Things To Do In SW Florida

By Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — The Facebook post seemed straightforward enough, offering up a newly built ADU rental in Burbank. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,000 square feet. A private yard. Finishes “you wouldn’t find in any other ADU.”

The price? $4,500 per month.

“Dam, ya’ll need to chill out!! $4,500 for an ADU??”

“Let the rich become richer having the poor paying their mortgage.”

“The greed is VERY REAL here.”

“No wonder there are no pictures. Unless the house is gold plated, it’s not worth it.”

People poured in with comments and emoji reactions ranging from laughing to angry. Before long, the post became a digital dogpile, with users tagging others to join in on the fun.

The doomed listing became another case of “rent shaming” — a modern, perhaps inevitable, phenomenon that’s sprouting up across Facebook housing groups and other platforms as rent continues to soar across Southern California.

Landlords see it as a headache, a needless trend of cyberbullying that exacerbates well-meaning efforts to find tenants. Renters see it as a higher calling — a form of resistance and a way to call out overpriced listings. read more

By Kemberley Washington, CPA, Bankrate.com

The IRS Direct File program, which lets taxpayers file their federal income tax return directly with the IRS for free, is doubling its reach to 24 states for the 2025 tax season, up from 12 states in 2024, the program’s pilot year.

The Direct File program will also accept more types of tax situations for the 2025 tax season. While taxpayers who used the system in 2024 could claim a handful of tax credits, including the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, that list is expanding in 2025 to include the child and dependent care credit, among others.

The spirit of Pacific islander culture has driven the newest Disney Cruise Line stage production on board its new ship Disney Treasure.

“Disney The Tale of Moana” debuted on the ship sailing out of Port Canaveral this month as one of three main stage shows, but the only one new to the cruise line.

“We’re so proud just to be able to share this story,” native Hawaiian and lead actress Kaenaonālani Kekoa said on board the ship during a media preview sailing. “Even though we’re not all from the Pacific Islands, this cast did such a beautiful job of taking care of our stories and making sure that our hand motions, our dance moves, the language that is coming out of our mouths was accurate and authentic to the place that our story is based out of.”

The story pulls from the first “Moana” film that came out in 2016, but had to be morphed into something unique for the cruise ship, telling the story of her family’s start on the fictional island of Motunui and her search for the demigod Maui to help return the heart of the goddess of Te Fiti. read more

Orlando’s theme parks and attractions excel at getting our attention with bombastic additions, intriguing intellectual properties and heavy-hitting hinting.

But subtle little things — developments unlikely to make headlines – can also be big winners.

We’re looking back at 2024 with a grin and have made a list of 10 smile-worthy occasions at our attractions. But since the year has been a mixed bag, we’ll throw in five frowny-face factors, some of which won’t be contained within ‘24.

When you’re smiling

• The single-rider line for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Yeah, you miss some theming and holograms and the transport trip trick. And part of the journey is so backstage (a hallway with black walls) that you might think you’re being sent to Lucasfilm HR. But single riders still experience the mass stormtrooper hangar bay, and the time savings make Lightning Lane seem far, far away.

• The end of the virtual queue for Tron: Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom. We’ll take our chances with standby status; thanks. And we’ve got our eye on you, Tiana Bayou queue. read more

MIAMI — Florida condominium owners are looking at higher costs from condo associations in the new year, a consequence of a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022.

It requires associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs and to conduct a survey of reserves every decade. Because of the law, older condos — found largely in South Florida, according to state records — are facing hefty increases to association payments to fund the reserves and repair costs.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law in response to the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, which killed 98 people in Surfside in June 2021. New regulations require condo associations for buildings with three or more stories to file an inspection report focused on structure, maintenance and expected costs for repairs or renovations by Dec. 31.

The report is just a small sector of the large-scale issue in Florida’s condo and property insurance crisis. A May report from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation noted that the average homeowner’s insurance premium is approximately $3,600, about $1,000 more than the national average, according to the National Association of Realtors. read more