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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Gov. Scott signs 74 bills into law, including daylight savings, tax cuts
Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Friday legislation that sets Florida on course for year-round daylight saving time and also approved $171 million in election-year tax cuts. In a blur of bill-signings, Scott OK’d 74 bills that had been approved by lawmakers in the 2018 session, which ended earlier this month. Changes to daylight saving time won’t happen fast. Congress still has to approve legislation permitting Florida to stay in daylight saving time all year, a proposal Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio introduced soon after the Legislature adjourned. [Source: Florida Times Union]
See also:
» Full list of all the new laws with brief synopsis, here.
Powerful Florida panel may ask voters to make big changes
A powerful panel of Floridians that meets every 20 years is about to decide whether a ban on oil drilling, term limits for school board members and nearly two dozen other ideas should be included in the state's constitution. [Source: AP]
Spurned by private carriers, South Florida homeowners again forced into state-run Citizens Insurance
State-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the so-called “insurer of last resort,” is poised to again become the first choice for many homeowner insurance customers in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Will Amazon open HQ2 in Miami? Maybe, maybe not, but city’s profile rises, CEOs say
This week’s question to South Florida CEOs who are on the Miami Herald CEO Roundtable: How do you feel about Miami’s chances for landing Amazon’s second headquarters? Even if Miami doesn’t land the bid, what do you think being part of the list has done for the city’s profile as a professional hub? [Source: Miami Herald]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Orlando Magic hopes to turn gamers into basketball fans
The Orlando Magic and 16 other NBA franchises have agreed to sponsor teams in a new video game basketball league, as the professional basketball industry aims to develop a new line of e-sports revenue streams. Full story here, part of a business news roundup for Central Florida.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Sarasota group planning third trip to help Puerto Rican farmers
The PRCCF, a nonprofit group based in Sarasota, has been working with small farmers for 12 years to export products. They established the “Puerto Rico Farmer’s Fund” in November to help hurricane-affected ranchers who provide produce, dairy products and meat to local markets.
› Royal Caribbean takes delivery of world's largest cruise ship
Royal Caribbean finally got its hands on Symphony of the Seas, and the ship has inherited the title of world’s largest cruise ship. The ceremony that took place at the STX France shipyard in St. Nazaire, France on Friday is the culmination of 36 months of construction.
› Column: Tariffs on paper will hurt us, and our readers
You have read about the new tariffs on imported aluminum and steel, and on products from China. Now it seems our own business — newspaper printing and publishing — will take some casualties in a trade war over paper. Read the full column from Paul Tash, chairman and CEO of Times Publishing Company.
› Statewide vote could put a new sheriff in town even if Miami-Dade doesn’t want it
Miami-Dade County is the only county in Florida without an elected sheriff. But a proposed constitutional amendment could let Floridians decide this November if Miami-Dade should elect its top cop for the first time in more than 40 years.
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