Things To Do In SW Florida

PALM HARBOR — They drove, windows down, past the big box stores. Past the other roadside motels and hotels, where other families lived.

When they pulled up to the modest house on Guardian Avenue, Richard Rodriguez took a deep breath. He was 52, with kind, tired eyes. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.

It had been four years since the last time he’d toured a place for rent, when he and his family came to Florida in 2020.

At the time, the move made sense. He’d found a 3-bed, 2-bath for $1,285 a month, less than what they paid in Pennsylvania. His two boys shared a room with a video game console. His daughters filled theirs with Hello Kitty decor. And Rodriguez and his wife, TonieMarie, had a bedroom of their own.

A year in, their rent more than doubled. Housing costs across the Tampa Bay region soared during the pandemic, and Rodriguez’s work as an events DJ dried up.

After the eviction, they took refuge at a roadside motel. Nobody said a word as they rolled air mattresses out under ceilings stained with smoke. That was the night that life on the hamster wheel began. read more

Q: We live in a small condominium. Our board just told us that we need to pay extra each month for the next few years to cover the cost of renovations, including the little gym near the lobby. They did not ask us if we were OK with this or put it up for a vote. We never use the gym. Can they make us pay for this? — Henri

A: In condominium associations, regular assessments, also called dues, and special assessments, serve distinct purposes and are handled differently.

Regular dues are recurring charges collected from unit owners to cover routine operational expenses and maintenance costs, typically charged monthly, quarterly, or annually as part of the association’s operating budget.

In contrast, special assessments are additional, non-recurring charges to fund unexpected repairs, major renovations, or emergency expenses not covered by regular dues.

If your association follows the correct procedure, they can pass a special assessment to pay for these unexpected expenses.

Where I practice law in Florida, unless your association’s declaration documents say otherwise, your board can pass a special assessment without a full vote of all the owners. Your board must notify the owners in advance that the board will vote on the issue at a meeting open to the public. read more

Fort Lauderdale-based BurgerFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but plans to keep all of its stores including several in Central Florida open while it figures out how to climb out of its debt.

The company, known for high-quality burgers, hot dogs and craft beer and wine, acquired Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings in 2021 but has been signaling possible financial trouble for months as it coped with rising food prices and declining sales.

In May it announced it was undergoing a “strategic review process” and offered no assurance that the process would result in an outcome “favorable to the Company or its shareholders.”

Julie Appleby | (TNS) KFF Health News

Suspicions that U.S. consumers’ personal information could be accessed from India led regulators to abruptly bar two large private sector enrollment websites from accessing the Affordable Care Act marketplace in August.

New details about the suspensions come in legal filings made late Friday stemming from an effort by the two to regain access to the Obamacare marketplace before the upcoming ACA open enrollment period, which starts Nov. 1.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to the companies that they were suspended after the agency identified “a serious lapse in the security posture” that could have led to marketplace data, including consumers’ personal information, being accessed from overseas.

The letter, included in the court filings, also noted that regulators will audit the two companies because they have “reasonable suspicion” that they are players in a separate problem: signing people up for Obamacare coverage — or changing their policies — without the consumers’ permission. read more

By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWallet

If you’ve been skipping your federal student loan bills, or you have defaulted loans, your time is running out to get back on track without harsh consequences. Two key pandemic-era relief programs are set to expire on Sept. 30: the student loan on-ramp and the Fresh Start program.

Millions of borrowers are benefitting from the on-ramp or Fresh Start — and some may not know it. To check, log into your studentaid.gov account and review your monthly payment history and loan repayment statuses. If you have missed or late payments, you’re on the on-ramp. If you have a loan listed as in default, you’re benefiting from the Fresh Start program.

In either case, you need to act by Sept. 30. Here’s how.

Student loan on-ramp: Make a plan to deal with your bills

The student loan on-ramp began Oct. 1, 2023, and lasts until Sept. 30, 2024. It’s intended as a safety net for the “most vulnerable borrowers,” the White House said last summer.

The program is automatic for all borrowers who miss payments during this time — there is no enrollment process. During the on-ramp, you can’t fall into delinquency or default. Missed payments won’t be reported to credit bureaus. read more