Things To Do In SW Florida

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison after a prosecutor labeled him a predator who “preyed on hope” by enticing vulnerable customers to risk their life savings for a supposedly safe investment.

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Alexander Mashinsky, 59, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl, who said a substantial term in prison was necessary for someone who engaged in “extremely serious” crimes that enabled him to pocket over $45 million while some of his customers lost everything and suffered severe psychological harm. read more

By MICHAEL PHILLIS and ALEXA ST. JOHN

An Environmental Protection Agency plan to eliminate its Energy Star offices would end a decades-old program that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly refrigerators, dishwashers and other electronics and save money on electric bills, consumer and environmental groups said.

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The changes, outlined in agency documents reviewed by The Associated Press, are part of a broad reorganization at the EPA that would eliminate or reorganize significant parts of the office focused on air pollution. Those plans advance President Donald Trump’s sharp turn away from the prior administration’s focus on climate change. read more

A Pembroke Pines condominium’s governing board thought it moved quickly to get in line for a roof replacement grant when the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program opened to applications last November.

Now, the association is being told that it’s ineligible for a grant under terms of a new bill just passed by the Florida Legislature that, among other revisions, now limits eligibility to condominiums over two stories.

Pierpointe V Condo III is a small complex of 24 units in three two-story buildings. It’s one of 165 condominium properties in Florida told they were approved for windstorm mitigation inspections and, depending on what the inspections identified, generous grants for storm-hardening improvements.

But now those approvals are uncertain. A new law that awaits the governor’s signature includes several tougher qualifying provisions that could put Pierpointe V and a number of others out of the running.

“It’s really unfortunate, and it’s a little bit disappointing,” said Dawn Munera, Pierpointe V’s treasurer, who submitted the condo’s application. The property still awaits its initial inspection nearly six months after it was approved in December, she said. “I was also surprised that none of the condo condominiums that applied for this have been been approved for grants yet.” read more

Faced with choosing a hotel proposal from four competing developers, Kissimmee’s Board of Commissioners told all the bidders to go back to the drawing board and come back in June with a new plan.

Hospitality workers cloaked in union T-shirts packed the room and coalesced behind the proposal from Kissimmee Place Development Group for a 300-room Hyatt Place hotel and convention center adjacent to the Toho Square parking garage, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

But Mayor Jackie Espinosa said there wouldn’t be enough parking at the garage to accommodate the project. “The Hyatt is beautiful …the lighting, the gazebos, everything they’re planning on doing is magnificent,” she said. “It does bring that class, but my concern is that it’s too much.”

None of the commissioners strongly endorsed any of the concepts, although the city has long sought to build a hotel in its downtown area. The proposals from KPDG and Azure Hotel International Inc. were too lavish, while the ones from Skyview Companies and IHRMC Hotels & Resorts weren’t ambitious enough.  And it became clear that a majority wanted a residential component at the Toho Square site. read more

Grocery bills are straining wallets across the country — and it’s no wonder. Food costs are predicted to rise 3.2% in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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If you’re concerned, you’re not alone. Tariffs and rising prices were among the concerns referenced in the Conference Board’s latest Consumer Confidence Index report, which aims to measure how U.S. consumers feel about the economy. The index fell 7.9 points in April to 86 — the lowest it’s been since the onset of the pandemic.

Separately, the Conference Board, a nonprofit economic research group, said that the number of consumers expecting a recession in the next 12 months has hit a two-year high. read more