Things To Do In SW Florida

The first Brightline high-speed train rolled out of Orlando’s airport at dawn on Sept. 22, 2023, and headed for Miami, tugging four coach cars filled with hundreds of exuberant passengers peering out spacious windows.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called it “historic” and “one of the days we live for” during a celebration filled with confetti and yellow-and-peach banners hanging over the station’s platform near the airport’s Terminal C.

Since then, nearly 3.1 million riders have taken the 235-mile, three-and-a-half-hour trip between Orlando and Miami.

Brightline officials touted those ridership numbers to show the growing popularity of its “long-haul” service between the two large metropolitan areas. In the coming year, Brightline looks to add more coach cars with more seats, as some trips have sold out.

But it’s a mixed bag. Brightline’s older, slower service that began in 2018 between Miami and West Palm Beach faces challenges with stagnant ridership numbers and average fares dropping. Brightline also faces financial drags as investors question whether revenues have fallen short of projections. read more

Winter Park, in a bid to transform the West Fairbanks Avenue corridor, is exploring incentives that could ignite more development in the area.

On Thursday, Winter Park held a City Commission work session to discuss the future of the corridor, specifically the South of Fairbanks Avenue (SOFA) District. The district, which stretches from Orlando Avenue to I-4, is part of a community redevelopment area with land under the jurisdiction of Winter Park, Orlando, and Orange County.

“As other areas in the city become less vacant, that’s pushing investment farther out in the city. We have certainly seen over the last 10 years that 17-92 has started to attract more investment. We’ve been seeing development happen along there, and I think we are starting to see the development world start to turn its eyes to West Fairbanks,” said Peter Moore, director of the city’s Office of Management and Budget.

The corridor experienced a 167.3% increase in taxable property value between 2012 and 2025, higher than the citywide growth rate of 158.1%. However, city staff had hoped to see much more growth in the SOFA district due to the level of public investment in the corridor. The City of Winter Park has put about $30 million into infrastructure upgrades there in the last 15 years, which included bringing transmission lines underground and building out stormwater infrastructure. read more

Toyota and Hyundai are recalling a combined 1.1 million vehicles due to problems with the instrument panel displays and seat belts, U.S. auto regulators said Thursday.

Related Articles

• 
  FTC sues Ticketmaster, saying it forces fans to pay more for concerts and events

• 
  Citizens takeouts begin in December: Two more home insurers approved to sell policies in Florida

• 
  Amazon pledged to support affordable housing. How has it fared so far?

• 
  Target debuts thousands of holiday gifts, plus weekly sales and faster delivery

• 
  Gen Z leads biggest drop in FICO scores since financial crisis

Toyota is recalling 591,377 automobiles because the instrument panel display can fail and not show the driver critical information including vehicle speed, brake system and tire pressure warning lights, which could lead to a crash and injury.

Models included in the Toyota recall are the 2023-2024 Venza, RAV 4 Prime, RAV 4, GR Corolla and Crown; 2024-2025 Lexus TX and LS and Toyota Tacoma and Grand Highlander; 2025 Lexus RX, Toyota Crown Signia, Camry, RAV 4 plug-in hybrid and 4 Runner. read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

The Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Thursday, saying they are forcing consumers to pay more to see live events through a variety of illegal tactics.

The FTC said Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, have deceived artists and consumers by advertising lower ticket prices than what consumers must pay and falsely claiming to impose strict limits on the number of tickets consumers can buy for an event.

In reality, the FTC said, Ticketmaster coordinates with ticket brokers who bypass those ticket limits. The FTC said brokers use fake accounts to buy up millions of dollars worth of tickets and then sell them at a substantial markup on Ticketmaster’s platform. Ticketmaster benefits from the additional fees it collects from those sales, the FTC said.

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment Thursday with Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation Entertainment. read more

Two more new home insurers — one opened by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and another founded by a Tampa-area philanthropist — have been approved to sell policies in Florida.

Stand Insurance Exchange, a California-based insurer, and Praxis Reciprocal Exchange, headquartered in Tampa, are the 16th and 17th new entities to enter Florida’s market since legislative reforms were enacted in 2022 and 2023, the state Office of Insurance Regulation announced in a news release on Thursday.

The 17 companies bring a combined $574 million in policyholder surplus to further shift coverage burdens away from state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and into the private sector.

Insurance lines that will be offered by the two new companies include fire, allied lines, homeowners multi-peril, inland marine, other liability. Praxis will also sell boiler and machinery coverage.

Each will participate in Citizens’ depopulation program by taking out 25,000 Citizens policies in December, the release said. read more