Things To Do In SW Florida

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery will calve off cable operations from its streaming service, creating two independent companies as the number of people “cutting the cord” brings with it a sustained upheaval in the entertainment industry.

HBO, and HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, will become part of the streaming and studios company, Warner Bros. said Monday.

The cable company will include CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report.

Shares jumped 11% at the opening bell.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will become serve as CEO of the company that for right now is called Streaming & Studios. Gunnar Wiedenfels, chief financial officer of Warner Bros. Discovery, will be CEO of the cable-focused entity, for now known as Global Networks.

“By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility they need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape,” Zaslav said in a statement. read more

By DAN FRIO, Edmunds

If you wanted a midsize truck 10 years ago, your choices included an aging Toyota Tacoma or an even older Nissan Frontier design. Today, renewed versions of the Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger and Honda Ridgeline have revitalized the segment enough to have spawned a new compact pickup class, led by the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz.

They approach light-duty truck utility from different angles. Although it offers a wildly fuel-efficient hybrid engine, the Maverick, with robust towing and hauling limits, plus its bouncy ride and barren interior, is a more conventional pickup. The Santa Cruz is classier and more comfortable, more SUV than truck. It can tow more than the Ford, but it lacks the heavy hauling strength. The best one for buyers really comes down to intended use.

Power and fuel economy

Both the Maverick and Santa Cruz start with four-cylinder engines rated at 191 horsepower. Neither truck is quick, but both are capable. Importantly, the Maverick is a hybrid that delivers an impressive 38 mpg combined, and we even squeezed out a few extra mpg in our real-world testing. The Santa Cruz isn’t a hybrid but gets up to 25 mpg combined (22 city/30 highway). Adding all-wheel drive shaves the estimates for both trucks by 1 mpg. read more

Property values across Central Florida are soaring this year, fueled by billions of dollars of new construction, according to the region’s property appraisers.

The booming values will help boost tax rolls as local governments begin preparing budgets for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. And it may add fuel to a GOP-boosted argument that Florida homeowners are paying too much property tax.

“Interest rates are relatively high, and we’ve certainly seen a slow down in residential sales,” said David Johnson, Seminole County’s property appraiser. “But what we have not seen is a decline in the values, or what people are selling their houses for.”

At this time every year, property appraisers are required to provide local governments, school districts and other taxing authorities with their “Best Estimates of Taxable Values” reports.

The reports released last week show that every local government in the region is seeing jumps in taxable values this year, with several cities looking at double digit increases. read more

MIAMI — Could Miami’s Freedom Tower have a MAGA tourist attraction as a neighbor?

Eric Trump, the presidential son helping vet sites for his father’s future library, earlier this year visited parking lots next to the historic building in downtown Miami as part of the vetting process for potential sites, a Trump Organization lawyer said.

Multiple sources said the land on Biscayne Boulevard, owned by Miami Dade College, is being eyed as a potential library site — with enough space to display the Boeing 747 jet that President Donald Trump secured for free from Qatar and may want to be a star feature of his post-presidential center.

Miami Dade College also owns the Freedom Tower, an iconic building that once welcomed Cubans fleeing the Fidel Castro dictatorship. Representatives of the school were not available for comment Thursday.

While Trump’s Miami backers are trying to woo the library their way, the president himself appears to have a favorite site about 45 miles away. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump’s team is close to an agreement to build his presidential library on free land provided by Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Sources familiar with the Miami push confirm that FAU looks like the preferred choice, and there’s an effort to pitch the downtown site as a satellite location aimed at Miami’s steady stream of vacationers and business travelers. read more

Residents, city council members and the Church of Scientology have been locked in a tug-of-war over a portion of roadway in downtown Clearwater ever since city leaders voted in March to tentatively approve selling the land to the church.

The church withdrew its request to purchase the city-owned street in May after a group offered a counter proposal that would memorialize African American history. What seemed like a hyper-local debate over the future of Scientology’s downtown footprint has now caught the attention of Florida’s attorney general.

James Uthmeier sent a letter to Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector last month about the sale of a portion of South Garden Avenue. Despite never using the word “Scientology” in his letter, he wrote that comments Rector made during a recent city council work session suggest an “unconstitutional” position against the church.

“My role as the state’s chief legal officer compels me to caution you in this instance because it appears discriminatory motives could taint the Council’s decision making,” Uthmeier’s letter stated. “If discrimination forms a basis for any decision to reject or place restrictions on approval, such a decision would run afoul of Florida law.” read more