Things To Do In SW Florida

By HALELUYA HADERO

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement. read more

IRA expert Ed Slott (www.irahelp.com) recently summarized the final IRS release, dated July 18, 2024, that discusses the annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the 10-year period associated with the SECURE Act of 2020. Up to now, the releases from the IRS were not final.

The regulations are taxpayer-friendly and helpful for IRA owners, plan participants and their beneficiaries. The IRS is standing firm and maintaining its strict interpretation of one provision of the law that has generated a lot of controversy.

When the SECURE Act went into effect, most nonspouse beneficiaries lost the ability to stretch RMDs from their inherited IRAs over their life expectancy. These beneficiaries became subject to a 10-year payout rule.

In the wake of the SECURE Act, the IRS proposed regulations that took the controversial position that if the account holder died on or after his required beginning date (RBD) for starting RMDs, the annual RMD payments must continue to the beneficiary during the 10-year period following the year after inheritance. The IRS based its opinion on a longstanding provision in the tax code often referred to as the “at least as rapidly rule.” Yet, due to all the confusion the IRS caused, the IRS waived RMDs during the 10-year period for beneficiaries for the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. read more

By Sally French | NerdWallet

Until recently, the upfront price of a cruise was often hardly reflective of the final price. That’s because hidden fees, such as port fees and taxes, on cruise lines lurked like unwelcome stowaways. However, a California junk fee law banishing these surprise charges went into effect July 1, and it’s changing how people nationwide see cruise fares displayed.

Under California Senate Bill 478, companies can no longer advertise one low cost for a product or service sold in California — only to impose additional or mandatory fees later. That’s impacted all sorts of aspects of travel, from resort fees to vacation rental cleaning fees to, yes, cruise fees.

“It’s much easier now to find a good deal on a cruise, rather than a deal that looks good until all the port charges and fees are added,” Aaron Saunders, an editor at Cruise Critic, said in an email.

Though the law is specific to California, many major cruise operators have recently adopted transparent pricing models that all U.S. shoppers can see. For example, as of July 1, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line and Holland America began including all mandatory taxes, fees and port expenses in their U.S. price displays. read more

Universal Orlando has released its entire haunted house lineup for the 2024 edition of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida theme park. It’s been a drip-drip-drip announcement process, with the news popping up in different online locations, pretty much one by one.

More details were revealed in the ensuing weeks, sometimes via Universal’s official podcast, sometimes presented as the back stories of the event’s original houses.

We’ll know more, probably, before HHN begins Aug. 30. For now, here are clues about what to expect in all 10 houses in one place.

• A Quiet Place – In a location where screams are standard fare, a shhhhhhh theme stands out. This house will be based on two “A Quiet Place” movies, which feature minimal dialogue and invisible creatures with super-hearing. How might that work?

“We haven’t seen how the guests interact with the house yet. So, really it’s kind of this contract with the guests as they go through. It’s like, ‘OK, if you make a noise, they will get you,” Charles Gray, senior show director, said in a Discover Universal podcast. read more

TALLAHASSEE — Florida regulators Thursday dug into a proposal that would lead to double-digit rate increases for customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., as the state insurer of last resort continues trying to push policies into the private market.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, which would have to sign off on increases, held a three-hour hearing on the proposal, which in part would lead to an average 13.5 percent rate increase for the most-common type of Citizens policy, known as homeowners’ multi-peril coverage.

That would translate to the average price of homeowners multi-peril policies going from $3,560 to $4,041, said Brian Donovan, chief actuary for Citizens.

Other types of policies would see varying increases, but all averages would be in double digits. For example, condominium-unit owners would see an average 14.2 percent increase for multi-peril coverage. The hikes would take effect in 2025.

The hearing put on display longstanding tensions surrounding Citizens’ rates, as many homeowners struggle to find affordable coverage — or any coverage — in the private market. Meanwhile, Citizens says it typically charges lower rates than private carriers, which effectively creates a disincentive for property owners to turn to the private market. read more