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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida lawmakers may weigh cutting unemployment taxes for businesses, putting workers at risk
Much like they did during the recovery from the Great Recession, Florida lawmakers could soon face deciding whether to cut unemployment taxes — a move that would help struggling businesses but could also leave the state without enough money to get benefits to workers who’ve lost jobs. Under state law, unemployment taxes are set to automatically increase Jan. 1 to replenish the trust fund that finances Florida’s unemployment system. Although Florida pays some of the lowest unemployment benefits in the nation, a maximum of $275 per week, that fund is rapidly drying up amid the mass layoffs spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Industry portrait: Florida's marine industry
Florida's ports -- and the cruise and cargo ships that call on them -- ferry billions of dollars to and through the Sunshine State. Florida's 15 deep-water ports are the state's connection to global trade that stretches from Asia to the Americas and across the Atlantic. Even amid the pandemic, the marine industry is a resilient economic powerhouse propelling Florida's future. [Source: Florida Trend]
Delays in materials continues to impact builders
Commercial contractors nationwide appear to feel like the beginning of the end of the pandemic is forthwith, save for one big issue: the availability of materials is getting worse. A little more than four in 10, 41%, of contractors say less availability of building products and materials is a severe consequence of the pandemic, according to the latest Commercial Construction Index from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. [Source: Business Observer]
SpaceX delays launch of secret satellite for U.S. military
SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt today from Kennedy Space Center of a classified satellite for the U.S. government, but will try again on Friday. The mission caps off a busy 2020 season for Elon Musk’s company. “Last launch of 2020 coming up,” Musk tweeted Thursday morning. It would be the company’s 26th of the year. SpaceX plans to land Falcon 9′s first stage on dry land instead of on a drone ship at sea, using Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Will DeSantis hire another Florida climate change czar?
For almost seven months, Florida had a dedicated leader on climate change. Then she left for another job. The state has now gone longer than that without a full-time replacement. Environmental advocates celebrated Gov. Ron DeSantis’s hiring of Julia Nesheiwat for the newly created position of chief resilience officer in summer 2019. They saw the move as a declaration his office would accept, and try to address, the realities of climate change in a vulnerable state. Now some wonder about that commitment. [Source: Tamoa Bay Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› A new life for old Macy’s site in Pompano: a 356-unit apartment complex
A new chapter is emerging for the closed Macy’s at the Pompano Citi Centre as developers have applied to replace the now-shuttered department store with a 356-unit apartment complex. The Pompano Beach review committee on Wednesday gave an initial blessing to the proposal by the Morgan Cos. of Houston, which has developed or is in the process of building rental projects in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Boynton Beach. Besides Florida, Morgan has projects in its home state of Texas, as well as in Missouri, Arizona and California.
› This was the year for Central Florida to make headway on affordable housing. Then the virus hit.
Already, housing advocates are bracing for 2021′s legislative session and the real possibility the Sadowski Fund will be raided again to make up for the budget deficits brought on by the pandemic. At stake is $600 million sitting in the fund, bolstered by home sales that were surprisingly unaffected by the pandemic.
› MSC Cruises plots out new ships for Port Canaveral, Miami through 2022
MSC Cruises has yet to base a ship at Port Canaveral, but has committed to sailing from the port over summer 2022 while continuing its presence in Miami. The summer 2022 plans were announced this week that would keep MSC Divina at Port Canaveral while basing MSC Seashore in Miami.
› Banker, behind $17 million, moves ahead on unique model
Ken LaRoe doesn’t look, talk or act like a banker. A native of Eustis, a town of about 18,000 people in Lake County, he’s a blue collar, no-nonsense guy with a contrarian streak and healthy sense of wanderlust who started his career as a mechanic and thought he was destined for a career in the automotive industry — before a workplace mishap led him to enroll in community college.
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