Things To Do In SW Florida

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers unexpectedly paused their spending in December from November, closing out the holiday shopping season and the year on a lackluster tone.

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The report, issued by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, surprised economists who were looking for growth despite mounting concerns about slowing job growth, uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s tariffs and other economic headwinds. And it raised questions about shoppers’ ability to spend after they have remained resilient for months despite souring consumer confidence, economists said.

Retail sales were flat in December from November, when business was up 0.6%, according to the Commerce Department. Economists were expecting a 0.4% increase for December. read more

Art meets up with aerospace again at the upcoming Spark STEM Fest at Orlando Science Center. Covering both disciplines will be appearances by Nicole Stott, former astronaut and outer-space watercolorist.

“You think an astronaut, you think technical, you think a scientist,” Stott said. “And yet, the majority of these people that I’ve encountered in my life also have something artsy or creative going on, really, too, and we want to share that.”

Spark STEM Fest celebrates technology and innovation with hands-on experiences, live science shows and interaction with engineers, researchers and other professionals. The event runs Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the science center.

Stott’s astronaut career included 104 days in space as a crew member on the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery. She also had an artistic, anti-gravity experience with watercolors on board in 2009.

“It was bizarre to see this floating ball of water that just was attracted to the brush, and then pulling the colored water off the palette,” she said. “I had to figure out how far do I pull the brush off the paper so that I can drag the floating ball of colored water along the paper to paint?” read more

Walmart has continued its recent buying spree, scooping up prime real estate in the heart of Orlando’s tourism corridor where an immersive art and event center called AREA15 was once planned.

The company paid $35 million to Cornerstone Collard Vineland, LLC, a partnership between South Florida-based The Cornerstone Group and Winter Park-based Michael Collard Properties. The transaction closed last week, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

Mariel Messier, with Global Communications at Walmart, said by email Friday: “We don’t have anything to share, right now.”

The 16.4-acre parcel Walmart bought is bordered by Interstate 4 to the west, a Cheesecake Factory restaurant on the north side, Regency Village Drive to the east and Lake Street on the south side. The land is well-located between Walt Disney World and Epic Universe near the Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets, with easy access to I-4 via the new Daryl Carter Parkway interchange which opened in July.

Walmart has two supercenters within three miles of the site — to the south at 3250 Vineland Rd. in Kissimmee and the north at 8990 Turkey Lake Rd. in Orlando. read more

It’s been quite a while since a mustache has made its way to space. Rookie NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway is about to change that.

Acting as pilot on this week’s planned launch of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station, active Navy commander was clean shaven when introduced as an astronaut candidate in 2021. But now he’s got what he calls a classic naval aviator mustache going on.

“The mustache is a lot of fun. The crew has enjoyed it,” he said Sunday during an interview from quarantine at Kennedy Space Center. “We’ve had a bunch of laughs about it. Some of out support staff, particularly our flight surgeons, have grown mustaches as well, in support and solidarity of my mustache.”

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, Crew-12 pilot, arrives Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. (Kim Shiflett/NASA) Crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, from left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, participate in a news conference from Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Kim Shiflett/NASA) The SpaceX Crew-12 crewmates, from left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronaut and pilot Jack Hathaway, NASA astronaut and commander Jessica Meir and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, performed a launch day rehearsal at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 ahead of the planned launch aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom later in the week. (Courtesy/SpaceX)