Things To Do In SW Florida

By JOSH BOAK (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lori Shelton can’t fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that’s a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year’s presidential election.

Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay covered her apartment’s security deposit. But it also cut into her next paycheck, leaving her bank account dangerously low when the rent was due — a cycle that never seems to end.

“I’m always one step behind,” said Shelton, her voice choking up. “It’s a nightmare, it’s a freaking nightmare right now.”

The United States is slogging through a housing affordability crisis that was decades in the making. At the root of this problem: America failed to build enough homes for its growing population. The shortage strikes at the heart of the American dream of homeownership — dampening President Joe Biden’s assurances that the U.S. economy is strong and underscoring the degree to which Republican Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, has largely overlooked the shortage. read more

Disney is preparing to spend $60 billion on its theme parks worldwide, but an expansion plan for Walt Disney World, or any of its other parks, has not been made public.

There has been a sprinkling of news and hints from company officials, including refurbishment of DinoLand at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and blue-sky talk for a land of some sort “beyond Big Thunder” at Magic Kingdom.

Attractions experts say the investment could mean original rides and lands for Disney World, such as a villains-driven domain; cloning of recent international projects based on “Frozen” and “Zootopia”; or even a fifth theme park, which would be WDW’s first since Animal Kingdom opened in 1998.

Putting more money into theme parks is a “no-brainer,” Walt Disney Co. Bob Iger has said. The billions earmarked for attractions will go into properties around the globe, including Disney Cruise Line, he said.

“If you look at the return on invested capital of that business over the last 20 years, particularly over the last 10, the track record is extraordinary,” Iger said in a recent interview at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. read more

The state budget approved by the Florida Legislature last week paints a grim picture for cultural organizations. Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of United Arts of Central Florida, doesn’t mince words: “It’s bad for the arts.”

Arts organizations approved for general support funding will receive less than half of their eligible allowances. A program for specific cultural projects went completely unfunded — leaving multiple Central Florida organizations empty-handed. Among them is the Howey Music Series, a concert and educational organization in the rural Lake County town of Howey-in-the-Hills. It had been recommended to receive $20,500.

“With this grant, we aimed to collaborate with local professional AV companies, improve artist compensation and broaden our programming, including introducing valuable educational initiatives that are much needed in Lake County,” said Emily Heumann, the organization’s executive and artistic director. “This investment would have been transformative for our organization.” read more

Accounting

Thomas Tschopp Jr., CPA,  has joined Schafer, Tschopp, Whitcomb, Mitchell & Sheridan LLP as a manager.

Boards of directors

Sean Mahoney, executive vice president and chief financial officer for RLJ Lodging Trust, was appointed to the board of directors of KMI International, a global construction management firm headquartered in Orlando.

Health care

Jennifer Ambs was appointed as chief financial officer for both AdventHealth Fish Memorial and the West Volusia County market.

Law

John Dannecker, partner, Shutts & Bowen LLP, Orlando, was named a Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers.

Ian Wiggins has joined Dean Mead as an attorney in the firm’s Space Coast office.

Attorney Flor M. Leiva has joined McDonald Toole Wiggins P.A., Orlando.

Public relations

Natalie Eck was hired as a senior public relations specialist at Curley & Pynn Public Relations Management, Orlando.

Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com. read more

Freed, perhaps, from a daily jaunt to the office, the average American worker now lives almost three times farther from their job than they did before the pandemic, research shows.

Workers’ average distance to their employer increased from 10 miles in 2019 to 27 miles in 2023, according to a study released March 3 by Gusto, a payroll software firm, and the Stanford WFH Group, a team studying work-from-home trends.

The study analyzes Gusto’s payroll data from about 5,800 small and midsize businesses from 2018 to 2023. Distances were measured by linking employees’ addresses with employer locations.

The data shows the distance between workers and their employers is most pronounced among people who started in their jobs after the pandemic hit. Workers hired in March 2020 or later lived 35 miles from their employer in December 2023, on average. That’s more than twice the distance of people hired before March 2020.

While the payroll data doesn’t explicitly show that people living farthest from their employer are taking advantage of hybrid or remote work arrangements, the results line up with years of research by the Stanford WFH Group showing the dramatic impact the pandemic had on where work is performed. read more