Things To Do In SW Florida

Car insurance rates are falling in Florida, thanks to improved company profits and lower costs from reforms aimed at ending excessive litigation.

Dating to late 2024, the state’s five largest auto insurance groups have all asked Florida’s insurance regulators to approve rate reductions for their various lines of business, a review of rate filings by the South Florida Sun Sentinel shows.

Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis attributed the reductions — averaging 6.5% among the state’s five largest auto insurers — to the same reforms enacted in 2022 and 2023 that are credited with stabilizing home insurance rates in the state.

Among other changes, the reforms prevented windshield-replacement companies from requiring customers to sign over the benefits of their insurance claims. Insurers contended that contractors would use the signed-over benefits to sue insurers and collect legal fees that far exceeded the costs to replace broken windshields.

DeSantis vowed to keep the reforms in place amid efforts by some lawmakers to reinstate legal fees for plaintiffs who successfully challenge insurers’ initial claim settlement offers. read more

SeaWorld Orlando is introducing a new icon for its Halloween event.  Howl-O-Scream visitors will come face-to-face with Havoc,  which the theme park refers to as its “ambassador of darkness.”

The Havoc character looks the part: Charred skull, ember-inspired eyes, dressed in chains and tattered black coat, armed with a bloody machete and a motorcycle

“Havoc is the ringmaster of ruin and guests will feel his presence long before they see his smoldering silhouette,” a Howl-O-Scream news release said.  Havos previously was bound by the Sirens, the previous faces of the SeaWorld event.

Also new to the after-hours event, which runs on select evenings beteween Sept. 5 and Nov. 1, is a live show titled “Throttle,” in which Havoc and his “nightmare riders tear through portals,” the release said.  The “Monster Stomp” show and its Jack the Ripper-styled production also returns this season.

SeaWorld Orlando also revealed four new Howl-O-Scream scare zones. They’re named Trailer Park Tragedy (“territorial tenants”), Echoes of the Glass (“warped-mirror maze”), Woodrot Hallow (“trees week sap like blood”) and Ashes of the Forgotten (abandoned scrapyard). read more

By RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Susana Pacheco accepted a housekeeping job 16 years ago at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip, she believed it was a step toward stability for her and her 2-year-old daughter.

But the single mom found herself exhausted, falling behind on bills and without access to stable health insurance, caught in a cycle of low pay and little support. For years, she said, there was no safety net in sight — until now.

For 25 years, her employer, the Venetian, had resisted organizing efforts as one of the last holdouts on the Strip, locked in a prolonged standoff with the Culinary Workers Union. But a recent change in ownership opened the Venetian’s doors to union representation just as the Strip’s newest casino, the Fontainebleau, was also inking its first labor contract.

The historic deals finalized late last year mark a major turning point: For the first time in the Culinary Union’s 90-year history, all major casinos on the Strip are unionized. Backed by 60,000 members, most of them in Las Vegas, it is the largest labor union in Nevada. read more

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are recovering some of their sharp losses from last week, when worries about how President Donald Trump’s tariffs may be punishing the economy sent a shudder through Wall Street.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% in early trading to claw back roughly half of Friday’s drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 310 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher.

Wayfair helped lead the way with a 12.3% jump after the retailer of furniture and home decor said accelerating growth helped it make more in profit and revenue during the spring than analysts expected.

Tyson Foods also delivered a bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, and the company behind the Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farms brands climbed 3.8%.

They helped offset a 7.1% drop for On Semiconductor, which only matched analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. The company, which sells to the auto and industrial industries, said it’s beginning to see “signs of stabilization” across its customers. read more

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Saying “enough is enough,” thousands of workers at three Boeing manufacturing plants went on strike overnight less than a year after the company boosted wages to end a separate, 53-day strike by 33,000 aircraft workers.

On Monday, about 3,200 workers at Boeing facilities in St. Louis; St. Charles, Missouri; and Mascoutah, Illinois, voted to reject a modified four-year labor agreement with Boeing, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said.

Related Articles

The vast majority of US adults are stressed about grocery costs, an AP-NORC poll finds

Tesla awards CEO Musk millions in shares valued at about $29 billion

Today in History: August 4, LAPD officers sentenced in Rodney King case

Popular 1980s actor Loni Anderson of the hit TV series ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ has died

Texas Democrats arrive in Illinois to block vote back home on redrawn House maps sought by Trump read more