Stet News🚨 West Palm Beach Police Chief Tony Araujo fired five commanders last week after an Internal Affairs investigation found they broke rules related to workers’ double dipping, or getting paid for being in two places at once. (WPBF Channel 25)
🇮🇱 A Palm Beach County judge dismissed a lawsuit on July 22 that challenged the county’s $1 billion investment in Israeli bonds. Circuit Court Judge Glenn Kelley ruled “it is speculative to find a causal link between the investments at issue and the death of family members or loved ones in Gaza.” The three unidentified Palestinian-American county residents who sued in October are considering an appeal. (WLRN)
👋 Former Riviera Beach City Manager Jonathan Evans has landed a job as city manager in Lauderdale Lakes in Broward County. (LinkedIn)
🤖 Billionaire Larry Ellison, owner of a Manalapan estate and Lion Country Safari, has bet big on the spread of AI data centers. He’s now at a precarious point where that investment is at risk. (The New York Times gift)
⚖️ Andrew and Tristan Tate, the infamous brothers and social media influencers in jail in Miami awaiting possible extradition to the United Kingdom on rape and human trafficking charges, have sued the social media platform X in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. They are seeking the names of anonymous users they say defamed them. Another lawsuit in front of a circuit judge in the county alleges a woman who says she was their victim defamed them. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🏗️ A critical look at Florida’s Live Local Act, which lets builders bypass local zoning restrictions for residential projects in exchange for setting aside 40% of the units to households earning no more than 120% of the area’s median income. “Live Local is just a way for big builders to get in and once they’re in, they know they can’t be stopped,” said Anna Fusco, president of the 10,000-member Broward Teachers Union. (Florida Bulldog)
🛟 Lake Worth Beach officials are scrambling to save the 10th annual Dia De Los Muertos — Day of the Dead — festival tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1 and its $24,000 budget but it’s in danger of being canceled. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🚗 Riviera Beach resumed charging for parking Monday at its Ocean Walk beach lots and some lots at the Marina Village. (WPBF, Channel 25)
🎒 Be in the room as volunteers fill 36,000 empty backpacks for needy children on the first day of school as part of the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County’s eighth annual Backpack Initiative. A rotating army of volunteers spent nearly every day in July working two-hour shifts inside Red Apple Supplies. “You’re going to be packing backpacks for a kid, and you’re going to change that kid’s life,” organizer James Gavrilos said. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, focuses on ballot security with Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. (Listen; watch.)
