Things To Do In SW Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would sign a bill into law to prohibit doing exactly what his administration had proposed last year: building golf courses, hotels and other destructive amenities on state park land.

His signature would represent another step in an extraordinary — and rare — reversal of course for DeSantis that came after a tsunami of pressure exerted by politicians and the public against the plans, which were first revealed by the Tampa Bay Times before being released and promoted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

In the face of that overwhelming backlash, DeSantis shelved the designs and said, contrary to former environmental employees who worked on the plans, that he had nothing to do with their creation.

DeSantis was asked by a Times reporter Wednesday if he’d sign the bill following a roundtable event in Tampa. He settled the months of speculation and politicking in a single word, replying “Yes.” He did not elaborate.

Eric Draper, who served as the former director of Florida’s state parks under DeSantis, said the governor’s comments are “a big relief.” read more

The year’s first moon landing was a big success. The second not so much. Now a third commercial lunar lander has entered orbit around the moon ahead of its chance for glory next month.

Japanese company ispace’s Hakuto-R lander Resilience looks to touch lunar dirt following the landings of American companies Firefly Aerospace with its Blue Ghost lander and Intuitive Machines with its lander named Athena.

The Tokyo-based private company announced Resilience had successfully entered lunar orbit late Tuesday. A landing attempt is planned for no earlier than June 5.

“I am very proud of the crew for successfully completing the most critical maneuver and entering lunar orbit,” said ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada in a press release. “We will continue to proceed with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing.”

Blue Ghost and Athena flew as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, with Blue Ghost delivering the best success to date with its March landing. The Athena lander suffered a more difficult landing just days later and that mission was declared over soon after touchdown. read more

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The more President Donald Trump talks about his efforts to reach deals with America’s trading partners, the more confusing the tariff picture gets. His team seems good with that, saying Trump is using “strategic uncertainty” to his advantage.

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Trump says the United States does not have to sign any agreements, and that it could sign 25 of them right now. He says he is looking for fair deals on all sides, and that he does not care about other countries’ markets. He says his team can sit down to negotiate the terms of a deal, and that he might just impose a set of tariffs on his own. read more

When I had the opportunity to share money tips with my son’s kindergarten class, I settled on three main lessons. I figured I would pick some recurring themes from the personal finance topics I usually write about for adults — saving money, categorizing expenses and setting goals — and give them a kid-friendly spin.

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What I didn’t realize is that the class also had a lesson in store for me.

Here are the tips I shared and the one I learned.

Save more than you earn

As a kid, if you get an allowance or host a lemonade stand, it might be tempting to spend everything you earn on a new toy or something else you want. But saving some money for the future can be helpful, because then you’ll have it later if you think of something you want even more. read more