Stet NewsGreetings, Stetters! For you today, a deeper dive into supermarket pricing, what it takes to make it in Palm Beach County, on the battlefield in Jupiter, the next phase for Vanderbilt and an international music competition you can see for free.
🥫 3 things we learned from 19 grocery stores
Savvy grocery shoppers on a budget can find good deals on the shelves by looking beyond the name brands and going for store brands.
Driving the news: In Stet’s fall survey of 19 area grocery stores led by longtime food writer Jan Norris, we confirmed lower prices at every store for store-labeled products when compared with national brands. Stet reporters shopped at Publix, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Aldi, Whole Foods, Fresh Market and Trader Joe’s.
What we learned:
1. How much a shopper can save. We looked at eight random canned or dry goods to compare store versus name-brand prices: dry black beans, rice, cornflakes, flour, sugar, canned green beans, soup and boxed macaroni and cheese of equal sizes.
- The Publix labels averaged $18.31 versus $29.23 for the name-brand counterparts: Goya black beans, Mahatma rice, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Gold Medal flour, Dixie Crystals sugar, Del Monte green beans, Campbell’s soup and Kraft Mac & Cheese. That’s a 46.25% percent savings.
- Shoppers at Winn-Dixie could save $9.08 by shopping for store brands. Their generic basket cost $17.47, while the name brands rang up at $26.55.
2. Aldi proved cheapest among the seven chains we surveyed in almost all food categories.
- But shoppers make many compromises to ring up savings at Aldi. Aisles are smaller. There’s little to no customer service. It’s do-it-yourself for packing up and taking groceries to your car — in a rented buggy.
- Aldi’s basket of eight store-brand items we shopped totaled $11.98. There weren’t name brands here to compare.
3. Different stores, same prices. While prices sometimes varied among store locations, we found them to be closely aligned. We shopped at seven Publix Super Markets from Jupiter to West Palm Beach and found most items identically priced.
Keep reading to find out how meat, dairy and produce prices compare among these stores at StetNews.org.
Read Part 1 looking at Thanksgiving meal prices here.
— Jan Norris
🫶 Making life better for ALICE
More than 700 people gathered in Miami Beach last week to focus on ALICE, the growing number of working people stretching to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Who is ALICE? ALICE is an acronym coined to draw attention to people who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained and Employed. The human name is intentional.
Why it matters: Researchers at United For ALICE analyze federal income and cost-of-living data for every U.S. county. They say it is the most comprehensive picture of hardship in the United States.
- The nonpartisan data and the focus on working families appeal to activists and policymakers across the political spectrum.
By the numbers: United For ALICE estimates that 35% of the 605,000 households in Palm Beach County were in the ALICE group in 2023, the latest data available. Add that to the 11% of county residents with income under the federal poverty level, and 46% of Palm Beach County residents cannot afford the essentials, researchers found.
- Nationally, an estimated 42% of households fall below the poverty level and ALICE threshold.
Zoom in: ALICE families may seem to be thriving. But rising costs for housing, child care, transportation and food often force them to choose between paying for utilities or paying for medicine.
Zoom out: They are also often the front-line workers who are essential to a strong economy.
United For ALICE leaders created a Community Advisory Committee three years ago with members who are or have been in the ALICE economic group.
Their message at the summit: We are resilient and resourceful. And we need help.
Keep reading to find out what local United Ways and their partners are doing to support ALICE families at StetNews.org.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
⚔️ Living history in our backyard
In less than two weeks, a group of history buffs will gather in Jupiter, with the smell of gunpowder and wearing period dress, to bring to life the last major battle of the Second Seminole Indian War.
Catch up quick: Seminoles and the U.S. military fought the Battle of the Loxahatchee in 1838. The tribe resisted the forcible removal of their people to Oklahoma, holding off 1,500 soldiers long enough to escape into the Everglades.
Why it matters: Though the Civil War and American Revolution are far better known historic events, the Seminole Wars had a far greater effect on Florida.
What they’re saying: “The barrier between the past and present is somehow worn thin at Loxahatchee,” said reenactor Mike Heitman. “There is a certain you were there moment that occurs. It’s a really neat thing.”
Zoom in: Reenactors are serious about the authenticity, banning phones from the battlefield and even hand-sewing the tents some sleep in the night before the battle.
What’s next: Admission is free for the Jan. 24 event, which starts at 10 am at Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park, 9060 W. Indiantown Road. The battle itself starts at 2 pm. The public is invited.
Read more about what drives reenactors and the steps they take to assure authenticity at StetNews.org.
— Joe Capozzi
🎓 Vanderbilt still committed to West Palm
No shovels turned dirt Monday to mark the start of Vanderbilt University’s $500 million investment in downtown West Palm Beach.
- That’s still to come.
Rather it’s the community’s investment in Vanderbilt that brought out the news media to CityPlace for an announcement from Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier.
Why it matters: The first phase of fundraising, spearheaded by downtown developer Stephen Ross, has drawn about $300 million, officials said. Ross views the addition of Vanderbilt as cementing Palm Beach’s place as “the most important county in this country.”
What they’re saying: “Today, Vanderbilt makes its commitment clear. We are all in on West Palm Beach,” Diermeier said. “We are now calling on the residents and businesses of South Florida, as well as our global Vanderbilt community, to invest with us in this bold project.”
Zoom in: The first phase went so well, Vanderbilt kicked off a second phase on Monday to raise an additional $250 million.
- The money will help develop the campus’ signature features, academic programs, faculty recruitment, student scholarships and other initiatives, Vanderbilt said in a statement.
- The school is expected to focus on graduate education and research in finance, management, engineering, space technology, defense technology and business innovation.
- In February, Vanderbilt announced that it hired Elkus Manfredi Architects of Boston as lead architect. Howard Elkus, the company’s late co-founder, designed CityPlace.
Of note: The Nashville Tenn., school is named for shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who endowed the school with $1 million in 1873 to help heal the wounds of the nation’s Civil War. It is known for selective admissions. Its alumni, faculty and staff include six Nobel Prize laureates.
Zoom out: Ross attended Monday’s event but did not speak. In an August 2024 appearance before the Palm Beach County Commission, Ross compared Vanderbilt’s impact here to Stanford University’s impact on Silicon Valley.
“I equate this to what occurred in the growth of Silicon Valley, where you had Stanford, you had all the money that was coming from San Francisco, and that created Silicon Valley and brought those great companies, those startups that started there and grew to be the giants in our country,” Ross said.
Read more about Monday’s event at StetNews.org.
— Joel Engelhardt
🍊 The Juice
🇺🇸 Election day: Democrats and Republicans pick candidates today to face off on March 24 for the state House District 87 seat formerly held by Republican Mike Caruso, who left to become county clerk. Voters must be party members and live in the district, which runs along the coast from Manalapan to Juno Beach and includes a large section of Palm Beach Gardens. It’s Emily Gregory versus Laura Ann Levites for the Democrats and Gretchen L. Miller Feng versus Jon Maples for the Republicans. (Check to see if you live in District 87)
A day before the mayor of Minneapolis told federal immigration officials to get out of his Minnesota city after a fatal shooting, the mayor of Lake Worth Beach failed to bring an agendaed discussion of immigration activity in her city up for consideration during a five-hour City Commission meeting. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
The director of West Palm Beach’s South Olive Tennis Center, Skip Jackson, got a boost last week in his efforts to discredit USTA Florida, the city’s choice to run the tennis center. The organization’s former longtime chief, Douglas Booth, was charged in North Carolina with multiple child sex crimes. In his bid protest, which has morphed into a lawsuit, Jackson claimed that the state and national USTA have a “culture of conscious indifference to the safety of the young women.” (WGHP-TV)
🕵️ Property taxes, school vouchers and eight other issues to watch as the 2026 Legislative session opens today. (News Service of Florida via WUSF)
- The governor’s address is scheduled for 11 am. Watch it here.
🚧 Remember the Wellington annexation vote in 2024? The village added 258 acres north of Southern Boulevard along Seminole Pratt Whitney Road. That’s where Arizona-based homebuilder Meritage Homes is proposing 206 townhomes on 30 acres to replace single-family homes and plant nurseries. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
💰 Since 2017, companies linked to a multibillion-dollar New York investment manager, Ruane Cunniff, have spent at least $230 million buying more than 80,000 acres across North Florida. Now that firm wants Florida lawmakers to make it easier to develop that land. (Seeking Rents)
🚉 S&P Global Ratings lowered its bond rating on Brightline Trains’ Florida debt to “CCC” from “BB-” and warned the Miami-based company was at risk of defaulting on its debt by January 2027. Just three investors — TIAA-CREF, First Eagle and Invesco — own about two-thirds of Brightline’s outstanding debt, meaning they “may be more willing than the general market to allow for workouts and restructurings to happen,” said Lisa Washburn, managing director of Municipal Market Analytics. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
✍️ Former Apple CEO John Sculley and his wife Diane have a pre-construction contract to pay $40 million for an 11,000-square-foot penthouse at Related Ross’ South Flagler House in West Palm Beach. They sold their Palm Beach oceanfront estate for $37 million to embrace the condo life. (The Wall Street Journal $$$)
🏌🏾♀️ Women golfers are joining the indoor TGL golf league at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens. The LPGA and TMRW Sports announced last week that the WTGL will launch in winter 2026-27. (Golfweek)
🏥 Two announcements last week from Jupiter Medical Center. The center and the Hospital for Special Surgery have forged an alliance to allow HSS to perform inpatient surgeries at Jupiter. The medical center also announced a $35 million gift from Tim and Jayne Donahue, who will be honored with their name on Jupiter’s new $135 million hospital tower. Tim Donahue is the former CEO of Nextel Communications. (The Palm Beach Post $$$, South Florida Hospital News)
🗳️ Former West Palm Beach spokesperson Elliot Cohen has surfaced as the face of Lake Worth Beach’s campaign to inform voters about five charter changes on the March ballot. The city hired Rick Asnani’s Cornerstone Solutions, which hired Cohen. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, explores the state of immigration enforcement in Florida, detention quotas and the impact of workplace raids with South Florida immigration attorney Richard Hujber. (Listen now; watch now.)
561NSIDER: 🎻 Put a bow on it
Call it the violin Olympics. Call it the great hunt for the next Itzhak Perlman or Yehudi Menuhin.
At Lynn University in Boca Raton, it’s called the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. The contest, which began on Thursday and continues this week, offers an up close and personal view of the artistry and rigors of playing what is considered the king, or at least the queen, of instruments. And, until the all-important final round on Sunday, it’s free.
What’s at stake? Twenty young violinists from 11 countries made the cut to vie for $175,000 in prizes. Already 12 have been eliminated. The remaining eight will compete in the semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday, hoping to make it to the final four.
If you go: The semis will begin at 10 a.m. and wrap up at 4 p.m. Once a contestant starts to play, no one is allowed to leave the small auditorium in the Count and Countess de Hoernle International Center. Other than that, audience members are free to stay as long — or as briefly — as they want.
Zoom in: Contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 30. Each has to play three pieces from a playlist. Think Bach, Mozart, Brahms and Ravel. Two have to be performed from memory. A team of seven world-renowned violinists will rate each performance. At 4 p.m. Wednesday, four contestants will learn whether they won a spot in the finals.
What’s next: High-stakes drama continues on Sunday. At 3 p.m., each of the finalists will play a concerto of their choice (from an approved list and from memory) with the Lynn Philharmonia at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center. The performance will culminate with the announcement of who won the $30,000 first prize, a violin and concert appearances around the globe for three years. Second place will receive $15,000, third place $10,000 and $5,000 for honorable mention. Tickets cost $35 to $50.
Of note: If you miss it, mark your calendar. Since it’s held every three years, it will be back in 2029.
— Jane Musgrave
