Things To Do In SW Florida

NASA will spend 2026 shooting for the moon, with its ambitious plans marking the first time humans will fly out of low-Earth orbit since 1972.

The planned Artemis II launch is the highlight of what will be a busy year on the Space Coast, which just came off a record 109 launches at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The mission aims to fly from KSC as early as Feb. 5 and no later than April, sending its crew of four on a 10-day trip to ensure their ride, the Orion spacecraft, can support human spaceflight.

“We’re going to the moon. It has been an amazing journey the last two and a half years, and we really see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said NASA astronaut and mission commander Reid Wiseman. “We just do not anchor on dates. We are going to launch when this vehicle is ready, when this team is ready, and we are going to go execute this mission to the best of our abilities.”

The crew’s mission is to fly around, but not land on, the moon to pave the way for a future Artemis III mission that looks to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17. read more

AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini offer new ways to plan your 2026 financial goals. But how can you leverage them without compromising your privacy?

With a NerdWallet survey finding that more than 2 in 5 Americans (43%) say they’ve used AI for aspects of their personal financial planning, that’s an increasingly relevant question.

Here’s how to get the most out of AI tools.

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Experiment with prompts

Help the chatbot help you. Give it some background about your current situation so it can offer customized advice, suggests Sierra Adare-Tasiwoopa api, an instructional technologist at Nevada State University. read more

Santa Claus may have gone into hibernation this week, but holiday cheer extends through the end of the year and beyond at many theme parks and attractions. Here’s a last call holiday list with a few major 2026 end dates, too. They are arranged chronologically for your clip-and-save convenience (Kids, ask your nana or maybe Mrs. Claus).

• Candlelight Processional and the rest of the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays conclude Dec. 30. The final celebrity narrator of the year is Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), who appears Monday and Tuesday evenings. (Santa Goofy remains at Odyssey through Dec. 30, too). More info: disneyworld.com/candlelight

• Holidays at Legoland Florida end Dec. 31. Elements include a gigantic Lego Christmas tree, Lego Holiday minifigure crew and other entertainment. More info: legoland.com/florida

• Universal Orlando’s holiday celebration concludes Jan. 4. That includes the holiday parade in the streets of Universal Studios, Grinchmas activities at Islands of Adventure, and the Hogwarts projection show in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. More info: universalorlando.com/holidays read more

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks slipped in quiet trading on Wall Street Monday to kick off another holiday-shortened week.

The losses have little impact on the broader annual gains for major indexes as they close out their final days of the year. There are two trading days left before the year ends. Markets in the U.S. will be closed Thursday for New Year’s Day.

The S&P 500 fell 24.20 points, or 0.3%, to 6,905.74. The benchmark index is still up more than 17% for the year and it remains on track for its eighth monthly gain in a row.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 249.04 points, or 0.5%, to 48,461.93. The Nasdaq composite fell 118.75 points, or 0.5%, to 23,474.35.

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Struggling to set 2026 financial goals? Get an AI assist

It’s a date: When Orlando theme parks wrap up holiday celebrations

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