Orlando Magic suspend partnership with Papa John's: The Magic suspended their partnership with Papa John's after news broke that former chairman John Schnatter used a racial slur during a media training exercise in May. The franchise made the announcement on Twitter, officially halting their relationship with the franchise. Before the severed connection, the Magic had offered fans Papa John's discounts like 50 percent off pizza after a Magic win. Schnatter resigned as chairman amid a growing uproar about his comments, which, according to Forbes, included statements like "Colonel Sanders called blacks n******s" (but never faced any backlash).
Rick Scott tells Florida officials not to enforce his own dumb beach law: The governor issued an executive order last week blocking state agencies from taking action to limit public beach access, contradicting a law Scott signed in March that made it easier for property owners to kick people off their private beachfronts. The law, which went into effect on July 1, makes it harder for local government to establish "customary use" access on private properties where owners might put up "no trespassing" signs. In Florida, the "wet sand" area below the mean high water line, toward the sea, is public, but the "dry sand" area above that belongs to property owners.
Florida lawmakers are pressing FDOT for answers about I-4 construction being $100 million over budget: A report from Moody's Investment Service found that the "I-4 Ultimate" project is 245 days behind schedule and $100 million over budget. The project's status, which was originally set to take six and a half years to complete, was changed from "stable" to "negative."
Central Florida Republican wants to make undocumented immigrants pay for Trump's border wall: Congressional candidate Scott Sturgill says he wants to make undocumented immigrants pay for the president's border wall. Sturgill, a Stanford businessman who's running for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park, says his "Mix-the-Mortar-to-Fix-the-Border Plan" would force undocumented immigrants to pay $2,000 toward building a border wall with "big, shiny solar panels" as restitution for their "crime against American sovereignty."
City of Orlando thinks it has a fix for downtown's panhandling issue: As complaints of aggressive panhandling are on the rise, the city of Orlando is now seeking alternative solutions to dealing with the homeless. One solution in the works is a new social media campaign designed to educate tourists, locals and downtown businesses about how they can help the homeless by donating to charity organizations and using apps like Samaritan. The City Council approved a $725,000-a-year initiative called the Downtown Ambassador Program in May, which provides services like "acting as safety escorts for workers and residents, helping visitors navigate their way to one of our many venues for an event, connecting our most vulnerable individuals to critical social services and curbing aggressive panhandling."
