Things To Do In SW Florida

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Elon Musk over a settlement with securities regulators that requires him to get approval in advance of some social media posts that relate to Tesla, the electric vehicle company he leads.

The justices did not comment in leaving in place lower-court rulings against Musk, who complained that the requirement amounts to “prior restraint” on his speech in violation of the First Amendment.

The case stems from messages Musk posted on Twitter in 2018 in which he claimed he had secured funding to take Tesla private. The tweets caused the company’s share price to jump and led to a temporary halt in trading.

The settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission included a requirement that his posts on Twitter, now known as X, be approved first by a Tesla attorney. It also called for Musk and Tesla to pay civil fines over the tweets in which Musk said he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. read more

Scenes from the reopening of 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian resort at Walt Disney World, Thursday, April 25, 2024. The turn-of-the-century themed restaurant reopens after a four-year hiatus following the world pandemic in 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

The dining hall at the reopening of 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World, Thursday, April 25, 2024. The turn-of-the-century themed restaurant originally opened in 1988 and reopens after a four-year hiatus following the world pandemic in 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Cinderella interacts with guests at the reopening of 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World, Thursday, April 25, 2024. The turn-of-the-century themed restaurant originally opened in 1988 and reopens after a four-year hiatus following the world pandemic in 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

Prime rib with horseradish sauce, baked salmon, mashed potatoes and green beans from the buffet at the reopening of 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa at Walt Disney World, Thursday, April 25, 2024. The turn-of-the-century themed restaurant originally opened in 1988 and reopens after a four-year hiatus following the world pandemic in 2020. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) read more

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I need help getting a refund from Expedia. I booked two round-trip Air Transat tickets from Toronto to Paris through Expedia back in 2020. I had to cancel the flights, and under the refund rules during the pandemic, Expedia said I could get my money back. Expedia said it would process the refund in a matter of weeks.

I waited a few months, but the refund never showed up on my credit card. I contacted Expedia in early 2022, and they told me to contact Air Transat for my refund. I did, and an Air Transat representative said the airline had already sent my refund to Expedia.

I’ve contacted both Expedia and Air Transat on numerous occasions since then, and I’ve also asked my credit card company for help. It says that there’s no record of a refund from Expedia or Air Transat.I would love to get my refund. Can you help me?

— Keith Dawe, Toronto

ANSWER: Expedia should have refunded your money four years ago. I believe this is a new record for the longest airline refund case. (Congratulations, Expedia!) read more

How badly does state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. want to depopulate?

So badly that in addition to participating with private-market insurers in a “takeout” program, the residual insurer is trying to remove customers out of policies that haven’t even begun.

And it’s doing so with confusing letters and questionable premium estimates that ensure the policyholder must take the private-market offer — at least for now.

State officials make no secret of the fact they don’t want Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to remain anywhere near its current 1.18 million policies.

It doesn’t want to carry so much risk and it doesn’t want to assess non-Citizens customers if a huge disaster prevents the company from paying its claims out of its own pile of money.

That’s why it participates in a depopulation program that shifts policies onto private market insurers.

But it would help to clearly explain to targeted policyholders what’s going on.

Scott Bassett, an Orlando homeowner with Citizens coverage, recently found himself plunged so deeply into Citizens’ depopulation rabbit hole that by the time he received his third takeout notice in seven months, he didn’t know what he was looking at or how to respond. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER (AP Economics Writer)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since retiring two years ago, Joan Harris has upped her travel game.

Once or twice a year, she visits her two adult children in different states. She’s planning multiple other trips, including to a science fiction convention in Scotland and a Disney cruise soon after that, along with a trip next year to neolithic sites in Great Britain.

“I really have more money to spend now than when I was working,” said Harris, 64, an engineer who worked 29 years for the federal government and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Back then, she and her now-ex-husband were paying for their children’s college educations and piling money into savings accounts. Now, she’s splurging a bit and, for the first time, is willing to pay for first-class plane tickets. She plans to fly business class to Scotland and has arranged for a higher-level suite on the cruise.

“I suddenly realized, with my dad getting old and my mom dying, it’s like, ‘No, you can’t take it with you,’ ” she said. “I could become incapacitated to the point where I couldn’t enjoy something like going to Scotland or going on a cruise. So I better do it, right?” read more