Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds continues to argue that Florida needs a “plan” on how to deal with artificial intelligence data centers, making the case that data stored in Florida is safer than foreign countries or Democrat-controlled places.

“I’m not anti-data center. I’m pro-having a plan,” Donalds said at a Turning Point USA event at Florida Gulf Coast University.

“And this is the part of politics where I guess the word now is ‘performative.’ A lot of people like to be performative these days. It’s actually interesting watching it. Have a strategy. Data centers are going to be a function of American life going forward.”

Noting that the students he was talking to all rely heavily on technology, the Republican Congressman from Naples said, “the more you use technology, the more server space that you’re going to need.”

“The more server space that you’re going to need, the more racks that you’re going to have to figure out. In Florida, the question is, are we going to do that here? Are we going to warehouse our data in Northern Virginia? Or are we going to warehouse our data in California? Or we’re going to warehouse our data in India. Or we’re going to warehouse our data in China,” Donalds said.

He continued along this theme.

“I don’t want to warehouse my data in China. I don’t trust them. I don’t want to warehouse my data in India. I don’t want to get into too deep of a foreign policy conversation, but let’s be very clear. India has to deal with Russia. They share a border. I don’t want my data there,” Donalds said.

“And to be honest, I don’t trust the Democrats in Virginia. I don’t want my data there. I think when it comes to technology, AI and everything else, Florida should lead. We use common sense. We know how to do this thing. We should lead, not play cute, on social media, not just say no without a planning a strategy.”

Leading the Future, a super PAC launched by OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, 8VC founder Joe Lonsdale and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, announced it was putting $5 million in support of Donalds and a broader educational effort on the benefits AI will have on Florida’s economic future.

This comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis and others looking to succeed him have argued against AI and its perceived excesses.

TAMPA, Fla. – Driving an hour away to the hospital due to lack of access to maternity care is a reality for pregnant women as a new report out shows fewer hospitals are delivering babies.

What we know:

Expectant mothers know to expect a lot of doctor visits.

“You go to the doctor every four weeks in the beginning, every two weeks in the second or in the third trimester and then every week for that last month,” said Dr. Mary Ashley Cain, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at TGH/USF Health.

But, those trips are easier said than done for moms-to-be in rural communities, traveling more than 50 minutes on average in Florida.

“We do have those patients that are in those rural areas that, again, have to travel a distance from Hardee to Hillsborough, from Pasco to North Pinellas, you know, that have to come quite a distance just for their appointments,” said Careen Rush, the maternal telehealth program manager at Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg.

By the numbers:

A January 2026 maternity care report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform found less than 33 percent of rural hospitals in Florida provide maternity care. 

More than 120 rural hospitals nationwide closed since 2020, the report said.

“There is always a risk to closing labor and delivery units, especially in a more rural area due to the amount of resources that it does take to care for both mom and baby,” said Dr. Victoria Selley, chief medical officer at AdventHealth Sebring in Highlands County.

READ: Bay Area health care systems expanding as region continues to see major growth

AdventHealth Sebring is the only hospital in a tri-county area that provides labor and delivery services.

“Working in a rural community hospital, those are my friends and family that I’m caring for,” said Selley.

Why you should care:

Orlando Health Bayfront in St. Petersburg uses a maternal telehealth program to help reach rural maternity patients. 

Rush said federal legislation helped designate money at the state level for maternal telehealth coverage throughout the state.

“They started running some pilot programs on how we could reach this population, particularly in the rural areas in those healthcare deserts where a lot of moms do look for delivering hospitals,” said Rush.

She said Orlando Health Bayfront expanded the program from Pinellas and Pasco counties into Hardee, Highlands, Manatee, and Polk counties.

“There’s lot of options that we’re looking at for future expansion to go out to where they are rather than an outreach, rather than them come to wherever the provider is sitting,” said Rush.

Dig deeper:

A new Orlando Health hospital is going up in Wesley Chapel, but it won’t include maternity care.

But in those cases, doctors said guidelines for helping pregnant patients, especially high-risk ones, are critical.

“They may not be able to take care of all of those steps, but we’re working throughout the state to help other hospitals and other providers in some of these maternity deserts recognize it and know where they can send a patient,” said Cain.

READ: Hillsborough County health care plan sees surge after federal subsidies expire

Maternity deserts may not go away, but Tampa Bay area doctors said they’re committed to keeping the existing care in place.

“Those of us that are in these communities are holding on to our labor and deliver units as tightly as we can because we know the value of what that provides to the community. It really is about one patient, right, that it makes a difference for,” said Selley.

Florida rapper Lil Poppa has died, Georgia authorities said. He was 25.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the rapper’s death in a statement to NBC News, but did not provide further details. The cause and manner of death are under investigation, the office said.

The Jacksonville rapper, whose real name is Janarious Wheeler, was signed to rapper Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group and released songs including “Love & War,” “Mind Over Matter,” and “HAPPY TEARS.” His most recent studio album was last year’s “Almost Normal Again.”

Days before his death, he released the new track “Out of Town Bae.”

A representative for Wheeler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Music producer Scotty OTH told NBC affiliate WTLV of Jacksonville that Wheeler was a “very hard worker.”

“I ain’t never seen nobody outwork Poppa. Poppa is the last man standing in the studio,” he said.

The pair made their first song together over five years ago.

“I was making beats, then he was making music, and 2019, 2018, we ended up making our first track together, but outside it’s deeper than music,” he said. “That was family to me. We called each other cousins.”

Photographer Terrence Tyson, who said he documented Lil Poppa’s rise to fame, told WTLV that the death has stunned the Jacksonville community.

“I know how myself and a lot of other people, how hard we went for him to get where he needed to be. It was a shock and it was a big loss,” Tyson said.

“When he made it, it felt like everyone made it,” Tyson said. “He was a star.”