Things To Do In SW Florida

By Melissa Lambarena, NerdWallet

If you pay your credit card balance in full each month, then your card’s ongoing interest rate (aka its annual percentage rate, or APR) is irrelevant, since you’ll never owe any interest.

But if you tend to carry a balance from month to month, knowing where your interest rate stands is key to saving money, especially if you’re revolving several balances.

Credit card APRs can change periodically based on a variety of factors, such as the general state of the economy and your own creditworthiness, so it’s not always easy to keep up with. (A credit card issuer has the right to change a card’s interest rate on future purchases, but it must generally notify you 45 days in advance.)

But here’s why it’s helpful to be aware of the figure and how to use it to your advantage.

You can use it to recognize better options

Understanding your credit card’s interest rate can help you in spotting better ones. Locate your credit card’s APR on the card’s statement or by logging into the account online or in the app. read more

Blue Man Group’s new Orlando show will debut April 3, the company announced Tuesday.

Tickets are now on sale for the production, which will take place in a to-be-built theater near the base of the Orlando Eye at Icon Park on International Drive. The space will seat 578 audience members, and it will be the first Blue Man home built from the ground up.

Show ticket prices range between $59 and $104 per person, depending on seating level. There are discounts for children between ages 3 and 9 in some seating categories. The schedule has matinee and evening performances for three or four days of the week through 2025, with single shows on Sundays and Tuesdays. The show is dark on most Mondays.

Blue Man performances typically include nontraditional instruments and percussion, electronic music with speechless, comical, blue-skinned bald performers and the occasional marshmallow. The ensemble started in New York City in the 1980s and now has continuing shows in Las Vegas, Chicago, Boston, London, Berlin and Shanghai as well as international tours. read more

Among the monsters unleashed within the Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment attraction at Epic Universe is the fearsome Wolf Man. As guests try to escape the catacombs of Frankenstein Manor, they’ll come within inches of his razor-sharp teeth and jagged claws. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)

Universal Orlando Resort is sharing a first, up-close glimpse at some of the Universal Monsters that will come to life like never before in the all-new “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment” attraction at Dark Universe – one of the five immersive worlds coming to Universal Epic Universe in 2025. Among the monsters unleashed within the attraction is the fearsome Wolf Man. As guests try to escape the catacombs of Frankenstein Manor, they’ll come within inches of his razor-sharp teeth and jagged claws. (Universal Orlando)

Universal Orlando Resort is sharing a first, up-close glimpse at some of the Universal Monsters that will come to life like never before in the all-new “Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment” attraction at Dark Universe – one of the five immersive worlds coming to Universal Epic Universe in 2025. Created by science and feared by most, Frankenstein’s Monster walks tall at nine feet and weighs over 800 pounds. Guests will first encounter this figure within the queue of the attraction – where he will actually walk within Dr. Victoria Frankenstein’s lab during the preshow. (Universal Orlando) read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Power & Light customers likely will face increased monthly bills in 2025 after the utility Tuesday requested approval to collect nearly $1.2 billion to cover costs of restoring power after hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton and to replenish a storm reserve fund.

FPL wants to recover an estimated $1.179 billion over a 12-month period starting in January, with much of the cost stemming from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Oct. 9 as a Category 3 storm in Sarasota County before crossing the state, according to a filing at the Florida Public Service Commission.

The filing said Milton affected electric service for 2 million FPL customers, and the utility used 20,000 workers from as far away as Canada to restore power.

The Public Service Commission would need to approve FPL recovering the money, but utilities have regularly received such approvals in the past. In addition, storm-cost recovery was contemplated in a broader 2021 rate agreement for FPL.

Storm costs are essentially a temporary add-on to customer bills. Utilities typically use as a benchmark residential customers who consume 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month — though actual electricity use varies widely. read more

FORT LAUDERDALE — The Seminole Tribe of Florida and a group of businesses that operate racetracks and poker rooms have settled a yearslong legal dispute over whether the Seminole Tribe should have exclusive rights to online sports betting in Florida, the tribe announced Monday.

The Seminole Tribe, along with West Flagler Associates and the Bonita-Fort Myers Corp., have entered into a comprehensive agreement where the companies have agreed to end litigation against the tribe’s gaming operations and instead will begin a new partnership to offer Jai Alai waging on the tribe’s Hard Rock Bet app.

“Rather than engaging in years of additional litigation, this agreement will allow the parties to work together to promote Jai Alai, which has played an important role in Florida’s gaming landscape for nearly 100 years,” Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen said in a statement.

The companies that had been suing the Seminole Tribe took a blow in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to an agreement that gave the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to handle online sports betting in Florida. The nation’s highest court denied a petition from opponents of the compact, which promises to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars for the tribe and the state. In March, the Florida Supreme Court had ruled that the companies had filed the wrong type of petition to challenge the 2021 compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. read more