Things To Do In SW Florida

Ted Rossman | (TNS) Bankrate.com

There are plenty of conversational landmines to avoid around the holiday dinner table. Money leads the way, according to a recent Bankrate survey. We found that only 38% of U.S. adults are comfortable discussing their bank account balances with family members and close friends. Fewer than half (47%) are comfortable discussing their love lives, and just 52% are comfortable talking about their credit card debt.

In comparison, Americans are a lot more amenable to chatting about potentially sensitive issues such as their weight (71% are comfortable), their political views (78%), their religious views (81%) and their health (also 81%).

I’m surprised at how many people view money as an off-limits conversation topic. Only 14% of U.S. adults believe that money is a normal discussion topic at holiday gatherings with friends and family members. It still comes up, though. For example:

—19% have given financial assistance to a friend or family member at a holiday gathering. 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.

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

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