Things To Do In SW Florida

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation shut down one Central Florida restaurant for health code violations during the week from Dec. 21-27.

Orange

Lee & Rick’s Oyster Bar at 5621 Old Winter Garden Road in Orlando was shut down on Dec. 22 after inspectors found seven violations including one deemed high priority. That was for 228 small, flying insects found among the dish washing area, in the kitchen around the beer cooler and soda fountain, at the bar counter near the restrooms, at the beer spouts, in the ice machine room and elsewhere. Inspectors returned the same day finding no flying insects and only four basic violations. The venue was allowed to reopen.

Total Inspections

Among all inspections across Central Florida, there were 881 violations total, including basic, intermediate and high violations.

Orange County had the most with 352, followed by Volusia with 192, Seminole with 147, Osceola with 77, Lake with 72 and Brevard with 41.

DETROIT (AP) — Meta is buying artificial intelligence startup Manus, as the owner of Facebook and Instagram continues an aggressive push to amp up AI offerings across its platforms.

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The California tech giant declined to disclose financial details of the acquisition. But The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta closed the deal at more than $2 billion.

Manus, a Singapore-based platform with some Chinese roots, launched its first “general-purpose” AI agent earlier this year. The platform offers paid subscriptions for customers to use this technology for research, coding and other tasks. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Federal Reserve officials who supported cutting a key interest rate earlier this month could have instead backed keeping the rate unchanged, minutes released Tuesday show, underscoring the divisions and uncertainty permeating the central bank.

At their December 9-10 meeting Fed officials agreed to cut their key interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year, to about 3.6%, the lowest in nearly three years. Yet the move was approved by a 9-3 vote, an unusual level of dissent for a committee that typically works by consensus. Two Fed officials supported keeping the rate unchanged, while one wanted a larger, half-point reduction.

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Idaho company recalls nearly 3,000 pounds of ground beef for E. coli risk read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Business Writer

An Idaho-based company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled “Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef.” Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the meat by Jan. 13. The affected beef also bears the establishment number “EST 2083” on the side of its packaging.

The meat was produced by Heyburn, Idaho-based Mountain West Food Group and was shipped to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, which announced the recall Saturday, didn’t say which retailers may have sold the meat. The USDA and Mountain West Food Group didn’t respond to messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The USDA said there have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the meat. The issue was discovered in a sample of beef during routine testing. read more

Jurassic Park River Adventure, the big-splash dinosaur ride at Islands of Adventure theme park, is about to take an extended break. The last day for visitors to ride will be Jan. 4.

Universal Orlando’s online list of temporary closures indicates the ride’s refurbishment will last through Nov. 19, meaning the soaker will be out of the lineup through the spring break and summer seasons. The schedule points to the ride’s return about a week before Thanksgiving 2026.

No details about the downtime or refurbishment have been announced.

Jurassic Park River Adventure opened with IOA in 1999.  It includes a storyline of a “real” dino-themed attraction, where something, naturally, goes horribly wrong. Visitors float through scenes with animatronic and sometimes angry dinosaurs, including a menacing T. rex and a dramatic 85-foot drop that leads to a public splashdown and “Jurassic Park” soundtrack by composer John Williams.

Epic Universe debut dominates, but Disney, others add to active 2025 read more