Things To Do In SW Florida

An Orlando urban farm already growing pounds of produce that gets handed out for free celebrated its grand opening this week, looking to spread the word on “cultivating a healthier food system.”

The 4Roots Farm Campus sits on 18 acres in the city’s new Packing District, located west of College Park, and is run by a nonprofit started by local restauranteur John Rivers, best known for his popular 4 Rivers Smokehouse chain.

The farm harvests pesticide-free vegetables — from broccoli to eggplants to tomatoes — and with the opening on of a new education center plans to host classes on growing and cooking healthy foods.

Work is underway on a “food forest,” a quarter-mile walking path showcasing more than 75 edible plants. Next year 4Roots plans to open an event center and a farm-to-table restaurant.

4Roots director Tommy Ward called the campus a “community asset” as community leaders gathered to celebrate the official opening by pulling carrots from a crate instead of cutting a ribbon. read more

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.

The justices heard arguments in November in Meta’s bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.

The high court dismissed the company’s appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.

Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users’ personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump ’s first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.

Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company’s shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.

Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users. read more

Orlando-based Escapology has a bright outlook for its Dark Knight plans. The company — alongside L3DFX, a fabrication firm —  plans to install Batman-based escape rooms in 30 locations in 2025.

The companies detailed their plans for the exclusive Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge during the IAAPA Expo at Orange County Convention Center.

“I love the ability, especially with IP [intellectual property], to be able to put people in the story, and know that we’re walking away with that experience, and it’s our goal to, obviously, make sure that it’s impactful and they want to come back,” said Paul Ciesiun, president of L3DFX, which is based outside Chicago.

In the game, players assume the role of trainees for Batman’s Gotham City Guardian Training Program, and they have 60 minutes to think like the Dark Knight and pass the first test.

“There’s a lot of great technology in the game, lots of surprises,” said Burton Hess, Escapology’s CEO.

His company develops the story, visuals, design and puzzles, all of which go through approval processes with Warner Bros., which owns DC Comics. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company.

The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them about $1.6 billion, collectively.

The retreat by DirecTV this week may end a years-long effort by the company to acquire both Dish and Sling after it announced the bid in September.

DirecTV was looking to acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that included a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The deal was contingent on several factors, including regulatory approvals and bondholders writing off debt related to Dish.

“While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV’s balance sheet and our operational flexibility,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement. read more

Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle returned to space on a short suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Friday.

The duo first flew to space on New Shepard back in 2022, the fourth-ever flight of the space tourism rocket. For flight No. 2, they joined four new crewmates on the NS-28 mission that lifted off from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site at 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST).

This was ninth human spaceflight since the first in 2021 that took up company founder Jeff Bezos. The trips last a little longer than 10 minutes, but takes passengers up past the Karman line — about 62 miles high — the internationally recognized altitude for someone having gone into space.

Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness before making a parachute-assisted landing just a few miles from the launch site.

Also flying on NS-28 were science communicator Emily Calandrelli; financial services exec Austin Litteral; entrepreneur James Russell; and investment banking CEO Henry Wolfond. read more