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Tuesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida, feds still working on hurricane timber money
Florida has its “foot on the gas pedal” to get federal money to timber growers who sustained massive damage when Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle last year. But agreements are still being finalized, with no set timeline for the first payments to go out from a $380.7 million block grant. Franco Ripple, a spokesman for state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, said Monday officials intend to get the needed agreements finalized “as soon as possible.” [Source: Panama City News Herald]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Ocala's horse business growth
Ocala’s horse business has grown in size and political clout, even as thoroughbred racing draws fewer people to tracks. Ocala’s horse industry began taking shape in the 1950s, when Bonnie Heath II, an oilman and racehorse owner, decided to stand Needles, winner of the 1956 Kentucky Derby, as stud at his farm in Ocala. Over time, the industry has grown big enough for the Ocala region to proclaim itself the horse capital of the world. [Source: Florida Trend]
How an army of robots — and humans — help your holiday gifts arrive by Christmas
Amazon’s fulfillment center in Opa-locka is aptly named: It fulfills the impossible-seeming task of having almost any item imaginable shipped directly to one’s door in a matter of hours. But how does Amazon — and other e-commerce shippers including Target and Walmart — really work to deliver more than an estimated $135 billion in e-commerce sales this holiday season, up from $119 billion last year? [Source: Miami Herald]
Harry Potter’s magic changed Florida theme parks this decade
Theme parks have changed radically in the last 10 years due in large part to a boy wizard. With an increasingly expensive arms race among the theme parks, visitors have been rewarded with richer experiences. But admission is also richer, finally crossing the $100 threshold in 2015. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
Poll: Floridians strongly favor raising state's minimum wage
A series of polls from the St. Leo University Polling Institute shows Floridians deeply divided on some of the major issues that the state will face in the coming year. But most Floridians support increasing the state's minimum wage. Floridians will decide in November's elections whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Florida Supreme Court on Dec. 19 ruled that the constitutional amendment pushed by Orlando trial attorney John Morgan could be placed on the ballot. [Source: WUSF]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Mosaic to curtail Central Florida fertilizer production
Mosaic plans to cut production at its Central Florida fertilizer manufacturing plants until demand improves. "Mosaic will not produce at high rates when we are unable to realize reasonable prices,” company president and chief executive officer Joc O’Rourke said in an announcement of the plan.
› A new hotel in Mid-Beach is already experiencing the Super Bowl effect
Hotels are feeling the Super Bowl effect. A lodging opened two weeks ago in Mid-Beach and, already, all the rooms are booked for the first weekend in February. Pebb Capital, a Boca Raton-based multi-strategy real estate and private equity investment firm, opened the 5-story, 100-key Hampton by Hilton after a $25 million renovation of the 1948 MiMo hotel.
› Patrick Air Force Base designated a Space Force base
Patrick Air Force Base, and with it the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, is now designated as a Space Force base and could see a name change in the coming months. Other re-designated bases are Peterson, Schriever, and Buckley Air Force Bases in Colorado and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
› Eyeing more visitors, St. Cloud hopes to open seaplane base in the coming months
Day trips to St. Cloud soon could become more feasible by air, as city officials believe they’re on the verge of constructing the region’s third public-use seaplane base. It would be located on East Lake Tohopekaliga, about 50 miles south of Tavares’ seaplane base, which opened in 2010.
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