Things To Do In SW Florida

The Education Department reopened the application for all income-driven repayment (IDR) plans on Mar. 26, after a month-long suspension that blocked federal student loan borrowers from enrolling in an IDR plan or recertifying their income.

Servicers will resume processing IDR applications no later than May 10, Acting Education Department Under Secretary James Bergeron wrote in an Apr. 8 court filing. In the meantime, borrowers who submitted an IDR application should automatically be placed in a processing forbearance for up to 60 days. Call your servicer to confirm it has received your application and put you in a forbearance.

» MORE: What is administrative forbearance for student loans?

The department initially took down the IDR application after a court action in the lawsuits against SAVE, a new IDR plan introduced by the Biden administration.

The application reopening came a week after the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a lawsuit against the Education Department, alleging the department broke federal law by blocking borrowers’ access to IDR plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). read more

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia on Monday filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court seeking to block the sale of personal genetic data by 23andMe without customer consent. The lawsuit comes as a biotechnology company seeks the court’s approval to buy the struggling firm.

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Biological samples, DNA data, health-related traits and medical records are too sensitive to be sold without each person’s express, informed consent, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news release about the lawsuit. Customers should have the right to control such deeply personal information and it cannot be sold like ordinary property, it said. read more

By ALAN SUDERMAN

It’s one of crypto’s hottest trends: publicly traded companies buying bitcoin and then buying even more.

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  Trump’s tax bill could raise taxes on foreign companies, hurting investment from abroad

President Donald Trump’s media company just announced a plan to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin, joining a growing number of so-called “bitcoin treasury companies” as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency hits all-time highs.

The companies buy bitcoin for different reasons: Some hold it as a hedge against inflation or to signal support for the cryptocurrency industry, while some firms have made using debt and stock sales to buy bitcoin their primary business strategy. read more

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump likes to say he’s bringing in trillions of dollars in investments from foreign countries, but a provision in his tax cuts bill could cause international companies to avoid expanding into the United States.

The House-passed version of the legislation would allow the federal government to impose taxes on foreign-parented companies and investors from countries judged as charging “unfair foreign taxes” on U.S. companies.

Known as Section 899, the measure could cause companies to avoid investing in the the U.S. out of concern they could face steep taxes. The fate of the measure rests with the Senate — setting off a debate about its prospects and impact.

A new analysis by the Global Business Alliance, a trade group representing international companies such as Toyota and Nestlé, estimates that the provision would cost the U.S. 360,000 jobs and $55 billion annually over 10 years in lost gross domestic product. The analysis estimates that the tax could cut a third off the economic growth anticipated from the overall tax cuts by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation. read more

Gawrsh, there’s a lot of stimulation going on at GoofyCore, the new limited-time activities area at Epcot that’s part of the Cool Kid Summer push at Walt Disney World.

GoofyCore is heavy on sights and sounds but light on smells, thankfully, inside CommuniCore Hall, the theme park’s multi-use space that prompts the event’s, well, kinda goofy name.

The activity starts on ground level with carpeting that doubles as a dance floor and the curvy track of a gigantic game board. Think Candy Land but more neon. In the center of the room is a brightly colored DJ booth — aka Goofy’s Game Machine — made to look like it’s melting.

Giant game cards dangle from the ceiling with characters on one side and instructions (“Oh, boy! Take two turns,” “Strike a pose, collect three bows!”). But on the Disney scale, the theming is pretty subtle.

But something about this space makes kids literally run around in circles. And that’s fine. Burn off that energy. The parents have grown-up furniture on the sides and take deep breaths while watching the circular movements of those kiddos. The young ones have pretty free rein in here until they try to climb up onto the DJ ledge. That’s when kindly cast members swoop into action. read more