Things To Do In SW Florida

By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWallet

Students and families finally have an idea of what to expect from the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the form that unlocks federal students loans, grants, work-study and scholarships for millions of Americans each year.

The Education Department committed to fully launching the FAFSA by Dec. 1 — but select groups of students will be able to access and submit the form as early as Oct. 1. The early access is part of a beta testing process designed by the Education Department to identify and fix FAFSA issues before the form’s public debut. (In a typical FAFSA year, the form opens to all students on Oct. 1.)

Financial aid experts are optimistic that the phased rollout will prevent the technical glitches and delays that plagued the form’s 2024-25 rendition.

“Hopefully, a lot of the FAFSA completion bugs that applicants found when the 2024-25 FAFSA rolled out late in December last year will already have been caught and resolved before December 1,” says Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. read more

Karen Bennett | (TNS) Bankrate.com

Many smartphone users rely on digital subscriptions as a source for entertainment, physical fitness and connecting with others. You can sign up for most streaming services, exercise clubs or dating apps in a matter of minutes — or seconds — and they conveniently charge you monthly or annually.

But those automatic payments can add up to a hefty bill. The average consumer spends $219 per month on subscription services, according to a 2022 survey by C+R Research, a Chicago-based market research firm.

Though each subscription probably seemed like a good idea when you signed up, you might now be paying for some that you no longer use. You could review your credit card statement and cancel them one by one — but a time-saving alternative is a subscription-trimming app that helps manage them. These subscription management tools can help you save money and time.

Rocket Money

Rocket Money is an app that monitors your credit card or bank statement, and it allows you to view and manage your subscriptions from a single dashboard. You can choose to cancel subscriptions on your own, or Rocket Money can do it for you if you’re signed up for its paid service. read more

An Orange County restaurant is the only one in Central Florida that was shut down following health inspections the week of Aug. 11-17, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Orange County

Cici’s Takeout Restaurant at 5112 North Lane in Orlando shut down on Aug. 13. Inspectors found 16 violations, two of which were a high priority for rodent activity. Officials conducted another inspection the same day. They found 14 violations, but none were a high priority. The restaurant requires a follow-up inspection but has reopened.

Complaints and warnings

Orange County had the top spot for most warnings and other complaints in Central Florida, with 48.

Volusia, Brevard, and Lake had 15, Osceola had 11 and Seminole had 10.