Things To Do In SW Florida

A recent Disney Springs outing designed to taste-test the Halloween offerings at Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar came with a few newsy little distractions, resulting in updates from Starbucks, Cirque du Soleil and the incoming LEVEL99 attraction that was announced earlier this year.

Over 99

The prime visible progress on LEVEL99 is a jumbo video screen above the future entrance to the former home of the NBA Experience. It features fast-paced glimpses of LEVEL99 attractions, including the swinging Axe Run. (That looks fun and also gives off “Tangled” float vibes from Magic Kingdom’s Festival of Fantasy parade.)

The PR team for the company said this screen is a way for folks to familiarize themselves with the LEVEL99 concept, and that there could be updates concerning the two-story, 45,000-square-foot space in the coming months.

When the attraction was announced in February, CEO Matthew DuPlessie told the Orlando Sentinel that the experience was built around unique games presenting mental and physical challenges with teamwork. Its current locations have about 60 games that take between one and four minutes. read more

Joel Trejo’s American Dream may be in jeopardy.

At 15, Trejo emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. to work at a citrus nursery in Florida. After a few years as an employee, he decided to launch his own company, selling citrus trees grown out of his sprawling 80-acre backyard in Lake County not only to his former employer but also to big box stores like Walmart and Lowes.

But now, despite hiring legal workers under the H-2A visa program, he’s struggling to find labor amid the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration.

Even agriculture workers who enter the U.S. legally, doing jobs Americans find undesirable, are fearful of being targeted by federal enforcement efforts and have chosen not to come, advocates and experts in the field say.

“I’ve never seen it like this before, and out of all the struggles in the citrus industry this is probably the biggest one,” Trejo said. “It’s going to get worse if nothing gets done, and we’re going to pay the price.”

A long and bureaucratic process

By the numbers, Florida’s agriculture industry may be the most at risk in the current squeeze, out of all 50 states. read more

After 2,295 restaurant inspections across Central Florida in September, only 248 had no issues for the entire month, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Brevard had the highest percentage of restaurants with zero violations during routine food inspections at 14.3%. Orange came in second with 13.4%, Osceola came third at 9.1% and Volusia was in fourth place with 8.6%.

Lake and Seminole ranked at the bottom with 6.9% and 5.4%, respectively.

Orange County had the most restaurants with no violations at 120 out of 896 inspected. Brevard followed with 45 out of 314, then Volusia with 35 out of 400, Osceola with 19 out of 209, Lake with 15 out of 218 and Seminole with 14 out of 258.

BREVARD

Aces, 74 N. Orlando Ave., Cocoa Beach
Alin’s Thai Street Food, 228 S.R. A1A, Satellite Beach
Asian Gourmet, 459 N. Harbor City Blvd., Melbourne
Azteca Two Mexican Restaurant, 1600 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Best Western Ocean Beach Hotel and Suites, 5600 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Botta Pizzeria & Bakery, 7500 Lake Andrew Dr., Unit 106, Melbourne
Cafe O Beach, 1616 S.R. A1A, Satellite Beach
Chick-Fil-A At Palm Bay Road FSR, 835 Palm Bay Road, West Melbourne
Chilly Spoons Frozen Yogurt, 4980 N. Wickham Road, Suite 106, Melbourne
Coasters Taphouse, 5675 N. Atlantic Ave., Suite 122, Cocoa Beach
Comfort Suites, 1175 Malabar Road NE, Palm Bay
Cuizine Restaurant & Lounge, 1790 S.R. A1A, 105-108, Satellite Beach
Da Kine Diego’s Insane Burritos, 1360 S.R. A1A, Satellite Beach
District Kitchen, 1462 S.R. A1A, Melbourne
Dolphins Waterfront Bar & Grill At Cape Crossing, 310 Lagoon Way, Merritt Island
Domino’s # 4906, 5325 N. Wickham Road, #103, Melbourne
Domino’s Pizza, 7670 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne
Doubletree Suites by Hilton Melbourne Beach Oceanfront, 1665 N. S.R.
A1A, Melbourne
Fish Bellies Food Truck, 1240 N. S.R. A1A, Vin 6186, Indialantic
Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill, 610 Glen Cheek Dr., Cape Canaveral
Gators Dockside, 683 Dave Nisbet Dr., Cape Canaveral
Hibachi Buffet, 735 N. Courtenay Parkway, Merritt Island
Hunker Down Lounge Hideaway/Category 5, 9 S. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Indian River Colony Hall, 1600 Old Glory Blvd., Melbourne
Intracoastal Brewing Company, 652 W. Eau Gallie Blvd., Melbourne
JC Poke & Ramen, 103 Watson Dr., Indialantic
Joanne’s Beachside Cafe Inc., 6006 N. Atlantic Ave., Cape Canaveral
Juice N’ Java Cafe, 75 N. Orlando Ave., Cocoa Beach
Kings Duck Bar and Grill, 4155 N. Courtenay Parkway, Merritt Island
Koko Restaurant, 24 N. Orlando Ave., Suite A, Cocoa Beach
Long Doggers III, 1201 S. Patrick Dr., Satellite Beach
Marco’s Pizza, 3600 N. Wickham Road, Suite 107, Melbourne
No Ordinary Burritos, 660 Tucker Lane, Cocoa
Papa John’s Pizza #398, 209 S. Cocoa Blvd., Cocoa
Peace In the Garden Cafe, 397 Barton Blvd., Rockledge
Pita Pyramid, 2500 Parkway Dr., Melbourne
Pizzavola CB, 5240 N. Atlantic Ave. #150, Cocoa Beach
Pour House Lounge & Grill, 1301 S. Patrick Dr., Satellite Beach
River Road Coffee and Popsicles, 9 Rosa L Jones Dr., Cocoa
Rockledge Country Club, 1591 S. Fiske Blvd., Rockledge
Salty Surfer Scratch Kitchen, 1240 N. S.R. A1A, Indialantic
Siamorchid Cocoa Beach, 1275 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach
Slice & Cones 55 A, 8225 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne
Sunshine Espresso, 2975 W. New Haven Ave., Melbourne
Tipico Latino Restaurante, 566 Barton Blvd. #1, Rockledge read more

By MATT O’BRIEN

OpenAI could now be the world’s most valuable startup, ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, after a secondary stock sale designed to retain employees at the ChatGPT maker.

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Current and former OpenAI employees sold $6.6 billion in shares to a group of investors, pushing the privately held artificial intelligence company’s valuation to $500 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The investors buying the shares included Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and T. Rowe Price, along with Japanese tech giant SoftBank and the United Arab Emirates’ MGX, the source said Thursday. read more

By MATTHEW DALY and MICHAEL PHILLIS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is cancelling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.

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  Republicans are relishing a role reversal in the shutdown fight

The move comes as President Donald Trump threatens deep cuts in his fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown.

The Energy Department said in a statement Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable. Officials did not provide details about which projects are being cut, but said funding came from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and other DOE bureaus. read more