Thursday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/15/2018

A much bigger payday awaits Florida Supreme Court justices

After years of talks with the Legislature about how to make their salaries more competitive, justices of the Florida Supreme Court finally prevailed. In the $88.7 billion budget that hit Gov. Rick Scott's desk Wednesday, justices salaries are being raised an eye-catching $42,000 a year, to $220,600 a year. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Founder of Chewy.com stepping down as CEO

Ryan Cohen, the 32-year-old co-founder of Chewy.com, has stepped down as CEO of the online pet-product company. In April 2017, Phoenix-based PetSmart restructured debt to finance a reported $3.35 billion acquisition of Chewy in the largest transaction in e-commerce history. More from the South Florida Business Journal.

Hyundai sued by Orlando dealership over Genesis expansions

Hyundai is about to roll out new dealership locations in Central Florida and around the country, and Orlando businessman William Nero is concerned that the company might be leaving him out of it. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

The cost of housing Florida's aging prison population

Florida is currently incarcerating 27,719 elderly inmates. The elderly population represents less than one third of the total population, yet the Florida Department of Corrections estimates “43 percent (of) all outpatient episodes for care and 50 percent of all inpatient hospital days” are attributable to elderly inmates More from WFTV.

Space Florida President Frank DiBello forecasting thousands of rocket launches in future years

The market for private space launches is heading toward 800 to 1,000 launches a year of satellites and other space hardware; the Florida Spaceport at Cape Canaveral needs to be positioned to host as much of that business as possible, Space Florida President Frank DiBello told his board Wednesday. More from Florida Politics.

Event
Synapse Innovation Summit

Now in its second year, the Synapse Innovation Summit at Amalie Arena on March 28-29 aims to gather together the Tampa Bay area’s entire innovation ecosystem — a group of people and organizations that share a common purpose, but not always a common conversation.

» More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Retirement Business
Real-Life Margaritaville Wows Parrothead Retirees

If there is one thing that is not moving slow, it is Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach, Florida’s newest 55-and older retirement community. A collaboration of Buffett’s Margaritaville Holdings and Tampa-based Minto Communities USA, it has enjoyed a reception nothing short of phenomenal ever since it was announced a year ago.