Things To Do In SW Florida

A milestone countdown begins for Epic Universe this week. We’re 100 days away from the opening of Orlando’s first new theme park in a generation.

It’s a fine time to reboot and enroll in Epic 101, a course that reviews what we know and what we don’t know about Universal Orlando’s expansion, which Mark Woodbury, CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences, has referred to as “the most technologically advanced park we’ve ever done.”

The park was announced at Orange County Convention Center in 2019. Universal has shared details along the way about its rides, shows and hotels, but burning questions remain.

When and where

Epic Universe is under construction between Sand Lake Road and Universal Boulevard, just north of the convention center. That’s about 2.5 miles southeast of Universal Orlando’s existing theme parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, as well as Volcano Bay water park and Universal CityWalk. Epic is on “the other side” of Interstate 4.

Universal will run buses between its original parks and hotels and the Epic area. There will be open-air parking available near Epic for visitors only going to the new park. read more

The race among commercial companies to replace the International Space Station may have a frontrunner in the company Vast with a partnership with SpaceX — but a delay in development has pushed launch of its Haven-1 station from Florida into 2026.

But that still puts it at least one year ahead of its closest competitor.

The Long Beach, California-based company posted an update on progress made on its planned small space station — with a habitable area about the size of a moving truck — saying it now targets a launch from Space Coast atop a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than May 2026.

It also posted plans, though, to quickly follow up that launch with a crewed mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon with four astronauts on a two-week mission to Haven-1 by the end of June 2026.

“When we launched the Haven-1 program, we set a target of launching no earlier than August 2025, giving ourselves a two-year, three-month development window,” the company stated in its update. “With the completion of our primary structure qualification test and a fully assembled team, we now have greater clarity on our build and launch schedule. As a result, we are updating our timeline.” read more

Who knew? A lot of Floridians, it turns out, would like some free government money to harden their homes.

Since the state’s My Safe Florida Home grant program was revived in 2022, about 29,000 homeowners have received up to $10,000 each to strengthen or replace their roofs or to install impact-resistant doors, windows or storm shutters.

But the application portal has been closed since July 17 of last year, leaving about 45,000 applicants on a waiting list after undergoing free windstorm mitigation inspections.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking the state Legislature to fund grants to clear that waiting list so fresh applicants can line up this year.

DeSantis’ 2025-26 budget request seeks $590 million in additional funding for the popular program. If approved, it would be the largest single-year outlay since the program was revived. Of the total, $480 million would be earmarked for homeowners on the waiting list and another $109 million would fund grants for 10,000 new applicants.

An annual recurring outlay of about $100 million would fund about 10,000 new grants each year. read more

By DIDI TANG and HALELUYA HADERO

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has paused imposing tariffs on small-value packages arriving from China, apparently to give federal agencies time to sort out how to process millions of such shipments that have come through the U.S. border every day without paying taxes.

More than 90 people have been reported ill on board a Royal Caribbean ship sailing out of Tampa, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

An outbreak of an unknown illness with primary symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting has stricken 89 of 2,164 passengers as well as 2 of 910 crew on board the Radiance of the Seas, according to a report on the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program website.

The ship that departed the Port of Tampa on Feb. 1 is returning to the port Saturday morning to complete a seven-night Caribbean cruise.

The outbreak could be determined to be norovirus, a common gastrointestinal bug that the CDC tracks aboard cruise ships.

Norovirus has been blamed already in 2025 for outbreaks aboard Princess Cruises’ Coral Princess, the Viking Mars of Viking Ocean Cruises and Holland America Line’s Volendam.