Things To Do In SW Florida

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Federal Reserve officials who supported cutting a key interest rate earlier this month could have instead backed keeping the rate unchanged, minutes released Tuesday show, underscoring the divisions and uncertainty permeating the central bank.

At their December 9-10 meeting Fed officials agreed to cut their key interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year, to about 3.6%, the lowest in nearly three years. Yet the move was approved by a 9-3 vote, an unusual level of dissent for a committee that typically works by consensus. Two Fed officials supported keeping the rate unchanged, while one wanted a larger, half-point reduction.

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Idaho company recalls nearly 3,000 pounds of ground beef for E. coli risk read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer

An Idaho-based company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled “Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef.” Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the meat by Jan. 13. The affected beef also bears the establishment number “EST 2083” on the side of its packaging.

The meat was produced by Heyburn, Idaho-based Mountain West Food Group and was shipped to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which announced the recall Saturday, didn’t say which retailers may have sold the meat. The USDA and Mountain West Food Group didn’t respond to messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The USDA said there have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the meat. The issue was discovered in a sample of beef during routine testing. read more

Jurassic Park River Adventure, the big-splash dinosaur ride at Islands of Adventure theme park, is about to take an extended break. The last day for visitors to ride will be Jan. 4.

Universal Orlando’s online list of temporary closures indicates the ride’s refurbishment will last through Nov. 19, meaning the soaker will be out of the lineup through the spring break and summer seasons. The schedule points to the ride’s return about a week before Thanksgiving 2026.

No details about the downtime or refurbishment have been announced.

Jurassic Park River Adventure opened with IOA in 1999.  It includes a storyline of a “real” dino-themed attraction, where something, naturally, goes horribly wrong. Visitors float through scenes with animatronic and sometimes angry dinosaurs, including a menacing T. rex and a dramatic 85-foot drop that leads to a public splashdown and “Jurassic Park” soundtrack by composer John Williams.

Epic Universe debut dominates, but Disney, others add to active 2025 read more

By KEN SWEET, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House cannot lapse in its funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal district court judge ruled on Tuesday, only days before funds at the bureau would have likely run out and the consumer finance agency would have no money to pay its employees.

Judge Amy Berman ruled that the CFPB should continue to get its funds from the Federal Reserve, despite the Fed operating at a loss, and that the White House’s new legal argument about how the CFPB gets its funds is not valid.

At the heart of this case is whether Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s budget director and the acting director of the CFPB, can effectively shut down the agency and lay off all of the bureau’s employees. The CFPB has largely been inoperable since President Trump has sworn into office nearly a year ago. Its employees are mostly forbidden from doing any work, and most of the bureau’s operations this year has been to unwind the work it did under President Biden and even under Trump’s first term. read more

Cool weather conditions and continually dropping temperatures have prompted Central Florida water parks to close for a few days.

Forecasts for overnight temps in the 30s pushed many attractions to adjust their schedules. Walt Disney World’s Typhoon Lagoon; Universal’s Volcano Bay; Aquatica Orlando, SeaWorld’s water park, and Discovery Cove, SeaWorld’s day resort, were all closed Tuesday.

Disney has scheduled Typhoon Lagoon’s reopening for Jan. 1. Blizzard Beach, the attraction’s sister park, already was closed for winter maintenance ahead of its Feb. 15 reopening. (That’s also the date that Typhoon Lagoon is scheduled to shut down for regular maintenance.)

Universal plans to reopen Volcano Bay on Jan. 1 as well.

Aquatica and Discovery Cove are closed through Wednesday, and the company is assessing operations for Thursday, including for Illuminate, the water park’s new after-hours walk-through experience at Aquatica.

It’s a date: When Orlando theme parks wrap up holiday celebrations read more