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Friday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida jobless rate dipped in April as state added jobs
State officials announced Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent in April. That's a slight decline from March when the rate was 4.8 percent. Florida's unemployment rate remains slightly higher than the national rate. In Gov. Scott's news release, he notes that 15,000 private sector jobs were created in April. See the monthly data release from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Also read more at the AP and the Tampa Bay Times.
Hurricane projections for 2017 may increase
Odds of hurricanes forming this year in the Atlantic basin may increase because of weaker-than-expected El Niño weather conditions, said Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist with Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project. More from Florida Today.
Jacksonville-based Stein Mart suspends quarterly dividend
After a first-quarter 5.2 percent decrease in total sales and a comparable store sales decrease of 7.6 percent, Stein Mart Inc. has decided to suspend its quarterly dividend and significantly reduce capital expenditures. See the quarterly earnings statement from Stein Mart, here. Also read more at the Florida Times-Union.
Double-decker, open-top buses will do Orlando sightseeing tours
Florida Dolphin Tours is apparently bringing something new to Orlando’s tourism scene — open-top, double-decker buses for sightseeing tours. The company has landed an established global franchise based in Spain — City Sightseeing — to launch the new service. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Miami Beach convention center hotel plan delayed
Miami Beach won’t be told how to develop a headquarters convention hotel until June or later, more than a year after commissioners appointed a seven-member study team that was expected to wrap up Monday. More from Miami Today.
Around the State
Long range plan
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission got 150 acres to create the Palm Beach County Shooting Sports Park. The facility marks the latest in a flurry of new government-run public shooting ranges in the state.
End of an Era
Hillsborough County's last dairy farm moves on
The 160 cows were milked and corralled into four 18-wheelers before the morning light struck the fifth-generation Florida dairy farm. As it traveled north on Interstate 75 — passing one-time farmland that had long ago given way to houses, offices and shopping malls — the bovine caravan marked the departure of the last operating dairy in Hillsborough County.
» Read more from the Tampa Bay Times.
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