Things To Do In SW Florida

By Bernadette Joy, Bankrate.com

“Renting is throwing money away.” Has anyone ever told you this? Well, I’m here to say: It’s bad financial advice.

Related Articles

• 
  Samsung unveils its new line of foldable devices at Unpacked

• 
  Merck spends $10 billion for Verona, gaining access to its COPD medication

• 
  Fewer Canadians are searching for homes in Orlando, other Florida cities, data shows

• 
  Customers seeking deals gave Amazon’s Prime Day and competing sales a solid start

• 
  Universal’s Woodbury set for IAAPA Expo session

My husband and I have owned four different homes in three cities since 2010. If I wanted to, I could buy a house in cash today. But for the last three years, I’ve chosen to rent instead — and my net worth has grown by leaps and bounds because of that choice, not in spite of it.

This is always a hot topic, especially because renting challenges the traditional rhetoric that homeownership is the ultimate path to wealth. And I get it — owning a home is part of the “American Dream.” But if it doesn’t lead to financial freedom, homeownership may be more like a nightmare. read more

Mark Woodbury, chairman and CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences, will be the speaker at IAAPA Expo’s leadership breakfast in November.

Among Woodbury’s recent achievements is the opening of Epic Universe, the first theme park to debut in the Orlando area in more than 25 years.  He has worked for the company for more than 30 years, becoming CEO in 2021.  His purview extends to Universal attractions worldwide, including parks in California, Japan and Beijing.  Universal Destinations & Experiences also is developing Universal Horror Unleashed, a year-round horror attraction that’s set to open in August; Universal Kids, a small-scale theme park for families with young children that’s going up near Dallas; and a Universal park in England.

Universal Horror Unleashed picks Chicago for 2nd site

“It’s just a transformational moment for us,” Woodbury said in an interview on CNBC on the day before Epic opened to the public in May.

“It’s an exciting process, a fascinating journey, from a blank piece of paper when you start imagining what you could create,” he said. read more

The Associated Press

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company said Wednesday that it’s taking down “inappropriate posts” made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok was developed by Musk’s xAI and pitched as alternative to “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Musk said Friday that Grok has been improved significantly, and users “should notice a difference.”

Since then, Grok has shared several antisemitic posts, including the trope that Jews run Hollywood, and denied that such a stance could be described as Nazism.

“Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion,” Grok said.

It also appeared to praise Hitler, according to screenshots of posts that have now apparently been deleted.

After making one of the posts, Grok walked back the comments, saying it was “an unacceptable error from an earlier model iteration, swiftly deleted” and that it condemned “Nazism and Hitler unequivocally — his actions were genocidal horrors.” read more

By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50% on Wednesday for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the U.S. leader’s use of tariffs.

Related Articles

• 
  A surprise IRS move on political endorsements leaves faith leaders and legal experts divided

• 
  FACT FOCUS: Trump misrepresents facts about wind power during Cabinet meeting

• 
  US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza

• 
  Trump administration resumes sending some weapons to Ukraine after Pentagon pause

• 
  Republicans urge US universities to cut ties with Chinese-backed scholarship program

Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020. read more

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his advisers promised a lightning round of global trade negotiations with dozens of countries back in April.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro predicted “90 deals in 90 days.’’ Administration officials declared that other countries were desperate to make concessions to avoid the massive import taxes – tariffs — that Trump was threatening to plaster on their products starting July 9.

But the 90 days have come and gone. And the tally of trade deals stands at two – one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam. Trump has also announced the framework for a deal with China, the details of which remain fuzzy.

Trump has now extended the deadline for negotiations to Aug. 1 and tinkered with his threatened tariffs, leaving the global trading system pretty much where it stood three months ago — in a state of limbo as businesses delay decisions on investments, contracts and hiring because they don’t know what the rules will be. read more