Things To Do In SW Florida

Rarely have we seen a day when the Florida East Coast Railway has publicly spoken ill of Brightline, its higher speed passenger rail partner in South and Central Florida.

Nor has it openly uttered objections against a planned commuter rail line Brightline envisions operating in concert with Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties over the FECR-owned corridor east of Interstate 95.

Until recently.

In a sharply worded lawsuit filled last month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the venerable freight carrier based in Jacksonville, and owner of the 351-stretch of rail between Miami and the northeast Florida city, alleges that Brightline kept the FECR in the dark when it started speaking with county officials about a possible commuter line that would run through all three counties, over 85 miles between Miami and Jupiter.

The lawsuit was first reported by the Miami Herald.

The Coastal Commuter Link idea is an outgrowth of a plan researched and coordinated by the Florida Department of Transportation starting in 2003, decades after passenger rail service along the line founded by oil baron Henry Flagler ceased in 1968. read more

An enormous master-planned community in Kissimmee is moving closer to construction after years of effort, driven by Puerto Rico’s largest mall developer in its entry to the Florida market.

The company, Empresas Fonalledas, has spent $70 million through its affiliate, Plaza Lakes LLC, over the last two decades assembling the nearly 900 acres along Simpson Road for the community known as Hilliard Isle. Pulte has been involved as the homebuilding partner for the project since 2022 and has secured zoning entitlements for the mixed-use development with a marina on East Lake Toho.

Craig Holland, the city’s development director, called Hilliard Isle the Kissimmee’s “last hurrah,” according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

“It’s our last big undeveloped piece of property,” he told Osceola Realtors last month. “We’re looking at 3,000 dwelling units, approximately. That includes single-family, townhouses, and multifamily, and about 125,000 square feet of commercial with a town center vibe. And this is located between BVL and East Lake Toho. This is the easternmost portion of the city. It has good access to pretty much everything.” read more

By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — A public document filed by a company that just hired President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons as advisers included a sentence early Monday that said it hoped to benefit from grants and other incentives from the federal government, which their father happens to lead.

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But when The Associated Press asked the Trump family business about the apparent conflict of interest, the document was revised and the line taken out.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are getting “founder shares” worth millions of dollars in New America Acquisition 1 Corp., a company with no operating business that hopes to fill that hole by purchasing an American company that can play “a meaningful role in revitalizing domestic manufacturing,” according to to the filing. The president has geared his trade policy toward boosting manufacturing in the U.S. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The monthly jobs report is already closely-watched on Wall Street and in Washington but has taken on a new importance after President Donald Trump on Friday fired the official who oversees it.

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Trump claimed that June’s employment figures were “RIGGED” to make him and other Republicans “look bad.” Yet he provided no evidence and even the official Trump had appointed in his first term to oversee the report, William Beach, condemned the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics appointed by former President Joe Biden. The firing followed Friday’s jobs report that showed hiring was weak in July and had come to nearly a standstill in May and June, right after Trump rolled out sweeping tariffs. read more

By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — DuPont and two other companies will pay New Jersey up to $2 billion to settle environmental claims stemming from PFAS, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” the companies announced Monday.

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State Environmental Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said the deal with DuPont, Chemours and Corteva is the largest such settlement in the state’s history. It calls for the companies to pay $875 million over 25 years and create a remediation fund of up $1.2 billion. The companies will split the costs under the deal, which must still be approved by the courts. read more