Things To Do In SW Florida

WASHINGTON — Congress approved a White House request to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting, after Republicans bowed to President Donald Trump in an unusual surrender of congressional spending power.

For Central Florida news station WUCF, that means millions of dollars devoted to giving community members free access to news will be lost. Radio stations 90.7 FM Orlando and 89.5 FM Ocala also stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The House’s 216-213 vote early Friday sent the package to Trump for his signature. Two Republicans, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Michael Turner of Ohio, opposed the measure.

The Senate approved the package in a predawn 51-48 vote the day before, overcoming the objections of two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who argued that their party was ceding Congress’ constitutional control over federal funding.

The bulk of the funds targeted — about $8 billion — was for foreign assistance programs. The remaining $1.1 billion was for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS. read more

By MATTHEW DALY

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is granting two years of regulatory relief to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other polluting industries as he seeks to reverse Biden-era regulations he considers overly burdensome.

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Trump issued a series of proclamations late Thursday exempting a range of industries that he calls vital to national security.

The proclamations cover coal-fired power plants, taconite iron ore processing facilities used to make steel, and chemical manufacturers that help produce semiconductors and medical device sterilizers. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate remained at 3.7% in June, while private-sector jobs were down 21,000 from May, according to a report released Friday by the state Department of Commerce.

The state estimated 415,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in June, up 1,000 from May. Meanwhile, the workforce of 11.193 million shrank by 7,000 in the same time. The unemployment rate also was 3.7% in April and May, after inching up earlier in the year.

The lowest unemployment rate in June remained in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area at 3.2%, up from 3.1% in May. Within that region, the rate in the Miami-Miami-Beach-Kendall area was at 2.4%.

Jimmy Heckman, the Department of Commerce’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, said it’s “too soon to tell” the reason for the first decline in jobs since October, when Florida was coming off back-to-back hits from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

“It is important to keep in mind that this is one month coming off the heels of some really strong job reports for a few months before this,” Heckman told reporters in a conference call. “And for most of the sectors that lost jobs this month, it was the first month that we had seen those sectors lose jobs in quite a while.” read more

By Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News

On his way to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped by the home of podcaster Gary Brecka. The two spent time in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and tried some intravenous nutrition drips that Brecka, a self-avowed longevity and wellness maven, sells and promotes on his show, “The Ultimate Human.”

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Then the podcast taping started, and Kennedy — who was also on the mic — took aim at Big Pharma’s influence on federal health policy. read more

By SEUNG MIN KIM, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law new regulations for a type of cryptocurrency, a major milestone for an industry that has spent heavily to strengthen its legitimacy and political might.

The GENIUS Act sets initial guardrails and consumer protections for stablecoins, which are tied to assets like the U.S. dollar to reduce price volatility compared with other forms of cryptocurrency. It passed both the House and Senate with wide bipartisan margins.

The new law is meant to bolster consumer confidence in the crypto industry, which has quickly become a major power player in Washington thanks to massive campaign donations and spending on lobbying. Its passage comes as Trump had repeatedly pledged to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

“For years you were mocked and dismissed and counted out,” Trump told crypto industry executives at a White House bill signing attended by about 200 people, including several top GOP lawmakers. “This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and your pioneering spirit.” read more