‘Del Boy billionaire’ behind the Range saves the Wilko name (but only 36 jobs)

By Emily Hawkins

Updated: 09:35 EDT, 15 September 2023

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Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg is ON! X billionaire claims Italian officials have AGREED to hold fight at ‘epic location’ in Rome

• Previous reports had suggested Dana White’s UFC may be managing the fight 
• Musk made sure to mention Gladiator in one of his earlier tweets Friday morning 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

By Patrick Djordjevic For Dailymail.Com

Published: 08:25 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 08:44 EDT, 11 August 2023

Tyler Perry has vowed to help a 93-year-old grandmother of 40 who says property developers are trying to force her from the house that has been in her family since the Civil War.

Josephine Wright’s bungalow in Hilton Head, Carolina sits in the middle of an area being developed by Bailey Point Investment.

They wanted to buy her land, but she refused: they have since sued her, claiming parts of her property are on their land.

‘I’ve been pretty much a fighter all my life,’ she said. ‘It puzzled me at first. But then it got me angry.’

Perry, the billionaire film producers and studio owner based in Atlanta, Georgia, saw the local news report about her case and has now said he wants to help.

Perry wrote on Twitter: ”I’ve pretty much been a fighter all my life’ said 93 year old Josephine Wright. Well, that makes two of us. 

‘Ms. Wright, please tell where to show up and what you need to help you fight.’

Film producer Will Packer commented: ‘I also got Ms. Josephine’s back. Count me in TP.’

Singer Fantasia agreed, adding: ‘I will stand with you as well Tyler.’

Wright told WSAV that the property had been her family’s home for generations.

‘This house means it’s a home, a place where I want to be at this age,’ she said.

It has been in the family since just after the Civil War. 

Her husband was a Gullah Geechee Islander, descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast along the Carolinas. Many came from rice-growing regions of West Africa.

His relatives were escaped slaves and were freed by Union soldiers.

Bailey Point has started construction of a 147-unit site, set over 29 acres.

They wanted to buy her land: when she said no, she claimed a campaign of harassment begun. She said her tires were slashed, trash thrown on her property and a snake hung from one of her windows. 

Bailey Point says Wright is blocking their construction progress, and they have sued her, accusing her of having her porch on their land.

Wright already paid to move a shed, which cost about $1,900, and got rid of a satellite dish. 

Former State Representative Bakari Sellers is now working with Wright’s legal team, and is asking people to call the developer and lawmakers to help Wright keep her property.

‘We sent a letter two weeks ago simply asking the developer to communicate. Simply asking the developer to speak to us. Speak to her. Just to have a common conversation about how to move forward,’ said Sellers. 

‘I think more disrespectful than a no is a non-response.’

Wright has a lawyer and is fighting the lawsuit, but her family is asking for help paying the legal bills for that battle. A GoFundMe has been set up to help Josephine with her legal expenses.

‘We are very big on generational wealth, or trying to accrue it,’ explained Sellers. 

‘When you talk about poverty in our communities it’s because we don’t have land, and when we do, people want to take it away. 

‘There are a lot of people to pick on. Pick on me. 

‘Don’t pick on a 93-year-old woman who has lived her life doing nothing wrong.’

Wright’s neighbors are now involved, working to protect her and the land.

‘We don’t have the right to change what has already been approved; that ship has sailed. We can’t change the zoning,’ said Kelly LeBlanc, part of the newly formed Jonesville Preservation Society. 

‘The town is looking very closely at the permitting, at the approval phase. The town is making sure it is done to the letter of the law.’ 

Wright said she intended to fight to keep her home. 

‘I guess they figured I would become so unnerved with the harassment that I would say take it. But they don’t know me. I am here to fight for what I have,’ she said.

‘I don’t want to say anything that can be used against me, but I think they are unscrupulous and greedy and they want all the property they can get their hands on.’

Perry is known for his generosity, particularly in the Atlanta area.

In February, he made a $2.75 million donation to assist low-income seniors with their property tax payments through the Invest Atlanta Partnership nonprofit.

He had already donated $750,000 for the first year to cover the back taxes and any increase in property taxes, and has pledged $500,000 each year over the next four years to ensure the residents don’t pay any more in such taxes. 

Perry hosts annual food giveaways in time for Thanksgiving, and has helped out numerous organizations that have fallen victim to criminals.

His charitable efforts also include building a home for a great-grandmother of seven who lost everything in a fire; surprising kids with a trip to Disney World; and holding a camp quarantine at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. 

Richard Branson is set to become the latest billionaire to enter the space tourism race, trailing behind Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

Branson’s Virgin Galactic is gearing up to send four people who paid $200,000 each at least 250,000 feet above Earth’s surface Thursday, marking the company’s maiden commercial flight.

However, Musk and Bezos have launched paying customers to the final frontier over the past two years. 

The ‘space barons,’ with a combined net worth of $379.3 billion, are vying for galactic supremacy – and only time will tell who will take the crown.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson

Virgin Galactic takes a different approach to conquer space with a plane that attaches to a larger carrier craft and releases at a certain altitude.

Branson’s most high-profile and catastrophic space launch failure occurred in 2014, when Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashed in California’s Mojave Desert, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury and seriously injuring pilot Peter Siebold. 

The craft was flying a manned test when it split into pieces.

Investigators later concluded that the crash was caused by structural failure after Alsbury unlocked a braking system early.

At the time, Branson said he was ‘shocked and saddened’ by the ‘tragic loss.’

Two minor hiccups in 2016 involved attempts to carry out the first glide flight for the company’s VSS Unity space plane.

Branson became the first billionaire in space when he took the maiden voyage of the VSS Unity on July 11, 2021.

The Virgin Galactic founder was one of six Virgin Galactic employees aboard VSS Unity.

However, the spaceplane was grounded shortly after the flight due to an investigation when it veered off course during its descent back to the runway in the New Mexico desert.

In September 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was investigating a deviation in the descent of the flight.

The FAA, which oversees commercial air and spaceflight in the US, found the spaceplane ‘deviated from its Air Traffic Control clearance’ and did so for about a minute and 41 seconds.

Branson and his team have since worked out the issue and recently sent a test crew of four employees 54.2 miles above Earth’s surface in May, paving the way for Virgin Galactic’s first commercial mission, ‘Galactic 01,’ on Thursday.

The crew includes Col. Walter Villadei, Pantaleone Carlucci, Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi and Colin Bennett, plus two Virgin Galactic staff who also be on the spaceplane.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk

Musk recently shared that his childhood love for science fiction inspired him to look beyond our planet, along with Sergey Korolev – an engineer who helped the Soviet Union beat the U.S. in the race to space during the Cold War.

SpaceX was founded in 2002, launching the Falcon 1 in 2006 and the first Falcon 9 in 2010, which was designed much less than competing rockets.

Musk’s reusable rockets were then used to ferry the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver cargo in 2012.

And it was not until 2020 did SpaceX take its first humans aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. 

On May 30, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley took off from Cape Canaveral for the ISS – the first time in nearly a decade that an American crew had launched from US soil to space.

The feat pushed Musk into the private space exploration sector, allowing SpaceX to send Inspiration4  – a team of four civilians – into Earth’s orbit for three days in September 2021.

And SpaceX has six civilian astronauts with Aximos to the ISS.

SpaceX was awarded a $1.4 billion NASA contract in 2022 for five more astronaut launches to the ISS, a previous one in 2021 for $178 million to ‘launch services’ for the Europa Clipper mission heading to Jupiter.

And Musk’s company is also working on its Starship human landing system for the Artemis moon mission. 

SpaceX has also been sending batches of 60 satellites into space to help form its Starlink network, which has grown to more than 3,900 satellites that 1.5 million subscribers access.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos

Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 to chase down a childhood dream of spaceflight and building a society of millions living and working in space.

In a 1982 Miami Herald interview after being named valedictorian of his high school, the then 18-year-old said he wanted ‘to build space hotels, amusement parks and colonies for two or three million people who would be in orbit.’

‘The whole idea is to preserve the earth,’ he told the newspaper … The goal was to be able to evacuate humans. The planet would become a park.’

The idea of Blue Origin came about in 1999 after Bezos watched the film October Sky, a movie about a school kid who wanted to build rockets, and the aerospace company was born just one year later.

The company’s New Shepard rocket is named in honor of Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space.

It took 15 years before Bezos’ company made its first successful launch and landing of New Shepard – it had taken off and returned 21 times during that period.

On July 20, 2021, the billionaire, his brother Mark, Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen – the youngest person in space – and former NASA trainee Wally Funk, 82, 66 miles above Earth’s surface.  

Blue Origin has since launched 27 people to the edge of space, including famed Star Trek celebrity William Shatner.

And Bezos’ company was aware of a $3.4 billion contract with NASA in May that put him one small step closer to putting a man on the moon.

Blue Origin has been vague regarding its moon lander proposal, aside from namechecking its corporate partners: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, the spacecraft software firm Draper, and robotics firm Astrobotic. 

A friend of the British billionaire missing on a trip to dive to the Titanic has said she fears his submersible is trapped on the sea bed.

Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian explorer, said she knew Hamish Harding, 58, would be ‘calm’ amid the crisis.

He is one of five people on board a submersible, which at 4am on Sunday began its descent to the resting place of the Titanic, nearly 13,000 feet below the surface.

The round trip – for which participants pay $250,000 – usually takes eight hours. But contact with the mothership was lost one hour and 45 minutes into the trip, before reaching the wreck, and rescuers are now engaged in a race against time to try and recover the submersible and its crew.

‘My biggest fear is knowing that they are trapped, without being able to get help,’ said Mikkelsen.

‘There is no one who can reach him on the bottom.’

Mikkelsen, a cinematographer specializing in extreme environments, said she was deeply concerned by the fact the crew missed their ascent window – their expected time to surface.

On Monday afternoon, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said the submersible has 96 hours of emergency oxygen on board, based on information received from the vessel operator.  

‘My fear is that they didn’t make their last ascent window,’ Mikkelsen told Chris Cuomo on NewsNation.

‘They didn’t. We are starting to make worst case scenarios.’

G. Michael Harris, a Titanic expedition leader, said he knew several of those on board, and the outlook was grim.

He told Fox News’s Jesse Watters that there was oxygen on board and CO2 scrubbers, but ultimately there was no magic solution.

‘Just not feeling good about it,’ he said.

‘When we deploy it’s usually a two and a half hour drop down to the wreck site itself.

‘We go down 3,980 meters. We spiral down, a corkscrew action, about three degrees per second to land right basically in front of the bow of Titanic.

‘Once we get down there we begin our grid searches and our decay and everything that goes on with Titanic.’

Harris said the worst situation would be an implosion of the hull around 3,200 meters.

‘I don’t see anything that can happen at this point. When you are talking 6,000lbs per square inch, it is a dangerous environment.

‘More people have been to outer space than this depth of the ocean.’

He said you have to ‘do everything perfect by the book’, and it was ‘not looking good’. 

Mikkelsen said Harding acted as a mentor to her, and was well aware of the risks he took.

‘Hamish is an explorer at heart and this is one of the things he wanted to explore, on his checklist,’ she said.

‘Hamish knows the risks before he starts.

‘I know that Hamish will be calm, they will work together through their checklist of options.’

The mothership, MV Polar Prince, set off from Newfoundland on Saturday bound for the spot above the Titanic wreck, 370 miles away.

The submersible went into the water in the early hours of Sunday.

On board were Harding, French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet; and CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush. The other two passengers have not been named.

The submersible – it is not a submarine, because it is not independent and relies on a mothership – lost contact with the mothership one hour 45 minutes into its descent.

It takes two and a half hours to descend to the wreck. 

Analysts believe it could have lost power, or sunk and perhaps became trapped on the wreck. Some initially suggested it perhaps surfaced and was bobbing without power, but that seems an increasingly remote possibility.

There were 96 hours of air left on the submersible as of Monday afternoon, and the U.S. Coast Guard said they are engaged in a race against time. 

There are no rescue submarines in the U.S. Coast Guard that are able to reach the depths of the Titanic. 

Harding holds the Guinness World Record for the longest duration spent at the bottom of the sea.

The London-born adventurer set it in 2021, after diving to the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, and traversing it for four hours and 15 minutes.

It was one of three Guinness world records he has earned.

He set another one for the longest distance, three miles, covered at the bottom of the ocean. 

His first was set in 2019, for the fastest circumnavigation of the earth via North and South Poles in a Gulfstream 650ER business jet – with Mikkelsen filming the adventure. 

Last year he went into space.

The father of two – who is friends with astronaut Buzz Aldrin – said recently: ‘I used to read the book of Guinness World Records regularly as a child. I always wondered how I could get into it. I did not think I could do it.

‘And I didn’t want to do something stupid – like setting a record for the number of ping-pong balls bounced in a day, or something like that.’

As the frantic search for the Titanic submersible was underway Monday, family members asked for prayers for Harding as his latest adventure went awry.

The aviator, businessman and explorer is no stranger to perilous expeditions.

He told an interviewer in 2021 how his submarine, Challenger Deep, had sustained a damaged thruster during his journey to the ‘truly spectacular’ Mariana Trench, which lies seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. 

‘The sub has many safety features, including four days’ reserve of oxygen, water and emergency rations,’ he said. 

‘The only problem is that there is no other sub that is capable of going down there to rescue you. It will take three years to build another one. 

‘So, having four days of supply doesn’t make a difference really. 

‘If something goes wrong, you are not coming back.’

Harding, who runs an aviation company in Dubai, also has the distinction of taking the oldest man – moon landing astronaut Aldrin, at the age of 86 – and the youngest, his 12-year-old son, to the South Pole.

‘Buzz is an old friend of mine,’ he said. 

‘We had always talked about going to the South Pole together and we finally did it in 2016.’

An only child, Harding was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1964, and has degrees in natural sciences and chemical engineering from Cambridge University.

Last year, Harding was one of six astronauts to go to space on Blue Origin’s fifth human spaceflight aboard its New Shepard rocket.

And before another trip, to the North Pole two months prior to going into space, he said: ‘People, especially as they grow older, tend to give up on their dreams. When I think of something unusual, I just try to find ways to make it happen.’

A British billionaire is on board a submersible which has vanished during a mission to the site of the Titanic’s wreckage, with a renowned French explorer and the CEO of the expedition company also believed to be on board.

Hamish Harding, 58, is part of the crew on board the vessel which is believed to have embarked on its journey from Newfoundland, in Canada, at 4am on Sunday. A frantic search and rescue mission is now underway to locate and recover the craft, which can hold five people.

Harding, who also recently traveled to space in a Blue Origin craft owned by Jeff Bezos, said the crew was also expected to include veteran French explorer PH Nargeolet, a pre-eminent expert on the Titanic who has led a number of expeditions to the ship’s wreckage. 

Stockton Rush, the CEO and founder of OceanGate Expeditions, which operated the trip, is also feared to be on board, Sky News reported. And PH Nargeolet, the world’s top Titanic wreck expert is present on the submersible too, a friend told a Canadian news station. 

The developments came as it emerged another explorer, David Concannon, who was slated to join the trip was forced to cancel at the last minute. He is now helping with the rescue efforts.

Harding’s stepson, Brian Szasz, said on Facebook that he was sending ‘thoughts and prayers’ following the disappearance.

‘Pray for a successful recovery,’ he added. ‘Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.’

Harding is a renowned explorer who holds several world records. In 2019, he led a mission which set the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the earth over both poles.

He also holds the record for the longest amount of time spent at the bottom of the ocean after traversing the Mariana trench, the deepest point on Earth, for four hours and 15 minutes. The father-of-two also holds another record for the longest distance, three miles, covered at the bottom of the ocean.

Harding, the chairman of Action Aviation, was a passenger on the fifth commercial flight of Blue Origin, the space travel company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

On Saturday, he posted his pride at joining the Titanic mission and said: ‘Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.’

‘The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet,’ he added.

Paul Henri Nargeolet, 77, is a former Commander in the French Navy who is hailed as a world-leading expert on the Titanic wreckage. 

In 2019, he spoke frankly about the risks of leading missions to the site, which is 12,500ft – 2.5 miles – underwater around 370 miles from Newfoundland.

‘If you are 11 [miles] or 11km down, if something bad happens, the result is the same. When you’re in very deep water, you’re dead before you realize that something is happening, so it’s just not a problem.’

The submersible was transported to the location of the wreckage site by ship during an expedition made up of a larger team of explorers and enthusiasts. OceanGate Expeditions is thought to be the only company that offers tours of the Titanic wreckage.

Larry Daley, a diver based in St John’s, told CBC that Nargeolet was on board the submersible. 

‘My thoughts and prayers are with everyone… all the people in the sub and the people that are out there looking,’ he said. ‘I’m very optimistic that this will come to a very happy ending, and I’m hopeful that it will.’

It has also emerged another professional explorer who was slated to join the voyage was forced to cancel at short notice. 

David Concannon, an attorney who also runs an exploration consultancy firm, said he pulled out at the last-minute to another ‘urgent client matter’ but was now proving assistance to the rescue teams.

Concannon said in a statement shared by Titanic Book Club: ‘As I posted last week I was supposed to be on this expedition and, indeed, on this dive, but I had to cancel to attend to another urgent client matter.  

‘Last night, I was called and asked to provide whatever assistance I could to ensure the safe return of everyone in the sub. Of course, I immediately agreed. 

‘I know you are concerned for the safety of me and everyone at sea, but PLEASE STOP calling, texting, messaging, sending carrier pigeons and all other forms of communication during this critical time.

‘You are interfering with more important communications that need to be made to resolve this situation as quickly and as safely as possible. Thank you!’

Rory Golden, an explorer who is board the ship that launched the sub, added: ‘We have a situation that is now the part of a major Search and Rescue effort, being undertaken by major agencies. That is where our focus is right now.

‘The reaction and offers of help globally is truly astonishing, and only goes to show the real goodness in people at a time like this. Our online and internet options are being restricted in order to keep bandwidth available for the co-ordinated effort that is taking place, so please bear that in mind too.’

Billionaire Ken Griffin, 54, wants to relocate the historic home of former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan that sits on his $106.9 million estate, despite warnings it could damage the property.

The Chicago hedge fund tycoon made history buying the city’s most expensive listing to date when it was revealed in September that he’d purchased the four-acre property.

Villa Serena, the home of the three-time presidential candidate, who served in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895 and as the Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson, is one of two homes located on the estate.

But Griffin has been ruffling feathers among historians and preservationists from the area after one of his first orders of business was to ask the city to remove the former statesman’s home.

Experts have argued that doing so will not only devalue the 1913 mansion, but also put it in danger of damage or collapse, the Miami Herald reported.

Citadel spokesman Zia Ahmed told the outlet that Griffin wants the property to one day be opened for public use for the first time in its history.

‘This is just an idea in the very early stages right now,’ Ahmed said.

‘Ken’s team is exploring potential options wherein the general public would for the first time be able to visit and see this historic home at a different location.’

Griffin moved his hedge fund Citadel to Miami after a colleague was robbed while having a gun pressed to his head during a coffee run.

He purchased the waterfront property in Coconut Grove from philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, who is known in Miami for her $30 million contribution to the city’s performing arts center.

She also spent a significant amount of time renovating the home, which she used as a guest house and for social gatherings.

Griffin’s single property boasts old war charm and the grandeur and opulence of the Great Gatsby era. 

The billionaire businessman founded the massive hedge fund Citadel in Chicago in 1990, and, Citadel Securities in 2002. 

Griffin, however, is originally from Central and South Florida, having been born in Daytona Beach, and raised in Boca Raton.

The move back to the Sunshine State comes only months after Griffin moved his global securities firm’s headquarters out of ‘crime-ridden’ Chicago. 

The company had been located in the Illinois area for the last three decades, but left due to escalating violence in the state.

Griffin acquired the mega 4-acre estate located in Coconut Grove on Brickell Avenue – about two miles from his future Miami office, the Real Deal reported.  

The historic property features two homes – a two-bedroom, two bathroom guest villa and a 14-000 square-foot primary residence with five bedrooms, five bathrooms. 

The primary residence also has 20-foot-high ceilings, grand marble staircase, three living rooms, grand salon, dining room that seats 20, sun room and breathtaking views of Biscayne Bay with architectural detail throughout.

The guest villa, once occupied by Bryan, was built in 1913 and was on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by the late architect August Geiger.

The former owner of the estate was renowned philanthropist Adrienne Arsht. In 1996, she purchased the land for $4 million and built her main residence three years later. 

In 2007, she purchased the second property for $12 million that she transformed into a guest villa, court records show, the outlet reported. 

Colorful lush foliage, numerous ponds with statues of swans and birds, gorgeous inground pools, and tennis courts adorn the property.

Proceeds from the sale were said to be donated to a charity that Arsht was passionate about, according to CBS Miami. In January, the property hit the market at $150 million, but sold at 29 percent below that.

Griffin shared news of the company’s Florida relocation in a letter to employees. 

About 1,000 people work at its Chicago headquarters, and it is unclear how many will be making the move south.

‘Miami is a vibrant, growing metropolis that embodies the America Dream. I am excited to have recently moved to Miami with my family and look forward to rapidly expanding Citadel in a city so rich in diversity and abounding with energy,’ he said.     

Griffin noted that ‘many’ of its Chicago teams ‘have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and our other offices around the world,’ the letter read, NBC5 Chicago reported.  

Griffin added: ‘We recognize that the choice of where to call home involves personal, family, school and other considerations, and we will provide comprehensive support to meet the needs of our teams.’

The CEO has been vocal in the past about the Chicago’s escalating crime and violence. He said that some employees he knows have been mugged on their way to work and one even stabbed.

The company will be headquartered in Brickell, Miami’s financial district, and the move is expected to take several years. 

In the memo to employees, Griffin recalled the warm welcome he got in Chicago when he started his firm, The New York Times reported. 

‘I still remember the incredible civic pride and engagement when I arrived more than 30 years ago — and the outreach by business and political leaders who wanted us to succeed and be a part of the fabric of Chicago’s community,’ he wrote.

Citadel is just one of several major companies that have moved their headquarters out of the Chicago area.

Construction manufacturer, Caterpillar is relocating its Deerfield offices to the Dallas-Forth Worth area. 

Aircraft giant Boeing moved from Seattle to Chicago in 2001, and this May announced it was moving again, this time to Arlington, Virginia. 

Griffin is not the only billionaire businessman calling Florida their home. About 10,000 people moved to Palm Beach between 2020 and 2021, according to the U.S. Census, with more streaming in through 2022.

Since the start of the pandemic, thousands of New Yorkers have traded bleak winters for the Sunshine State, but some of the wealthiest among them are running into a significant supply issue – a lack of private schools that rival the elite education their children receive in the Big Apple. 

As a result, some real estate agents are losing out on big pay days as they see home buyers who haven’t secured a spot for their children delay the sale process. 

At the Oxbridge Academy in Palm Springs – where former first-son Barron Trump attends high school – spokesman Scott Siegfried told DailyMail.com that the school has a waitlist for most grades.

Enrollment numbers at Oxbridge have jumped from 510 to 562 in the last year alone, and a ‘strong applicant pool’ is expected for the coming cycle. Tuition at the academy is $35,000. 

Currently, the average price of a single-family Palm Beach home is $16 million.

President Joe Biden bid farewell to his Democratic donor friends Bill and Connie Neville as he returned to Washington D.C. following a low-profile seven-day vacation at their beachfront villa in St Croix.

The 80-year-old didn’t take questions from reporters as he boarded Air Force One with first lady Jill, 18-year-old grandaughter Natalie and 16-year-old grandson Hunter after a low-key week spent mostly in the luxury three-bedroom property with a private beach. 

As he approached the plane’s steps he stopped to speak to the Nevilles to mark the end of the trip where rare public sightings included a round of golf with grandson Hunter, dinner at a local restaurant and a church service.

The Nevilles have hosted Biden on the island many times, donated to his campaign and they were on the guest list for the White House state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron in December. 

First daughter Ashley Biden and her husband Howard Krein also joined the family on the trip – and disembarked Air Force One with them once it landed, along with their dog.  

Biden returns to Washington with new challenges ahead of him – with the Republicans set to take control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday and with mounting questions over when he could announce his 2024 run.

House Republicans have threatened a litany of investigations, including into Biden’s son Hunter’s foreign business dealings. 

Thanks to better than expected midterm results for the Democrats, the GOP will have just a small House majority, while Democrats maintain control of the Senate, even flipping a formerly held Republican seat in Pennsylvania. 

On Wednesday – one day after GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy is expected to become House speaker – Biden will travel to Kentucky for an event touting the bipartisan infrastructure and appear with Congress’ other top Republican, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Upon landing at the White House Monday, Biden merely pointed out ‘it’s his state’ when asked about the importance of the bipartisan trip with McConnell, so soon after Washington becomes a city of divided government. 

On St. Croix – Biden’s first trip to the island as president – he and first lady Jill Biden marked the new year by waking up at 6:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day to watch the sunrise over the island from their villa’s private beach.  

In the past, the Bidens have joined island residents and tourists to take in the first sunrise of the new year at Point Udall, considered the easternmost point in the United States.  

The president then headed to church solo, where he could be seen taking communion through the historic church’s large, open windows, accounting for the nearly 80-degree temperatures. 

Holy Cross Catholic Church dates back to  1755, but was extensively renovated in the 1950s, according to a website documenting St. Croix landmarks.  

Asked if he had made any new year’s resolutions, he said ‘good year, next year’ and said he was ‘looking forward to it,’ giving reporters a thumbs up as he exited the cream and white church and got into his black SUV. 

On Friday night, he wouldn’t say if he’s made a decision to run for reelection as he departed a restaurant with his family in downtown Christiansted.

‘There’s an election coming up?’ Biden said to questions about 2024 as he departed Savant, one of the top-rated restaurants on the tropical island. ‘2023 is going to be a good year,’ the president added. 

He dined with first lady Jill Biden and grandchildren Hunter and Natalie, the children of his late son, Beau Biden. 

The president said it was nice to have his grandkids, his daughter and ‘the whole dang family’ around – as they stay at a three-bedroom luxury villa with a private beach, as ‘guests’ of top Democratic donors. 

During his press conference a day after the midterms, Biden had said he’d talk 2024 with his family members during a holiday getaway, however he said on Nantucket over Thanksgiving that those conversations weren’t happening yet. 

‘We’re not having any, we’re celebrating,’ Biden told reporters as he walked through the Massachusetts island town. ‘Not yet,’ he told DailyMail.com when asked if he’d made a decision on whether to run again. 

Former President Donald Trump is already aching for a rematch with Biden, announcing a 2024 bid in mid-November. 

On Friday night on St. Croix, Dr. Biden, who was sporting a royal blue outfit, said the meal out was ‘great.’ 

The two-story restaurant, which is painted blue, has an old world looking dining room and then a pretty patio out back. 

Earlier, the president and first lady pre-taped an interview with Ryan Seacrest that will air Saturday night during his Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve program.

Before that, the president and grandson Hunter broke cover Friday afternoon to play a round of golf. 

Biden was pictured on the beachside course at the Buccaneer Hotel – where 18 holes costs $115 – wearing a bright blue baseball hat, a white polo shirt and navy shorts.

Photos show Hunter watching the president, who plays off a handicap of 6.7, hitting shots at the pin during the late afternoon round at the Caribbean resort.

For Biden, it was the 20th golf outing of his presidency. At this point, former President Donald Trump – who owns a number of golf courses in the U.S. and abroad – had played 108 rounds.

Hunter was spotted driving the golf cart, while at one point Secret Service helped the president locate a lost ball. 

The president and Hunter spent a little more than two hours at the seaside resort before returning to their villa.

The Bidens stayed at the St Croix home of billionaire Democratic donors Bill and Connie Neville, according to the White House. 

He made his fortune in the tech industry, while she is a self-employed designer. 

The Nevilles were among the 300 people invited to Biden’s state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron on December 1.

The Bidens are not paying rent but staying as ‘guests’ at the home on Solitude Bay, a private community with its own beach. Houses there can sell for around $3million, according to property websites.

A luxury family vacation rental on St Croix can run up to $5,000 a night, according to vacation websites. 

The house has its own pool along with gorgeous views of the Caribbean. 

It also has private beach access.

On Thursday, Biden donned a suit and tie to sign the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, which will fund the government through September 2023. 

The bill had to be flown to Biden commercially from Washington.

‘Today, I signed the bipartisan omnibus bill, ending a year of historic progress. It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, VAWA funding – and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine. Looking forward to more in 2023,’ the president shared on Instagram. 

Congress passed the massive budget bill last week but then it had to go through a complicated enrollment process that involves printing the text of the bill on  parchment paper, with a certificate page that is signed by the speaker of the House and the president pro temp of the Senate.

After that is completed, it is transferred to the White House for the president’s signature. It would have gone to the staff secretary’s office, which is responsible for all the paperwork the president must sign. 

It’s not the first time a piece of legislation has flown commercial to the president’s location. 

In May, a $40billion US package of assistance for Ukraine was sent with a staffer on a commercial flight to South Korea, when Biden was in Seoul for meetings with Asian leaders.