Things To Do In SW Florida

After a 35-year run of dishing out murder along with dinner, Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows announced this weekend it will close its International Drive theater for good on Nov. 4

“We loved providing Orlando with laughs for over three decades and are grateful for all of our guests who came to play with us to help solve tens of thousands of murder mysteries,” the company posted on its social-media sites.

Manager Donna Ernbro said every effort had been made to keep the business — thought to be the longest-running mystery dinner theater in the country — going, and the decision to close was “heart-wrenching.”

“I think, really, it’s the economics of the world, the cost to keep things running,” she said. “If there was any way we could have carried on, we would have carried on.”

Members of Orlando’s arts community, many of whom have worked at the theater over the years, reacted with dismay.

“Very sorry to learn of the loss of yet another Central Florida theatrical organization that provided entertainment for many thousands of audience members and employment for many hundreds of artists,” wrote producer DJ Salisbury on Facebook. read more

SpaceX plowed ahead with a record 31st launch of one of its Falcon 9 boosters with another Starlink mission from the Space Coast on Sunday.

Watch Falcon 9 launch 28 @Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida https://t.co/EKWpwXAPP8

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 19, 2025

A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-17 mission carrying 28 satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:39 p.m.

The first-stage booster made its fleet-leading 31st flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic.

Falcon 9’s fleet leader booster completes its 31st launch and landing pic.twitter.com/KVtZKi79nu

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 19, 2025

This was the 86th orbital launch from the Space Coast in 2025 with all but five coming from SpaceX.

The company touts reuse to bring down cost and last week landed a Falcon 9 booster for the 500th time. The first booster recovery came in 2015.

It has several more boosters approaching 30 launches, and has intentions to fly them as many as 40 times. read more

The queen is alive and well after getting a bit of work done and set to spend an extended holiday in Miami, bringing with her some award-winning entertainment.

Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth cruise ship arrived to PortMiami last week and will for the first time be calling Florida home for a long-term winter Caribbean sailing season.

The 2,081-passenger ship that debuted in 2010 has as its godmother the late Queen Elizabeth II. While she passed in 2022, her visage remains omnipresent on board among plaques, murals and paintings. Her namesake ship earlier this year underwent a three-week revamp bringing some updated spaces as well as a general polish to vessel.

For its Miami stay, the line has also brought on board a production of “Come From Away,” performed at sea for the first time. This winner of Tony and Olivier awards debuted in 2015 and is inspired by the true story of the town of Gander, Newfoundland and its role after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The town, which had a population of about 11,000, became the temporary home to nearly 6,600 air passengers and crew who came from 38 commercial flights that were grounded when airspace was closed over the U.S. and Canada. read more

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — With the U.S. experiencing a significant hiring slowdown, it’s a daunting time to be looking for a job. Many workers are staying put instead of changing jobs to secure better pay. Artificial intelligence tools increasingly screen the resumes of applicants. Now may seem like an inappropriate time to request a raise.

But sticking around doesn’t mean wages and salaries have to stagnate. Career experts say it’s not wrong, even in a shaky economy, to ask to be paid what you’re worth. Raises aren’t even necessarily off the table at organizations that are downsizing, according to some experts.

“A lot of people think if their company has done layoffs, the likelihood of getting a raise is pretty low,” said Jamie Kohn, a senior director in the human resources practice at business research and advisory firm Gartner. “And that might be true, but the the other way to think about it is that this company has already decided to reinvest in you by keeping you on.” read more

The founders of Magic Development promised to bring high design, sexy architecture and a world-famous luxury brand to Kissimmee’s W192 corridor. But in the end, it was a magic show, based on illusion and sleight of hand.

This is the story of developers who collected $87 million in deposits from hundreds of investors, but six years later have closed on just 18 units.

Riding a wave of success from the sell-outs of their first two Magic Village vacation home resorts, founders Rodrigo Cunha and Luis Sinelli unveiled their latest venture at a splashy poolside cocktail party in 2016 to introduce their architecture team from Pininfarina, the renowned Italian design firm behind luxury sports cars like Ferrari and Maserati. Cunha, the smooth-talking CEO from Brazil, had spent six months courting Paulo Pininfarina before he agreed to lend his name and talents to the project, dubbed Magic Place by Pininfarina.

To call the project ambitious would be an understatement. The initial $1.7 billion plan for Magic Place by Pininfarina envisioned 1,850 condo resort units spread among five residential buildings, each with a pair of soaring towers. Plans also included a luxury hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and offices. Osceola County had never seen anything like this before. read more