Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 1/24/2014

Florida's unemployment rate falls to 6.2 percent

Florida's unemployment rate fell from 6.4 percent to 6.2 percent in December, the lowest point in five-and-a-half years. Florida added of 14,100 jobs over the month, a noticeable improvement from November but shy of the bump some expected given other early indicators. More at the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida Blue staffs up to deal with flood of new customers

The Jacksonville-based carrier was swamped with customers signing up on the Affordable Care Act. It is the only insurer offering plans in all 67 Florida counties on the federal health exchange, an online marketplace. More at the Jacksonville Business Journal.

Checking Work Email at Night? Here's Why You Should Stop

Editor's Page

Pier Pressure

The iconic features of a community are vital to its sense of place — particularly in Florida, where so much is so recent. And if anyone needs a lesson in how important it is for communities to successfully cultivate and revitalize their icons, he need look no further than the St. Petersburg pier and the city's most recent mayoral election.

» Read Florida Trend Executive Editor Mark Howard's full column.

Using a smartphone to get more work done at night makes employees less productive the next day, new research suggests. Workers who monitored their smartphones for business purposes after 9 p.m. were more tired and less engaged the following day on the job, researchers found. More at Business News Daily.

Talks aimed at healing trauma divisions in Florida

Trauma surgeons, hospital lawyers and the Florida Department of Health’s top attorney held a day-long negotiating session aimed at coming up with a rule that could play a key role in determining where trauma centers will be allowed to open in the future. More at the Jacksonville Business Journal.

Crowd-funding festival to feature marketing, design experts

A speaker series designed to share ideas in design, entrepreneurship, marketing and music will be headlined by experts in social media and artistic design. The festival will take place April 9-13 in downtown Jacksonville. More at the Florida Times-Union.

Out of the Box
Power struggle: Woman, city at odds for living 'off the grid'

The City of Cape Coral posted uninhabitable signs on the home of Robin Speronis in Cape Coral. Speronis is battling the city over the right to live off the electrical grid. The city says it's impossible for anyone to truly live off the electrical grid within city limits.