Things To Do In SW Florida

Eric McCullough spent months looking for an affordable place of his own but then moved into an apartment with his daughter, his only option to make ends meet.

McCullough, 59, lives on disability insurance and said he could not find apartments or houses for rent that he could afford on those payments alone.

“The magic question, to me, is what do people consider affordable?” he asked. “Who do they make these affordable houses for when the people who need it most can’t afford them?”

Nearly 900,000 Floridians struggle with the same issue, and many end up spending too much on rent, meaning more than 30% of their monthly income goes to housing costs, according to a recent report from the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies. And the latest studies indicate that, despite extensive efforts from the public and nonprofit sectors, the number of affordable units in Central Florida has been falling.

Paying too much in rent limits what they can spend on food, health care and other bills and foils plans to save for a down payment on a house, the center said. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

NEW YORK (AP) — There’s a lot of information (and money) on the table during tax season. That also makes it a prime time for scams.

TALLAHASSEE — In a case stemming from a fiery, fatal crash after an 18-year-old motorist drove 116 mph, a federal appeals court Friday sided with Tesla, Inc. in a dispute about the design of the car’s battery system.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district-court decision in the lawsuit filed by the father of Barrett Riley, who lost control of the 2014 Tesla Model S in May 2018 on Florida A1A in Fort Lauderdale. After crashing, the car caught fire, with Riley and a passenger, Edgar Monserratt Martinez, dying.

The lawsuit, in part, centered on a decision in March 2018 by Riley’s parents to have Tesla mechanics activate a speed “limiter” that would have prevented the car from going more than 85 mph, according to Friday’s ruling. But the younger Riley returned to the mechanic a few weeks later and had the limiter removed.

A jury in 2022 found Tesla negligent on that issue and awarded $10.5 million in damages. But under what is known as “comparative fault,” it said Tesla was only 1 percent responsible — and should pay $105,000. read more

Disney Cruise Line’s new ship Disney Destiny hit a construction milestone floating for the first time ahead of delivery this year.

The third Wish-class vessel is a sister ship to both Disney Wish and Disney Treasure, which both sail out of Port Canaveral. Disney Destiny, though, will make its home farther south at DCL’s second Florida home of Port Everglades.

The ship under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany underwent a “float up” last week, according to an update from the Disney Parks Blog.

The dry dock where the ship had been getting assembled was filled with water from the Ems River.

“The ship was then guided to another position in the hall, where the team will begin testing different systems onboard, including the main engines,” the post reads.

While floating, work will continue on the ship’s interior spaces, which include a dinner theater space themed to “The Lion King,” an atrium with a statue from “Black Panther,” a sweets shop themed to “The Incredibles” and an adults-only lounge that pays homage to “101 Dalmatians” villain Cruella de Vil.” read more

Filing an income tax return is few people’s idea of fun — but it’s worse when you can’t file the return because somebody using your identity already did.

That increasingly common type of fraud can be prevented by using an Identity Protection PIN, available free to most U.S. taxpayers through the Internal Revenue Service.

The IP PIN is mandatory for filing of taxes by people who have been victims of certain types of identity fraud, but it can also provide security as an optional measure.

The IRS’s online Q&A walks a taxpayer through the process. Here are some of the main elements:

How does the PIN work?

Every year, the taxpayer is given a new 6-digit code that allows filing of income taxes under their identity. They’ll be prompted by their tax software or electronic form to enter it. For those filing by paper, the 1040 form has a space for the PIN near the signature line.

How do I request one?

First, you need an online account with the IRS. If you already have an account with ID.me  — the identity verification service used by many federal and state agencies — you don’t have to set up a new one. It requires a driver’s license or other government ID card; the other information you need to provide is data that the federal government most likely already has. read more