South Florida Local News

GAINESVILLE — That didn’t take long.

Billy Napier is back on the hot seat as Florida (1-1) opens SEC play at No. 3 LSU after the Gators’ staggering loss to unranked USF Saturday night in the Swamp.

The Tigers (2-0) are a tough out at home, where the Gators have won just twice in 10 tries since 2003.

The questions entering Saturday night’s visit to storied Tiger Stadium begin with the obvious.

How much heat is on Napier?

Plenty, yet a lot of football also remains. But so do the same problems that have plagued Napier in the past.

Napier’s play-calling was at times predictable and execution too often spotty against USF. Tempo and rhythm were MIA.

Of UF’s 71 plays, 24 gained a yard or fewer.

Meanwhile, the leadership, discipline and accountability touted throughout the offseason were absent during a mistake-filled performance featuring 11 penalties for 103 yards — two negating touchdowns and two more committed on the Bulls’ game-winning drive.

Veteran long-snapper Rocco Underwood sailed one, leading to a safety for USF. A couple of critical dropped passes cost the Gators a touchdown and a critical third-down conversion late in the game.

Sloppy, undisciplined football in Year 4 is hard to justify. So is a clunky, unimaginative offense as Napier insists on calling plays.

UF athletic director Scott Stricklin gave Napier a vote of confidence in November, and UF responded with a season-ending four-game winning streak. This time, Napier might have to save himself.

UF athletic director Scott Stricklin (left) and football coach Billy Napier are in their fourth season together at UF. (James Gilbert/Getty) Is this the toughest three-game stretch in school history?

Not quite, but close.

The meat of a schedule considered perhaps the toughest in the nation has lived up to its billing.

Based on the current AP Top 25, the Gators are set to face a gauntlet almost unlike any other. A night game in Tiger Stadium followed by a visit to No. 5 Miami precede a Sept. 27 bye. Next is an Oct. 4 home date with No. 7 Texas.

Only once has UF faced three consecutive opponents with a lower combined ranking (15). In 1996, UF twice played No. 1 Florida State, including in the Gators’ Sugar Bowl win to earn the national championship, and No. 11 Alabama in the SEC title game — a 45-30 win.

Just three other times have three consecutive Florida foes featured a combined ranking of 20 or lower — in 1959, 1994 and 1999.

Those times it wasn’t so pretty; UF amassed a winning percentage of just 11%.

Bob Woodruff’s ’59 squad faced No. 1 LSU, No. 8 Auburn and No. 11 Georgia, going 0-3 by a combined score of 36-10. Steve Spurrier’s ’99 team also was winless against No. 1 Florida State, No. 7 Alabama and No. 9 Michigan State, a 37-34 loss in the Citrus Bowl.

Spurrier’s ’94 Gators were a respectable 1-1-1 against No. 7 Florida State, No. 3 Alabama and No. 7 FSU in the Sugar Bowl, with the win a 24-23 decision in the SEC title game against Bama. But the tie was in the infamous 31-31 Choke at Doak, where UF allowed 28 unanswered fourth-quarter points.

Based on history alone, Napier faces long odds during the next three games. And don’t forget a trip to No. 16 Texas A&M follows this demanding trifecta.

Can lightning strike twice?

Florida been here before under Napier, who has never started 2-0 in four seasons. Twice, slow starts ended in losing 2022 and 2023 seasons. In 2024, things got worse before better, with changes made during a Week 5 bye week spurring a surprising turnaround culminating with a four-game winning streak for an 8-5 finish.

If nothing else, UF has a template.

“‘Do we take the lessons that we learned?’” Napier said. “I’m anxious to see this group and how we are going to respond. It’s not just me. It’s the leadership.

“So far, so good, but you don’t know until you play again.”

The Gators veterans will lean into last season’s experience and push younger players to dig the Gators out of another unexpected early-season hole.

“There’s definitely a calling among older guys,” fifth-year senior Jake Slaughter said.

USF quarterback Byrum Brown (17) is sacked by UF defender Tyreak Sapp (bottom) during the USF at UF college football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville on Saturday, September 6, 2025. USF won the game 18-16. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

UF’s All-American center recalled fifth-year senior Tyreak Sapp’s fiery postgame locker room speech, “inspiring guys who are just as competitive and passionate as he is.”

Whether Slaughter, Sapp and shared history will get the Gators on track will depend on whether the two veterans can elevate their own play and their units can perform to the levels expected entering the season.

Every position on the offensive line picked up a penalty against USF, and the Gators struggled to contain dual-threat quarterback Byrum Brown (66 rushing yards) and could not get him on the ground (one sack).

“Any time you go out there, that’s the easiest way to lose is to beat yourself,” Slaughter said. “Very frustrating.”

Where’s the Gators’ edge?

Sapp, George Gumbs Jr. and Co. were supposed to chase down quarterbacks and set the tone for an improved defense as the Gators’ edge rushers did to end last season. Instead, Florida has two sacks in two games, tied for fewest in the SEC.

“You’ve got to create opportunities,” Napier said. “You’ve got to try to play well on first and second down and try to create advantageous [down and distance] on second-and-long, third-and-long.”

Napier noted Week 1 foe Long Island University played a triple option. Additionally, USF’s Brown is as mobile as any quarterback UF might face until A&M’s Marcel Reed.

A season ago, UF’s pass rush was so-so until it came alive against LSU, with 7 sacks of Garrett Nussmeier — more than the Tigers had given up all season. UF would record 19 sacks during an ensuing four-game winning streak.

“It’s a two-game sample size, so don’t panic on the edge room just yet,” Napier said.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

Up next …

UF (1-1) at No. 3 LSU (2-0)

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday

Where: Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge

TV: ABC

Favorite: LSU by 9.5 points

GAINESVILLE — Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett said he “made a terrible mistake” for spitting on USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner, leading to a penalty that contributed to the Gators’ shocking 18-16 home loss on Saturday night.

Bett issued a statement on his social media accounts Monday night, two days after the incident that led to his ejection during the Bulls’ game-winning drive in the Swamp.

A Baylor transfer in his first year at UF, Bett apologized to teammates, coaches, fans and Skinner during a four-paragraph mea culpa.

“I want to sincerely apologize for my actions in the game this past Saturday,” he wrote. “I let down my teammates, coaches, family and all of Gator Nation. Our coaches always instill in us the value of sportsmanship and I crossed the line. I also want to apologize to South Florida.

“That’s not the person or player I strive to be. I made a terrible mistake and it won’t happen again.

“To Cole Skinner #56. There is no excuse for my actions. I’m truly sorry to both you and your family.

“To my family and friends … l know that my actions didn’t reflect the way I was raised and I regret the disappointment I caused. I take full responsibility. I pray that we can all move forward. Thanks for believing in me and I won’t let you down again.”

Whether Bett’s actions lead to a suspension before Saturday night’s game at No. 3 LSU remains undecided.

“We haven’t made that decision yet,” Gators coach Billy Napier told reporters Monday.

Napier said Bett will face some “internal discipline.”

Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett (90) celebrates a tackle against LIU Brooklyn during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)

Early in USF’s game-winning drive, officials flagged Bett for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and ejected him after he spit in the facemask of Skinner.

“He made a mistake and he compromised the team,” Napier said Monday. “He made a selfish decision. He misrepresented our fans, our alumni, the university.”

After Saturday night’s stunner in the Swamp, senior cornerback Devin Moore said he was disappointed in Bett.

“There’s no place for that as an individual and certainly representing the University of Florida,” Moore said. “There’s no place for that here. This is a prestigious program, and that will be addressed for sure.”

Bett did Monday night.

Before the penalty, the 6-foot-4, 308-pound Baylor transfer recorded five tackles against the Bulls, and has eight in 2025 while earning playing time amid star tackle Caleb Banks’ absence with a foot injury.

But Bett lost his cool and potentially cost the Gators the game against USF.

Starting from their 11-yard line, the Bulls went 87 yards in eight plays to set up a 20-yard field goal by Nico Gramatica as time expired.

Two penalties proved pivotal. A second-down pass-interference call on cornerback Dijon Johnson first cost UF 13 yards. On the next play, Bett committed his infraction.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

A South Florida criminal defense attorney has been sentenced to a year in jail after a jury found him guilty of sneaking cocaine to inmates at the Palm Beach County jail.

David Casals, who practices in Broward and Palm Beach County, was charged in 2022 with trafficking cocaine, delivery of cocaine and introducing contraband into a county detention facility after he was caught trying to bring “suspicious papers” in to an inmate, a probable cause affidavit said.

On Oct. 24 2021, Casals was checking in as a visitor at the West Detention Center in Belle Glade, and a deputy inspected a manila folder that contained 37 pieces of paper “with Bible quotes and pictures of an unknown woman” on them, the affidavit said. As the deputy looked at the “swollen” pages, she noticed stains from a see-through substance that resembled water marks.

Deputies had a briefing about “paper dope” attempting to be smuggled into the jail just a few days earlier, prosecutors wrote in a court motion filed in 2023.

Testing of all 37 pages showed a positive result of cocaine with a weight of over 136 grams. The papers did not have trace amounts but were rather “saturated with cocaine,” the affidavit said.

Casals pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A jury returned its verdict on Friday, finding Casals guilty of a lesser charge of possession of cocaine and two counts of introducing contraband into a county detention facility, court records show.

He was sentenced to a year in prison with credit time for one day, followed by three years of probation. Casals must also complete 300 hours of community service and a substance abuse evaluation and any recommended treatment.

The Florida Bar website shows Casals does not have any discipline listed under his 10-year history.

He graduated from Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law in 1999 and runs a Fort-Lauderdale-based private practice, the Law Offices of David Casals, according to the profile.

General Daily Insight for September 09, 2025

The cosmos is especially buoyant today. The Moon is flying along through go-getter Aries, giving us all a special spark — though we will want to find a productive outlet for this energy when the Moon nudges the Sun in methodical Virgo for a quincunx. Luna also trines alluring Venus in Leo at 9:07 pm EDT, giving us the urge to merge and enjoy life. Be careful, though, as the final lunar square to Jupiter could push us to take things too far.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You can’t help but shine today. A lovely trine between the Moon in your fierce sign and Venus in your creative 5th house is encouraging you to put yourself out there and let others see what you have to show. If you are a Ram of artistic persuasion, then be sure to indulge your talents and let them flow. They could gain you unexpected recognition very soon. Pour your energy into things that make you happy to get the most out of this aspect.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Sometimes, no news is good news. You’re probably not in the mood to jet-set around and dig up excitement while the Moon is drifting through your dreamy 12th house, and you’ll be even more inclined to take it easy once the Moon trines your sign’s associated planet, Venus, in your steady 4th house. You may crave comfort and nurturing, rather than action or drama. Take today to nest and rest, leaving more pressing issues to handle another time under more productive skies.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

You can practically charm the birds down from the trees if you try. You’re potentially in the mood to connect while the Moon is in your 11th House of Community — plus, its special trine to pleasant Venus in your 3rd House of Communications encourages everyone to come together. This would be an especially lovely day to hit the town and see what’s going on in your area, because Venus will ensure you discover some genuinely wonderful things if you simply keep your eyes open.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

This could turn into a rather lucrative day for you. You’re prepped to achieve and make notable progress while the Moon is marching through your career sector — and this can yield tangible results while the Moon supports luxurious Venus in your income sector. You could earn a nice reward for a job well-done, or perhaps you’ll discover a new professional opportunity that may pay out handsomely. Have faith in yourself and your abilities. They can carry you even farther than usual!

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Embrace life to the fullest. You’re more than happy to dive into a fresh pool of experiences as the Moon moves through your striking 9th house. You won’t want to miss out on all the joy on offer when the Moon uplifts pleasure-loving Venus in your vivacious sign. Perhaps you’ll meet someone from far away who totally changes your perspective for the better or discover something new that feels tailor-made for you. Follow your soul’s desires, and you can’t go wrong.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Lovely energy is presently permeating your world. It’s all too easy to see the heavier side of things while the Moon is in your forceful 8th house, but you’ll have a chance to relieve any tension when the Moon embraces graceful Venus in your fantastical 12th house. Your imagination could feel stronger than reality. Even if you’re the most clear-sighted Virgo in the universe, there’s nothing wrong with letting your dreams lead you around for now. Reality can wait another day or two.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

There’s rarely been a better time to connect with people. A lovely dance between the Moon in your relationship sector and Venus in your friendship sector means everyone could be coming out in droves to support you in one way or another. This can be terrific for romantic interludes, but also for simply enjoying yourself with people, be they your established favorites or a collection of new faces. Connections made now can yield beautiful results down the line, so don’t even consider being anti-social.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Being in the public eye can be quite rewarding at present. You’re likely more than ready to roll up your sleeves and get to it while the Moon is in your 6th House of Self-Discipline, but you can make even bigger waves as Luna trines vibrant Venus in your 10th House of Professional Goals. A VIP could step forward to offer recognition for all your efforts — and you could earn a nice bonus in the process. Don’t be shy about blowing your own horn.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Dive into life without a second thought! You’re allowed to enjoy yourself to the fullest while the Moon dances along through your joyful 5th house, but you’ll want to incorporate a bit of the exotic or unknown into the process when the Moon trines beautifying Venus in your travel-hungry 9th house. Look toward cultures or places beyond what you know. This is your chance to discover some truly lovely things that will enrich your life, turning it from black and white into vibrant technicolor.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

This is a good day to appreciate any support on offer. You may often feel you have to tackle life all on your own, but a special trine between the Moon in your secure 4th house and luxurious Venus in your lucrative 8th house could result in someone dropping a windfall in your lap when you least expect it. The 4th house also governs important women in your life, so don’t be shocked if an influential gal appears to give you a much-needed boost.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Someone potentially has something special in store for you. You can enjoy bouncing around town while the Moon is in your chatty 3rd house, even as its trine to bountiful Venus in your connection-focused 7th house means one person will probably stand out from the herd. Whether you’re doubling up for romance, business, or platonic pleasure, make a point of prioritizing your favorite partnerships. Trust that someone wants to bring positivity into your life, and you won’t want to miss it.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Everything is falling into place right now. There is a positively productive vibration to the day while the Moon is in your grounded 2nd house. Plus, the lunar trine to Venus in your efficient 6th house will ensure that everything flows as smoothly as possible. People might be more helpful and encouraging than usual, so feel free to delegate as you can, knowing there is little need to worry that anyone will drop the ball. Have faith in others — you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled Monday he will again push lawmakers to allow people to openly carry guns in Florida.

“We should be an open-carry state,” DeSantis said during an appearance at G Five Feed & Outdoor in Plant City to mark the start of a sales-tax “holiday” that will provide sales-tax exemptions on guns, ammunition and fishing and camping equipment through the end of the year.

“I think we’re on record many times saying that hopefully this is the year. We’ll continue to fight for those freedoms,” DeSantis said.

Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, who was with DeSantis in Plant City, backed the effort.

The proposal has not been approved during past legislative sessions.

For example, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, has pointed to opposition expressed by law-enforcement officers.

“Let me be clear about this, I’ve supported law enforcement my entire life. It’s the way I was raised, and I’ve been super-consistent as a legislator to support law enforcement in Florida. And I’d encourage you to check that record,” Albritton told reporters in November. “And I stand with them today in opposition [of allowing people to openly carry guns]. They oppose it. I trust my law-enforcement officials, and that’s where I stand.”

Floridians can carry concealed weapons in most places.

A constitutional challenge to the ban on openly carrying guns is pending in federal court in St. Lucie County.

By STEFANIE DAZIO and MALIN HAARALA

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — High atop the Luossavaara Mountain in northern Sweden, Sami reindeer herder Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen mapped out a bleak future for himself and other Indigenous people whose reindeer have roamed this land for thousands of years.

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An expanding iron-ore mine and a deposit of rare-earth minerals are fragmenting the land and altering ancient reindeer migration routes. But with the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, herders say they need more geographic flexibility, not less, to ensure the animals’ survival.

If a mine is established at the deposit of rare-earth minerals called Per Geijer, which Sweden heralds as Europe’s largest, Kuhmunen said it could completely cut off the migration routes used by the Sami village of Gabna.

That would be the end of the Indigenous way of life for Kuhmunen, his children and their fellow Sami reindeer herders, he said, in this far-north corner of Sweden some 124 miles above the Arctic Circle.

“The reindeer is the fundamental base of the Sami culture in Sweden,” Kuhmunen said. “Everything is founded around the reindeers: The food, the language, the knowledge of mountains. Everything is founded around the reindeer herding. If that ceases to exist, the Sami culture will also cease to exist.”

Sami reindeer herders follow generations of tradition

Sami herders are descended from a once-nomadic people scattered across a region spanning the far north of Sweden, Norway, Finland and the northwestern corner of Russia. Until the 1960s, members of this Indigenous minority were discouraged from reindeer herding, and the church and state suppressed their language and culture.

Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, a Sami reindeer herder and chairman of Sami village of Gabna, grimaces in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

In Sweden alone there are at least 20,000 people with Sami heritage, though an official count does not exist because an ethnicity-based census is against the law. Today, a Sami village called a sameby is a business entity dictated by the state, which determines how many semi-domesticated reindeer each village can have and where they can roam.

“It’s getting more and more a problem to have a sort of sustainable reindeer husbandry and to be able to have the reindeers to survive the Arctic winter and into the next year,” said Stefan Mikaelsson, a member of the Sami Parliament.

In the Gabna village, Kuhmunen oversees about 2,500 to 3,000 reindeer and 15 to 20 herders. Their families, some 150 people in total, depend on the bottom line of the business.

The mining area where a proposed mine would cut off ancient reindeer migration routes in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Even before the discovery of the Per Geijer deposit, they had to contend with the expanding footprint of Kiirunavaara. The world’s largest underground, iron-ore mine has forced the village’s herders to lead their reindeer through a longer and harder migration route.

Mining could reduce dependence on China but hurt Sami herders

Swedish officials and LKAB, the state-owned mining company, say the proposed Per Geijer mine could reduce Europe’s reliance on China for rare-earth minerals. LKAB hopes to begin mining there in the 2030s.

Besides being essential to many kinds of consumer technology, including cellphones, hard drives and electric and hybrid vehicles, rare-earth minerals also are considered crucial to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels toward electricity and renewable energy.

But if work on Per Geijer goes forward, Kuhmunen said there will be no other routes for the Gabna herders to take the reindeer east from the mountains in the summer to the grazing pastures full of nutrient-rich lichen in the winter.

Darren Wilson, LKAB’s senior vice president of special products, gestures next to a model of existing mines, in Kiruna, Sweden, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

The village will contest the mine in court but Kuhmunen said he is not optimistic.

“It’s really difficult to fight a mine. They have all the resources, they have all the means. They have the money. We don’t have that,” Kuhmunen said. “We only have our will to exist. To pass these grazing lands to our children.”

Darren Wilson, LKAB’s senior vice president of special products, said the mining company is seeking solutions to assist the Sami herders, though he would not speculate on what they might be.

“There are potential things that we can do and we can explore and we have to keep engaging,” he said. “But I’m not underestimating the challenge of doing that.”

Climate change’s impact on reindeer husbandry

Climate change is wreaking havoc on traditional Sami reindeer husbandry.

Reindeer stand at a farm in Lulea, Sweden, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Global warming has brought rain instead of snow during the winter in Swedish Lapland. The freezing rain then traps lichen under a thick layer of ice where hungry reindeer can’t reach the food, according to Anna Skarin, a reindeer husbandry expert and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences professor.

In the summer, mountain temperatures have risen to 86 Fahrenheit and left reindeer over-heated and unable to graze enough to gain the weight needed to sustain them in winter.

Some in Sweden suggest putting the reindeer onto trucks to ferry them between grazing lands if the Per Geijer mine is built. But Skarin said that isn’t feasible because the animals eat on the move and the relocation would deny them food to be grazed while walking from one area to another.

“So you’re kind of both taking away the migration route that they have used traditionally over hundreds and thousands of years,” she said, “and you would also take away that forage resource that they should have used during that time.”

For Kuhmunen, it would also mean the end of Sami traditions passed down by generations of reindeer herders on this land.

“How can you tell your people that what we’re doing now, it will cease to exist in the near future?” he said.

Pietro De Cristofaro in Kiruna, Sweden, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Delray Beach wants the Florida Department of Transportation’s chief engineer tasked with deciding the fate of the city’s Pride rainbow crosswalk to disqualify herself from the role, arguing that email exchanges between her and other FDOT officials show bias against the city.

Last month, FDOT demanded that Delray Beach remove its LGTBQ+ Pride intersection at Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast First Street by Sept. 3 because it violates the state’s traffic control device standards. If the city didn’t comply, the Aug. 15 letter said the state would remove it for them, and the city would still have to pay the bill.

Rather than immediately complying, Delray Beach commissioners chose instead to attend an informal hearing with FDOT in Orlando, one day before the deadline to remove the crosswalk art, where they pleaded their case to keep it.

Jennifer Marshall, FDOT’s chief engineer of production, was appointed on Aug. 18 to be the presiding officer and will make the ultimate decision on Delray’s crosswalk. At the Sept. 2 hearing, attorneys for both sides made their arguments and were told to file proposed final orders by last Friday.

Attorney Howard DuBosar, representing Delray Beach, argued in a motion to disqualify Marshall filed Friday that multiple email exchanges between Marshall and other FDOT employees and executives prior to the informal hearing showed Marshall’s “predisposition to find the crosswalks non-compliant with FDOT’s traffic control device standards — the very basis that forms the crux of this matter.” The emails are included in the motion.

Marshall “in the interest of candor” disclosed the email exchanges the city takes issue with to both sides’ attorneys at the informal hearing and were sent before she was appointed presiding officer, according to a transcript of the hearing, also included in the motion. The emails were related to the crosswalks in Delray Beach and Key West.

Marshall was one of three FDOT executives who was copied on the Aug. 15 notice that Delray Beach officials received demanding the crosswalk’s removal.

“It is evidently concerning that the designated presiding officer is one of the three executives privy to the notice of non-compliance, especially when FDOT had twelve other executives they could have selected,” attorney DuBosar wrote in his Sept. 5 motion.

DuBosar noted a July 31 email FDOT District Secretary Daniel Iglesias sent Marshall asking that she share information about enforcement that he could share with officials in Key West. On Aug. 13, Marshall forwarded that email to another FDOT chief engineer and wrote, “Is there anything that I can assist with?” related to enforcement. That email exchange shows Marshall and others were planning to talk about enforcement at an upcoming staff meeting before she was appointed to be the presiding officer, DuBosar wrote.

Pedestrians walk across the LGBTQ+ pride intersection of Northeast First Street and Northeast Second Avenue in Delray Beach on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

“Simply put, Ms. Marshall’s comments and conduct demonstrate that she has traded her role as an impartial decision-maker for a prosecutorial role,” DuBosar wrote in his motion.

Gina Carter, a spokesperson for Delray Beach, said in an emailed statement Monday: “The City believes that recent disclosures of communications involving the presiding officer raise reasonable concerns about impartiality and due process. Our goal is to ensure that this matter is reviewed in a fair and unbiased manner, consistent with Florida law and the principles of administrative justice.”

Michael Williams, FDOT communications director, in an email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel said the agency does not comment on pending litigation but said, procedurally, “it is the responsibility of the agency who administers an informal hearing to appoint a hearing officer to preside over the hearing. It is a routine practice for any agency to appoint an agency employee to this role.”

Denise Johnson, an attorney representing FDOT in the matter, did not respond to an email Monday afternoon seeking a response to the city’s motion.

FDOT filed its proposed final order on Friday, arguing that the crosswalk markings “clearly violate” the state’s provisions and that FDOT has the authority to order their removal.

By KEN SWEET

NEW YORK (AP) — Armen Kirakosian remembers the frustrations of his first job as a call center agent nearly 10 years ago: the aggravated customers, the constant searching through menus for information and the notes he had to physically write for each call he handled.

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Thanks to artificial intelligence, the 29-year-old from Athens, Greece, is no longer writing notes or clicking on countless menus. He often has full customer profiles in front of him when a person calls in and may already know what problem the customer has before even saying “hello.” He can spend more time actually serving the customer.

“A.I. has taken (the) robot out of us,” Kirakosian said.

Roughly 3 million Americans work in call center jobs, and millions more work in call centers around the world, answering billions of inquiries a year about everything from broken iPhones to orders for shoes. Kirakosian works for TTEC, a company that provides third party customer service lines in 22 countries to companies in industries such as autos and banking that need extra capacity or have outsourced their call center operations.

Answering these calls can be thankless work. Roughly half of all customer service agents leave the job after a year, according to McKinsey, with stress and monotonous work being among the reasons employees quit.

Much of what these agents deal with is referred to in the industry as “break/fix,” which means something is broken — or wrong or confusing — and the customer expects the person on the phone to fix the problem. Now, it’s a question of who will be tasked with the fix: a human, a computer, or a human augmented by a computer.

Already, AI agents have taken over more routine call center tasks. Some jobs have been lost and there have been dire forecasts about the future job market for these individuals, ranging from modest single-percentage point losses, to as many as half of all call center jobs going away in the next decade. The drop likely won’t match the more dire predictions, however, because it’s become evident that the industry will still need humans, perhaps with even higher levels of learning and training, as some customer service issues become increasingly harder to solve.

Some finance companies have already experimented with going in heavily with AI for their customer service issues.

Klarna, the Swedish buy now, pay later company, replaced 700 of their roughly 3,000 customer service agents with chatbots and AI in 2024. The results were mixed. While the company did save money, Klarna found there was still a need for higher skilled human agents in certain circumstances, such as complicated issues related to identity theft. Earlier this year, Klarna hired seven internal freelancers to handle these issues.

Earlier this year, Klarna hired a handful of customer service employees back to the firm, acknowledging there were certain issues that AI couldn’t handle as well as a real person, like identity theft.

“Our vision of an AI-first contact center, where AI agents handle the majority of conversations and fewer, better trained and better paid human agents support only the most complex tasks, is quickly becoming a reality,” said Gadi Shamia of Replicant, an AI-software company that trains chatbots to sound more human, in an interview with consultants at McKinsey.

The call center customer’s experience, while improved, is still far from perfect.

The initial customer service call has long been handled through interactive voice response systems, known in the industry as IVR. Customers interact with IVR when they’re told “press one for sales, press two for support, press five for billing.” These crude systems got an update in the 2010s, when customers could prompt the system by saying “sales” or “support” or simple phrases like “I’d like to pay a bill” instead of navigating through a labyrinthian set of menu options.

But customers have little patience for these menus, leading them to “zero out,” which is call center slang for when a customer hits the zero button on their their keypad in hopes of reaching a human. It’s also not uncommon that after a customer “zeros out” they will be put on hold and transferred because they did not end up in the right place for their request.

Aware of Americans’ collective impatience with IVR, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Republican Jim Justice of West Virginia have introduced the “Keep Call Centers in America Act,” which would require clear ways to reach a human agent, and provide incentives to companies that keep call center jobs in the U.S.

Companies are trying to roll out telephone systems that broadly understand customer service requests and predict where to send a customer without navigating a menu. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is coming out with its “ChatGPT Agent” service for users that’s able to understand phrases like “I need to find a hotel for a wedding next year, please give me options for clothing and gifts.”

Bank of America says it has had increasing success in integrating such features into “Erica,” its chatbot that debuted in 2018. When Erica cannot handle a request, the agent transfers the customer directly to the right department. Erica is now also predictive and analytical, and knows for instance that a customer may repeatedly have a low balance and may need better help budgeting or may have multiple subscriptions to the same service.

Bank of America said this month that Erica has been used 3 billion times since its creation and is increasingly taking on a higher case load of customer service requests. The chatbot’s moniker comes from the last five letters of the company’s name.

James Bednar, vice president of product and innovation at TTEC, has spent much of his career trying to make customer service calls less painful for the caller as well as the company. He said these tools could eventually kill off IVR for good, ending the need for anyone to “zero out.”

“We’re getting to the point where AI will get you to the right person for your problem without you having to route through those menus,” Bednar said.