Things To Do In SW Florida

By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit slipped modestly in 2025, a year in which President Donald Trump upended global commerce by slapping double digit tariffs on imports from most countries. But the gap in the trade of goods such as machinery and aircraft — the main focus of Trump’s protectionist policies — hit a record last year despite sweeping import taxes.

Overall, the gap the between the goods and services the U.S. sells other countries and what it buys from them narrowed to just over $901 billion, from $904 billion in 2024, but it was still the third-highest on record, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Exports rose 6% last year, and imports rose nearly 5%.

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By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Thursday, while oil prices rose with worries about a potential conflict between the United States and Iran.

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The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 267 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%.

Booking Holdings dropped 6.1% for one of the market’s sharper losses, even though the company behind the Booking.com, Priceline and OpenTable brands reported a profit for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Federal Reserve officials want to see inflation fall further before they would support additional interest rate cuts this year, particularly if the job market continues to stabilize, minutes of last month’s meeting show.

The “vast majority” of the 19 participants on the Fed’s rate-setting committee said that there were signs the job market has stabilized, after the unemployment rate rose in late 2025, the minutes said. And most of the officials agreed that the Fed’s key rate is close to a level that neither stimulates nor restrains the economy. The minutes were released Wednesday, three weeks after the central bank’s Jan. 27-28 meeting.

Fed officials at that meeting agreed to keep its key rate steady at about 3.6%, after cutting it three times late last year. Two officials — Fed governors Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller — voted instead to cut another quarter-point.

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Grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups accuses Hershey of cutting corners read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

The grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has lashed out at The Hershey Co., accusing the candy company of hurting the Reese’s brand by shifting to cheaper ingredients in many products.

Hershey acknowledges some recipe changes but said Wednesday that it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices also have led Hershey and other manufacturers to experiment with using less chocolate in recent years.

Brad Reese, 70, said in a Feb. 14 letter to Hershey’s corporate brand manager that for multiple Reese’s products, the company replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut crème.

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SeaWorld Orlando has added five new concert dates to its Seven Seas Food Festival, filling in the previous TBAs with Elvis Crespo, Jesse McCartney, Molly Hatchet, Rend Collective and Great White & Slaughter.

The performances are staged at the theme park’s open-air Bayside Stadium, and they are included with regular SeaWorld admission. Reserved seating is available for an upcharge.

The festival, center on 29 food and beverage marketplaces, is held on select days through May 17.

The original list was released in January. The updated schedule of remaining festival acts includes:

• Feb. 20: Jefferson Starship
• Feb. 21: Omar Courtz
• Feb. 22: Pop 2000 Tour: Hosted by Chris Kirkpatrick of ‘N Sync, featuring O-Town, Ryan Cabrera and LFO
• Feb. 27: Ying Yang Twins & Paul Wall
• Feb. 28: Gene Simmons
• March 6: Smash Mouth
• March 7: Maddie & Tae
• March 8: I Love The 90s: Tone Loc, C+C Music Factory, Young MC, Color Me Badd
• March 14: Connor Price
• March 15: Tiffany, Bow Wow Wow and Animotion
• March 21:  All-4-One
• March 22: The Beach Boys
• March 27: Soulja Boy and Baby Bash
• March 28: Fitz and the Tantrums
• April 4: Brett Young
• April 10: Chris Janson
• April 11: Great White and Slaughter
• April 12: The Fray
• April 17: Uncle Kracker
• April 18: Trace Adkins
• April 25: Jesse McCartney
• April 26: Boyz II Men
• May 1: Molly Hatchet
• May 2: Rend Collective
• May 9: Grupo Manía
• May 16: Proyecto Uno
• May 17: Elvis Crespo read more