Liz Capozzi🚫 Lake Worth Beach city commissioners agreed last week to let voters consider four charter changes, presumably at the March 2026 election.
- During a six-hour meeting, commissioners rejected a ballot question asking voters to consider allowing hotels at the beach, a move that kills the Copperline Partners unsolicited proposal. (Lake Worth Beach Independent $$$)
📉 Enrollment at Palm Beach County public schools has dropped by more than 6,000, figures from an early count showed, forcing the reassignment of at least 120 teachers and setting the stage for a loss of as much as $25 million in state money. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
⚖️ Pro-golfing legend and North Palm Beach resident Jack Nicklaus is suing his former business partners, claiming defamation over comments regarding whether he was in secret talks to lead the Saudi-backed LIV golf league for $750 million. In addition, the lawsuit alleges, the partners also spread false rumors about the 85-year-old icon’s health. (The Palm Beach Post, $$$)
📞 Despite a state law requiring agencies to post emergency contracts within 30 days of signing them, an analysis of nearly 1,000 state contracts worth $1 million or more identified 719 worth $6 billion that had not been posted. (Florida Bulldog)
🚮 County commissioners serving as members of the Solid Waste Authority Board last week unanimously approved a $1.5 billion plan to build a second incinerator by 2034. The county has a mass burn combustion facility that opened in 2015, but officials say they need to replace a neighboring refuse-derived fuel plant that opened in 1989. (WasteDive. Watch the meeting here.)
☀️ A solar power project involving NextEra Energy in the Nevada desert that would have been one of the world’s largest has been canceled, according to the Interior Department. The project, known as Esmeralda 7, would have comprised a network of solar panels and batteries across 118,000 acres of federally owned land northwest of Las Vegas. It was expected to produce enough energy to power nearly 2 million homes.- A spokesperson for Juno Beach-based NextEra said the utility was “committed” to its portion of the project and would work with the Interior Department. (The New York Times gift link)
🏥 Tenet Healthcare paid $62 million for the Victor Farris medical office building connected to Tenet’s Good Samaritan Medical Center on Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach. (The Real Deal)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, talks with Mark Hassell of Bill Bone Bike Law about the surge in cycling, e-bikes, new safety laws, and why cyclists need a place in the future of transportation in Florida. (Listen here; watch here)
