Things To Do In SW Florida

By Holden Lewis | NerdWallet

You feel demoralized about the housing market, right? Hold on. After a grim 2022 and 2023, it looks like 2024 is shaping up to be less hostile to home buyers.

Here’s a summary of what’s been rotten in the state of housing: Home prices skyrocketed from the middle of 2020 to mid-2022. Then, mortgage rates took off, and the 30-year fixed-rate home loan crested at almost 8% in October 2023. Home buyers struggled with affordability as high interest rates eroded their borrowing power. They had few homes to choose from, anyway.

Meanwhile, rising rents made it harder to save up a down payment — or simply to find an affordable place to rent. The typical tenant’s annual rent went up 6% in 2022, and another 8% in 2023, after rising less than 4% each year in the previous 14 years.

It’s been a rough few years. But 2024 might see improvement in mortgage rates, home prices, and availability of both new and used homes for sale. Buying a home won’t be easy in 2024, but it might be less frustrating than in 2022 and 2023. read more

While SpaceX has continued its breakneck pace of launching from the Space Coast and California, small rocket company Rocket Lab continues to solidify its role as the second busiest launch service provider, knocking out its second mission of the year, the latest sending a commercial satellite into orbit to inspect a piece of space junk.

Dubbed “On Closer Inspection,” the Electron rocket took off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:52 a.m. local time carrying the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) satellite for Astroscale Japan.

Astroscale’s goal is to figure out how to remove space junk from orbit, but this first mission will simply send the satellite on a three- to six-month mission to get up close with an old Japanese rocket stage that launched in 2009 but remains in low-Earth orbit.

“Today’s successful launch of ADRAS-J marks another milestone toward our efforts to grow the on-orbit servicing sector while creating a sustainable space environment,” said Astroscale founder & CEO Nobu Okada in a press release. read more

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I’m having some trouble with a travel insurance claim for a cruise I purchased through my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

Last summer, I booked a Viking Cruise with my father and wife. At the airport, my father suffered a medical emergency and had to be rushed to the hospital. We missed our cruise.

Since I had purchased the cruise using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which covers cancellations when you’re traveling, I filed a claim for the value of the cruise and plane tickets.

I submitted all of the documents, but Chase is taking its time with the claim. It’s coming back and requesting information it already has, such as a travel ID number.

I have provided them with all this information. If they had read the claim, they would have clearly seen they already had what they were asking for. I had to upload the same Viking Cancellation Statement four times before someone at Chase finally accepted it.

I want my claim approved and the full $19,148 paid, as per the Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits. Can you help me? read more

NeoCity touts its advanced semiconductor efforts as the future of Osceola County’s economy and part of the push for technological advancement across the U.S. But after a string of recent accomplishments, it’s clearer than ever that the project’s promise is still years from being realized.

Since late 2022, NeoCity — a collection of multiple, fledgling tech firms — has laid claim to an impressive half-billion dollars in federal funding. It’s created nearly 100 jobs and is on pace for 200+ within its first five years of operation. Still, a full-scale chip manufacturing effort, and the thousands or even tens of thousands of jobs that would bring, is not yet on the horizon.

“Building a new industry cluster takes a long time and we’re really thrilled with the last year and half with all these investments,” said Tim Giuliani, CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership. “There’s always a risk of failure but … as this much money is being poured into one location from a variety of sources your chances of success just continue to go up.” read more

By DIDI TANG (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers are raising alarms about what they see as America’s failure to compete with China in biotechnology, warning of the risks to U.S. national security and commercial interests. But as the two countries’ rivalry expands into the biotech industry, some say that shutting out Chinese companies would only hurt the U.S.

Biotechnology promises to revolutionize everyday life, with scientists and researchers using it to make rapid advances in medical treatment, genetic engineering in agriculture and novel biomaterials. Because of its potential, it has caught the attention of both the Chinese and U.S. governments.

Bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to bar “foreign adversary biotech companies of concern” from doing business with federally funded medical providers. The bills name four Chinese-owned companies.

The Chinese Embassy said those behind the bills have an “ideological bias” and seek to suppress Chinese companies “under false pretexts.” It demanded that Chinese companies be given “open, just, and non-discriminatory treatment.” read more