Things To Do In SW Florida

By Kemberley Washington, CPA, Bankrate.com

From extending the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017 to ending taxes on tips, overtime pay, Social Security benefits and more, President Donald Trump has never made a secret of his goal to make sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code.

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During his first stint in office, Trump massively overhauled tax law by passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017. Now, many of those tax provisions are set to expire at the end of 2025, leaving an opportunity for the president to extend, and potentially expand, his tax policy agenda. read more

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — It took only seconds for the judges on a New York appeals court to realize that the man addressing them from a video screen — a person about to present an argument in a lawsuit — not only had no law degree, but didn’t exist at all.

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The latest bizarre chapter in the awkward arrival of artificial intelligence in the legal world unfolded March 26 under the stained-glass dome of New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division’s First Judicial Department, where a panel of judges was set to hear from Jerome Dewald, a plaintiff in an employment dispute. read more

By JACK BROOK

POINTE À LA HACHE, La. (AP) — Oil company Chevron must pay at least $740 million to restore damage it caused to southeast Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, a jury ruled on Friday following a landmark trial more than a decade in the making.

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The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast. The verdict – which Chevron says it will appeal – could set a precedent leaving other oil and gas firms on the hook for billions of dollars in damages tied to land loss and environmental degradation. read more

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — As stock markets tumble in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, Republicans in Congress were watching with unease and talking of clawing back their power to levy tariffs — but almost none seemed ready to turn their words into action.

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The Republican president is upending longstanding GOP principles like support for free trade, yet despite clear misgivings and a Constitutional mandate to decide tariffs, most lawmakers were not ready to cross Trump. Instead, they were focusing all their attention on advancing the president’s ” big, beautiful bill ” of tax breaks and spending cuts, even as tariffs — in essence, import taxes — threatened to raise consumer prices across the board and push the global economy into a recession. read more

By Erin El Issa, NerdWallet

Attending a wedding down the street can be costly — purchasing gifts and formalwear, hiring a babysitter and taking off work can all add up. But when the wedding is out of town and requires a flight or hotel stay, it can be downright expensive to celebrate someone else’s nuptials.

Nearly 1 in 10 Americans (9%) are going to a wedding this summer that requires at least one night away from home, according to a new NerdWallet survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll. These wedding guests estimate they’ll spend $1,989, on average, for the associated lodging and transportation costs.

Is traveling for someone else’s wedding worth the cost? That answer depends on your finances and personal priorities.

Deciding whether to travel for other people’s weddings

Most Americans say they’d travel out of town for a wedding (87%), but their top considerations for deciding whether or not to do so vary. Nearly half of Americans (46%) say a top consideration is travel costs, and 42% consider the location of the wedding.

Even if the funds are available and the locale is desirable, work and child care responsibilities could make leaving town for a wedding difficult, if not impossible. You might also just decide it’s not worth spending the time and money to celebrate this particular union in person. But if you want to RSVP “Yes”, here are a few ways to make it more cost-effective. read more