Stet NewsHello, hello! Let’s dive in with this week’s stories. For you today, a fundraiser launched in harmony is at the center of a clash, a New York ice cream to try, a cool new coaching role for four former Marlins pitchers and a $5 million upgrade at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.
📦 Moving the Mayors’ Ball to Mar-a-Lago?
The next Palm Beach County mayor, Sara Baxter, has suggested moving the county’s annual Mayors’ Ball, which benefits the Homeless Coalition, to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
The first-term Republican commissioner also has suggested the county cut its support for the coalition, a nonprofit whose board is headed by one of Baxter’s political rivals, former Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, a Democrat.
Why it’s important: The coalition plays a role in fighting to end homelessness in Palm Beach County and organizes and benefits from the annual Mayors’ Ball. Reducing homelessness is critical because a 2024 state law, banning sleeping in public places, requires local governments to provide shelter or face lawsuits.
Zoom in: Baxter, who will become mayor in November, told fellow commissioners this month that she had uncovered evidence that the coalition “was not actually serving as many homeless people as we thought.” She pushed to have the commission eliminate its funding.
County staff, in a memo for today’s commission meeting, praised the coalition, pointing to its involvement in the Parks2Work program.
- If the coalition doesn’t do the work, the memo pointed out, the county will have to find another agency that will.
Zoom out: The coalition also organizes the annual Mayors’ Ball, held this year in March at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens. Baxter has privately suggested a move to the more expensive Mar-a-Lago.
- By the time the coalition learned of Baxter’s interest in Mar-a-Lago, there was little time before Mar-a-Lago’s deadline to confirm a date, McKinlay said.
- The only date available would have been on a Friday, which would have been more difficult for working guests, she said. The gala has always been held on a Saturday night.
- The coalition board worried about the higher cost of hosting the event at Mar-a-Lago, as well, she said.
- No decision on a venue has been made.
Yes, but: A new mayor’s ball is on the scene. The Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches plans to hold its first Mayor’s Gala on May 2 to honor West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James and raise money for programs to help small businesses and entrepreneurs.
- That could mean less money for the Homeless Coalition, as the competing galas court the same pool of donors for similar events just a few weeks apart.
What’s next: The County Commission plans to discuss the coalition at today’s meeting, broadcast live on Channel 20 and YouTube.
Read more about the dispute over the Homeless Coalition at StetNews.org.
And check out photos of the 2025 gala at the Homeless Coalition gallery here.
— Jane Musgrave
🍨 Serving Van Leeuwen ice cream
Van Leeuwen, an ice cream chain from Brooklyn, is scooping out three of its first five Florida locations in Palm Beach County.
Catch up quick: The first opened this month in West Palm Beach’s Nora District. The others are planned for Downtown Palm Beach Gardens and Sundy Village in Delray Beach.
- The chain already has a store on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach and is planning another in Miami.
Why it matters: While many storefronts are going empty in this mail-order age, ice cream depends on people leaving home and congregating. All three locations are in walkable dining districts.
- The developers behind Nora are reviving a long-dormant residential and warehouse neighborhood north of downtown along North Railroad Avenue. Stores and restaurants are opening throughout fall.
- Downtown Gardens, just west of The Gardens Mall on PGA Boulevard, is under new ownership, has undergone extensive renovations and hasn’t had an ice cream store since the departure of Sloan’s.
- Sundy Village is a massive residential-office-retail development along Atlantic Avenue near Swinton Avenue.
Zoom in: Van Leeuwen is recognized as a premium ice cream, and has both dairy and vegan versions. Basic ingredients include milk, full-fat cream, extra egg yolks and cane sugar. The vegan version is made with coconuts, cashews and oat milk.
Of note: The chain now in a dozen states started with sales from an ice cream truck in 2008.
Read more about Van Leeuwen’s approach and pricing at StetNews.org.
— Jan Norris
🧢 From hardball to softball
Four former Miami Marlins pitchers are teaching young girls in Jupiter-Tequesta how to play softball.
Tom Koehler, Steve Cishek, Brad Hand and Tim Wood are coaching their own kids and others in the Jupiter Tequesta Athletic Association girls recreational softball league.
Why it matters: The program, collectively known as the Jupiter Seahawks, has 17 individual teams in divisions for ages 3 to 13. The former major leaguers are bringing a rare level of expertise to the playing fields of Jupiter Community Park.
What they’re saying: “I love being able to teach these girls and give back. It’s a complete joy to be out here,” said Cishek, a former relief pitcher whose daughters Emmie and Avery are among the players.
- “To some of the kids, I’m just Riley’s dad,” Koehler said. “With the female coaches, the girls respond better to them. They think it’s cooler when they find out that one was a catcher in the College World Series or one played outfield in Division I.”
Zoom in: Seahawks director Courtney Rooney credits Koehler, Cishek and Hand with helping to rebuild the Seahawks after the pandemic took a toll on sports leagues nationwide.
“Tom has been a right-hand man to me rebuilding the organization. They all have given back so much. It has been phenomenal and we are thankful for it.”
Read more about why the players do it and the impact they’re having on the children and the league at StetNews.org.
See the video: Hear from the youth coaches who used to play in the big leagues and see them in action here.
— Joe Capozzi
🍊The Juice
🚨 A prominent downtown West Palm Beach property on the gateway to Palm Beach could be changing hands. Union Labor Life Insurance filed a $10 million foreclosure lawsuit last week against West Palm Point LLC, the company owned by New York investor and billionaire Charles S. Cohen. Cohen began moving dirt for West Palm Point, a 23-story office tower last year at the 2.4-acre site in the median of Okeechobee Boulevard between Quadrille and Dixie Highway, but construction has not gone vertical. Cohen leases the land from the city. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🥾 Will Rosenzweig, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, was fired last week by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department because of negative things he said about Trump on a social media blog in 2017, sources told the Miami Herald. Political activist Laura Loomer, a onetime congressional candidate in Palm Beach County and frequent Trump adviser, confirmed the reason for the firing on X: “SCOOP: DOJ sources tell me that Assistant US Attorney Will Rosenzweig was FIRED yesterday after he was exposed for running an anti-Trump blog.” (Miami Herald $$$)
🎵 Forbes takes a look at what it calls an unexpected collaboration between Related Ross and Palm Tree Crew, the entertainment brand co-founded by Norwegian music producer Kygo.
- “The partnership seeks to establish West Palm Beach as the next must-visit destination, beginning with the launch of Palm Tree Crew’s flagship music festival on Feb. 14 headlined by Kygo and Calvin Harris.”
- Of note: Tickets start at $299 and Mary Lou’s nightclub will curate a VIP experience. (Forbes)
🚽 Lake Worth Beach’s mayor broached the idea of charging 50 cents to use public bathrooms at city parks over concerns of chronic vandalism as city commissioners agreed to spend $98,000 to renovate a pavilion at Bryant Park, including replacing toilets and sinks so that they can’t easily be torn off. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
💰 Boca Raton’s GEO Group, which operates more than four dozen immigrant detention facilities and prisons worldwide, landed contracts worth up to $500 million since President Donald Trump’s second term began. (Miami Herald $$$)
📅 A list of state laws that take effect Wednesday. (An end to the business rent tax is the big one.) (News Service of Florida via WUSF)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, tackles the question “Will Democrats matter again in Florida?” with Orlando Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is running for Orlando mayor in 2027. (Listen here; watch after 4 pm Wednesday)
561NSIDER: 🆕 A peek into the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s new $5 million conservatory
Chief Executive Andrew Kato’s 15-year dream to create an education mecca attached to the Maltz Jupiter Theatre comes to fruition when the Roe Green Education Center opens Monday.
Driving the news: The new home of the Goldner Conservatory, the teaching arm of the Maltz, is named for benefactor Roe Green, who made a $2 million donation from her foundation this year. The theater’s board committed the remaining money to complete the $5 million project.
Why it matters: At the time, Kato called the gift “transformative” and said it would “change a lot of lives” by providing even more young people with access to high-quality arts education. Miriam Rose Colvin, marketing and communications associate for the Maltz, said the expansion will double the number of students the center can serve to 1,200.
Now known as the Goldner Conservatory at the Roe Green Education Center, the center has ballooned in size to 8,500 square feet and is dominated by a long wide hallway punctuated by brightly colored doors. Behind each one, opportunity waits.
In the room: One door welcomes students to a sprawling dance studio with “sprung” floors where the Maltz expansion in dance education is augmented by faculty from the acclaimed Demetrius Klein Dance Company, South Florida’s oldest modern dance company. New classes include ballet, jazz, modern/contemporary, hip-hop and tap.
- Behind another door, state-of-the-art equipment and a cozy blue couch furnish a podcast studio.
- Down the hall past pictures of playwrights, the stunning “flex studio” is dominated by a vibrant, flexible green screen that fills a corner of the room.
- The sprung floors in the two studios, which absorb shocks and return energy to the surface, make hours of rehearsals easier on the joints and back. Long black curtains that keep out the harsh sun can also be drawn back to allow in natural light.
If you go: Tours are offered from noon-7 pm today-Friday, and Saturday from 10 am-2 pm through Oct. 4. Sample Week takes place from Oct. 6-10. No registration required.
561-743-266 or www.maltzjupiter.org.
– Janis Fontaine
Keep reading for the thinking behind the new center at StetNews.org.
✅ Finally, we love facts. And we think you might like this month’s New Yorker story about the history of its vaunted fact-checking department as much as we do. (The New Yorker)
