Things To Do In SW Florida

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice’s threat to criminally indict Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has set up a tense showdown between the White House and the U.S. central bank, with Powell saying the subpoenas that arrived on Friday are intended to force him to follow President Donald Trump’s orders.

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The subpoenas apply to the cost of renovating Fed buildings, including its marble-clad headquarters in Washington, DC, but they are more fundamentally about the fate of the Fed’s independence, how power is distributed within the federal government, and how it will effect the U.S. economy. read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount Skydance is taking another step in its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying Monday that it will name its own slate of directors before the next shareholder meeting of the Hollywood studio.

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Paramount also filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to compel Warner Bros. to disclose to shareholders how it values its bid and the competing offer from Netflix.

Warner Bros. is in the middle of a bidding war between Paramount and Netflix. Warner’s leadership has repeatedly rebuffed overtures from Skydance-owned Paramount — and urged shareholders to back the sale of its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile offer for the entire company. read more

By EILEEN NG and EDNA TARIGAN, Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, as concerns grew among global authorities that it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images.

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The moves reflect growing scrutiny of generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text and concern that existing safeguards are failing to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of credit card companies are dropping Monday after President Donald Trump threatened moves that could eat into their profits. The rest of Wall Street, meanwhile, was showing only modest signals of concern after tensions ramped to a much higher degree between the White House and the Federal Reserve.

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The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high as U.S. stocks drifted through mixed trading, while prices for gold and other investments that tend to do well when investors are nervous rose. The value of the U.S. dollar also dipped against other currencies amid some concern that the Fed may have less independence in setting interest rates to keep inflation under control. read more

SpaceX is set to launch its third mission of the year from the Space Coast on Monday afternoon while preparing for the early return later this week of Crew-11 from the International Space Station.

A Falcon 9 is set to fly on the Starlink 6-97 mission with 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 1:59 p.m. during a launch window that runs from 12:42-4:42 p.m.

This will be the 25th flight of the first-stage booster, which will aim for a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecast an 85% chance for good conditions at the launch site, but noted a low to moderate chance for weather problems at the booster recovery site. A 24-hour delay would see a 90% chance for good conditions at the opening of the four-hour launch window Tuesday, but slide to 70% near the end of the window.

It would mark the third launch so far this year, which so far have all been from SpaceX from SLC-40 on Starlink missions. Its next two planned flights from Florida will follow suit targeting launches on Wednesday during a window that runs from 1:01-5:01 p.m. and then Sunday during a window from midnight to 3:17 a.m., both flying up another 29 Starlink satellites. read more