Things To Do In SW Florida

By Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

A financially-stressed Reddit user recently asked for advice: As the primary earner in their family, which includes two children, how could they keep up with a mortgage and other expenses once severance ran out?

Reddit users offered many helpful ideas. Filing for unemployment, looking for other forms of state assistance and finding a new job — even if it’s not perfect — were among the most popular suggestions.

When we asked financial experts how someone can best survive a period of unemployment, they echoed many of those same tips. They also emphasized the importance of budgeting, even before a job loss occurs.

Here are their strategies:

Cut back on all but the essential expenses

“Focus on your essentials, and cut that budget to as bare bones as possible,” says Danielle Byrd Thompson, a financial advisor with TPS Financial in Washington, D.C.

Thompson says using an online budgeting tool or budget app, which can help you stay on top of necessary expenses and uncover where you can freeze spending for the time being. read more

Seminole County hotels will soon start tacking on an extra fee to a guest’s bill to help raise tens of millions of dollars for the county to build a complex for indoor sports and other large events.

With little discussion, county commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved the extra $1.75 per night assessment starting March 11 for lodging establishments with at least 60 rooms. It will be added to a hotel room bill on top of the county’s 5% tourist tax — also known as a bed tax — and 7% sales tax.

The fee is expected to raise about $3.2 million in the first year and more each year afterward. Revenue will be used to construct a long-planned facility at a cost upward of $65 million adjacent to Boombah Sports Complex off Lake Mary Boulevard.

The fee is part of the county’s newly formed tourism improvement district created at the meeting. Fee revenue and implementation would be overseen by its seven-member advisory board.

Commissioners and county officials said the district ensures tourists pay for new infrastructure rather than residents. read more

By JOSH FUNK and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department predicts the current record prices for eggs could soar more than 40% in 2025, as the Trump administration offered the first new details Wednesday about its plan to battle bird flu and ease the cost of eggs.

By SARAH PARVINI

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Workplace communications platform Slack experienced an outage Wednesday morning as thousands of users reported they were unable to use the service.

By PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — British energy company BP confirmed Wednesday that it would slash spending on green ventures and increase its oil and gas production, a change in direction that it hopes will bolster its flagging share price but has been met with incredulity from climate action campaigners.