Things To Do In SW Florida

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans to work toward a merger that would form the world’s third-largest automaker by sales, as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses.

Automakers in Japan have lagged behind their big rivals in electric vehicles and are trying to cut costs and make up for lost time as newcomers like China’s BYD and EV market leader Tesla devour market share.

Honda’s president, Toshihiro Mibe, said Honda and Nissan will attempt to unify their operations under a joint holding company. Honda will lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company. They aim to have a formal merger agreement by June and to complete the deal and list the holding company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by August 2026, he said. read more

By Natalie Demaree, Miami Herald (TNS)

People of faith are not more generous than non-religious people — except in one case, a new study found.

Affordable housing projects in Orlando, Kissimmee and Sanford received nearly $2.8 million Thursday when the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta awarded more than $55 million in grants to help build thousands of homes across the country.

In Osceola County, the first phase of rehabilitating 50 multifamily rental units in the Kissimmee Oaks complex will receive $1 million, according to a news release from FHL Banks.

In Seminole County, Dave’s House Community in Sanford was awarded $1 million for the construction of 26 multifamily rental units.

And Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay will receive $760,000 toward refurbishing 19 single-family homes in Orlando into affordable housing.

Those were among seven development projects across the state that shared more than $4 million through the FHL Bank Atlanta grants program to help pay for 180 rental units and 29 homes as affordable housing, the news release said.

In all, 66 affordable housing projects in a dozen states and Washington D.C. will receive the 2024 Affordable Housing Program General Fund awards to help acquire, construct, rehabilitate or preserve more than 4,200 homes or rental units into housing for families or individuals with very low, low or moderate incomes. read more

By HALELUYA HADERO

Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract.

TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a controversial proposal that would lead to using phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the phosphate industry, in a road project.

The EPA on Friday issued a notice of approval for Mosaic Fertilizer, a subsidiary of The Mosaic Company, to move forward with the pilot road project on company property in Polk County. The possibility of using phosphogypsum in road projects has long drawn opposition from environmental groups, which have argued it could pose risks to people working on roads and to water quality.

Phosphogypsum is typically stored in huge stacks, but Mosaic proposed building four sections of test road that would include different mixtures of phosphogypsum in road base material, according to the EPA notice. The project would be at the company’s New Wales facility.

In the notice, which is expected to be published Monday in the Federal Register, the EPA said the “approval applies only to the proposed pilot project and not any broader use.” The notice acknowledged a large number of comments submitted in opposition to the proposal but said the EPA concluded the project would be safe. read more