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In one of the most expensive land deals in Polk County history, Pulte has locked down the site for its fifth vacation home resort community and will start construction in the next 30 days.

Pulte paid $51.8 million in cash last week for the 288-acre site at the intersection of U.S. 17-92 and Ernie Caldwell Boulevard, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.  Melissa Rodriguez, with RockMel Investments, represented the seller, Standard Sand & Silica.

All of the Standand Sand & Silica land holdings were annexed into the City of Davenport in Oct. 2024 as part of a 1,600-acre expansion that extended the city limits over 2 miles north to the boundaries of Providence. The 15-parcel assemblage has been in the Carnes family since 1949 and was previously used for citrus farming and sand mining operations. It has since been rezoned to a Planned Unit Development that will bring thousands of new homes and apartments, as well as commercial development and industrial uses, to the long-vacant land. read more

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept.

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The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be shuttered locations into Whole Foods Market stores. The company operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go stores.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said in the post. read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Pinterest plans to lay off under 15% of its workforce, as part of broader restructuring that arrives as the image-sharing platform pivots more of its money to artificial intelligence.

In a Tuesday securities filing, San Francisco-based Pinterest said it was making these cuts to support “transformation initiatives” — which include reallocating the company’s resources to AI-focused roles and prioritizing AI-powered products. It said it was also working to reshape its “sales and go-to-market approach.”

Beyond the coming layoffs, Pinterest said it will reduce office space. The company expects to complete its restructuring plan by the end of September, incurring pretax charges of $35 million to $45 million.

Pinterest’s job cuts are expected to impact hundreds of workers. As of the end of last year, Pinterest had a total headcount of about 5,200 employees, the company confirmed to The Associated Press.

Like other tech and social media companies, Pinterest has accelerated its integration of AI recently, particularly in consumer-facing offerings. In October, the company introduced AI-powered updates to users’ in-platform “boards” and unveiled Pinterest Assistant, which is also powered by AI and gives users shopping recommendations. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

UPS is planning to cut up to 30,000 operational jobs this year as the package delivery company continues with its turnaround efforts and reducing the number of Amazon shipments that it handles.

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Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said during the company’s conference call on Tuesday that the job cuts will be made through a voluntary buyout offer for full-time drivers and through attrition.

UPS is also looking to close 24 buildings in the first half of the year and is evaluating additional buildings to close later in the year, he added. read more

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said Tuesday it’s stepping in to make sure Google gives rival AI companies and search engines access to Gemini AI services and data as required by the bloc’s flagship digital rulebook.

The executive arm of the 27-nation bloc said it was opening up so-called “ specification proceedings ” to ensure that Google complies with the sweeping Digital Markets Act, which requires Big Tech companies to give smaller players equal access to hardware and software features.

Brussels said part of the proceedings will specify how Google should give third-party AI companies “equally effective access to the same features” available through its own services.

The EU will also look at whether Google is giving competing search engines fair and reasonable access to Google Search data. This will include whether AI chatbot providers are eligible to access to the data.

The proceedings fall short of an investigation and must wrap up in six months with draft measures that Brussels will impose on Google. read more