Things To Do In SW Florida

Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest utility, is seeking a nearly $9 billion hike to customers’ base rates over four years, a sum that affordability advocates said represents the largest rate hike request in U.S. history.

Base rates are a major component of electricity bills that also include other charges for things like hurricane repairs and fuel. Above that $9 billion, the company would also be able to add more hikes for solar and battery facilities it constructs during the period.

As part of the request, which was filed to state regulators Friday, the company is seeking a rate of shareholder profit with a midpoint of 11.9% — well above the national average. It’s also higher than the profit rate sought by Tampa Electric last year, which the Legislature-appointed public advocate called “egregious” and “crushing” to customers.

“Rather than finding a fair balance between the needs of customers and their own operations, FPL has chosen to prioritize profit margins,” said Zayne Smith, senior director of advocacy at AARP Florida, which represents residents over 50. “This decision threatens to place undue financial strain on households already grappling with rising living costs.” read more

By Andrew Dehan, Bankrate.com

If you qualify for a no-down-payment mortgage, you could get a loan for the full purchase price of a home. Here’s what you need to know.

A no-down-payment mortgage doesn’t require you to make a down payment at closing. With rising home prices, it’s more and more difficult for many buyers to save up for the upfront costs of homeownership. No-down-payment loans eliminate one of the biggest upfront costs.

One-fifth (20%) of aspiring homeowners believe they won’t ever be able to save enough to buy a home, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Down Payment Survey.

The two most prominent no-down-payment mortgages are VA and USDA loans.

VA loans

If you’re a military service member, veteran or surviving spouse, you might qualify for a VA loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Unlike a conventional loan, VA loans don’t typically require a down payment, and they don’t charge mortgage insurance. However, you will pay a funding fee, either at closing or by financing it into your mortgage. This fee ranges from 1.25% to 3.3% of the loan amount, and it varies depending on the down payment amount and whether you’ve used a VA loan before. Those who don’t make a down payment, as well as repeat VA loan applicants, pay higher funding fees. read more

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Unwanted phone calls are out of control. Whether it’s a robocall trying to sell you something or spam calls from scammers trying to rip you off, it’s enough to make you want to stop answering your phone. So what can you do to stop them?

The scourge of unwanted phone calls has been branded an epidemic by consumer groups, while the Federal Communications Commission says it’s the top consumer complaint. The calls are a nuisance to many ordinary people, some of whom have complained to The Associated Press.

“I need help on getting spam calls to stop,” one reader said in an email. She’s getting up to 14 calls a day despite the countermeasures she’s employed.

As the name implies, robocalls are automated calls to deliver recorded messages to a large number of phones. A robocall purely to deliver a message or collect a debt is allowed under U.S. regulations, but the Federal Trade Commission says robocalls with a recorded voice trying to sell you something are illegal unless you’ve given explicit written permission to receive them. Many robocalls are also probably scams, the FTC warns. read more

Many Florida condo owners are angry about cost increases they didn’t expect and how those increases are eroding their buying power.

Many are frustrated by decisions of their management companies and governing boards, and want proof that their funds are being spent correctly.

More than 75 condo unit owners conveyed two emotions — anger and frustration — to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, which in early February asked the public to describe how they were being affected by rising condo maintenance costs.

Some owners are angry that monthly maintenance fees have doubled in recent years, thanks to increases in insurance costs and new laws enacted after the Surfside tower collapse in 2021 requiring condo associations to fully fund their reserves.

Relief could come soon, however, as legislators debate bills aimed at easing the burden in the upcoming legislative session that begins March 4.

One proposal, by Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat representing central Broward County, and Rep. Mitch Rosenwald, a Democrat representing eastern Broward in the House, would provide one-time $2,500 grants to help low-income senior condo owners facing assessments to fund their condominiums’ reserves. read more

Over two decades ago Jack Facente moved to his rural home on five acres in St. Cloud because he needed space and privacy for his milking business. Look at members of this herd and you’ll see why — they’ve got fangs.

In a corner of his backyard in 2008 he created a state-of-the-art facility for 140 serpents, mostly coral snakes, housing them in grey plastic cubbies stacked nine high. Facente, 75, extracts their poison, then sells it to create antivenom to treat snake-bite victims.

“Who wants hundreds of venomous snakes next door to them?” Facente asked. “That’s the biggest reason I came out here in the middle of nowhere so I wouldn’t have to deal with all that.”

But two planned road projects threaten to upend his business and the lifestyles of many of his neighbors — underscoring the price of progress in a fast-growing county where many longtime residents nevertheless cling to the way they’ve lived for decades.

The projects — one a 15- to 20-mile tolled highway by the Central Florida Expressway Authority known as the Northeast Connector and the other a roughly six-mile road by Osceola County called the Sunbridge Parkway Extension — seek to connect critical thoroughfares in an area repeatedly named Florida’s fastest-growing by state officials and census data. read more