Things To Do In SW Florida

TALLAHASSEE — As he calls for increasing the homestead exemption or possibly even eliminating property taxes, Gov. Ron DeSantis this week suggested such a move could be balanced by targeting spending by visitors to Florida.

“Tax the tourists. Tax some of the foreigners,” DeSantis said Tuesday, responding to a reporter’s question during an appearance in Palm Bay.

“You have the ability in some of those areas that draw a lot of people to shift the tax burden away from your own people to people that are not residents of Florida,” DeSantis continued. “I think that would be a better tax system than constantly having people pay higher property taxes.”

Skeptics of whacking property taxes have argued that the state would have to boost sales taxes to make up for lost revenue.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Daniel Perez came out Wednesday with a proposal to decrease the state sales-tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent. Perez, R-Miami, told reporters such a reduction would include a decrease in the state’s commercial lease tax and that he remains open to asking voters in 2026 to cut property taxes. read more

Five years ago, tourism officials were wrapping their heads around a new world of theme park reservations, temperature checks at turnstiles, amped-up sanitization procedures and the very concept of social distance as the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly transformed their business.

Some procedures faded with the virus, and others evolved into practices that continue within the travel industry.

In 2020 and 2021, the Orlando Sentinel asked five tourism experts what trends to anticipate. Now, in 2025, they talk about the pandemic’s lasting effects as well as new trends in international travel, room service and rooftop bars.

Reservation station

Date-specific reservations for theme parks didn’t last in most places, but the technology used has accelerated related developments, said Curtis Parks, managing partner at Jacksonville-based Icon Experiences.

“From that, spawns all these new options that you can do with your ticketing systems, from dynamic pricing to bundling your hotel and your park tickets and food, and passholders can now add friends to their ticket purchases, and online tickets being sent to digital wallets,” he said. read more

By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, a sign that the labor market remains healthy as companies continue to retain their employees.

Jobless claim filings ticked down by 1,000 to 224,000 for the week ending March 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s mostly in line with the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

It remains unclear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though the Labor Department’s February jobs report showed that the federal government shed 10,000 jobs. That’s the most since June of 2022.

Economists don’t expect the federal workforce layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report, which comes out April 4.

Those layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through DOGE, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk. read more

Four Central Florida restaurants and a food truck shut down the week of March 16-22, according to data from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Orange

Mr. Quick Restaurant at 5615 W. Colonial Dr. in Orlando shut down on March 18. Inspectors found 15 violations, four of which were high priorities. Those violations included employees walking through sewage water to use the wait station, French toast mix made with raw eggs over a container of pickles, and salmon patties held at the wrong temperatures. A second inspection occurred the same day. Inspectors found 10 violations, but none was a high priority. The restaurant met inspection standards.

Hot Reggae Dogs 2, a food truck, at 705 W. Colonial Dr. in Orlando shut down on March 19. Inspectors found seven violations, three of which were high priorities. Those violations included roach activity, food at the wrong temperatures and raw eggs stored over mayonnaise. As of the publication of this article, the food truck has remained closed. read more

Q: We, along with others in our new construction condo, were all told there would be a dog-walk area. There was none when we moved, and there are no plans for one. The dog-walk area was not specified in our purchase agreement, but we were all informed verbally of the same information.  Our building states it is dog-friendly in the contract.   Do we have any legal recourse?  — Catherine

A: While you do have some options, they are limited because the developer’s promise that a dog-walk area was not included in the written agreement.

The “statute of frauds” is a legal doctrine designed to protect individuals from dishonest behavior by requiring certain agreements, including those related to the purchase of real estate, to be in writing.

Worse yet, almost all real estate contracts will have an “integration clause” that explicitly states that each party’s obligations are confined to those documented in the agreement and that it supersedes all prior agreements leading up to the final, signed contract. read more