Things To Do In SW Florida

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

Wall Street closed out another banner year for stocks Wednesday with a downbeat finish that extended the market’s recent losing streak to a fourth day.

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The S&P 500 gave up 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite closed 0.8% lower. Trading volume was very thin ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday, when markets will be closed, as most big investors have already closed out their positions for the year.

Even with their mini post-Christmas pullback, the major U.S. stock indexes finished with strong gains for the year.

The S&P 500, which set 39 record highs in 2025, closed 16.4% higher for the year, it’s third straight double-digit annual gain. The Nasdaq gained 20.4% and the Dow finished 13% higher. read more

By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week with layoffs remaining low despite a weakening labor market.

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U.S. applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 27 fell by 16,000 to 199,000 from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 208,000 new applications.

Unemployment benefit filings are often distorted during holiday-shortened weeks. The shorter week can cause some who have lost jobs to delay filing claims. read more

In a contentious meeting Tuesday night featuring finger-pointing and personal attacks, the Eatonville Town Council said it wanted last-minute changes to the contract to sell the town’s historic Hungerford property — though exactly what those changes would be were not specified.

The board for Orange County Public Schools, which owns the 117-acre property, will vote Jan. 13 on a draft contract to sell it to Dr. Phillips Charities, which would oversee development of the land. Prior to the vote, the school board and Dr. Phillips Charities will have a workshop meeting on Jan. 6 where the Eatonville Town Council will offer suggestions on amendments to the contract.

In Tuesday’s meeting, some council members charged that Mayor Angie Gardner, who was deeply involved in discussions with the school district and charity, kept them in the dark about the deal.

“What you did to this community is downright despicable,” said council member Tarus Mack, Gardner’s sharpest critic. “You sat up there and essentially sold the town out.” read more

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation shut down one Central Florida restaurant for health code violations during the week from Dec. 21-27.

Orange

Lee & Rick’s Oyster Bar at 5621 Old Winter Garden Road in Orlando was shut down on Dec. 22 after inspectors found seven violations including one deemed high priority. That was for 228 small, flying insects found among the dish washing area, in the kitchen around the beer cooler and soda fountain, at the bar counter near the restrooms, at the beer spouts, in the ice machine room and elsewhere. Inspectors returned the same day finding no flying insects and only four basic violations. The venue was allowed to reopen.

Total Inspections

Among all inspections across Central Florida, there were 881 violations total, including basic, intermediate and high violations.

Orange County had the most with 352, followed by Volusia with 192, Seminole with 147, Osceola with 77, Lake with 72 and Brevard with 41.

DETROIT (AP) — Meta is buying artificial intelligence startup Manus, as the owner of Facebook and Instagram continues an aggressive push to amp up AI offerings across its platforms.

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The California tech giant declined to disclose financial details of the acquisition. But The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta closed the deal at more than $2 billion.

Manus, a Singapore-based platform with some Chinese roots, launched its first “general-purpose” AI agent earlier this year. The platform offers paid subscriptions for customers to use this technology for research, coding and other tasks. read more