. “Valeria’s exceptional work demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary research and reflects the innovative spirit of the Intelligent Systems and Robotics doctoral program.”

Martin’s research is gaining more attention and observation. She presented the Findings of her research at the 13th annual Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Spatial Information conference that took place in Minneapolis in November.

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Politics

Ken Griffin praises ‘pragmatic’ Eileen Higgins, says she’ll keep promises as Miami Mayor

Published

2 hours ago

December 16, 2025

May Greene

One of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ most reliable backers over the years is enthusing over the Democratic Mayor-elect of Miami, saying her pragmatism will serve the city ahead.

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said on Bloomberg Open Interest that Eileen Higgins would “deliver on the promises that she made to the voters of Miami,” contrasting her favorably to Zohran Mamdani of New York.

“She has a long history of being pragmatic with respect to policy choices that will improve the lives of the people who live in Miami,” Griffin said during an interview at Conference de Paris.

“She very much wants to accelerate the permitting process for builders, to create more housing stock. She wants to help release lands into the private market to help increase available housing. She wants to address the issue of housing affordability with thoughtful, time-tested and proven policies, rather than the fantasy that’s being espoused by the Mayor-elect for New York City.”

Griffin has given tens of millions of dollars over the years to DeSantis and various initiatives he backed, including spending $12 million to help defeat a recreational pot amendment last year. More recently, Griffin invested $50 million into charter schools with the Governor’s blessing, as he seeks to expand his Success Academy model through the state’s “Schools of Hope.”

But when it comes to a Democrat taking over the mayoralty of his adopted city, Griffin sees a way to do business.

Higgins, a former Miami-Dade Commissioner, said her voters came out in part to respond to “trickle-down hatred, where our immigrant population is not only insulted but also really afraid of the federal government.”

“To me, this anti-immigrant fervor, it’s gone too far. It’s inhumane. It’s cruel. I’m Catholic, so I think it’s a sin. And it’s bad for the economy,” she said on MSNOW earlier this month. “They’re going after everybody, rich and poor, and it’s really changing how people think about who they want to speak up for and stick up for them in local government.”

For his part, DeSantis sat on his hands as Republicans lost the Mayor’s Office, a move perhaps contextualized by Griffin’s position.

“I did an endorsement in the original scrum, and then once it advanced to the runoff, it just wasn’t something I was involved in. So I don’t know what the issues were or any of that,” DeSantis said, professing a surprising ignorance of local concerns in the state’s most important city.

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