Convenience Big Store: DeSantis tourism district aims at 'perks' | Convention Center costs

Orlando Morning Report

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

DeSantis tourism district aims at 'perks' | Convention Center costs | Tropics update

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. The weather today calls for sunny skies with a high of 94 and a low of 76. Click here for more weather.

DeSantis' tourism district takes aim at Disney 'perks' but offers $1,000 stipend

Disney-run Reedy Creek Improvement District used taxpayer funds to provide season passes to employees and other perks, officials said.

Orange County Convention Center expansion to cost about $900M. Mayor Demings wants to borrow $500M for it

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings wants county commissioners to decide Tuesday how to spend future tourist-tax money, pledging to honor recommendations of a task force he created to study funding requests. The panel favored another expansion of the Orange County Convention Center, though its price tag was unknown, and an $800-million upgrade of Camping World […]

Tropical Depression 9 forms as NHC tracks 3 tropical storms

Another tropical storm is expected in the Gulf of Mexico after three formed on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

DeSantis relies on Tallahassee insiders for campaign cash

While Gov. Ron DeSantis travels the country, painstakingly checking off each of Iowa's 99 counties to try to expand his appeal, he's received outsize support from a place much closer to home: the mid-size Florida city where he both governs with an iron grip and has built a political machine.

Mother admits to killing her son in St. Cloud home, Osceola sheriff says

A mother living in a home in St. Cloud admitted to investigators she strangled her teen son to death, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López told reporters Monday. His mother, 37-year-old Jasmin Kennedy, "spontaneously stated that she killed her son" by strangling to paramedics, and later, investigators. Deputies responded to a home on Crosley Avenue around […]

Inspectors shut down only 1 Central Florida restaurant last week

Only one Central Florida restaurant was forced to shut down temporarily the week of Aug. 13-19, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

University presidential search secrecy bolstered by non-disclosure pacts

The non-disclosure agreement issue erupted last week amid a dust-up between leaders of Florida Atlantic University's Board of Trustees.

Citizens ordered to cut proposed property insurance increase

Regulators have ordered the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to trim its proposed rate increases from the 12% it sought.

Great Scott Farms corn maze to feature space exploration theme

Lake County farm's attraction opens with space theme Sept. 30.

Analysis: A deeper look at Orlando Magic regular-season schedule

The Magic will travel the fifth-most miles in the league before the All-Star break but are home the majority of the way down the stretch. In order to get an understanding of how the 2023-24 season could play out in Orlando, it's worth analyzing the data for a deeper look at the Magic's schedule.