Things To Do In SW Florida

Gatorland is the national’s most popular roadside attraction, according to a new survey that weighs TripAdvisor reviews, Instagram posts and worldwide Google searches.

The Orlando animal attraction, operating since 1949, edged out Sun Studio of Memphis, Tennessee, in the rankings, which were released by Betway Casino, which analyzed the statistics for more than 80 roadside attractions in the United States.

Gatorland features hundreds of reptiles, as well as other animals, plus gator wrestling, a zip-line course that travels over the breeding marsh, an off-road attraction, old Florida charm and an iconic entrance that encourages visitors to walk through oversized alligator jaws.  The survey says Gatorland’s average TripAdvisor score was 4.4, the second-highest level in the final top 10, and it has been featured in 135,932 Instagram posts.

Four California attractions made the top 10 list, including Winchester Mystery House in San Jose; Glass Beach at Fort Bragg; Salvation Mountain, a folk-art installation; and the bright pink Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. The closest, in physical distance, to Orlando beyond Gatorland was Blowing Rock in North Carolina. read more

By Kate Ashford, NerdWallet

Have you ever felt stressed about your finances even though, objectively, you’re doing pretty well?

Money dysmorphia is a disconnect between how you feel about your finances and what the numbers actually say. It’s not about income — it’s about believing you’re not OK financially even when, realistically, you are.

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  Nvidia leads the US stock market higher

“I see folks with a lot of money who think they’re poor,” says Joy Slabaugh, a certified financial planner and financial therapist in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and founder of the Wealth Alignment Institute. “Legitimately, people with tens of millions of dollars who believe they’re poor.” read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market ticked higher on Wednesday, led by its most influential stock, Nvidia.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and pulled a bit closer to its all-time high set late last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 129 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.

Nvidia helped lift the market and climbed 1.6% after Meta Platforms announced a long-term partnership where it will use millions of chips and other equipment from Nvidia for its artificial-intelligence data centers.

“No one deploys AI at Meta’s scale,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said. Because his company is the most valuable on Wall Street, Nvidia’s stock was the single most powerful force pulling the S&P 500 higher.

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By KAITLYN HUAMANI and BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people’s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he’s received about being “authentic” and not “robotic.”

Zuckerberg’s testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.

As of early afternoon, Zuckerberg has not directly answered the central question of the case: whether Instagram is addictive. The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, asked if people tend to use something more if it’s addictive.

“I’m not sure what to say to that,” Zuckerberg said. “I don’t think that applies here.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, arrives in court to testify in a landmark social media case that seeks to hold tech companies responsible for harms to children, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, arrives in court to testify in a landmark social media case that seeks to hold tech companies responsible for harms to children, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)