Stet News✍️ Retired Palm Beach accountant Richard Rampell resigned as chair of the board that operates WLRN last week, saying he’s leaving to avoid being “an accomplice to the sellout of our station.” Rampell accused the station’s owner, the Miami-Dade School Board, which sued to block WLRN’s purchase of a Palm Beach County station, of attempting to negotiate a settlement that would “emasculate our journalistic independence and steal our money.” (Miami Herald $$$, Rampell’s letter)
⚖️ A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments last week in Miami about whether federal environmental laws apply to the state-run Alligator Alcatraz. At issue is whether a lower court’s order last year to wind down operations at Alligator Alcatraz should stand. (Miami Herald $$$)
🛎️ The 160-room Embassy Suites on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens sold for $40 million to a company led by Joe Lubeck, CEO of American Landmark Apartments. The sale included 4.25 acres of vacant land priced at $6 million but did not include the attached office building. While American Landmark Apartments owns more than 32,000 apartments, Lubeck made this investment through his family funds. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🚆 U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart last week dismissed a former train conductor’s personal injury lawsuit against Brightline, calling it a “shotgun pleading” that was overly long. Former conductor Darren Brown, a West Palm Beach resident, sued the Florida passenger rail company in mid-December, alleging that his involvement in Brightline fatalities left him psychologically wounded. (Miami Herald via WLRN)
🚘 The trophy cars — Fords, Porsches and muscle cars — are scheduled to roll into the Barrett-Jackson auto auction Thursday through Saturday at the South Florida Fairgrounds. (Classic Cars Journal)
💰💰 What a $2 million housing budget buys in Georgia, Pennsylvania and West Palm Beach. (The New York Times gift link)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, returns this week with a breakdown of issues rattling Florida politics including the Florida Legislature’s special session in mid-April to tackle redistricting and a state budget — and a new state law that strips local governments of zoning power, raising red flags for neighborhoods statewide. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today)
