Things To Do In SW Florida

Walt Disney World fans enthusiastically greeted the roll-out of a new nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom on Sunday. It’s the first regularly scheduled after-dark parade at the theme park in nearly a decade.

Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is now scheduled for two appearances nightly.

The parade is built to shine in the cloak of darkness, with an untold number of lighting effects. The floats strobe, flicker, dramatically change colors, reveal tucked-away details and spotlight an entourage of Disney film characters. It’s a mix of old-guard favorites — from the Blue Fairy to Mickey Mouse — and more modern releases such as “Encanto” and “Wish.”

“I was not expecting to cry, but I knew there was a chance,” said Chelsea Onstott, a Disney World annual passholder from Orlando, who watched both the 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. runs of Starlight on opening night.

“It wasn’t until Tink [Tinkerbell] came out, and I was not expecting her to be on the ground and going up to kids. And I think that just, like, got me,” she said. read more

Millions of Americans are now at risk of losing health care coverage or food assistance under the GOP’s recently passed mega-budget, which includes sweeping cuts and new restrictions on critical social safety net programs.

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The GOP’s $3.3 trillion budget, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and approximately $300 billion for President Donald Trump’s defense and immigration enforcement priorities. To partly offset the steep cost, the bill targets reductions across the board — but hits health and food assistance programs hardest. read more

A Bahamian brass band, colorful costumed parades and an appearance from Shaq were all part of the merriment that welcomed the opening of Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration Key on Saturday.

The $600 million development on Grand Bahama Island, which encompasses 68 acres exclusive to Carnival guests, saw its first visitors with the morning arrival of the Port Canaveral-based Carnival Vista. Highlights of the oceanfront oasis include the largest freshwater lagoons in the Bahamas or Caribbean, a 10-story sandcastle structure that houses two water slides and the world’s largest swim-up bar.

Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy, Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein, Chief Fun Officer Shaquille O’Neal and Carnival Vista Captain Paolo Severini turned the key that unlocked the gates of the sandcastle just after 10 a.m., officially opening the private enclave to cruise guests.

“We are finally here at Celebration Key on Grand Bahama with nearly 5,000 guests from Carnival Vista, the first Carnival cruise ship to call on this beautiful destination,” said Duffy, who arrived on the Vista. “This is just the beginning. We will have visits from 20 Carnival cruise ships from 10 different U.S. homeports.” read more

By Christine Benz of Morningstar

If a knowledgeable observer trained his or her sights on my choices, what are the trouble spots they would identify? Here are some of the biggies.

I hold too much employer stock

I understand the tax implications of this, so I might as well sell each lot of restricted stock units as soon as it vests because there’s no tax benefit to hanging on longer. And it’s not like I think I possess some inside knowledge that the shares are likely to outperform the broad market.

Instead, the key culprit here is inertia. There’s a little bit of tax dread mixed in, too, as selling them would trigger a big tax bill. I’ve been in the process of divesting from company stock for the past several years, but the allocation is still high.

I hold too much cash

Even when cash yields are higher, as they are today, inflation still gobbles up most of the interest.

Cash has stacked up in our account following bonuses or other windfalls, or during fallow spending periods like 2020. And it just never feels like an especially great time to move the money into long-term investments. read more

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and NADIA LATHAN

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat who represents a slice of the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico, won his last congressional election by just over 5,000 votes.

That makes him a tempting target for Republicans, who are poised to redraw the state’s congressional maps this coming week and devise five new winnable seats for the GOP that would help the party avoid losing House control in the 2026 elections. Adjusting the lines of Gonzalez’s district to bring in a few thousand more Republican voters, while shifting some Democratic ones out, could flip his seat.

Gonzalez said he is not worried. Those Democratic voters will have to end up in one of the Republican districts that flank Gonzalez’s current one, making those districts more competitive — possibly enough so it could flip the seats to Democrats.

“Get ready for some pickup opportunities,” Gonzalez said, adding that his party is already recruiting challengers to Republicans whose districts they expect to be destabilized by the process. “We’re talking to some veterans, we’re talking to some former law enforcement.” read more