Things To Do In SW Florida

By MATT OTT

AT&T will spend $23 billion to acquire certain wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar, a significant expansion of AT&T’s low- and mid-band coverage networks.

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AT&T said Tuesday that the licenses cover virtually every U.S. market — more than 400 total — which the company plans to deploy as soon as possible to lure more home internet subscribers and meet its growth goals.

The deal also fortifies the long-term services agreement between AT&T and EchoStar, enabling the latter to operate as a hybrid mobile network operator providing wireless service under its Boost Mobile brand. AT&T will be the primary network services partner to EchoStar. read more

Tourism marketing agency Visit Orlando, credited with helping build Central Florida into the nation’s top vacation place, might have misappropriated nearly $20 million in tourist-tax revenue by improperly classifying the money as private rather than public funds, Orange County auditors say.

“It’s very hard to parse out from the records which funds are which,” said assistant comptroller Wendy Kittleson, who raised the possibility Tuesday during a three-hour public discussion of Visit Orlando’s spending practices with the Board of County Commissioners.

She stressed the $19.9 million figure was an estimate based on Visit Orlando’s private revenues dating back to 2019, the year county leaders signed the agency’s funding contract. The agency’s public revenues are subject to stricter spending rules than its private funds.

The guess flabbergasted Casandra Matej, president & CEO of Visit Orlando, who appeared before the commission to respond to a withering comptroller’s examination of her organization, which gets over $100 million a year in hotel and short-term lodging tax revenue to promote tourism. read more

In an unusual move, multiple groups advocating for utility customers filed an alternative proposal Tuesday that they said should resolve Florida Power & Light’s rate case. Signing onto this settlement is the Office of Public Counsel, the Legislature-appointed advocate for all utility customers statewide.

One entity that opposes the deal: Florida Power & Light.

The new proposal would roughly halve the company’s original request to hike customer rates by nearly $10 billion over four years, which is believed to be the highest rate hike request in American history. Instead, this version would result in a $5.2 billion increase.

The company filed its own proposed settlement last week, with the support of big-business groups involved in the case, such as Walmart and industrial corporations. That settlement lowered the total hikes to about $7 billion, but granted large corporations a higher percentage discount than residents next year, while the 2026 hike for small businesses tripled. read more

By ALAN SUDERMAN

President Donald Trump’s personal crypto ventures are expanding again, this time with plans for a digital asset treasury company that holds an alternative cryptocurrency.

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Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social media platform, announced Tuesday that it was partnering with the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to form a company that holds CRO, a token created by Crypto.com. A blank check company tied to Yorkville Advisors is another co-founder of the new firm, called Trump Media CRO Strategy. read more

By Alex Brown, Stateline.org

Mandates from President Donald Trump’s administration to retain aging coal plants could cause a massive spike in energy costs, according to an independent analysis commissioned by several environmental groups.

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Orders from the U.S. Department of Energy to save coal plants from retirement could cost ratepayers more than $3 billion per year, according to a report from Grid Strategies, a power sector consulting firm. It was carried out on behalf of Earthjustice, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club. read more