By JOSH FUNK, MARK VANCLEAVE and DEE-ANN DURBIN
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the the surge in demand as Easter approaches.
News from China upset U.S. markets Monday and disrupted the frenzy that had built up around artificial intelligence.
Walt Disney World has updated its lineup for the upcoming Garden Rocks concert series, which is staged during the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Recent additions include returning favorites such as Sugar Ray, Taylor Dayne, 98 Degrees, Jon Secada and a four-night gig featuring Plain White T’s.
Making their Garden Rocks debuts will be Maverick City Music, the Outlaws, the Cat Empire and We the Kingdom.
Last month, Disney announced the bulk of its Garden Rocks performances set for March, including Rick Springfield and 38 Special. Concerts for March 30 and 31 remain to be announced. Festival dates are March 5 through June 2.
The full concert schedule, subject to change, is now:
• March 7-8: Tommy DeCarlo (former lead singer of Boston).
• March 9-10: Air Supply — 50th Anniversary Celebration.
• March 14-15: Blue October.
• March 16-17: Rick Springfield.
• March 21-22: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone.
• March 23-24: 38 Special.
• March 28-29: Jason Scheff, longtime Chicago singer/bassist.
A building that has housed a waterfront Orlando restaurant for more than 50 years caught fire early Sunday morning, and the place that touted “Food, Brews & Views” is now closed indefinitely.
Owner Ryan Davis said he was told by fire officials that electrical problems might have started the fire in the kitchen area at The Waterfront, located on Lake Jennie Jewel in South Orlando. There were no injuries.
“I don’t think there was foul play or anything, but having it happen it the middle of the night caught me a little bit by surprise,” he said. “There’s not much power being used in the middle of the night.”
Davis said his wife woke him up about 5 a.m. Sunday after she saw a TV news report about the fire.When he got to the restaurant, crews were working to put out the blaze.
About 10% of the building was burned by Davis’ estimation.
Flames from the fire reached as high as 20 feet in the air, he said, but most of the inside of the building, including the seating areas, were saved by the firefighters.
Another new property insurer has been approved by Florida regulators to offer coverage in the state — the 11th since the Legislature enacted reforms to shore up insurers’ bottom lines.
Mangrove Property Insurance, based in St. Petersburg, was approved on Jan. 15 by the Office of Insurance Regulation for a certificate of authority to operate within the state, the company announced Monday.
In a news release, the office said the company will offer coverage through licensed independent agents across all of Florida’s 67 counties.
On the same date, the office approved Mangrove’s application to assume up to 81,040 personal residential insurance policies in April from state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s so-called “insurer of last resort.”
Thanks to its depopulation program, Citizens’ policy count has declined by more than 400,000 policies since peaking at 1.4 million in September 2023. Customers who are selected for takeout are ineligible to stay with Citizens if any company pledges to renew their policy for a premium that’s within 20% over the projected cost of the Citizens policy.