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The Lake County Board of Commissioners decided this week to join a handful of residents in their fight against a new Leesburg subdivision they fear will cause flooding to the lands and roads around their homes.

Set to rise on just over 55 acres along County Road 44 and Treasure Island Avenue, Treasure Trove is a planned 110-lot subdivision. The City of Leesburg annexed the property and approved the zoning in 2023.

The developer purchased the Treasure Trove site in May for $1.6 million and filed development plans with the St. Johns River Water Management District, which approved its permit.

After the district approved that environmental permit, several residents who live within a mile of the project site — led by Lisa Hayden — sought an administrative hearing to reverse the decision.

Hayden said the elevation changes between the development and the surrounding area would undoubtedly cause water to run downhill towards the wetlands and nearby properties, a view she shared with Jerome Henin, president of Henin Group, the Winter Park firm developing the property. read more

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department urged a federal judge on Thursday to allow the immediate removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while she fights to keep her job, dismissing as “baseless” Cook’s claim that the president is attempting to fire her so that he can seize control of the independent central bank.

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Trump said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 after one of his appointees alleged that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of falsely listing two properties as “primary residences.” Down payment requirements are often more lenient and mortgage rates lower for primary residences versus a second home or investment property. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s once-dominant citrus industry is being squeezed for land at an accelerating rate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week reported that the industry is entering the 2025-2026 growing season with 208,183 acres in use for producing oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruits, 24% fewer acres than a year ago.

That follows a 17% reduction in acreage heading into the 2024-2025 season, which was the worst for production in a century. Since 2020, the land is down 75%, according to USDA figures.

During the past 25 years, the industry has been hammered by deadly citrus greening disease, hurricanes and development pressure. In that time, production of oranges has dropped 94% and grapefruit is down 97%.

Matt Joyner, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, said the federal report matches what the industry is experiencing.

“Certainly we need some good weather years. There’s no doubt about that,” Joyner said. “We cannot continue to have hurricane on top of hurricane every season and continue to move forward in any measurable manner.” read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell again this week, extending a recent trend that should give prospective homebuyers more purchasing power.

The long-term rate eased to 6.5% from 6.56% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.35%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate slipped to 5.6% from 5.69% last week. A year ago, it was 5.47%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.

Rates have been mostly declining since late July amid growing expectations that the Fed will cut its benchmark short-term interest rate at the central bank’s meeting of policymakers later this month.

A similar trend happened in the leadup to September last year, when the Fed cut its rate in for the first time in more than four years. At that time, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage got down to a 2-year low of 6.08%, but soon after climbed again, reaching above 7% by mid-January. read more

Despite remaining in custody on charges of murdering a health care executive, Luigi Mangione seemingly and briefly appeared to be modeling a shirt on the website of Shein, the giant Chinese retailer of cheap and fast fashion.

While the image of the Towson native — or someone or something generated that could pass for his twin — has been taken down from the Shein site, it continues to circulate online, depicting him in a patterned, short-sleeved shirt that apparently had sold for $11.69, according to TMZ.

“I doubt he posed for the picture while he’s in custody,” one of Mangione’s lawyers, Tom Dickey of Altoona, Pennsylvania, told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday. “The sad thing is that some people will stoop to any level to make a buck off of someone.”

Mangione, 27, the one-time valedictorian of his Gilman class, remains at a detention center in Brooklyn, New York, awaiting trial on state and federal charges in connection to the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, on Dec. 4. The case has drawn widespread attention, turning Mangione, a member of a large and prominent Maryland family, into a folk hero to those angered by an insurance industry they believe puts cost saving ahead of their medical needs. read more