Stet News🛤️ The Federal Transit Administration committed $164 million to advance commuter rail along the Brightline tracks in Broward County. It follows a $200 million commitment from the state toward the project in Miami-Dade County. Both counties established tax revenues to help pay for the coastal project, which is expected to cost $712 million in Broward. Palm Beach County, which also could get the service, has not established a financing mechanism. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
⚖️ Jason Reding Quiñones resigned Friday as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, ending a tenure marked by turmoil within the Miami-based federal prosecutor’s office and controversy over its involvement in an investigation targeting perceived enemies of President Donald Trump. (Miami Herald $$$)
🏷️ New Jersey-based homebuilder Garden Communities won the 53-acre Palm Beach Jai Alai fronton property in Mangonia Park in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction last week. The company bid $56.1 million. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
💼 Riviera Beach City Manager Bill Wilkins returned to the City Council dais last week nearly three months after a medical emergency took him off the job. The human resources director reported to council members Wednesday that Wilkins was on medical leave and has been cleared to return to work.
🗳️ Gov. Ron DeSantis is preparing to run for president in 2028, taking advantage of his position as governor of a state that resisted the midterm Democratic blue wave. DeSantis denied that he is planning to run. (The Washington Post, free with email signup)
🆕 Lake Worth Beach has a new city commissioner. Teacher Elizabeth Smith, 27, will complete the last four months of Sarah Malega’s term. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🤝 After selling BRiC to Related Ross, CP Group buys the Mizner Park dining and entertainment center in Boca Raton with plans to transform it. (The Coastal Star)
🎓 The surges of financial gifts benefiting schools like Carnegie Mellon University and Vanderbilt University, which saw its year-over-year unaffiliated giving rocket from $19 million to $276 million, are unusual for their speed and scale. (The New York Times, free with email signup)
✈️ Florida had the most private jet flights in the country last year— with President Donald J. Trump International Airport ranked as the second-busiest in the nation for private aviation flights. (WLRN)
👗 Palm Beach socialite C.Z. Guest, who died in 2003, helped define American style for much of the 20th century. A new exhibition at Atlanta’s SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film includes more than 40 of her ensembles. (The New York Times, free with email signup)
🕯️ Paul Reid, formerly a staff writer at The Palm Beach Post, died Oct. 25 at his home in Columbus, N.C. After he left The Post, Reid spent eight years completing the third volume of William Manchester’s celebrated biography of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Reid was 77. (Obituary, 2022 interview with Reid about how he got chance to write the book)
🎭 The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County has selected seven arts and culture professionals for its 2027 Arts Administrators Fellowship. (News release)
🎧 “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, welcomes term-limited outgoing state House Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City, to dig into affordability, the homeowners insurance crisis, and whether Gov.-elect Byron Donalds will govern as a bridgebuilder. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today.)
