Things To Do In SW Florida

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press

Less than a month after extending a deadline to ban TikTok for the third time, President Donald Trump told reporters late Friday night that, “We pretty much have a deal,” on TikTok — but he did not offer details.

The details and timing of a potential deal are not clear. TikTok did not immediately respond to messages for comment on Monday.

Emarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said while TikTok is “reportedly planning” a U.S. version of its app to comply with legal restrictions, the platform — if it launches without the original TikTok algorithm — “risks losing the very personalization that drives user engagement.”

In other words, TikTok just isn’t TikTok without its algorithm.

“And getting millions to download a new app is no small feat, to say the least,” Goldman added.

Here’s what to know about where TikTok stands in the U.S. following Trump’s comments.

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The launch of Epic Universe rocketed Orange County’s tourist-tax collections to the highest level ever for the month of May.

The tax brought in nearly $30 million for the month, about $1.6 million more than the previous best for May, set last year. The 5.7 percent, year-over-year revenue increase came even though the eye-popping new theme park opened May 22, just ten days from the end of the month.

“I’m excited to see what the June numbers are,” said Comptroller Phil Diamond, whose office tracks the revenues generated by the 6% surcharge on the cost of a hotel room and other short-term rental lodging. “That’s going to be the first full month of Epic,” he said.

Tourism figures tend to slide in May, a month sandwiched between Spring Break and peak summer travel periods.

The monthly TDT report lags about five weeks behind hotel-tax collections. June figures will be released in early August.

Epic Universe opens, and Harry Potter ride quickly draws a crowd (and a 300-minute wait)

Diamond has noted new theme parks have historically boosted TDT collections. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Just over three months ago, President Donald Trump unveiled his most sweeping volley of tariffs yet — holding up large charts from the White House Rose Garden to outline new import taxes that the U.S. would soon slap on goods from nearly every country in the world.

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But in line with much of Trump’s on-again, off-again trade policy playbook, the bulk of those “Liberation Day” levies in April were postponed just hours after they took effect — in a 90-day suspension that arrived in an apparent effort to quell global market panic and facilitate country-by-country negotiations. At that time, the administration set a lofty goal of reaching 90 trade deals in 90 days. read more

While a Florida garbage company denies “intentional wrongdoing,” they’re shelling out $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit that alleges management allowed Black and Haitian-American workers to be hit with racist slurs and imagery from co-workers.

Waste Pro of Florida is based out of Longwood, but the accusations in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit involve what did or didn’t happen at Waste Pro’s Jacksonville office, 2940 Strickland St. Specifically, the lawsuit in Jacksonville federal court concerns what did and didn’t happen to welder Fednol Pierre after he transferred there in October 2021.

The $1.4 million will go to a group that includes Pierre, 25 co-workers named in the consent decree and any of Waste Pro’s Black and/or Haitian-American Jacksonville employees “who were subjected to a hostile work environment based on their race, color, or national origin, from February 2021 through Dec. 31, 2023.”

The consent decree also requires Waste Pro to hire a racial discrimination expert as a compliance officer to investigate race discrimination complaints and claims of retaliation for such complaints in Waste Pro’s Northeast region for the next 18 months and oversee those investigations throughout the company for the next three years. read more

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar, all of which would go into effect on Aug. 1.

Trump provided notice by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of the various countries. The letters warned them to not retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,” Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

The letters were not the final word from Trump on tariffs, so much as another episode in a global economic drama in which he has placed himself at the center. His moves have raised fears that economic growth would slow to a trickle, if not make the U.S. and other nations more vulnerable to a recession. But Trump is confident that tariffs are necessary to bring back domestic manufacturing and fund the tax cuts he signed into law last Friday. read more