Things To Do In SW Florida

By Lauren Schwahn, NerdWallet

Black Friday is fast approaching, and shoppers are gearing up. The National Retail Federation expects more than 183 million people to shop over the weekend spanning Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday this year. But fraudsters are preparing for Black Friday too, looking for opportunities to steal your money or personal information.

Before you dive into holiday shopping, learn how to spot common scams and protect yourself.

1. Phony order and delivery notifications

Fraudsters commonly send phishing emails and text messages impersonating delivery services or popular retailers like Amazon. These messages, which typically claim there’s an issue with processing or delivering the order, may request payment information or include malicious links.

A message might say something like, “Part of your address is missing. Please click on this link to complete the address,” says Raj Dasgupta, senior director of global advisory at BioCatch, a fraud prevention firm.

If you get a similar message when you’re not expecting a package, that should raise doubts, Dasgupta says. But even if you have ordered something, don’t overlook warning signs. read more

Health care

Shahidul Mannan was appointed chief data and AI officer at Orlando Health.

Real estate

Mark Hillery has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Southeast Orlando, as a sales advisor.

Felix Lopez has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Southwest Orlando, as a sales advisor.

Justin Leon has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Seminole, as a sales advisor.

Jennifer Matacale has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Port Orange, as a sales advisor.

Todd Matacale has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Port Orange, as a sales advisor.

Karol Merriam has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Winter Park, as a sales advisor.

Jon Messeroff has joined Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, Winter Park, as a sales advisor.

Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com.

The Wilf family, who own Orlando City SC and Orlando Pride, want to transform Osceola Heritage Park with an expanded headquarters and training facility for both teams and a soccer academy as part of a nearly $1 billion mixed-use redevelopment.

The proposed redevelopment, dubbed Project Next, would also deliver a mix of apartments, hotels, offices, restaurants, and retail space, resulting in millions of dollars in annual tax revenue for Osceola County and producing hundreds of jobs. A team led by Mark, Leonard, and Zygi Wilf submitted a bid in response to a request from the county, which owns Osceola Heritage Park. The price is to be negotiated.

The Wilfs’ interest in developing the long-under-utilized park has been known for weeks, but details obtained by GrowthSpotter this week show the scope of their ambition. The two professional soccer teams are riding high, with the Pride having just won their first league championship and City SC heading to their first conference final this weekend. read more

By ROB GILLIES

TORONTO (AP) — Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the United States should President-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, a senior official said Wednesday.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across southern and northern borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.

A Canadian government official said Canada is preparing for every eventuality and has started thinking about what items to target with tariffs in retaliation. The official stressed no decision has been made. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum. read more

Most Americans have jobs that withhold payroll taxes (aka FICA taxes) that contribute to the Social Security system, and when they reach retirement age they are able to claim a Social Security benefit based on their earnings. Other people work at jobs that are not within the Social Security system, meaning no Social Security taxes are paid that accrue to a future benefit. But some people spend enough time in both kinds of job that when they retire, they are due both a pension and a Social Security benefit.

I hear from readers who fall into that latter category. They write saying that they believe that the provisions of Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) reduce Social Security benefits and are unfair both to them and their beneficiaries. Members of Congress, for many years, have proposed legislation that would repeal WEP and GPO. In an environment in which Social Security is facing shortfalls, the proposed legislation has not been approved by Congress. read more