Things To Do In SW Florida

A Universal Horror Unleashed attraction will open in Chicago, the company announced Thursday, although its first foray into year-round horror isn’t scheduled to open in Las Vegas until August.

“We’re bringing the full force of horror and thrills to a whole new audience in a whole new place,” Universal Orlando posted on social media.

Unleashed is a product of Orlando-based Universal Destinations & Experiences, a division of Comcast NBCUniversal.

It will be Universal’s first location in the Midwest. The company has been exploring new markets. Beyond Las Vegas, Universal is building a kids-oriented theme park near Dallas, which is set to open in 2026, and is planning a theme park in England.

The Chicago expansion also is an extension of Universal’s long-running horror brand. Universal Studios invented the film genre in the 1930s with movies based on Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and other creatures.  Universal Studios Florida theme park is preparing its 34th edition of Halloween Horror Nights, an after-hours fright fest that has grown to include Universal Studios Hollywood park in California as well as theme parks in Singapore and Japan. read more

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Mike Leslie, 66, sits at a desk beneath the buzz of fluorescent office lights, his fingers hovering over his new laptop keyboard. He smiles, eyes crinkling beneath a worn baseball cap. It’s a place he never imagined he’d be sitting.

Before last year, he’d never used a computer.

For most of his life, Leslie hadn’t needed one. He spent 36 years in pipe manufacturing near his North Alabama hometown, in jobs that included welding, driving forklifts, mixing concrete and running crews as a foreman. The work was hard and physical, but he didn’t mind.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Layoffs followed.

Leslie found himself looking for a job to make ends meet, at an age when more affluent men might think of retiring. He was no longer suited for manufacturing work. But he also lacked experience with the technology that now powers even the most basic tasks in nearly every modern workplace, such as the internet, email and Microsoft Office. read more

Chapter 7

Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:

Ted Nemetz LLC doing business as Atlantic Seamless Gutters, 215 Cessna Blvd., Port Orange. Filed: June 9. Assets: $65,280. Liabilities: $133,879. Major creditors: Samson MCA LLC, Pomona, N.Y., $52,026; High Octane Funding LLC, Suffern, N.Y., $42,187; Senox Corp., Austin, Texas, $13,988. Creditors meeting: July 9.

Book Central Florida LLC, 1420 Celebration Blvd., Suite 200, Kissimmee. Filed: June 10. Assets: $9,085. Liabilities: $78,277. Major creditors: Lendr, Chicago, $16,656; Funding Metrics Quickfix, Bensalem, Pa., $9,480; Square, Oakland, Calif., $4,024. Creditors meeting: July 17.

Chapter 11

Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for reorganization and protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:

Marra Air Conditioning Services Inc., 108-C Taylor St., Ocoee. Filed: June 6. Assets: $37,192. Liabilities: $196,487. Major creditors: OnDeck, Arlington, Va., $112,907; U.S. Small Business Administration, Jacksonville, $82,871; Bank of America, Wilmington, Del., $709. Creditors meeting: July 14. read more

SAN DIEGO — Hours after the surprise raid this month at Buona Forchetta, an Italian restaurant in the San Diego’s South Park neighborhood, where masked and armed U.S. immigration agents handcuffed employees and eventually took four workers into custody, a still rattled Matteo Cattaneo was trying to process what had happened to his business — and why.

By any chance, had he used the federal government’s voluntary program, E-Verify, to authenticate the legal status of his workers, a reporter asked him. No, said Cattaneo, the owner of multiple Buona Forchetta restaurants in California’s San Diego and Orange counties. “There’s a lot of concern with privacy.”

So how did he know if all his employees are legally authorized to work? “We get presented with papers,” he responded. “Nobody can know for sure if everyone is legal.”

As raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers continue to intensify at workplaces across California, often exploding into confrontations between agents and the public, it’s a pressing question facing most employers, now more than ever. read more

Universal Orlando continues to roll out its lineup of Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses with another original maze. Thursday’s reveal, the sixth announcement of the season, is Grave of the Flesh.

“Welcome to your funeral, where it’s about to go from bad to worse. You’ll enter the underworld and be hunted by flesh-eaters for eternity,” reads Universal’s post on social-media platforms.

There again will be 10 haunted houses for this year’s HHN, which runs on select nights at Universal Studios Florida theme park between Aug. 29 and Nov. 2.

Other original houses announced include Dolls: Let’s Play Dead;  Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters; and El Artista: A Spanish Haunting. For mazes with tie-ins to intellectual properties, we have “Fallout,” inspired by a Prime series and videogame, and Jason Universe, based on “Friday the 13th” characters.

Islands of Adventure hopping: Dragons, Cool Zone, T-shirt desert

Universal officials have confirmed that “Five Nights at Freddy’s” will be part of 2025 Horror Nights, but specifics have not been given as to how. read more