March 18, 2024

Monday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/19/2018

Florida is back in the land conservation business

Florida is back in the land conservation business in a big way, but that is not stopping environmental advocates from moving ahead with a lawsuit accusing the state of failing to abide by a 2014 constitutional amendment that earmarked money for conservation. The Sierra Club and a number of other environmental groups say the 2014 amendment requires that 33 percent of tax revenue from real estate transactions, or more than $800 million this year, go toward conservation efforts. More from the Daily Commercial and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Earlier:
» At long last, Florida Forever program can help wildlife

In Miami, MCM thrives on big county contracts. Now it faces the FIU bridge catastrophe

Last year, Florida was on track to spend $800 million for a new overpass in downtown Miami, a lucrative contract Munilla Construction Management failed to win from a state selection committee. When MCM protested the Florida Department of Transportation’s award to rival Archer Western, the losing bidder gained a high-profile ally at the top of Miami-Dade’s government. [Source: Miami Herald]

Mark Howard Mark Howard

Florida Trend Editorial
Yesterday's solutions for Florida's transportation problems

Florida isn’t exactly a hotbed of public transportation. And the trends don’t look good. After perking up for a few years during and immediately after the Great Recession of 2008- 09, ridership has fallen off at most transit systems in the state. Read the full column from Florida Trend's Executive Editor Mark Howard, here.

Florida, the 'Salmon State'? It could happen soon

It comes as a surprise to many that salmon -- the cold-water, protein-rich fish -- are well-suited to be farmed in the tropics. Southern Florida offers the ideal geology for an innovative approach to aquaculture: the world’s largest land-raised salmon farm. Atlantic Sapphire CEO and Founder Johan Andreassen said he expects their $100 million facility will be capable of producing around 10,000 metric tons of salmon, or 22 million pounds annually, by the beginning of 2020. Read more at Seafood Source and the Miami Herald.

Many in Central Florida’s tourism industry fear Haitian, Salvadoran deportations

Thousands of people with Temporary Protected Status work in Orlando’s tourism mecca along International Drive or around Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center. Around 1,000 work for Rosen Hotels & Resorts alone, which has seven locations. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Thousands of Florida homeowners will be paid for lost trees
Thousands of Florida homeowners who had healthy citrus trees cut down by the state are finally going to get paid for their losses. Gov. Rick Scott on Friday approved a new state budget that includes more than $52 million to pay homeowners in Broward and Palm Beach counties whose trees were removed more than a decade ago.

See also:
» Final state budget for 2018, HB 5001

› FTC shutters 3 cryptocurrency businesses with South Florida ties
The Federal Trade Commission on Friday said it won a federal court order in Miami to shut down three cryptocurrency businesses operating in South Florida and elsewhere around the United States. See the news release from the FTC, here.

› Lockheed Martin’s new $3.5B contract will yield Orlando jobs
Lockheed Martin has landed another huge contract, $3.5 billion to maintain over 300,000 devices and systems used by the military, the company announced Friday. And that will result in at least a few dozen new jobs in Orlando if not more, company officials said. See the news release from Lockheed Martin, here.

› Jabil plans to spend $67 million remaking its headquarters in St. Petersburg’s Gateway area
Jabil plans to invest an estimated $67.3 million expanding its corporate headquarters in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, according to Pinellas County records.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

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