Things To Do In SW Florida

Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times

Do Won Chang was 30 years old in 1984 when he and his wife, Jin Sook Chang, opened a shop in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park and called it Fashion 21.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

A pullback by American shoppers has led to more caution from national retailers about their sales potential in 2025, Abercrombie & Fitch on Wednesday becoming the latest.

U.S. consumer confidence plunged last month, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, according to the Conference Board. Respondents to the board’s survey expressed concern over inflation with a significant increase in mentions of trade and tariffs, the board said.

The imposition of new tariffs this week by President Donald Trump against America’s three biggest trading partners drew immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China, sending financial markets into a tailspin. Tariffs threaten to rekindle inflation, which in recent weeks appears to have begun to tick higher and has created more uncertainty for families and businesses.

Trump imposed 25% taxes, or tariffs, on Mexican and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to 10% on Canadian energy. Trump also doubled the tariff he slapped last month on Chinese products to 20%. read more

By MATT O’BRIEN and BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press Technology Writers

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge has denied Elon Musk’s request for a court order blocking OpenAI from converting itself to a for-profit company but said she could expedite a trial to consider Musk’s claims against the ChatGPT maker and its CEO.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled late Tuesday that “Musk has not demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits” in his request for a preliminary injunction. She offered to hold a trial in her California courtroom as soon as this fall, “given the public interest at stake and potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred.”

Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the ChatGPT maker and CEO Sam Altman a year ago, suing for breach of contract over what he said was the betrayal of its founding aims as a nonprofit.

He escalated the legal dispute late last year, adding new claims and defendants, including Microsoft, and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business. Musk also added his own AI company, xAI, as a plaintiff, claiming that OpenAI was unfairly stifling business competition. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is dropping its lawsuit against the company that runs the Zelle payment platform and three U.S. banks as federal agencies continue to pull back on previous enforcement actions now that President Donald Trump is back in office.

By PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press Economics Writer

A Minnesota farmer worries about the price of fertilizer. A San Diego entrepreneur deals with an unexpected cost increase of remodeling a restaurant. A Midwestern sheet metal fabricator bemoans the prospect of higher aluminum prices.

Businesses knew that Trump’s import taxes — tariffs — on America’s biggest trading partners were scheduled to take effect Tuesday. But many of them assumed they’d get a reprieve. After all, the unpredictable president had delayed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days right before they were originally supposed to kick in on Feb. 4.

No such luck this time.

At midnight Tuesday, the United States imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, starting a trade war with its closest neighbors and allies. Trump also doubled his 10% levies on Chinese imports in a series of moves that took U.S. tariffs to the highest level since the 1940s. Canadian energy was shown some mercy, getting taxed at a lower 10%. read more