🍊 THE WEEKLY SQUEEZE

Want to see the Jeffrey Epstein files that have been released by the Department of Justice under legislation signed by President Donald Trump? DOJ has a website here containing its “Jeffrey Epstein Library.” Click on “DOJ Disclosures” for the latest. If you want to know more about the original case investigated by Palm Beach police, click here for audio, video and document files already made public. (DOJ’s Epstein Library)

🛤️ Fences, train horns, foolproof crossings: Ways to make the Brightline route safer. (The Miami Herald/WLRN)

⚖️ Darren Brown, an ex-Brightline conductor, sued his former employer for $60 million for the trauma and pain he says he endured from train crashes and being repeatedly ordered to examine the bodies of people killed in collisions. (The Miami Herald $$$)

📸 A photo tour of Greg and Kristen Norman’s 12,000-square-foot home in Palm Beach Gardens’ Old Palm Golf Club. (Galerie Magazine)

👉 Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Michael Barnett, a former local Republican Party chair who DeSantis appointed in 2023 to fill a vacancy on the Palm Beach County Commission, to be a county court judge, and promoted County Court Judge Danielle Sherriff to the 15th Circuit bench. (News release and Florida Politics)

🗳️ All you want to know, including the dates of four public information sessions, about the Lake Worth Beach referendums on the March 10 ballot. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)

☀️ Palm Beach Gardens-based Carrier Global Corp. agreed to sell its Riello heating business for $430 million to Ariston Group in Fabriano, Italy. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)

👀 A provision buried inside a “farm bill” that has begun moving through the Florida Legislature would make it easier for U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals to wage defamation lawsuits against environmental groups, news outlets and others who criticize the companies over issues like Everglades restoration and air pollution. (Seeking Rents)

✝️ Pope Leo XIV appointed the Rev. Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, a canon lawyer who serves in senior judicial roles in the Brooklyn Diocese, to succeed Bishop Gerald Barbarito, who is retiring after 22 years as leader of the Palm Beach Diocese in Palm Beach Gardens. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)

📺 New York governor candidate Bruce Blakeman booked nearly $25,000 worth of advertising on Fox News in the West Palm Beach area between Christmas Eve and the new year. (New York Times gift link)

📚 Barnes & Noble plans to open 60 stores in 2026. The bookseller opened seven locations in Florida this year, including one at 151 N. U.S. Highway 1 in Tequesta. (USA Today) 

🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, geeks out over comic books with Irving Santiago, president of UltraCon of South Florida and the owner of more than 30,000 comic books and 14,000 GI Joes. (Listen now; watch now.)