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Day care? For some Central Florida parents, it’s cheaper to not work. What help is available?

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Day care? For some Central Florida parents, it’s cheaper to not work. What help is available?


ORLANDO, Fla. – Probably no surprise to parents, but a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows rising child care costs may be forcing more people to make a tough choice: stay home or stay in the workforce?

Orange County mom Allyson Roth knows the importance of building connections with her young son. Like all kids, her son Maxwell’s brain will be 90% developed by age five. Roth also used to teach math in California, but when Maxwell was a baby, Allyson’s husband was transferred to Florida and she was hoping to teach in the Sunshine State.

“When we started looking at the salary and then tuition for childcare at the time, plus my student loan and then the other deductions that I was getting out of my paycheck, I was going to be in the hole $200,” said Roth.

Roth was shocked. As a result, she is now stitching together a new career. Roth is sewing from home to make ends meet.

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“There have been some studies even pre-pandemic that indicated that the cost of early learning care, so birth through five not yet in kindergarten care in the state of Florida, costs as much as a college degree,” said Jennifer Grant, the CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole County.

Grant says there are two programs in Florida to help lower costs. First, there are free voluntary pre-kindergarten, or VPK, programs for all 4-year-olds about to enter kindergarten. Florida provides 540 hours of free instructional care. To meet those state-mandated requirements, many VPK programs in the state offer 3 hours of free care a day Monday through Friday.

Florida also offers the School Readiness program, which subsidizes childcare for working parents who make no more than 150% below the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that’s $45,000 a year, but Grant says Florida’s rising minimum wage is forcing more families above that threshold.

“We have all kinds of coverage about saving for the cost of college. When your child is born, you hear about saving for the cost of higher education, but we don’t always coach families on the cost of having a child that is in diapers,” said Grant.

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau shows how childcare prices have gone up in just the last five years. News 6 crunched the numbers and found that infant care at a center in Central Florida has gone up more than 17% since 2018. In some cases, accounting for more than 15% of a family’s income.

The most expensive county: Seminole at more than $12,000 a year per infant.

Many childcare centers are now having to charge more in order to pay and retain quality staff.

Here’s how that breaks down, county by county:

  • Orange: $9,394 in 2018 to $11,058 in 2023, which represents 14.9 % of median family income

  • Osceola: $8,811 in 2018 to $10,372 in 2023, which represents 16% of median family income

  • Lake: $7,531 in 2018 to $8,864 in 2023, which represents 11.9% of median family income

  • Seminole: $10,503 in 2018 to $12,363 in 2023, which represents $13.3% of median family income

  • Volusia: $9,195 in 2018 to $10,823 in 2023, which represents 15.5% of median family income

  • Flagler: $8,587 in 2018 to $10,108 in 2023, which represents 13.9% of median family income

  • Brevard: $9,023 in 2018 to $10,620 in 2023, which represents 13.4% of median family income

  • Marion: $8,130 in 2018 to $9,569 in 2023, which represents15.3% of median family income

  • Polk: $8,022 in 2018 to $9,443 in 2023, which represents 14.3% of median family income

  • Sumter: $8,720 in 2018 to $10,263 in 2023, which represents 13% of median family income

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South Florida officers sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, claiming details in ‘The Rip’ are too real

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South Florida officers sue Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, claiming details in ‘The Rip’ are too real


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“The Rip” features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house. Parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case.

FILE – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck attend the world premiere of “The Rip” at Alice Tully Hall, on Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP, File

MIAMI (AP) — Two South Florida police officers claim Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s recent action thriller “The Rip” used too many real-life details in its fictionalized narrative, causing harm to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to a defamation lawsuit.

Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit in Miami federal court earlier this month against Artists Equity, a film production company owned by Affleck and Damon. Court filings don’t say how much the officers are suing for, but the civil complaint says they’re seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, as well as a public retraction and correction.

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“The Rip” features Affleck and Damon as South Florida police officers who find millions of dollars inside a house. Parts of the movie were inspired by a real 2016 case, where police found over $21 million linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker in a Miami Lakes home.

An attorney for Artists Equity declined to comment when reached Monday by The Associated Press. But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ demand letter, Leita Walker, an attorney for Artists Equity, wrote that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or portray real people, which had been stated by a disclaimer in the film’s credits.

Although Smith and Santana aren’t named in the film, the lawsuit claims that Santana was serving as the lead detective assigned to the real case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team. The film’s inclusion of real details about the case gives the impression that the characters are based on the plaintiffs, the suit said.

And this, the lawsuit claims, has given friends, family members and colleagues the impression that the plaintiffs committed the criminal acts that appear in the film, which include (SPOILER ALERT) conspiring to steal seized drug money, murdering a supervising officer, communicating with cartel members, committing arson in a residential neighborhood, endangering the lives of civilians, repeatedly violating core law-enforcement protocols and executing a federal agent rather than making an arrest.

Walker wrote in March that the plaintiffs haven’t even identified which particular character is supposed to be based on Smith or Santana, so even if “The Rip” was actually about a real-life narcotics team, there’s no way to connect any of the characters to the plaintiffs.

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“The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan, debuted in January on Netflix. It’s currently rated 78% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

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South Florida and Miami news today

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You’re watching the NBC6 South Florida News streaming channel, which plays local South Florida news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can find the “NBC6 South Florida News” streaming channel on your phone or computer, and on Peacock, Samsung, Roku, Xumo or on our app, so you can watch our local news on your schedule.



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Palm Bay, Florida parents of premature twins held NICU wedding

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Palm Bay, Florida parents of premature twins held NICU wedding


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  • A Florida couple, both with prior health issues, welcomed miracle twin boys nine weeks prematurely.
  • The couple’s planned wedding was interrupted by the early birth of their sons, Joshua and Rhett.

Ben and Danielle Cassidy were told they likely wouldn’t be able to have children.

But this year they will celebrate Mother’s Day just months after having an impromptu wedding in the AdventHealth for Children hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit shortly after Danielle gave birth to twins prematurely — a week before the Palm Bay couple was scheduled to get married.

Both babies, Joshua and Rhett, are doing well despite arriving nine weeks ahead of schedule on Jan. 19, 2026, just one day after their scheduled baby shower. With a proper wedding out of the question with two premature babies in the NICU, a nurse took action.

Issabel Kenkel, the nurse behind the ceremony, said she was already in wedding planning mode for her own upcoming nuptials when she found out the Cassidy family’s ceremony would be interrupted.

“I couldn’t just let them do something small. They needed decorations and something fun, so I spoke to the music therapist and the chaplain,” Kenkel said. In short order, a wedding was being planned for their hospital room and the couple was saying their vows in the company of their safely delivered newborns.

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“When we found out we could request staff members to be on our team, that’s when we requested Issabel and having that kind of consistency from someone who has such a big heart and is so kind,” Danielle said.

The hospital ceremony was all the more special because of the Cassidy family’s own health struggles.

“I have five autoimmune diseases and didn’t really think I would have kids. It’s been a rough journey. When Ben and I met, we were floored at how much a miracle it was to have kids,” Danielle said.

Ben, who battled and beat cancer, said he was worried that his prior treatment would result in negative health outcomes for his future children. Having twins for him was an unexpected blessing.

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“When we found out we were pregnant, we found it so shocking. We said, wouldn’t it be great if it was twins? It filled out our hopes and dreams list,” Ben said. “They’ve been miracles for sure.”

The Cassidy couple said there was so much fear and uncertainty when their twins were born nine weeks early. Being able to get married right away just made them feel all the better about the future.

“It was nice getting married because we didn’t have to wait any longer to make it official. It made it that much harder for her to get rid of me,” Ben said.

“The unknown made it scary,” Danielle added. “We had no idea how long we would be in the hospital. Our wedding was going to be at the beach with immediate family and parents. Having NICU babies, we realized we’d never be able to get to the beach. It was really special having the people who care for our babies be part of the ceremony.”

The couple hadn’t even planned to have a band at their wedding ceremony and now the hospital’s music therapist was performing live for them and the chaplain was conducting the ceremony, something nurse Kenkel said was just part of her job.

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“The babies are going to have the best outcomes if the families are taken care of and going home happy,” she said. “Being in the NICU is already so stressful. This is just one more thing I could do to take care of my patients.”

Tyler Vazquez is the Growth and Development Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. X: @tyler_vazquez.



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