Big companies are snapping up land along the I-75 corridor, bringing a type of boomtown to Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties. Local leaders believe higher-paying jobs are coming to the area, easing the past dependence on tourism to drive the economy.

The protest on S. Miami Avenue is part of PETA's nationwide “Free the Animals Friday” initiative, which urges holiday shoppers to choose “cruelty-free vegan options.”

Mall of America's recipe for success includes an amusement park, pop-up stores, weddings and raves. Can local malls take a page from the country's largest shopping center?

A company headquartered in Hong Kong has bought a piece of property at the Edison Mall in Fort Myers. That property includes the closed Sears store, which used to be a popular shopping spot. A Fort Myers council member said the Sears may be torn down to make way for multi-family housing.

Pending home sales are falling fastest in the market of Fort Lauderdale, where it’s down 15.2% year over year during the four weeks ending November 10, according to Redfin. Next is Miami (-14%) followed by West Palm Beach (-13.8%).

The National Council on Compensation Insurance, which makes rate filings for the industry, submitted a proposal in August that called for an overall 1 percent rate decrease.

People coming to Florida from up north must also deal with the effects of recent storms and increasing insurance costs.

A tentative deal between the union and management calls for 1.3% wage increase; workers say that's not doable in costly Southwest Florida.

Of the nearly $1 billion saved in prescription drug costs during the first half of 2024 as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, $78.5 million represented savings to Floridians, according to White House Senior Advisor on Health Christen Linke Young, on a call with WGCU Wednesday. The data comes from the Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. About 1.5 million seniors saved money because of the cap.The savings comes to seniors with Medicare Part D, whose out-of-pocket prescription drug costs are capped at around $3,500 this year. It affected 105,000 people in Florida, Young said. For 2025, prescription drug costs will be capped at $2,000. A report from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that if that cap had been in effect this year, 4.6 million enrollees nationally would have hit it by June 30 and would not have had to pay any more out-of-pocket costs for the rest of the year.Prior to the Inflation Reduction Act, there was not limit to the amount of out-of-pocket drug costs Medicare enrollees might pay for their medication. The Biden-Harris administration implemented the first cap on out-of-pocket drug costs on Jan. 1 of this year.

Florida gasoline supplies have stabilized and pump prices are holding steady.