Things To Do In SW Florida

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Gen Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year.

The e-commerce giant’s promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members starts at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days; the company launched the event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019.

Before wrapping up Prime Day 2025 early Friday, Amazon said it would have deals dropping as often as every 5 minutes during certain periods. Prime members ages 18-24, who pay $7.49 per month instead of the $14.99 that older customers not eligible for discounted rates pay for free shipping and other benefits, will receive 5% cash back on their purchases for a limited time.

Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of tariffs on Prime Day deals. The event is taking place two and a half months after an online news report sparked speculation that Amazon planned to display added tariff costs next to product prices on its website. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

A choppy day in the markets left major U.S. stock indexes little changed Tuesday as the Trump administration pressed its campaign to win more favorable trade deals with nations around the globe by leaning into tariffs on goods coming into the U.S.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% a day after posting its biggest loss since mid-June. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite eked out a gain of less than 0.1%, staying near its own record high.

The sluggish trading came as the market was coming off a broad sell-off following the Trump administration’s decision to impose new import tariffs set to go into effect next month on more than a dozen nations.

Still, the modest pullback in the markets is a sign that Wall Street may be betting that the U.S. and its trading partners may eventually negotiate deals that will reduce or eliminate the need for punishing tariffs, said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. read more

SeaWorld Orlando has revealed two of the five haunted houses slated for this year’s Howl-O-Scream event. One of them is new content, while the other is a returning theme. It’s also posted two returning scare zones.

The new house is called The Collector’s Curse, which involves an estate hosted by the title character. The Collector “lures guests with rare relics and ancient artifacts,” SeaWorld says. But there’s also “a twisted underworld of cursed creations and monstrous mutations.”

The returning house is Farm 51, which again features a rural home “with the terrifying aftermath of an extraterrestrial encounter.”

The returning scare zones identified so far are Blood Light District (keywords: seductive shadows, temptation, vampires) and Cannibal Harbor (decaying port, haunted docks, fishermen who hunt the living).  Howl-O-Scream will have six scare zones this year, and four of them will carry new themes, SeaWorld says. There will also be a pair of roaming hordes, five themed bars, live entertainment and “never-before-seen surprises,” according to the Howl-O-Scream website. read more

There’s a theatrical renaissance taking place in our theme parks, and I am here for it.

Hot on the heels of the new stage shows at Universal Epic Universe, Walt Disney World has raised the curtain on two new productions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios: “The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure” and “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After.”

Both put an array of theatrical arts on display — and let’s not underestimate the fact that for many children, this will be their first exposure to theater experiences.

“The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure” is a vastly expanded and improved version of the previous “Little Mermaid” show in that space. This feels like a true retelling, helped immensely by the simple change of introducing Prince Eric much earlier in the show. And, crucially, Eric is now portrayed by a speaking actor, so the character is far more fully realized.

The live performers are accentuated more: Ariel joins in “Under the Sea,” and a new “Kiss the Girl” scene features both Ariel and Eric. read more

By Brian Baker, CFA, Bankrate.com

Bitcoin mining is the process of creating new bitcoins by solving extremely complicated math problems that verify transactions in the currency. When a bitcoin is successfully mined, the miner receives a predetermined amount of Bitcoin.

Related Articles

• 
  What to know about a potential deal to keep TikTok running in US

• 
  Epic Universe fuels epic May for Orange tourist-tax collections

• 
  Deals made by Trump since pausing his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs remain sparse

• 
  ‘Go back to Haiti!’ Florida garbage company pays $1.4 million in racism lawsuit

• 
  Trump to put 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea, new import taxes on five other nations

Bitcoin is one of the most popular types of cryptocurrencies, which are digital mediums of exchange that exist solely online. Bitcoin runs on a decentralized computer network, or distributed ledger, that tracks transactions in the cryptocurrency. When computers on the network verify and process transactions, new bitcoins are created, or mined. These networked computers, or miners, process the transaction in exchange for a payment in Bitcoin. read more