Things To Do In SW Florida

The Associated Press

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google has offered buyouts to another swath of its workforce across several key divisions in a fresh round of cost cutting coming ahead of a court decision that could order a breakup of its internet empire. The Mountain View, California, company confirmed the streamlining that was reported by several news outlets.

Related Articles

• 
  Brazil’s Supreme Court justices agree to make social media companies liable for user content

• 
  With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves

• 
  As feds resume student loan collections, states try to catch borrowers before they sink

• 
  Disney and Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement

• 
  Inflation barely rose last month as cheaper gas and cars offset some costlier imports

It’s not clear how many employees are affected, but the offers were made to staff in Google’s search, advertising, research and engineering units, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google employs most of the nearly 186,000 workers on the worldwide payroll of its parent company, Alphabet Inc. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation picked up a bit last month as higher prices for groceries and some imported goods were largely offset by cheaper gas, travel services, and rents.

Consumer prices increased 2.4% in May compared with a year ago, according to a Labor Department report released Wednesday. That is up from a 2.3% yearly increase in April. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.8% for the third straight month. Economists pay close attention to core prices because they generally provide a better sense of where inflation is headed.

The cost of groceries, toys and games, and large appliances rose, which could reflect the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Yet the price of new and used cars, clothes, air fares, and hotel rooms all dropped from April to May.

On a monthly basis, overall prices ticked up just 0.1% from April to May, down from 0.2% the previous month, with inflationary pressures appearing muted. Core prices also dropped to 0.1% from 0.2%. read more

Regional South Florida airline Silver Airways ceased flying early Wednesday, stranding passengers around the state, throwing hundreds of employees out of work and infuriating a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge who thought a turnkey deal was in place to sell the financially troubled airline to a private investment firm.

The unexpected grounding — which is permanent — came shortly before midnight Tuesday with the last flight arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport from Tallahassee.

Seaborne Airlines, an affiliated carrier that serves the U.S. Virgin Islands, will continue to operate.

CEO Steven Rossum notified about 350 of the company’s remaining employees via email late Tuesday that the company was going out of business..

“It is with a heavy heart that I share the difficult news that, after months navigating through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, our journey at Silver Airways is coming to an end for most of us,” he wrote. “Wexford Capital—our DIP lender—has informed us they will no longer support operations or, except for a few, retain our employees. As a result, Silver Airways will cease operations on Wednesday June 11 and begin the wind-down process. A small group will be asked to stay on temporarily to assist with asset management and records. Those individuals will be contacted directly.  Seaborne will continue to operate as scheduled.” read more

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and DIDI TANG, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London.

Details remain scarce. Trump didn’t fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.

What Trump described as a “deal’’ is actually less than that: It’s a “framework’’ meant to set the stage for more substantive talks.

And Trump’s own comments created confusion about what was happening to his taxes – tariffs — on Chinese imports, generating uncertainty about more than $660 billion in annual trade between the two countries. read more

Only one Central Florida restaurant shut down the week of June 1-7, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Orange

Pupuseria Alondra at 5022 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Suite E10, in Orlando shut down on June 6. Inspectors found seven violations, three of which were high priorities. Those violations included raw fish stored over cheese, 75 rodent droppings around the restaurant and a missing vacuum breaker. As of Wednesday, June 11, the restaurant remained closed.

Complaints and warnings

Orange County had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida with 27.

Volusia had 18, Brevard had seven, Lake and Osceola had six and Seminole had four.