Things To Do In SW Florida

By HUIZHONG WU, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — China did not back down Monday in a back-and-forth with the U.S. over trade, calling for U.S. President Donald Trump to withdraw his latest threat of a 100% tariff and other export control measures announced over the weekend.

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In the latest escalation of the trade war between the two nations, Trump issued the tariff threat on all Chinese imports into the U.S. after China placed stricter restrictions Thursday on rare earths, a vital resource used in electronics. read more

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners last week approved a residential project that would help redesign a deadly stretch of road in unincorporated Clermont.

Lakeshore Preserve is a proposed 149-home subdivision designated for 94.56 acres south of Lakeshore Drive and west of Autumn Avenue. The project’s site plan calls for lots ranging in size from 65 feet to 120 feet wide, including six lots on Lake Nellie.

Given its proximity to Lakeshore Drive and CR 561, significant safety improvements were included with the potential development of Lakeshore Preserve, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

“The county had been looking to develop to improve that intersection with a roundabout, but lacked the funding,” said Bill Ray, a consultant to Winter Park developer Integrative Development Group.  “We’re coming forward to assist with the funding of that, to get these transportation improvements completed concurrent with construction of the project and not at some ambiguous time in the future when the county gets the funding to move forward.” read more

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — iPhone users have a new tool to combat the scourge of nuisance phone calls: a virtual gatekeeper that can screen incoming calls from unknown numbers.

It’s among the bevy of new features that Apple rolled out with last month’s release of iOS 26. The screening feature has been getting attention because of the ever-increasing amount of robocalls and spam calls that leave many phone users feeling harassed.

Here’s a run-through of the new function:

How to activate call screening

First, you’ll need to update your iPhone’s operating system to iOS 26, which is available to the iPhone 11 and newer models.

To switch call screening on, go into Settings–Apps—Phone. Scroll down and you’ll find a new option: Screen Unknown Callers.

You’ll be presented with three choices. The Never option lets any unknown call ring through, while Silence sends all unidentified numbers directly to voicemail. What you want to tap is the middle option: Ask Reason for Calling.

If the option isn’t there, try restarting your phone. read more

By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Ever wonder what your dog is trying to say? Well, a University of Texas at Arlington researcher is aiming to turn barks, howls and whimpers of man’s best friend into intelligible speech — a kind of Rosetta Stone of woof.

Computer scientist Kenny Zhu has built what he says is the world’s largest video and audio catalog of canine vocalizations. In papers published this year, Zhu and his colleagues at the university report potential phonemes — the smallest units of sound — and word-like patterns that could one day be turned into full sentences understandable to humans.

“The ultimate goal is to make a translator where you can talk freely with your pet,” said Zhu, a professor of computer science and engineering at UT Arlington. “We can already do instantaneous communication between human languages. Perhaps in the future we can do the same with animals.”

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Gatorland gets spookier: Halloween with ‘Swamp Ghost’ haunt, creepy capybara read more

By Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF Health News

Stacey Knoll thought the court summons she received was a scam. She didn’t remember getting any medical bills from Montrose Regional Health, a nonprofit hospital, after a 2020 emergency room visit.

So she was shocked when, three years after the trip to the hospital, her employer received court orders requiring it to start funneling a chunk of her paychecks to a debt collector for an unpaid $881 medical bill — which had grown to $1,155.26 from interest and court fees.

The timing was terrible. After leaving a bad marriage and staying in a shelter, she had just gotten full custody of her three children, steady housing in Montrose, Colorado, and a job at a gas station.

“And that’s when I got that garnishment from the court,” she said. “It was really scary. I’d never been on my own or raised kids on my own.”

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One Tech Tip: Annoyed by junk calls to your iPhone? Try the new iOS 26 call screen feature

From barks to words: Researchers aim to translate dog sounds with AI read more