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Tuesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
BP settlement money flows to Panhandle
The Triumph Gulf Coast board of directors, set up by the Legislature to oversee settlement money from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, agreed to dish out more than $18 million for the first four regional-economic development projects in Northwest Florida. The first grant approved by the Triumph board will provide $10 million to the Port of Panama City for a major expansion of port capacity. Triumph is also providing $1.5 million toward improving water and sewer infrastructure for an Okaloosa County industrial site. See where more of the money is going in the news release. Also read more at the Gainesville Sun and Florida Politics.
Russian trolls' post-election task: Disrupt Florida and other U.S. energy pipelines
Russian trolls posted, tweeted or retweeted at least 9,097 times about U.S. energy projects or environmental issues between 2015 and 2017, including the $3 billion Sabal Trail Pipeline designed to carry natural gas to Florida from Alabama. The social media propaganda was part of a broad Kremlin campaign to disrupt the booming American energy industry, which seemingly overnight has emerged as a threat to Russia’s global dominance. [Source: McClatchy]
Court rejects Keys residents’ challenge to Citizens rates
An appellate court has rejected a community group’s challenge to premium levels for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. customers in Monroe County. State law provides no avenue for the formal administrative challenge sought by Fair Insurance Rates in Monroe Inc., a unanimous three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee concluded on Monday. See the ruling here. Also read more at Florida Politics.
Sen. Rubio: Corporations aren't investing tax cuts in jobs
Sen. Marco Rubio says big businesses aren't investing much of their windfall from President Donald Trump's tax cuts into their workers. The Florida Republican told The Economist that "there's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker." [Source: AP]
Florida regulators to review utilities' hurricane plans
With another hurricane season a month away, utilities in the state are finally getting graded on their performance in September’s Hurricane Irma and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew. The Florida Public Service Commission has scheduled a hurricane workshop tomorrow and Thursday to review the utilities’ performance and learn about preparations for the upcoming hurricane season. Find out more about the PSC's workshop, and how to watch it, in their news release. Also read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and WJXT.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Hamilton County: A fertile address for agribusiness and more
Hamilton County is “Florida’s Front Porch” for start-ups, retailers, manufacturers, industry and increasingly agribusiness. Ample open acreage and shovel-ready land, logistical services, key infrastructure, a skilled workforce and Southern hospitality, all make Hamilton County the perfect patch to plant your roots and grow your business. [Sponsored report]
› New development increasing in Tallahassee
According to the permitting department, permits are increasing across the board for commercial, single family and multi-family developments. This year alone, Tallahassee has already permitted 2.5 million square feet of non-residential development; that's more than all of last year.
› Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin updates progress on Cape rocket facilities
Tucked away in Blue Origin’s coverage of its launch in Texas on Sunday were some details on progress being made at its new facilities in Cape Canaveral. The company is currently hiring locally and gearing up its rocket factory near Kennedy Space Center and at its operations at Launch Complex 36.
› Lockheed Martin opens new facility in Florida
Lockheed Martin has formally opened a new manufacturing facility in Pinellas Park, FL that will create more than 80 new jobs by mid-2019. These new jobs are in addition to the 30 Lockheed Martin jobs added late last year to support the increasing F-35 production rate. The facility is expected to be operational by mid-May.
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