Things To Do In SW Florida

After years of staying mostly quiet about a cancer-linked chemical in county drinking water wells, Seminole officials have launched an aggressive effort to get the polluters to clean up what they say is rapidly expanding contamination.

Lawyers hired by the county say the concentration of 1,4-dioxane in the underground water supply —while currently posing no threat to residents — will grow to dangerously high levels in coming years as a toxic plume originating from a defunct telecommunications plant continues its spread west of I-4 into the northwest side of the county. This will come as Seminole’s population and demands for water will grow.

That’s according to a legal petition filed this month in the wake of a state Department of Environmental Protection report in February that for the first time definitively laid the blame for the contamination on General Dynamics, Siemens and MONI Holdings, owners and former operators of the factory site off Rinehart Road.

Seminole agrees with the DEP’s general findings, which are based on extensive chemical fingerprinting of wells tapping the Floridan Aquifer.  However, the county says the state report — done in coordination with the Florida Geological Survey — does not go far enough in mandating that the global companies pay to clean up the mess on Seminole’s side. read more

Sheryl Rowling of Morningstar

Beyond the emotional strain of a “gray divorce,” managing your finances is critical.

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The first step is hiring an experienced divorce attorney. Although it might be tempting to avoid legal fees, going without professional guidance could cost you more in the long run. Additionally, understanding the key financial and tax issues that come with gray divorce is essential.

1) How to budget after divorce

The cash flow you had while you were married supported one household. After a divorce, that available income stream will need to fund two households. At best, you can expect your income to be cut in half. read more

As political tensions continue to run high, predictions that Canadian travelers would shun Central Florida are becoming a reality, with hotel bookings down and airlines scaling back flights in response to lower demand.

Sandra Pappas, who owns a Disney-focused travel agency in Canada, said she started noticing the downturn in February. That’s when President Donald Trump unleashed threats to impose sweeping tariffs and make the nation the 51st state.

“Unfortunately, there has been a huge drop-off, more for future travel,” said Pappas, who runs Click the Mouse. “It’s quieter than we’ve ever seen, except for COVID.”

She estimated requests for travel quotes to Orlando’s theme parks are down more than 50%. To adapt, her business is pivoting to other Disney-themed vacations, such as Disneyland Paris and Disney cruises departing from Vancouver.

The impact could be considerable. About 3.3 million Canadians visited Florida in 2024, making them the top source of international tourists and about 2% of total travelers, according to state tourism numbers. read more

By NG HAN GUAN

YIWU, China (AP) — The trade war between the world’s two largest economies is escalating as China on Friday slapped a 125% tariff on U.S. goods in response to President Donald Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese products.

Caught in the crosshairs are businesses that are part of the more than $582.4 billion trade between the countries, with Chinese exporters making up the bulk of that exchange.

Here’s what some of them had to say. Most of them spoke in the eastern city of Yiwu, known as home to the world’s largest wholesale market:

Jiang Jiayu, owner of Yiwu Jiayu Festive Supplies Co.

American customers would normally be placing their Christmas orders at this time of year, she said, but right now, there is no sign of them. U.S. customers make up about 10% of Jiang’s business. She said she didn’t understand the purpose of Trump’s tariffs.

“Can the U.S. produce what China, or Yiwu is producing now? Ordinary people are the ones who will get hurt the most by the tariffs,” she said. “I don’t think he can continue his behavior for long.” read more

By BERNARD CONDON and STAN CHOE, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — The upheaval in stocks has been grabbing all the headlines, but there is a bigger problem looming in another corner of the financial markets that rarely gets headlines: Investors are dumping U.S. government bonds.

Normally, investors rush into Treasurys at a whiff of economic chaos but now they are selling them as not even the lure of higher interest payments on the bonds is getting them to buy. The freak development has experts worried that big banks, funds and traders are losing faith in America as a stable, predictable, good place to store their money.

“The fear is the U.S. is losing its standing as the safe haven,” said George Cipolloni, a fund manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management. “Our bond market is the biggest and most stable in the world, but when you add instability, bad things can happen.”

That could be bad news for taxpayers paying interest on the ballooning U.S. debt, consumers taking out mortgages or car loans — and for President Donald Trump, who had hoped his tariff pause earlier this week would restore confidence in the markets. read more