Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 8/25/2017

Florida has more than 41K immigration court cases

New data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a research organization out of Syracuse University which tracks federal agencies, show about 6,000 of those cases are in central Florida and the Tampa area, with the majority in Orange and Hillsborough counties. Miami-Dade County has 11,380 cases, the highest in the state. More from WUSF News.

Florida Trend Exclusive
Cyber growth: UWF is filling a growing cyber need

UWF has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence for the Southeast Region, and the Center for Cybersecurity will serve as a resource for all colleges and universities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico. It is one of only six academic institutions in the U.S. with that designation. More from Florida Trend.

Why Florida farmers want to kill Nafta

Fruit and vegetable farmers in the Southeast have emerged as a staunch component of the anti-free-trade movement. That’s put them at odds with much of the U.S. agriculture industry, which has long been one of the biggest advocates — and beneficiaries — of Nafta. More from Bloomberg Businessweek.

Meet the candidate vowing to forgo public political funds

Florida’s public campaign financing program was intended to level the playing field for candidates running against people with unlimited money to spend. State Rep. Matt Caldwell says, "Public financing of statewide political campaigns is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a disservice to Florida’s hardworking families." More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Officials disagree on who is in charge of a Confederate memorial on Capitol grounds

In the aftermath of events in Charlottesville, Virginia, Democrats in Florida, have called for the removal of Confederate monuments, including the one in downtown Tallahassee. But when asked about the memorial, Gov. Rick Scott has sidestepped questions about whether it should stay or go. More from the Daily Commercial.

Travel & Leisure
Florida's 10 best golf resorts

Golfshake takes a look at 10 of the best golf courses and hotels — based on the quality of the courses and accommodation — in Florida. All of them are perfect for families.

» More from the Golfshake.com.

Florida's Wilder Side
It's time to get wild

The goal of Wild Florida not to fill your minds with endless animal facts. Boring, this isn't. Instead, get ready for a celebration of the weird, wacky, wild, wonderful, whiskered, waterlogged, wriggly and sometimes worrisome creatures you can find here in the Sunshine State. It's free and it's fun.