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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› St. Petersburg's newest hotel opens with craft beers, cocktails and Cozy Corners
Hybar, a bar area with outdoor seating that will feature craft drinks and Sunday brunch starting Oct. 1, is ready to open at the new Hyatt Place hotel at 25 2nd St. N in downtown St. Petersburg.
› Finalists chosen in Orlando's search for city's first poet laureate
The search for Orlando’s first poet laureate was narrowed down to three award-winning finalists Thursday morning: Terry Ann Thaxton, Curtis X Meyer and Susan Lilley.
› Census: Gap grows between rich and poor in Sarasota-Manatee
In Sarasota and Manatee counties, upper-income and lower-income households both grew in numbers last year — widening the gap between rich and poor. According to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau, of Sarasota County’s 176,191 households, 23,816 earned $19,999 or less in 2016.
› FPL spent $3 billion preparing for a storm. So why did Irma knock out the lights?
When Hurricane Irma side-swiped South Florida, almost every home fell into darkness and tropical heat. The widespread outages happened despite FPL spending nearly $3 billion over the past decade to “harden” its electrical grid against the next monster storm.
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