Things To Do In SW Florida

A UCF faculty member President Trump nominated for NASA chief financial officer sees the moon as a stepping stone to Mars but warns the U.S. needs to fix its space game if it’s going to outplay China.

Trump tapped Greg Autry on Monday for the post. He joined the university in 2024 as associate provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy.

“I have been honored to help move UCF’s incredible space enterprise forward, and I hope to return after my service at NASA,” Autry said in a news release. “Our space agency has a long history of excellence in financial management, and I am looking forward to joining the incredible team at NASA.”

Autry worked with the first Trump administration as part of the White House transition team for NASA. In 2016, he helped lay out NASA’s plans to return to the moon through its Artemis program.

In January during SpaceCom, the commercial space conference in Orlando, Autry discussed his 2024 book, “Red Moon Rising: How America Will Beat China on the Final Frontier,” which he authored along with Peter Navarro, current Trump senior adviser for trade and manufacturing. read more

The Social Security system is efficient. It is not a Ponzi scheme, as White House adviser Elon Musk has characterized it.

Millions of Americans depend on the survival of Social Security in its current form, and the American public should be telling members of Congress that they should be doing everything they can to prevent the system from failing.

It has been proposed that individuals can no longer make appointments with Social Security by phone, and they must visit a local Social Security office. But Musk and his staff are closing local offices, and they are trying to fire thousands of current employees.

Social Security is understaffed now. If staff is reduced, local offices are closed and individuals can’t contact Social Security by phone, what is next? What is next is that the Social Security system, as we know it, will collapse, and payments to Social Security beneficiaries will stop being sent on time.

You should not believe the lies that Social Security is inefficient or corrupt. There is almost no record of errors in which individuals who are not entitled to Social Security benefits are receiving benefits. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Even if you’re not in the market for a new car, U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports could make owning one more expensive.

The new taxes, which are set to begin April 3 and expand in the following weeks, are estimated to raise the average cost of a car imported from another country by thousands of dollars. But repairs for vehicles that currently use foreign-made parts are also expected to get pricier — and, as a result, hike insurance costs farther down the road.

While the White House says these tariffs will foster domestic manufacturing and raise $100 billion in revenue annually, economists stress that straining the auto industry’s global supply chain brings significant disruptions. Dealerships and car repair shops will likely have little choice but to raise prices — leading drivers across the country to pay more for everyday maintenance.

Here’s what you need to know.

How will tariffs affect my next car repair?

It depends on what you need fixed and where you go in to get your car serviced. But some industry analysts warn that drivers could see costs jump in as early as the coming weeks or months. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate in February ticked up for the second consecutive month, but a state official said it’s “too early” to link any increase to ongoing federal job cuts.

The Florida Department of Commerce on Friday said the unemployment rate increased from 3.5 percent in January to 3.6 percent in February. Florida had a 3.4 percent jobless rate in December.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in February at 3.2 percent.

Among other regions, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford and Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin areas held steady at 3.6 percent — second-lowest rate in the state. The Tallahassee, Naples-Marco Island, Jacksonville and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater areas were at 3.8 percent.

The Villages and Wildwood area had the highest rate at 6.8 percent, followed by the Homosassa Springs area at 5.7 percent and the Sebring area at 5.5 percent.

The February rate reflected an estimated 398,000 Floridians qualified as out of work from a labor force of 11.196 million. The number of unemployed people and the labor force each increased by about 8,000 people in February, according to a Department of Commerce report. read more

By CORA LEWIS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — If you know or suspect you can’t pay the taxes you owe this tax season, you should still file a return with that information or file for an extension. That’s the top piece of advice that tax professionals want you to know.

“The IRS wants to work with you,” said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals. “But if you’re asking the IRS for some help, they have to know something about you. So the first thing is to have that return filed. The number one takeaway is that owing money is not a reason not to file.”

If you don’t file a return or ask for an extension, then interest and penalties begin to accrue immediately. Those costs are largely avoidable if you share the information about your circumstances with the IRS in a timely way. Filing a return without paying taxes owed in full is preferable to not filing.

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