Things To Do In SW Florida

Q: We found our first rental and love the neighborhood. It wasn’t easy to find an appropriate home, and moving was not fun. The landlord seems excellent so far, and we want to stay here long-term to avoid the hassle of doing it all again in a year or two. You recently wrote an article about how to be a great landlord. Can you give us some tips on being a great tenant? — Sara

A: Besides being a practicing real estate attorney, I have been, at various times, both a landlord and a tenant. Each role has its unique perspective, and it can be easy to see the relationship only from yours.

To be a good tenant, you want to think about what a good landlord wants and try to do that. Landlords want a tenant who pays on time, takes care of the property, and is not a hassle. Finding a new tenant takes work, and no rent is paid on an empty unit, so landlords want happy tenants and will work to keep a good tenant happy.

The first rule of being a good tenant is to pay your rent on time. Many landlords will put up with a lot as long as the rent comes in but will evict an otherwise good tenant who stops paying. read more

By DAVID KOENIG (AP Airlines Writer)

JetBlue says it will end a partnership with American Airlines in the Northeast after losing a court fight over the deal, and will instead focus on salvaging its proposed purchase of Spirit Airlines.

JetBlue Airways said Wednesday that it will not appeal a federal judge’s ruling blocking the deal with American.

With its decision, JetBlue said the U.S. Justice Department should reconsider its opposition to a JetBlue-Spirit combination.

The Justice Department sued to block both the JetBlue-American deal and JetBlue’s agreement to buy Spirit for $3.8 billion on grounds that they would hurt competition.

The Justice Department won a trial in Boston last fall over the JetBlue-American partnership. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin decided in May that the airlines must end their Northeast Alliance, or NEA, which began in 2021, because it violates U.S. antitrust law.

“Despite our deep conviction in the procompetitive benefits of the NEA, after much consideration, JetBlue has made the difficult decision not to appeal the court’s determination … and has instead initiated the termination of the NEA, beginning a wind down process that will take place over the coming months,” New York-based JetBlue said in a statement. “We will now turn even more focus to our proposed combination with Spirit.” read more

Mia Gindis | Bloomberg News (TNS)

Nathalie Ramirez Rojas spent the spring of her junior year at Baruch College splitting her time over two equally formidable tasks: acing her exams and scouring job boards for a paid internship in the social sciences.

“I actually saw an internship when I was applying that looked perfect but when I took a closer look I realized they wanted an unpaid intern for 40 hours a week,” said Ramirez Rojas, who’s focusing her career toward mental health and hopes to work as a therapist in the future. “I thought that was insane.”

Ramirez Rojas’s experience is not unique. Women are consistently overrepresented in unpaid internships, data show. A recent study of students attending four-year colleges and universities in 2022 found that two-thirds of the graduating male respondents received paid internships compared to less than half of women, despite women representing 70% of the 2,140 seniors surveyed. The research, conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, is in line with other findings from previous years, suggesting that undergraduate work experiences might set the stage for pay inequality between men and women all along the course of their careers. read more

By MATT OTT (AP Business Writer)

Contract negotiations between UPS and the union representing 340,000 of the company’s workers broke down early Wednesday with each side blaming the other for walking away from talks.

The Teamsters have imposed several deadlines for United Parcel Service negotiators to make their “last, best and final” offer to its unionized workers in recent days. Union officials said Wednesday that UPS “walked away from the bargaining table after presenting an unacceptable offer,” specifically with regard to the economic package.

UPS told a different story. The package delivery company said it was the Teamsters who abandoned negotiations, “despite UPS’s historic offer that builds on our industry-leading pay.”

“We have not walked away, and the union has a responsibility to remain at the table,” the Atlanta company said in a prepared statement.

Whichever the case, talks are at a stalemate with the end of the contract — midnight on July 31 — rapidly approaching. Teamster-represented UPS workers voted for a strike authorization last month and union chief Sean O’Brien said last week that a strike was imminent. read more

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Professional organizers might define household clutter as a pile of unmade decisions. Money clutter is much the same.

Those credit cards you no longer use but haven’t closed? That’s money clutter. So is the retirement account you left behind three jobs ago and the financial paperwork you keep but no longer need. Money clutter also can include broken systems that should be mended, such as a bill payment routine that leads to overdrafts or late fees.

You can simplify your financial life by dealing with those long-delayed decisions now and streamlining how you manage your money going forward. Here are five tasks to consider.

1. Consolidate accounts

The more financial accounts you have to monitor, the more stress you’re likely to feel, says Chicago financial planner Sheila Padden, president of the Alliance of Comprehensive Planners. It’s too easy to lose track of an account, miss a due date or fail to notice a fraudulent transaction. read more