Things To Do In SW Florida

Osceola County’s semiconductor manufacturing hub NeoCity received a $15 million award from the National Science Foundation on Monday, bringing its total to more than a half-billion dollars in funding over the last 18 months.

The award comes from the NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines program, which was funded by the CHIPS and Science Act and aims to establish technology hubs across the country. The award of $15 million across two years is for a coalition that includes Osceola County, the nano-electronics design firm imec, the Orlando Economic Partnership and others.

NeoCity, the county’s vehicle to diversify its economy of agriculture and tourism, continues to seek tenants for its over 500-acre technology campus. Currently, the campus is home to BRIDG, a nonprofit research and development company, which focuses on the semiconductor industry, and SkyWater Technology, the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based semiconductor foundry.

The $15 million award follows closely NeoCity’s latest award from the Department of Defense. In November, the DOD awarded Osceola County and its partners $120 million. read more

TALLAHASSEE — With rocket launches in 2024 expected to top a record set last year, Space Florida is seeking more money from lawmakers and backing an expansion of spaceport designations.

Florida hosted 72 orbital launches last year. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, who chairs the agency’s board of directors, said launches from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center represented 68% of the orbital flights from the U.S. in 2023. The state anticipates about 120 launches this year.

“So, a huge uptick in cadence,” Nunez said during a Space Florida board meeting last week. The Sunday night launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center was the sixth from Florida this year.

The attention on increased numbers of launches — there were 57 in 2022, 31 in 2021, 30 in 2020 and 16 in 2019 — comes as Space Florida has requested its first bump in state funding in about a decade. It is seeking a $5 million increase to its $12.5 million operating budget.

Space Florida President and CEO Rob Long said during the Thursday board meeting that the aerospace sector in Florida has grown 40% in the past decade. He said the funding request is mainly to increase staff, “to help us with the flow of deals that are constantly coming in.” read more

Pinball is a nostalgic arcade game played all over the world. But the standard design of most machines makes it difficult, if not impossible, for people with mobility issues to get in on the fun.

A group of Colorado entrepreneurs wants to change that.

Six friends have invented a controller that can be hooked into a pinball machine to make the game more accessible to people with disabilities, injuries or other physical challenges. Their small hexagonal-shaped device features three round buttons on one side, which a player can use to launch the ball and control the flippers, instead of using the buttons on the machine itself.

Their startup, called Inclusive GameWerks, has produced around 50 controllers since launching roughly a year ago. They’re in use at a handful of Colorado breweries, as well as at several medical facilities, including Children’s Hospital Colorado; some pinball enthusiasts even use them on their personal machines at home.

The six founders — Zack Christofferson, Alysha Christofferson, Joe Haenn, Erin Jacobsen, Dean Edmundson and Cheryl Edmundson — all have ties to Colorado’s craft beer industry, so it’s only fitting that they came up with the idea over beers. read more

By Kate Ashford | NerdWallet

A growing number of older adults are in debt in retirement, according to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve. Among people ages 65 to 74, the share with debt rose to 65% in 2022, up from 50% in 1989 (the first time this question was asked). For people 75 and over, 53% report holding debt in 2022 versus 21% in 1989. This is a big challenge, since people’s income in retirement is traditionally limited. But there are strategies for tackling your balance sheet later in life.

Take note: Not all debt is bad debt. “It’s not necessarily the worst thing to have,” says Jack Heintzelman, a certified financial planner in Boston. If it’s debt that earns you a tax deduction, he says, like a mortgage, it may be fine to hang onto it while you give your money elsewhere a chance to grow.

But if debt is straining your retirement budget or you’re paying a high interest rate, a pay-it-off plan is key. Here are some methods that can help.

Pick up side work

The traditional retirement model — work for 40 years and then quit forever — may not be the most appropriate approach anymore. Supplementing retirement savings and Social Security benefits with part-time earnings can make your money go further and help you pay off remaining debt. read more

Q. My husband passed away in January, two weeks away from his 73rd birthday. I am 65, disabled and receiving disability payments from Social Security. My husband had a 401(k) plan in which I was the only beneficiary. My questions follow:

1. Can I roll over the 401(k) to my IRA account? If I can, when must I take Required Minimum Distributions?

2. Will I owe any federal inheritance taxes?

3. Am I entitled to any additional Social Security benefits?

A. Regarding the 401(k), you can roll over the account to your IRA account. Because your husband had not reached his required beginning date, after you roll over the account to your IRA, you will not have any required minimum distributions until you reach age 75.

You will not owe any federal estate taxes. A surviving spouse is generally not required to pay any federal estate taxes.

Regarding Social Security benefits, because you are older than 60, you are entitled to a survivor benefit of almost 100% of the Social Security benefit your husband was receiving. If you wait until your full retirement age of 67, you would be entitled to 100% of the benefit he was receiving. read more