Things To Do In SW Florida

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” is fast approaching, and stock markets from Wall Street to Wellington, New Zealand, are falling Monday in advance of it.

In New York, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% following one of its worst losses of the past couple of years on Friday. It’s on track to finish the first three months of the year with a loss of 5.9%, which could make this its worst quarter in nearly three years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 111 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% lower.

The U.S. stock market’s drops followed a sell-off that spanned the world earlier Monday as worries build that tariffs coming Wednesday from Trump will worsen inflation and grind down growth for economies. Trump has said he’s plowing ahead in part because he wants more manufacturing jobs back in the United States.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 4%. South Korea’s Kospi sank 3%, and France’s CAC 40 fell 1.6%. In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slipped a more modest 0.1%. read more

An Atlanta-based developer has purchased the multifamily site in downtown Clermont’s mixed-use Lumberyard District and is moving to redevelop the Lake County site.

PENLER paid $7.4 million to longtime owners Wolfe & Wallace Properties for the 7.2-acre parcel next to Victory Pointe Park and the South Lake Trail. PENLER has secured a $45.7 million construction loan from Mississippi-based Renasant Bank.

The Lumberyard District is the site of a former lumber mill, and historic themes will play out in its two-phase redevelopment. The first phase will include the development of 262 apartments across four multifamily buildings. The second phase will include commercial construction of mixed-use and live-work buildings, along with another 130 dwelling units and two-story parking garage.

Wolfe & Wallace will grade the entire 12.3-acre district and build the interior roads as part of the first phase.

PENLER Managing Partner Brian Metzler told city officials the apartments would use Hardie Board siding for the exterior finish as an homage to the lumber mill. The developer also requested and received a height waiver from the city to allow for 9-foot ceilings on all floors and a pitched roof. read more

SpaceX has two rockets at two pads set for launch in the next two days on the Space Coast.

First up is a Falcon 9 carrying 28 Starlink satellites targeting a 3:25 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Backup are available through 7:10 p.m. or on Monday during a four-hour window that opens at 2:57 p.m.

The first-stage booster is making its 17th flight and will aim for a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic.

This would be the 25th launch on the Space Coast in 2025, with all but one coming from SpaceX.

The 26th could come late Monday night on what would be SpaceX’s second human spaceflight of the year after Crew-10’s launch earlier this month.

That Falcon 9 is set to launch four people on the Fram2 private mission headed for what would be the first polar orbit for humans in history.

They are set to climb on board the Crew Dragon Resilience making its fourth trip to space and lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A  at 11:20 p.m. with backups early Tuesday at 12:30 a.m. and 2:26 a.m. More backups are available beginning Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning at the same times. read more

OSLO, Norway (AP) — A private European aerospace startup said Sunday it successfully completed the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway.

Isar Aerospace, which is headquartered in Munich, said it launched its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andøya in northern Norway.

The 28-meter (92-foot)-long Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle specifically designed to put small and medium satellites into orbit. The rocket lifted off from the pad at 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) Sunday and flew for about 30 seconds before the flight was terminated, Isar said.

“This allowed the company to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions,” Isar said in a news release. “After the flight was terminated at T+30 seconds, the launch vehicle fell into the sea in a controlled manner.”

The launch was subject to various factors, including weather and safety, and Sunday’s liftoff followed a week of poor conditions, including a scrubbed launch on Monday due to unfavorable winds and on Saturday for weather restrictions. read more

By DAVID BAUDER

President Donald Trump’s FCC commissioner said Friday he’s opening an investigation into the Walt Disney Co. and its ABC television network to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the probe in a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger on Friday. The company said it was reviewing the letter and looking forward to answering the commission’s questions.

The new administration has taken an aggressive posture toward the media on several fronts. Just this week, there were court hearings on the shutdown of Voice of America and the president’s dispute with The Associated Press over how the news agency refers to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.

Carr has pushed the Federal Communications Commission into an activist role since Trump appointed him as its leader. For example, the FCC currently has open investigations into ABC, CBS and NBC News.

“For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes,” Carr wrote to Iger. “But then something changed. Disney has now become embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.” read more