Things To Do In SW Florida

By Sam Taube, NerdWallet

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Sports betting apps now allow millions of Americans to put down serious money on the outcomes of games, and on in-game events such as a specific team scoring first, all from the comfort of their smartphones.

According to Goldman Sachs Research, U.S. sports betting has grown into a $10 billion industry since a 2018 Supreme Court decision allowed states to legalize it — and it could grow into a $45 billion industry in the years ahead .

That growth is apparent in the stock prices of sports betting companies such as DraftKings (DKNG). DraftKings shares have more than doubled in price since the company went public in 2020, albeit with significant volatility since then.

Buying shares of companies that operate in the sports betting industry (like DraftKings) may add some volatility to your portfolio, but it’s still an investment in a traditional asset. So how does that stack up with sports betting itself? read more

By Arthur Allen, KFF Health News

Most employers have little idea what the pharmacy benefit managers they hire do with the money they exchange for the medications used by their employees, according to a new KFF survey.

In KFF’s latest employer health benefits survey, company officials were asked how much of the rebates collected from drugmakers by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, is returned to them. In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to deflect criticism of high drug prices by saying much of that income is siphoned off by the PBMs, companies that manage patients’ drug benefits on behalf of employers and health plans.

PBM leaders say they save companies and patients billions of dollars annually by obtaining rebates from drugmakers that they pass along to employers. Drugmakers, meanwhile, say they raise their list prices so high in order to afford the rebates that PBMs demand in exchange for placing the drugs on formularies that make them available to patients.

By Kathleen Howley, Bankrate.com

Hurricanes Helene and Milton are certainly making this another record-setting year for weather. But it’s not just headline-making storms giving homeowners reason to worry. California, Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire and Florida all had their warmest summers ever recorded, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), registering long streaks of days over 100°F .

Such extreme heat strains infrastructure, crops and power grids — leading to outages that leave people without air conditioning in dangerously high temperatures. There’s also the risk of wildfires in many regions of the U.S., with droughts worsening the danger.

“The climate is changing, and science tells us it’s going to continue to do so,” says Janet Ruiz, director of strategic communications for the Insurance Information Institute. Yet many Americans say they haven’t done anything to prepare their homes or their finances against the increasingly likely damage of natural disasters and extreme weather events, according to Bankrate’s 2024 Extreme Weather Survey. read more

SpaceX knocked out its 99th operational flight of the year with a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral on Friday night.

Watch Falcon 9 launch 20 @Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities https://t.co/8Pzm1olTxV

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 18, 2024

A Falcon 9 with 20 Starlink satellites lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:31 p.m.

This was the 17th flight of the first-stage booster which made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

The flight was the 71st from the Space Coast for 2024, one shy of 2023’s record 72 launches. SpaceX has flown all but five of those with United Launch Alliance having sent up the rest.

The majority have been Falcon 9 launches with only two Falcon Heavy missions this year.

This was the 53rd launch from Cape Canaveral with the other 18 from KSC.

SpaceX has also flown 33 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for a total of 97 Falcon 9 launches for the year including this one, along with the two Falcon Heavy missions for a total of 99. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate held for a sixth consecutive month, but a key state economist said Friday “it’s still too soon to tell” how a trio of hurricanes could affect the state’s jobless figures.

The state Department of Commerce on Friday estimated 368,000 Floridians were qualified as out-of-work in September, a figure unchanged from August. The state’s work force of 11.04 million shrank by 6,000 workers in the same period as retirements continue to outpace efforts to grow the labor force.

The latest figures keep Florida’s unemployment rate at 3.3 percent, while the national mark in September was 4.1 percent.

Across the state, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area had the lowest regional unemployment rate, at 2.9 percent, falling from 3.4 percent in August. The Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin area was at 3.2 percent, while Panama City was at 3.3 percent.

The Jacksonville and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford areas were at 3.4 percent. Pensacola was at 3.5 percent, the Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area was at 3.6 percent and the Naples and Sarasota regions were both at 3.7 percent. read more