Things To Do In SW Florida

By LORNE COOK and DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade action with new duties on U.S. industrial and farm products, responding within hours to the Trump administration’s increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%.

The world’s biggest trading bloc was expecting the U.S. tariffs and prepared in advance, but the measures still place great strain on already tense transatlantic relations. Only last month, Washington warned Europe that it would have to take care of its own security in the future.

The EU measures will cover goods from the United States worth some 26 billion euros ($28 billion), and not just steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans will also be hit, as they were during President Donald Trump’s first term.

The EU duties aim for pressure points in the U.S. while minimizing additional damage to Europe. EU officials have made clear that the tariffs — taxes on imports — are aimed at products made in Republican-held states, such as beef and poultry from Kansas and Nebraska and wood products from Alabama and Georgia. read more

The astronauts left behind on the International Space Station when NASA sent the Boeing Starliner home are expected to return to Earth in the coming days.

Wednesday’s 7:48 p.m. departure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft marks the final portion of a long odyssey for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who docked at the space station last June for a planned eight-day stay, and have been there ever since. They could be home as early as Sunday, but NASA won’t announce target times until Crew-10 arrives to the station.

The pair were stranded by safety concerns with the Starliner, which returned to Earth without crew. Then their extended stay became a focus for President Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, leading to accelerated timing for the Crew-10 mission.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecast a better than 95% chance for good conditions at the launch site Wednesday. The first-stage booster is scheduled for a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral — meaning parts of Central Florida could be in store for sonic booms. read more

By PAUL WISEMAN and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is once again lashing out at three of his biggest irritants: foreign steel, foreign aluminum and Canada.

By Eliza Haverstock, NerdWallet

The U.S. Education Department took down the online and paper applications for all income-driven repayment (IDR) plans on Feb. 21, following the latest legal ruling in a lawsuit against the new IDR plan, Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE).

By TERRY CHEA and AMY TAXIN

NEWMAN, Calif. (AP) — California almond growers are used to dealing with swings in the weather and water supply. Now they must also grapple with the uncertainty of trade battles as the Trump administration levies tariffs on goods from several countries and weighs adding more to the list.