Things To Do In SW Florida

For decades, Winter Park has celebrated the winter holidays with popular events and decorations on Park Avenue, all of them branded by the broad “holiday” moniker.

Last year, the local group that received city funds to decorate for the holidays changed the name to “Christmas on Park.” This year, city officials, at the urging of some residents, want the more inclusive “holiday” name restored given that events begin in mid-November, run through New Year’s Day and acknowledge other holidays such as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

Now, the toney city faces accusations that it’s attacking Christmas — and the name of the 2025 celebration remains uncertain.

Carina Sexton, the executive director of Park Avenue District, the nonprofit agency which supports downtown businesses, wouldn’t say this week what it’s calling festivities this year.

Sexton could not be reached by phone but when asked about the name by email Thursday her response didn’t address the issue. In a follow-up email Friday morning she said: “We have no further comments at this time.” read more

By Chloe Beaver, The Dallas Morning News

It’s a buyer’s market for anyone looking to charge up a used electric vehicle.

Amid record-high inventory, more than half of used EVs are listed under $30,000, according to recent data from Recurrent.

New electric car sales are spiking ahead of the expected death of the EV tax credit on Sept. 30, as buyers front-load EV purchases before tax incentives come to an end. After that, policy will shift its focus to incentivizing gas-powered vehicles, offering loan interest deductions up to $10,000 on qualifying new purchases.

The recent surge in car sales “are unquestionably inflated by shoppers accelerating their electric vehicle purchases to take advantage of Federal EV credits — but the sales pace for non-EVs remains robust, especially given the modest discounts available on those vehicles,” Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power, wrote in August.

With policy changes afoot, the stakes have been raised for EV makers — particularly for industry leader Tesla, which is struggling to reverse slumping sales. For prospective owners, however, now might be the best time to buy an EV — or to resell one. read more

By DIDI TANG and PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign investment into the U.S. has run smack into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.

Hardly a week after immigration authorities raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained more than 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump’s invitation to pour money into the United States.

The detained South Koreans were released Thursday and most were flown home.

If the U.S. can’t promptly issue visas to the technicians and other skilled workers needed to launch plants, then “establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies,” Lee said Thursday. “They will wonder whether they should even do it.” read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is coasting toward the finish of its best week in the last five on Friday as U.S. stocks hang near their record levels.

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged from the all-time high it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 204 points, or 0.4%, as of 1:01 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher. Both likewise set records the day before.

Stocks have rallied with expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its meeting next week. Such a move would give the economy a kickstart, and mortgage rates have already dropped in anticipation of it.

Expectations for a cut have built as recent reports suggested the U.S. job market could hit the precise balance that Wall Street has been betting on: slowing enough to convince the Fed that it needs help, but not so weak that it will mean a recession, all while inflation doesn’t take off.

A lot is riding on whether that bet proves correct. Stocks have already soared on it. And if the Fed ends up cutting fewer times than traders expect, including three this year, the market could retreat in disappointment. That’s even if everything else goes right and the economy does not fall into a recession and President Donald Trump’s tariffs don’t send inflation much higher. read more

Christine Benz of Morningstar

There are definitely things I get wrong in my investment portfolio.

I hold too much company stock and cash, and I don’t have the recommended allowance of bonds for a person my age. My record on curbing taxes hasn’t been perfect. I’ve held tax-inefficient funds in a taxable account and have been slow to move money into IRAs each year.

But despite these missteps, my husband and I have managed to do just fine from a big-picture standpoint. Here’s what has worked for us.

We maintained a high savings rate

Luck played a starring role in our ability to save: My husband and I had the good fortune of emerging from college debt-free, which enabled us to buy a house and start saving for retirement early in our careers.

We’ve also both been employed for three-plus decades, meaning that we’ve been able to sock away a good share of our incomes and benefit from employer-matching contributions, tax-deferred growth, and a long runway of investment compounding. We don’t have a budget, but automating our investment contributions has helped us be disciplined about saving. read more