Things To Do In SW Florida

By MELISSA GOLDIN (Associated Press)

Conservative influencers and politicians are calling for a boycott of Tyson Foods after false claims spread online saying the multinational meat producer is planning to hire 52,000 people who came to the U.S. illegally.

“Tyson is closing its facility in Perry, Iowa and laying off its 1,200 workers,” reads one X post that had received approximately 20,000 likes and 11,700 shares as of Friday. “Instead, they plan to hire thousands of new illegals in states like New York. #BoycottTyson. Pass it on.”

But the company, the latest in a growing list of businesses targeted with calls for a boycott amid claims of “woke” policies, has no such plans.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Tyson Foods is hiring 52,000 people who entered the U.S. illegally.

THE FACTS: The company has no current plans to hire 52,000 workers in the U.S., a spokesperson for the company said. In addition, all of its workers are required to have legal authorization for employment in the country. read more

Persistent developers who lost a fight to change land-use rules to build 1,800 homes on idle ranchlands east of the Econ River have sued to set aside the Orange County commission vote against them.

Lake Pickett North LLC, which had proposed the so-called Sustanee development on the former Rybolt cattle ranch in rural east Orange, filed the action this week asking a judge to order the county to transmit the land-use change for a state review.

A judge has not yet been assigned to the case. County lawyers haven’t yet been served the lawsuit.

Commissioners voted 4-3 in January against sending the plan to Tallahassee, a mandatory step in Florida’s process to make large-scale land-use changes.

The vote capped a marathon board meeting which started at 9 a.m. Jan. 23 and ended after midnight.

Filed by lawyers Brent Spain and David Theriaque, the lawsuit alleged Commissioner Emily Bonilla’s final-hour oration against the project “introduced incorrect or incomplete information” that developers were not permitted to rebut. read more

Augusta Saraiva and Enda Curran | (TNS) Bloomberg News

While the rising number of immigrants in the U.S. has sowed division among politicians across the country — and stoked angst among a swath of voters — there’s one place where almost everyone seems on the same, upbeat, page: Wall Street.

Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to gross domestic product over the next decade. The agency came to that conclusion after incorporating the recent surge in immigration.

The CBO release spurred a flurry of fresh number-crunching among investment bank economists, to account for the boost those new comers are giving to the labor force and consumer spending. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. revised up its near-term economic growth forecasts Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BNP Paribas SA were among banks that acknowledged the economic impact from surging immigration in recent weeks.

“Immigration is not just a highly charged social and political issue, it is also a big macroeconomic one,” Janet Henry, global chief economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. No advanced economy is benefiting from immigration quite like the U.S., and “the impact of migration has been an important part of the U.S. growth story over the past two years.” read more

By Isabel Contreras | NerdWallet

Spring break is just around the corner, and many Americans will soon flock to Mexico’s white sand beaches and bustling cities to enjoy their time off. But those opting for a road trip will need to sort out their car insurance coverage first. Mexico legally requires all drivers, including American tourists, to have liability insurance, and failing to purchase enough insurance could land drivers in jail should they cause an accident.

Standard U.S. auto insurance policies won’t cover drivers south of the border, so it’s vital to purchase Mexican car insurance before making the trip.

Liability car insurance is crucial when driving in Mexico

Many large U.S. insurance companies partner with Mexican insurers to offer Mexican car insurance to their customers. Plans are flexible, starting at a single day of coverage and going for as long as a year. Another option is to purchase insurance from a U.S. broker that specializes in Mexican car insurance.

Mexico requires drivers to hold 100,000 Mexican pesos (around $5,800) for bodily injury and death liability coverage and 50,000 Mexican pesos (around $2,900) for property liability damage. If you’re caught driving in Mexico without this minimum coverage, you may face a fine of at least $200. If you cause an accident while driving uninsured in Mexico and cannot pay for the damages you caused, you could face jail time. That’s because in Mexico, all car accidents are considered criminal offenses, not just civil matters. read more

It was bound to happen sometime, but Disney Cruise Line waited until its last of three new sister ships to name one Disney Destiny.

The sister ship to Disney Wish, which debuted out of Port Canaveral in 2022 and the soon-to-debut Disney Treasure arriving in Central Florida this December, the third ship in what was originally called the Trident class had its keel laying ceremony Wednesday at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.

It won’t start sailing until 2025, and its home port has yet to be named, but among the details revealed for what will be the eighth ship in the cruise line’s fleet was the theme of the vessel, “Heroes & Villains.”

As such, the filigree artwork for the bow will be of Minnie Mouse wearing a superhero-style outfit complete with a cape.

The cruise line said among the characters from which it will mine features on board will be classic Disney animation films, “The Lion King,” “Hercules” and “One Hundred and One Dalmatians.”

Disney of course owns plenty of good vs. evil intellectual property including Star Wars and Marvel. read more