Stet NewsWelcome to our monthly roundup. Our top stories from July plus a peek behind the scenes.
🚨Before we begin, this update: If you’re planning to drive west into The Acreage/Loxahatchee next week, don’t. Here’s the latest on the CSX-Northlake Boulevard railroad closure.
💥 Convention center hotel talks break down
July 1, 2025
More than a year after Palm Beach County selected Related Ross to build a 400-room hotel next to the county convention center, no deal has been reached and Related Ross has withdrawn its proposal.
Catch up quick: The megadeveloper run by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross disowned a follow-up proposal sent to the county in June. Related said it didn’t send the 14-page proposal even though it included details on how Related wished to structure the deal without property taxes.
- The county had rejected that approach because it ran afoul of the rules the county spelled out in 2023 to accept bids for the hotel, which could cost $290 million.
– Jane Musgrave
⛪️ How ‘Drunk Church’ grew into a booming recovery movement
July 8, 2025
In 2011, an alcoholic pastor felt called to start a new kind of church: One run by addicts for addicts. Called Recovery Church, it blended the teachings of two life-changing books: The Bible and “The Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Why it matters: Philip Dvorak of Jupiter is that pastor. Today his tiny movement is spreading across the United States and to Canada and Costa Rica. At the end of 2024, the Recovery Church Movement had 81 congregations under its umbrella.
– Janis Fontaine
🚘 Lawsuit pits city vs. county over traffic
July 15, 2025
The lawsuit between Palm Beach County and Palm Beach Gardens over how government keeps up with traffic is in its fifth year and showing no signs of abating.
Catch up quick: The lawsuit dates to May 2021 when the county sued Palm Beach Gardens because the city instituted a mobility fee that it would control and stopped collecting county impact fee payments from developers that the county would control.
– Joel Engelhardt
🛣️ A master plan for transportation
July 22, 2025
If Palm Beach County commissioners want taxpayers to put up more money for transportation, they know they need to make a case to voters.
- On Friday, they kicked off a $1 million consultant’s effort to do just that.
Why it matters: At stake is Coastal Link, an effort to move Tri-Rail commuter service to the coastal FEC Railway that would cost at least $500 million, state records show. It is considered a critical step toward providing an option other than cars and roads to move people from Miami to Jupiter.
– Joel Englehardt
🚫 Lake Worth Beach and Alligator Alcatraz
July 29, 2025
Lake Worth Beach City Commissioner Chris McVoy is at the center of a heated debate over whether federal immigration policy is an appropriate topic to discuss at city meetings.
Catch up quick: McVoy uses his comments at the end of commission meetings to share concerns about how city residents, some of whom are detained at Alligator Alcatraz, are living in fear of immigration raids.
Why it matters: He drew criticism from commissioners who say his comments have nothing to do with city business and only prolong lengthy meetings. McVoy insists local officials have a duty to consider the impact of national policies on their constituents.
— Joe Capozzi
🎙️ Stet behind the scenes: The future of news, a podcast
Joel, here. Podcasts these days are not just audio sessions conducted in soundproof rooms with big boom microphones.
- They’re videos, too, recorded in studios more like a TV station, with comfortable chairs and logos on coffee cups.
What’s happening: “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast hosted by former WPTV News anchor Michael Williams and former Palm Beach Post political reporter Brian Crowley, invited me to appear on a recent 30-minute show.
Zoom in: They record four interviews in a day at the Ko-Mar Productions studio on the second floor of the WPTV Channel 5 building in West Palm Beach.
Of note: Downstairs is where Michael and Brian did WPTV’s Sunday morning talk show, “To The Point,” until Michael’s retirement in March. The show helped draw attention to important local issues and held public officials to account.
Michael and Brian are still questioning newsmakers, or in my case, news chasers, about local and statewide issues.
Here are some highlights from my comments during our conversation:
The future of news: “There are some in the industry who think the nonprofit model is the future, mainly because the for-profit model is collapsing and has been collapsing since 2008. … You can’t support yourself just on subscriptions — it’s not enough to pay the salaries to get the news. So a lot of people think philanthropy has got to fill the void.”
Documenters in Palm Beach? “You train people who live in the communities to go to their public meetings, take notes … and write up what they saw at the meeting and share it with their neighbors. … We (at Stet) are working our way toward trying to get it going with a pilot project using high school students where we’re trying to raise money right now to pay for that and get it launched (at) Inlet Grove High School. … You show your face and the people behind the rostrum, they know you’re there, they know someone is listening, and that’s really important.”
Winning over readers: “The most gratifying thing I find is when I dive into an issue that nobody else knew about, nobody’s covering — a lot of times because a neighbor calls up and says, ‘Hey, look at what they’re doing.’ They are so grateful. They subscribe and they remain loyal readers because you cared enough about their issue and no one else will listen.”
Driving force: “As long as we can still have a voice we should try to have it because, you know, there’s a chance that two or three years down the road either the economic or social pressures will shut us down.”
You can watch the entire discussion at “Top of Mind Florida’s” YouTube page here.
— Joel Engelhardt
