Things To Do In SW Florida

By KEN SWEET, Associated Press Banking Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The lights are on at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau across the street from the White House, and employees still get paid. But, in practice, the bureau has been mostly inoperable for nearly six months. CFPB employees say they essentially spend the workday sitting on their hands, forbidden from doing any work by directive from the White House.

The bureau is supposed to be helping oversee the nation’s banks and financial services companies and taking enforcement action in case of wrongdoing. Instead, the situation is Kafkaesque: the main function seems to be undoing the rulemaking and law enforcement work that was done under previous administrations, including in President Donald Trump’s first term.

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By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

The U.S. government said Monday it is placing a 17% duty on most fresh Mexican tomatoes after negotiations ended without an agreement to avert the tariff.

Proponents said the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure that produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico currently supplies around 70% of the U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange.

But opponents, including U.S. companies that grow tomatoes in Mexico, said the tariff will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for U.S. buyers.

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A new federal lawsuit asserts that state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s ability to divert claims disputes to state arbitrators is unconstitutional and must be stopped.

The complaint, filed on July 10 in U.S. District Court in Miami, seeks to prohibit the so-called insurer of last resort from enforcing a binding arbitration clause that the complaint says violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

In 2022, Citizens obtained approval from the Office of Insurance Regulation, and later from the Florida Legislature, to add a provision to all of its new and renewing policies allowing either Citizens or policyholders to move any claims disputes away from court and into binding arbitration.

Since 2024, more than 1,300 disputes have been submitted to the state Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), which employs administrative law judges who preside over the cases, the division’s website shows.

But attorneys for plaintiffs say that it’s nearly always Citizens that refers disputes to arbitration, and a budget request approved last December by the company’s board of governors shows that Citizens plans to spend up to $19.3 million to have DOAH settle 320 cases a month through 2027. read more

By DAVID A. LIEB

Millions of people receive a federal tax deduction for the interest they pay on home loans. Under President Donald Trump’s new tax-cut law, many people for the first time also could claim a tax deduction for interest on their vehicle loans.

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The new tax break will be available even to people who don’t itemize deductions. But there are some caveats that could limit its reach. The vehicles must be new, not used. They must be assembled in the U.S. And the loans must be issued no sooner than this year, to list just a few qualifications. read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Starbucks is requiring some remote workers to return to its headquarters and increasing the number of days that corporate employees are required to work in an office.

In a letter to employees posted on Monday, Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said corporate employees would need to be in the office four days a week starting in early October instead of three days a week.

The Seattle-based company said that all corporate “people leaders” must be based in either Seattle or Toronto within 12 months. That is a change from February, when it required vice presidents to relocate to Seattle or Toronto.

Starbucks said individual employees working under those leaders would not be asked to relocate. But the company said all hiring for future roles and lateral moves will require employees to be based in Seattle or Toronto.

“We are reestablishing our in-office culture because we do our best work when we’re together. We share ideas more effectively, creatively solve hard problems, and move much faster,” Niccol wrote in the letter. read more