Things To Do In SW Florida

By Erin El Issa, NerdWallet

Attending a wedding down the street can be costly — purchasing gifts and formalwear, hiring a babysitter and taking off work can all add up. But when the wedding is out of town and requires a flight or hotel stay, it can be downright expensive to celebrate someone else’s nuptials.

Nearly 1 in 10 Americans (9%) are going to a wedding this summer that requires at least one night away from home, according to a new NerdWallet survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll. These wedding guests estimate they’ll spend $1,989, on average, for the associated lodging and transportation costs.

Is traveling for someone else’s wedding worth the cost? That answer depends on your finances and personal priorities.

Deciding whether to travel for other people’s weddings

Most Americans say they’d travel out of town for a wedding (87%), but their top considerations for deciding whether or not to do so vary. Nearly half of Americans (46%) say a top consideration is travel costs, and 42% consider the location of the wedding.

Even if the funds are available and the locale is desirable, work and child care responsibilities could make leaving town for a wedding difficult, if not impossible. You might also just decide it’s not worth spending the time and money to celebrate this particular union in person. But if you want to RSVP “Yes”, here are a few ways to make it more cost-effective. read more

By STAN CHOE and CORA LEWIS

NEW YORK (AP) — The huge swings rocking Wall Street and the global economy may feel far from normal. But, for investing at least, drops of this size have happened throughout history.

Related Articles

• 
  The Savings Game: Reader questions about Social Security

• 
  Trump’s tax plans: Here’s what to expect for your taxes in 2025 and beyond

• 
  An AI avatar tried to argue a case before a New York court. The judges weren’t having it

• 
  Chevron ordered to pay more than $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

• 
  Congress has the power to halt Trump’s tariffs. But Republicans aren’t ready to use it

Stomaching them is the price investors have had to pay in order to get the bigger returns that stocks can offer over other investments in the long term. Here’s a glimpse at what’s behind the market’s wild moves and what experts advise investors young and old to consider:

HOW BAD IS THE MARKET?

Wall Street’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, has lost more than 16% since setting an all-time high on Feb. 19, mostly because of worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs. read more

By DAMIAN J. TROISE

NEW YORK (AP) — Most of the numbers on Wall Street this week were red, but not all of them.

Related Articles

• 
  The Savings Game: Reader questions about Social Security

• 
  Trump’s tax plans: Here’s what to expect for your taxes in 2025 and beyond

• 
  An AI avatar tried to argue a case before a New York court. The judges weren’t having it

• 
  Chevron ordered to pay more than $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

• 
  Congress has the power to halt Trump’s tariffs. But Republicans aren’t ready to use it

Companies that focus on food, health care and other necessities gained ground, despite a slump in the broader stock market over worries about an escalating trade war that erased trillions of dollars in value for the biggest U.S. companies. Big Tech stocks, specialty retailers, travel and energy companies took sizeable losses.

At the same time, many investors in search of safer places to put their money shifted their focus to companies that tend to hold up during economic slowdowns and recessions. They figured that Americans still need health care, basic necessities such as food, soap and toilet paper, and electricity to power their homes. Plus the occasional alcoholic or carbonated beverage. read more

By Alex Brown, Stateline.org

For many California residents, the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year were the latest and most searing example of the devastating effects of climate change. Some estimates have pegged the damages and economic losses from the fires at more than $250 billion.

Related Articles

• 
  Chevron ordered to pay more than $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

• 
  Historic ocean liner off Florida’s Gulf Coast will soon be the world’s largest artificial reef

• 
  When heavy rainfall threatens flooding, you can protect yourself. Here’s how

• 
  Hi-Oaks landowners ask Seminole to buy old River Cross property for preservation

• 
  Leaked files raise fears over safety of Shell oil production fleet, years after devastating spill

“We’ve had disaster after disaster after disaster,” said Assemblymember Dawn Addis, a Democrat. “It’s the taxpayers and the insurance ratepayers that are bearing the cost. It’s not sustainable, it’s not right and it’s not ethical.” read more

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, AAMER MADHANI and SARAH PARVINI, Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he is signing an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for another 75 days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.

The order was announced as White House officials believed they were nearing a deal for the app’s operations to be spun off into a new company based in the U.S. and owned and operated by a majority of American investors, with China’s ByteDance maintaining a minority position, according to a person familiar with the matter.

But Beijing hit the brakes on a deal Thursday after Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs around the globe, including against China. ByteDance representatives called the White House to indicate that China would no longer approve the deal until there could be negotiations about trade and tariffs, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive details of the negotiations. read more