Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 6/10/2016

U.S. airlines to start scheduled flights to Cuba

Six airlines won permission Friday to resume scheduled commercial air service from the U.S. to Cuba for the first time in more than five decades. The airlines will fly from five U.S. cities, including two in Florida, to nine cities in Cuba other than Havana. More from the AP, ABC News, and Reuters.

Builders still struggling mightily with lack of labor force

A wave of baby boomers snapping up retirement pads and millennials making the leap to homeownership are expected to propel demand for real estate, with burgeoning markets like Southwest Florida leading the way. But builders are not likely to meet that demand this year — or next. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Florida justices eye constitutionality of malpractice caps

More than a dozen years after a fierce political fight about the state's medical-malpractice laws, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments about the constitutionality of limits on damages in malpractice lawsuits. More from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Gov. Scott to visit Louisiana on mission to bring businesses to Florida

Gov. Rick Scott will visit Louisiana next week on his latest hunt to lure companies to Florida as state lawmakers there struggle with budget woes. Scott will visit New Orleans and the state capital, Baton Rouge, in his latest bid to convince companies that Florida’s tax structure and light business regulations are worth the move. More from the Tallahassee Democrat.

UF, consultants look for more dense growth on, off campus

The University of Florida's emerging, long-term growth plan includes ideas to transform the area between campus and downtown — and one that could mandate UF students spend their first two years living on campus. More from the Gainesville Sun.

Profile
Thriving in Jacksonville After Fleeing Puerto Rico

Luis Ortiz wanted to remain in his native Puerto Rico. He’s proud of the U.S. territory, but the more he tried to make it work financially, the more he realized he’d have to leave the island for Jacksonville if he was going to make a decent living.

» More from the Florida Times-Union.

Florida Originals
Dental Work

Between 3 million and 10 million years ago in waters off Venice, megalodons congregated to breed. Over millions of years, their teeth settled alongside the bones of scores of other prehistoric land and aquatic species. The fossil-hunting site is actually an ancient riverbed, formed when the peninsula’s land mass extended as many as 90 miles farther into the Gulf of Mexico.