Local:
Southwest Florida’s Tourism Industry Takes Massive Hit Ahead of Season
After the one-two punch of Helene and Milton, many of Southwest Florida’s coastal resorts and hotels have been battered and put out of commission ahead of the state’s peak tourism season. In Lee County, tourism generated $2.9 billion and $2.6 billion in Collier County last year.
Some resorts, such as the Sundial on Sanibel, have only just opened after extensive damage from Hurricane Ian two years ago. We attempted to contact the Sundial in regards to damage from Milton, however no one was available to answer the phone.
According to the Naples Daily News, The Calusa Nature and the Naples Zoo both reopened this weekend to guests after hurricane cleanup. Both attractions are beginning their Halloween-themed events with the reopenings as well.
State:
In The Wake of Hurricane Milton, Dog Named Lulu Rescued on Live News Broadcast
Despite the storm mainly impacting the West Coast of Florida, Hurricane Milton did something almost no one expected when it generated strong tornadoes on Florida’s Southeast Coast. One of these communities impacted by the tornadoes was the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village located near Fort Pierce.
Lulu, the 14-year-old Shih Tzu, was with her owners when the tornado struck their home. Unfortunately, the owners, Alejandro Alonso and his girlfriend, Mary Grace Viramontez were killed in the tornado.
According to CBS News, Reporter Morgan Rynor and her photographer Brian Shanahan heard Lulu barking from a pile of rubble while setting up for a live broadcast. After searching the wreckage, a neighbor found the dog and initially identified it as Benji, another Shih Tzu who was thankfully safe and sound with his owner.
Lulu will now live with Victor Linero, the grandson of Alejandro Alonso.
A video of Lulu’s rescue can be seen here, posted by CBS on instagram.
Note: Lulu is initially called Benji due to the aforementioned mistaken identity
National:
TikTok Admits to Being Aware of the Harm Caused by the App
In a recently discovered lawsuit statement, internal communication within the company shows the social media platform was well aware of the damage the app brought to teens.
An unredacted copy of the two-year-old lawsuit was found and published by Kentucky Public Radio containing 30 pages of previously unseen documents.
The document, summarized by NPR highlights the company’s research into exactly how addictive TikTok is, finding the average user became addicted to the platform after watching 260 videos. While this may seem like a long time, the average TikTok Video is 8 seconds, bringing the total time of viewing to under 35 minutes for addiction to set in.
This information comes as the demand for TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the US looms closer.
