Things To Do In SW Florida

Seminole County will soon add five cents to the price of every gallon of gas sold in the county, a move made to help fill a multi-million dollar hole in the county’s budget and to pay for the increasing costs of mass transportation.

Commissioners also agreed on Tuesday to hike Seminole’s public service tax on water and electric bills in the unincorporated areas from the current 4% to 10% to help pay for the sheriff’s office, fire department and parks.

Per state law, the tax increases required a supermajority vote — or at least four of the five commissioners voting in favor. Commissioner Bob Dallari was the only commissioner to vote against both increases.

The tax hikes on gas and utility bills come just a month after commissioners decided to raise the countywide general property tax rate for the first time in 16 years from $4.90 per $1,000 of a property’s taxable value to nearly $5.38.

Commissioner Amy Lockhart joined other commissioners in saying the increases are not pleasant but necessary because of the increasing costs of providing services to residents. She added each commissioner is a resident who also will have to pay the higher levies. read more

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

President Donald Trump is taking a new look at reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug in a move that could nudge the federal government closer to an approach already embraced in many states.

Trump said Monday that he hopes to decide in the coming weeks about whether to support changes to the way marijuana is regulated. The renewed focus on marijuana comes more than a year after former President Joe Biden’s administration formally proposed reclassifying marijuana. No decision was made before Biden left office.

Meanwhile, many states have already gone further than the federal government by legalizing the recreational use of marijuana for adults or allowing it for medical purposes.

What’s the federal policy on marijuana?

Possessing marijuana remains a federal crime punishable by fines and prison time. Selling or cultivating marijuana is a more serious offense, punishable by prison sentences of five years to life, depending on the quantity of the drug.

The Justice Department last year proposed to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD, to a less dangerous Schedule III substance, which includes such things as ketamine and some anabolic steroids. But that switch involved a lengthy bureaucratic process. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Just five months after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Spirit Airlines is warning about its future ability to stay in business.

Spirit Aviation Holdings, the budget carrier’s parent company, says it has “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern over the next year — which is accounting-speak for running out of money. In a quarterly report issued Monday, Spirit pointed to “adverse market conditions” that it’s continued to face after a recent restructuring and other efforts to revive its business.

That includes weak demand for domestic leisure travel, which Spirit said persisted in the second quarter of its fiscal year — among other challenges and “uncertainties in its business operations” that the Florida company expects to continue “for at least the remainder of 2025.”

Spirit’s shares tumbled nearly 40% by midday Tuesday, with the company’s stock trading at just over $2.20 as of around 1 p.m. ET. read more

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is flirting with its records on Tuesday after data suggested inflation across the country was a touch better last month than economists expected.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and was on track to top its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 434 points, or 1%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher and also heading toward a record.

Stocks got a lift from hopes that the better-than-expected inflation report will give the Federal Reserve leeway to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September.

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By LEANNE ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — Debra Taylor has had a busy year or so: She’s going through a divorce while in the process of retiring — and she’s moving to Portugal from Southern California with one of her daughters.

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After deciding her next home would be outside the U.S., she narrowed down her choices based on tax burdens (Spain was out with its wealth taxes), climate (no Costa Rica, too hot) and ease of travel within Europe, one of her favorite parts of the world. She then toured Portugal with a relocation company, Expatsi, and found her new home, Aveiro. It’s a striking city on the country’s west coast with lovely canals that earned it the nickname the Venice of Portugal. read more