Things To Do In SW Florida

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s crucial monthly jobs report.

But with the government shut down, no information was released Friday about hiring in September.

The interruption in the data has occurred at a particularly uncertain time, when policymakers at the Federal Reserve and Wall Street investors would need more data on the economy, rather than less. Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, threatening to drag down the broader economy. Yet at the same time, consumers — particularly higher-income earners — are still spending and some businesses are ramping up investments in data centers developing artificial intelligence models. Whether that is enough to revive hiring remains to be seen.

It’s the first time since a government shutdown in 2013 that the jobs report has been delayed. During the 2018-2019 partial government closure, the Labor Department was one of several agencies that remained open because Congress had agreed to fund them. September’s jobs figures will be released eventually, once the shutdown ends. read more

By Jeff Ostrowski, Bankrate.com

Can you pay off your mortgage early?

The short answer is yes — you can pay off your mortgage early. This is referred to as prepaying a mortgage.

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Most mortgages don’t come with a prepayment penalty, so you can make extra payments or pay off the loan in full at any time without incurring a fee.

If you’re not sure whether your loan includes this fee — again, most don’t — refer to page one of your closing disclosure, or look for a section in your mortgage note related to the “right to prepay.” Alternatively, you can ask your mortgage servicer. read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks ticked higher on Friday, sending Wall Street to more records.

The S&P 500 edged up by less than 0.1% to close out its seventh winning week in the last nine, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 238 points, or 0.5%. Both added to their all-time highs set the day before. The Nasdaq composite lost an early gain and slipped 0.3% from its own record.

Usually, the first Friday of each month has Wall Street transfixed on the monthly jobs update that the U.S. government publishes. It shows how many jobs employers created and destroyed, while also updating the unemployment rate.

Such data is particularly important now, given how much on Wall Street is riding on the expectation that the job market is continuing to slow by enough to get the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates. But the shutdown of the U.S. government, now in its third day, is delaying the release.

So far, the U.S. stock market has looked past such delays, including Thursday’s scheduled report on unemployment claims. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, MATT O’BRIEN and KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writers

Apple and Google blocked downloads of phone apps that flag sightings of U.S. immigration agents, just hours after the Trump administration demanded that one particularly popular iPhone app be taken down.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said such tracking puts Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at risk. But users and developers of the apps say it’s their First Amendment right to capture what ICE is doing in their neighborhoods — and maintain that most users turn to these platforms in an effort to protect their own safety as President Donald Trump steps up aggressive immigration enforcement across the country.

ICEBlock, the most widely used of the ICE-tracking apps in Apple’s app store, is among the apps that have been taken down. Bondi said her office reached out to Apple on Thursday “demanding that they remove ICEBlock” and claiming that it “is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.” read more

Would folks like to design a skateboard, bang a drum, pretend to be a weather forecaster or virtually explore Mars? Or would they rather study up on geometric properties, fractions, statistics, variables and algebra?

The newly installed “2theXtreme” exhibit at Orlando Science Center takes those first activities and then craftily spotlights mathematical properties.

“They do a really good job of giving you an experience and then showing you how math plays a part in this,” said Jeff Stanford, vice president of marketing for the science center.

“It’s showing the hidden math in everything,” said Zachary Mailhot, science program specialist.

Among the first stops seen in “2theXtreme” is a snowboard experience called Boardercross, where visitors stand on a pivoting board and use angles and torque to fly over on-screen obstacles in a race.

“It’s active, it’s colorful, it’s hands-on,” Stanford said. “There are opportunities for all ages, parents and kids doing things together, kids on their own, teens, adults.” read more