Things To Do In SW Florida

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Pizza Hut could soon be up for sale.

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Yum Brands, Pizza Hut’s parent company, said Tuesday it’s conducting a formal review of options for the brand, which has struggled to compete in a crowded pizza market.

Yum CEO Chris Turner said Pizza Hut has many strengths, including a global footprint and strong growth in many markets. Pizza Hut has nearly 20,000 stores in more than 100 countries, and its international sales were up 2% in the first nine months of this year. China is its second-largest market outside the U.S.

But Pizza Hut gets nearly half its sales from the U.S., where it has around 6,500 stores, and U.S. sales fell 7% in the same period. Pizza Hut was long saddled with large, outdated dine-in restaurants at a time when consumers wanted fast pickup and delivery. read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration and private investors are partnering with two rare earth startups in a $1.4 billion deal to scale up the nation’s access to materials and technology that is crucial for producing an array of high-tech goods and military equipment.

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The investment in Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies is the latest stake taken by the U.S. in a handful of private companies — including another rare earths company and chipmaker Intel — since President Donald Trump began his second term in January. The White House has made it a priority to bolster the nation’s supply chain in a market dominated by China. read more

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chrysler is recalling more than 320,000 Jeep plug-in hybrid vehicles due to a faulty battery that can fail and lead to a fire, U.S. traffic safety regulators said.

Chrysler, which is owned by Netherlands-based Stellantis, is aware of 19 reports and 1 injury potentially related to the issue.

Owners of the vehicles, which include 228,221 Jeep Wranglers model years 2020-2025 and 91,844 Jeep Grand Cherokees model years 2022-2026, are being advised to park the vehicles outside and away from structures until a remedy for the problem is determined. Vehicle owners are also being told not to charge their vehicles, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration said.

Interim notification letters are expected to be mailed to vehicle owners by December 2, 2025, with additional letters to be sent once the final remedy is available.

The number for the recall is 68C and owners may contact Chrysler customer service at 800-853-1403. Vehicle Identification Numbers for this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning November 6, 2025. Vehicles that were previously recalled for the same issue under previous recalls will need to have the new remedy performed, the NHTSA said. read more

Boosted by the opening of the Epic Universe theme park, Orange County’s tourist tax collections hit an all-time high in fiscal year 2024-25, shattering the previous 12-month best, set last year, by $25.1 million, according to a comptroller report released this morning.

The revenue boom reflects a host of positive factors over the course of the year, including record-breaking numbers of tourists statewide and higher room rates locally, which translate into more tax dollars.

Comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office tracks collections and spending of the bed tax, cautiously celebrated the new record of $384.5 million, but also worried about challenges that could hamstring Central Florida’s tourism-focused economy in the immediate future.

He cited recent flight cancellations blamed on a shortage of air-traffic controllers and the shutdown of the federal government.

“These are very unique but very real concerns which just haven’t been concerns until this month,” Diamond said in a phone interview. “While a great many people drive here from the southeastern United States, a great many more — Canadians and New Yorkers, people from the northeast and upper Midwest — really wouldn’t come here if they couldn’t fly. It just wouldn’t be practical.” read more

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell on Wall Street Tuesday, pulled down by losses in the same big tech companies that have been the main drivers of the market’s rally so far this year.

The downturn pulled every major index further away from the all-time highs set just last week. Losses were spread broadly throughout every sector, but technology stocks were the heaviest weights.

Palantir Technologies, which had more than doubled so far this year, fell 7.9% despite reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts. Nvidia also reversed course from a day earlier, falling 4%, while Microsoft fell 0.5%.

The technology sector is typically the driving force behind the market’s broader movement, including its record-setting year. Huge values for companies including Nvidia and Microsoft give them outsize influence over the broader market’s direction.

The S&P 500 fell 80.42 points, or 1.2% to 6,771.55. The index set its most recent all-time high last week, and is still up more than 15% for the year. read more