Things To Do In SW Florida

By Melissa Lambarena | NerdWallet

In late 2017, San Francisco couple Riley Adams and his wife stumbled upon the Halley’s comet of airline credit card welcome offers. For a limited time, the card was advertising a companion pass on top of a large sign-up bonus.

“We knew we had a lot of spending in one specific area coming up, and we wanted to try to shop around to get the best value for those needs,” says Adams, a certified public accountant, financial adviser and owner of the blog Young and the Invested. “If you plan for it, you can really offset those costs [with a sign-up bonus].”

If you’re considering a new credit card, the bonus-friendly season from October through December is an ideal time. Your expenses on Black Friday, holiday travel and meals, end-of-the-year charitable donations and more may easily meet a large spending requirement for a juicy sign-up bonus.

Here’s what to know about such offers.

Timing a credit card bonus

A sign-up bonus is a one-time incentive offered by rewards credit cards on top of any ongoing cash back, points or miles on purchases. Snagging a bonus typically requires spending between $500 and several thousand dollars within a certain time — often three months — after you’re approved for the card. read more

TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge has dismissed a securities-fraud lawsuit that alleged Florida Power & Light and its parent company made misleading statements about involvement in funding “ghost” candidates to influence elections.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday issued a 16-page decision that rejected arguments by investors in the potential class-action lawsuit. In part, the plaintiffs contended that the stock price of NextEra Energy, FPL’s parent, plummeted in January 2023 after making disclosures that followed denials of wrongdoing.

Cannon wrote that she found plaintiffs “have failed to identify a corrective disclosure that reveals a truth that was previously concealed or obscured by defendants’ alleged fraud.”

The lawsuit was filed in June 2023 after a series of events stemming from media reports about allegations that FPL had funneled money through a political-consulting firm, Matrix LLC, and other organizations to improperly influence elections.

Probably the most high-profile example involved allegations that FPL helped back a “ghost” candidate — someone on the ballot but not an active candidate — who siphoned votes from then-state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, in the 2020 election. Rodriguez ultimately lost by 32 votes to now-Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, with the third candidate, Alex Rodriguez, receiving 6,382 votes. read more

By TOM KRISHER and TASSANEE VEJPONGSA

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.

The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.

Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”

The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”

Local ILA president Boise Butler said workers want a fair contract that doesn’t allow automation of their jobs.

Shipping companies made billions during the pandemic by charging high prices, he said. “Now we want them to pay back. They’re going to pay back,” Butler said. read more

It’s been nearly nine months since United Launch Alliance managed a successful debut of its new Vulcan Centaur rocket, but launch No. 2 could happen as early as Friday.

The ULA Certification-2 mission is aiming for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 during a three-hour window that runs from 6-9 a.m.

The rocket rolled out from the company’s vertical integration facility (VIF) to the pad on Monday. ULA plans to perform a wet dress rehearsal this week filling and draining the rocket with a million pounds of cryogenic propellants and running through a complete countdown.

This week’s Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) will see the #Cert2 #VulcanRocket loaded with a million pounds of cryogenic propellants at Space Launch Complex-41 and put through a complete countdown procedure as part of certification. https://t.co/eWLyIiIUE6 pic.twitter.com/vt7suqfO4g

— ULA (@ulalaunch) September 30, 2024

The first launch of the replacement for ULA’s Atlas and Delta family of rockets occurred back on Jan. 8 on the first of two certification missions needed by the U.S. Space Force before ULA can begin launching its backed-up slate of national security missions. read more

For Florida-oriented rail enthusiasts with Midwestern ties, Amtrak is forming a new route that will offer leisurely trips between Orlando and Chicago that last just under two days.

The new daily “Floridian” service, which is scheduled to kick off Nov. 10, will give passengers a single seat ride through 10 states, with trains traveling from Miami to Orlando and Tampa and then up the Atlantic seaboard to Washington, D.C., moving through southwest Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, and hooking westward through Ohio, Indiana and into Chicago Union Station.

All told, 45 stations will be served, and passengers will be able to bypass the crowded metropolitan areas of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

The route essentially combines two existing interstate segments — the Silver Star between Miami and New York, and the Capitol Limited between Chicago and Washington. It’s being offered as Amtrak diverts equipment away from a protracted tunnel rehabilitation project in New York. The Floridian will continue for as long as the project lasts, railroad officials said. read more