Gold rises to new heights as anxiety grips markets. Here’s what you need to know
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid widespread economic turmoil, the price of gold has soared to levels never seen before.
Whipsawed by Trump’s tariffs, the US public is getting a lot more nervous about the economy
By JOSH BOAK and CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s volatile tariff threats are unleashing historic jumps in public anxiety, with the potential to undermine his pledges to strengthen a U.S. economy that is increasingly weakened.
Hit by storms and disease, Florida citrus growers try to survive until bug-free trees arrive
LAKE WALES — As Trevor Murphy pulls up to his dad’s 20-acre grove in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, he points to the cookie-cutter, one-story homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides.
“At some point, this isn’t going to be an orange grove anymore,” Murphy, a third-generation grower, says as he gazes at the rows of trees in Lake Wales. “You look around here, and it’s all houses, and that’s going to happen here.”
Polk County, which includes Lake Wales, contains more acres of citrus than any other county in Florida. And in 2023, more people moved to Polk County than any other county in the country.
Population growth, hurricanes and a vicious citrus greening disease have left the Florida orange industry reeling. Consumers are drinking less orange juice, citrus growers are folding up their operations in the state and the major juice company Tropicana is struggling to stay afloat. With huge numbers of people moving into Florida’s orange growing areas, developers are increasingly building homes on what were once orange groves.
Crayola Experience giveaway includes 8 retired crayon colors
Eight retired colors — including raw umber and blizzard blue — are back for the Crayola Experience Million Crayon Giveaway, which starts later this month.
Participants can choose to include the long-lost hues alongside 70 other colors as part of the free 32-count boxes from the attraction’s Pick Your Pack wall. Among the revived choices is dandelion, which was retired in 2017. There are also magic mint (a fluorescent green), mulberry and blizzard blue, which have been out of circulation since 2003, along with orange-red, violet-blue, lemon yellow and raw umber (an earthy brown), which have been out of the box since 1990.
Crayola says it’s the first time in the company’s history, which dates back to the 1880s, that it is bringing back a collection of retired colors, and they will only be available for a limited time.
The giveaway is free, but registration is required at CrayolaExperience.com/orlando. At the site, users are asked to select a date and location for their visit. Registrants must be at least 18 years old, and sign-ups are on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is a limit of two boxes per household.
Dollars and influence: Florida utilities lobby hard to kill bill curbing profits, lawmaker says
A bill that would curb Florida utility companies’ profits and force them to disclose their executives’ pay passed its first committee in Tallahassee this week.
Even the bill sponsor, Republican Sen. Don Gaetz, was a little surprised.
“As recently as 15 minutes before I presented the bill, I was told I did not have the votes,” Gaetz said, adding that a legislative staffer had delivered the message.
Utility companies are some of the most powerful special interests in Florida. And they have been lobbying hard behind-the-scenes to kill Senate Bill 354, Gaetz said.
“Other senators have told me that they have faced some pretty significant lobbying,” he said, calling the industry effort “fierce and well funded.” He previously told the Tampa Bay Times that executives with Florida Power & Light met with him days after he filed the proposal to voice their opposition.
Gaetz’s bill initially faced even longer odds because it did not have a House companion. Proposals need to pass both chambers of the Legislature to become law.