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☆ Disney can play Scrooge with Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Walt Disney (DIS.N) isn’t mickey-mousing around. Disney’s threatened retreat from the state is meaningful, and it can get worse for the state’s leader, Governor Ron DeSantis. But overall, Disney is one of the largest employers in Florida, and a massive contributor to the tourism economy. Follow @thereallsl on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSWalt Disney is cancelling plans to build a nearly $1 billion corporate campus, according to an email to employees on Thursday. Disney parks chief Josh D'Amaro said "changing business conditions" prompted Disney to reconsider its 2021 plan to relocate employees.

☆ Disney to close Star Wars hotel that opened in Florida last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] "Star Wars" Stormtroopers stand guard inside the atrium of the Halcyon starcruiser at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, U.S., February 24, 2022. Disney announced the closing of the two-night "Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser" hotel and experience on Thursday but did not provide a reason. The hotel debuted with fanfare at Walt Disney World in March 2022. Some Star Wars fans had complained that the cost of staying at the Starcruiser was too high. The price included two days and two nights in one of 100 Starcruiser cabins, galactic-inspired food and drink, and a visit to Batuu, the "Star Wars" planet inside the Disney World theme park.

DeSantis, who is expected to soon announce that he will seek the 2024 Republican nomination for U.S. president, then moved to strip Disney of its long-standing self-governing power over Walt Disney World in Orlando. Democratic State Sen. Linda Stewart, who represents part of Orange County, called it "disappointing" that Florida would lose jobs. Iger's predecessor announced plans in July 2021 to relocate jobs from Southern California to a new facility in central Florida, citing its "business-friendly climate." "I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business," D'Amaro wrote. We have plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next ten years.

LOS ANGELES, May 18 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) is scrapping plans to relocate 2,000 jobs to Florida in part because of "changing business conditions" in the state, according to an e-mail to employees seen by Reuters on Thursday. Disney parks chief Josh D'Amaro said "leadership changes" and "changing business conditions" prompted Disney to reconsider its 2021 plan to relocate employees, including its Imagineers who design theme park rides, to a new campus in Lake Nona. The original decision to relocate employees to Florida from California had prompted complaints from many employees who did not want to move across the country. DeSantis, who is expected to soon announce that he will seek the 2024 Republican nomination for U.S. president, then moved to strip Disney of its long-standing self-governing power over Walt Disney World in Orlando. Iger's predecessor announced plans in July 2021 to relocate jobs from Southern California to a new facility in central Florida, citing its "business-friendly climate."

☆ After a ‘Kill Shot’ to the Eye, a Wrestler Restarts His Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Jeré Longman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

After being stabilized in late September 2018, Rich was flown to Philadelphia, where he entered a rehab facility for nearly two months. During the pandemic, when Rich could not attend rehab indoors, Gina improvised at home. She and her husband also lugged foam mats to parks around Philadelphia so that Rich could continue to work with his physical therapist. “She’s really gone to war for me, which I’m so grateful for,” Rich Perry said. The family has grown more hopeful over the last eight months or so, Gina Perry said.

☆ Americans aren't mixing with people in different income brackets or leaving their neighborhoods as much as they did before the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Americans are mixing with each other and exploring the cities they live in less frequently, a new study found. They found that Americans' behavior has significantly shifted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tracked visits to 433,000 "point of interest" locations, including museums, parks, coffee shops, and grocery stores. And the researchers used Census data to categorize people in four income brackets based on the average income of the census block they lived in. Los Angeles saw the largest drop in diverse interactions, while Dallas, where pandemic restrictions were the least severe, saw the smallest change.

☆ Disney scraps plans for new Florida campus, mass employee relocation amid DeSantis feud
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Disney has abandoned plans to open up a new employee campus in Lake Nona, Florida, amid rising tensions with the state's governor. "This was not an easy decision to make, but I believe it is the right one," D'Amaro told employees. Many Disney employees balked at the company's relocation plans when they were first announced in July 2021 by former CEO Bob Chapek. Disney's announcement comes amid a bitter feud between the company and Florida Gov. The special district has allowed the entertainment giant to effectively self-govern its Orlando parks' operations for decades.

☆ Disney kills $1 billion development in Florida just days before DeSantis' expected presidential announcement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Disney canceled its plans to move jobs from California to Florida. The announcement came just days before DeSantis is expected to formally run for president. "Ron DeSanctimonious gets caught in the mouse trap," the Trump campaign tweeted Thursday. Gavin Newsom of California, who'd urged Disney not to relocate workers from his state to Florida, tweeted. Hundreds of Disney workers who already relocated to Florida will have the option to move back, per the Wall Street Journal.

Seventy percent of Million Dollar Baby's demand is on the U.S. East Coast, executives said. During the first three months of 2023, West Coast ports handled 40% of U.S. container import volume. Extrapolating that first-quarter data over 12 months would show that more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) moved away from the West Coast ports annually, starting in 2021, said Chris Jones, an executive vice president at Descartes Systems Group. Colgate-Palmolive (CL.N) routed 25% of containers away from West Coast ports and has already begun reversing some of that, said Francisco Rodriguez, Colgate toothpaste maker's director of global logistics. Importing to Mexico opens a legal loophole that enables Million Dollar Baby to sell those products to U.S. customers without a 25% tariff.

☆ Why Disney is stuck in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Disney World sued Ron DeSantis last month to keep control of its self-governing status in Florida. But a top Disney expert said the company is stuck in The Sunshine State. A leading expert on Disney World's history in Florida told Insider that the amusement park is tied to its Florida home, due to its expensive operations and sprawling size. "They're stuck there," Richard Foglesong, the author of the book "Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando," told Insider. Other Republicans are taking DeSantis to task for his dedication to fighting with DisneyRepublican presidential candidate Nikki Haley urged Walt Disney World to consider relocating from Florida to South Carolina.

☆ Could these Verto air purification towers tackle India’s pollution problem?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Designed by architecture firm Studio Symbiosis, which has offices in India and Germany, the towers contain five air filtration “cubes” stacked inside a geometric shell. Studio Symbiosis said that a construction company in the US has meanwhile ordered around 40 of the towers to tackle dust and fine debris at building sites. Using filters from German firm Mann+Hummel, the Studio Symbiosis architects focused on creating the most efficient shape for the towers, with digital models simulating different wind conditions. “Our core business is architecture — we did not want to get into air purification,” Amit said. Avesh GaurIronically, by using electric fans to suck in air, the towers are contributing — albeit negligibly — to the very emissions they are trying to mitigate.

☆ Disney World's costly Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser to close in late September
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Disney World's Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, a two-day hotel experience, is closing and will make its final voyage this September after being open for only more than a year. First teased during Disney's D23 Expo in 2019, the Galactic Starcruiser, located near the company's Orlando, Florida-based Disney World Resort opened in March 2022. However, the Galactic Starcruiser has been lauded as a dream come true for fans looking for the ultimate Star Wars experience. Alongside these villains there are spies, musicians, rebels and reluctant heroes, everything that makes up a Star Wars story. "Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of our most creative projects ever and has been praised by our guests and recognized for setting a new bar for innovation and immersive entertainment," the company said in a statement.

☆ Disney scraps $1 billion campus in Florida — and more than 2,000 jobs that were set to move. It's escalating the fight with Ron DeSantis.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Disney is backtracking on a plan to build a nearly $1 billion campus in Florida, The Wall Street Journal reported. The plan would have moved about 2,000 Disney staff members to a town just outside Orlando. Walt Disney made U-turn on its decision to build a nearly $1 billion corporate campus in Florida, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The campus would have moved more than 2,000 Disney employees to a town near Orlando. The decision to scrap the campus appears to be another development in Disney's battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

☆ Titanic: 'Largest underwater scanning project in history' gives never-before-seen view of wreck
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Niamh Kennedy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The mysterious 1912 sinking of the luxury passenger liner, the Titanic, has long served as a source of fascination for many. Historians now believe that a new underwater scanning project may provide answers to some of the unanswered questions regarding the tragedy that killed more than 1,500 people. A team of scientists have used deep sea mapping to create “an exact ‘Digital Twin’ of the Titanic wreck for the first time,” according to a press release Wednesday from deep sea investigators Magellan and filmmakers Atlantic Productions. Data engineers can use the data to examine the true mechanics behind the tragedy, according to Titanic expert Parks Stephenson. According to Stephenson, this mapping will herald the “beginning of a new chapter,” for Titanic research and exploration.

CHICAGO, May 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. supply chain is healing from early pandemic shocks that sent shipping costs skyrocketing and squeezed supplies of everything from toilet paper to pasta, but more than three years later, material shortages and hiring woes linger. Speakers from Walmart (WMT.N), Colgate-Palmolive (CL.N), Toyota (7203.T) and other companies will discuss their supply-chain strategies at the Reuters Events supply chain conference in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, as inflation and interest rate hikes threaten to tip the economy into recession. "Freight costs, logistics, have gone down significantly," said Mario Guerendo, who oversees global supply chain for vehicle engine maker Cummins Inc (CMI.N). After spending whatever it took to keep store shelves stocked during the early days of the pandemic, supply chain executives now are wringing out costs to shelter profits from eroding demand, said Alan Amling, distinguished fellow at the University of Tennessee's Global Supply Chain Institute. "That's a really good thing for the supply chain."

Speakers from Walmart (WMT.N), Colgate-Palmolive (CL.N), Toyota (7203.T) and other companies will discuss their supply-chain strategies at the Reuters Events supply chain conference in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, as inflation and interest rate hikes threaten to tip the economy into recession. "We've still got certain sectors that are up and some that are down, which was a feature of the pandemic," Croke said. That's even true within sectors, Croke added, pointing to recent manufacturing data, which remained depressed even as segments like motor vehicles reported gains. After spending whatever it took to keep store shelves stocked during the early days of the pandemic, supply chain executives now are wringing out costs to shelter profits from eroding demand, said Alan Amling, distinguished fellow at the University of Tennessee's Global Supply Chain Institute. "That's a really good thing for the supply chain."

☆ Cramer discusses recent stock wins and losses: 'We refuse to accept defeat in the long term'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

We remonstrate, but we act and stubbornly refuse to accept defeat in the long term. Start with some of the challenges DIS YTD mountain Disney YTD performance We got started too early with Walt Disney (DIS) and we got too close to the company. EMR YTD mountain Emerson Electric YTD performance Emerson Electric (EMR) infuriates me. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ DeSantis signs slew of anti-transgender rights measures into law, affecting bathrooms, healthcare, and pronouns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

DeSantis signed three anti-trans bills into law ahead of an anticipated 2024 run. Though he decried LGBTQ+ material and called for "normalcy" for minors, children stood next to him onstage during the bills' signings. Another bill DeSantis signed into law Wednesday prevents doctors from offering treatments such as hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery — such as breast removal — to transgender minors, even in cases where parents consent. The legislation — officially known as the Parental Rights in Education Act — was panned by LGBTQ+ rights organizations as "Don't Say Gay." But a bill DeSantis signed into law Wednesday went even further to eradicate such teachings so they only happen in the limited curriculum parameters after eighth grade.

☆ 2 Nashville millennials share how they're fighting loneliness in a broken housing market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Car-centric neighborhoods with few shared spaces exacerbate loneliness, research has found. She moved into a walkable neighborhood in downtown Nashville and paid $500 a month to rent a room in a house with roommates. She credits the neighborhood's walkability, shared spaces, and dense housing with boosting her social connections. And those ties are much easier to form in neighborhoods with welcoming shared spaces and programming. "We have the green spaces in the neighborhood to do all that kind of stuff, which is something we just didn't have in the old neighborhood," Hughes said.

☆ Imola F1 race called off as floods devastate region
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Alan Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Last year's race drew a weekend crowd of 129,000 and 64,000 on the Sunday. Officials said at least eight people had died and thousands were evacuated from their homes in towns and cities across the region. The race was scheduled to be the sixth round of the season and the first in Europe. Red Bull have won every race so far and double world champion Max Verstappen is 14 points clear of team mate Sergio Perez. "We support the decision... safety to all those involved and in the region is paramount and has to take priority," the team said on Twitter.

BOGOTA, May 16 (Reuters) - Deforestation in Colombia during 2022 is forecast to have fallen by up to 10% versus the previous year, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said on Tuesday, citing significant decreases in the country's Amazon. Deforestation in Colombia in 2021 rose 1.5% versus the previous year to 1,741 square kilometers (430,218 acres), representing an area twice the size of New York City. A 10% decrease in deforestation would take the total area of forest destroyed during 2022 in Colombia to below the 1,589 square kilometers registered in 2019, the first full year of the administration of former President Ivan Duque. Between 2001 and 2021, more than 31,000 square kilometers of forest were destroyed in Colombia, of which some 18,600 square kilometers were deforested in the country's Amazon. Colombia's government will publish full deforestation figures for 2022 in June, Muhamad said.

Disney on Tuesday asked a Florida court to dismiss a lawsuit by the board of supervisors that Gov. By signing that legislation, DeSantis essentially carried out the same action that the board is asking the court to take, Disney argued. Disney filed suit after the board voted to undo development contracts that the company says it struck to secure its investments. Disney expanded its lawsuit last week, accusing DeSantis of doubling down on his political vendetta by signing legislation to void Disney's development deals in Orlando. In March, the district's new slate of supervisors accused Disney of crafting "11th-hour" development deals intended to thwart the board's power over the 25,000-acre area.

[1/5] Iraqi residents walk along Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, Iraq, May 14, 2023. "This push to develop the capital Baghdad is the most extensive undertaking of its kind," he told Reuters in an interview. 'BAGHDAD COMING BACK'Iraqi-Canadian artist Iyad Al-Mosawi fled Baghdad as a child amid war with Iran in the 80s and did not return until 2019. "I find that Baghdad is coming back," Mosawi said, noting he had attended eight exhibition openings in just two weeks. Reporting by Timour Azhari and Amina Ismail in Baghdad; Writing by Timour Azhari; Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Florida teacher says she is under investigation after showing 5th grade class Disney movie with gay character
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Melissa Alonso | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“I am the teacher that’s under investigation with the Florida Department of Education for indoctrination for showing a Disney movie,” Barbee said in a TikTok post over the weekend. In the post, Barbee explained she played the Disney movie to a class which was partially full after a day of standardized testing. Jordan also provided CNN with a copy of the announcement from the school district to parents. “Yesterday, the Disney movie ‘Strange World’ was shown in your child’s classroom,” the school district said. CNN has reached out to Rodriguez and Hernando County School District and the Florida Department of Education for comment.

☆ Americans are spending less money even as the Chinese spend more. Take a look at the 5 major US companies winning on China's spending spree.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

As people in China get out of their homes to travel and spend, retail sales have improved in China, rising almost 11% year-on-year in March. In comparison, China's core inflation rose just 0.7% in March from a year ago, according to official data from Beijing. All this means American companies facing a slowdown in US consumption are getting a boost from Chinese demand. He added the MGM China division posted a "swift return to profitability." Net revenues for the MGM China division were also 130% higher from a year ago "amid strong reopening trends," MGM said in its earnings release.

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