LES HAMPTON for what it is worth, when I created a new app in 2.5 the Local Layer widget did not show, but I think I missed a step and plan to step thru the again (from Adam's readme file).
Just to see if/how it would work, I decided to export an older app (v1.2) and import that into 2.5. That was the last one I found that was using the local layer. It actually loaded just fine, and it does show the LL widget (although most likely not latest version) and surprisingly, all seems to be working.
Have you tried importing your previous version? My guess is you and I will still need to update all the widgets, but at least you would have something to review/compare. That's what I plan to use mine for (since I do want to have the newer version).