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Monday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida to drop $300-per-week benefit program for unemployment
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will withdraw from Florida's Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program. The program that brought a supplemental $300 per week will end June 26, as part of DEO's Return to Work initiative. Other federal benefits will continue but are set to expire on Sept. 6. DEO said they will continue to monitor job posting and hiring trends in this time. More from WESH.
Could Florida get another chance at high-speed rail under Biden?
Even without federal investment, there has been progress in Florida in bringing high-speed trains online. In 2018, Brightline launched the first privately operated high-speed rail line in the country linking Miami and Wast Palm Beach. The company recently passed the halfway point on construction to bring service between South Florida and Orlando. It’s scheduled for completion at the end of 2022. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Northeast Florida hospitality jobs grow by 52% since 2020
Jacksonville’s unemployment remained steady in April at 4.4%, a year after COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns caused a huge spike in the jobless rate. The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties was unchanged from the 4.4% rate in March, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported May 21. More from the Jacksonville Daily Record.
Orlando restaurant owners raise wages as hiring woes are ‘compromising’ the industry
Restaurant owners in Central Florida are having a hard time attracting employees. Some businesses are responding by raising pay. Orlando-based Hawkers Asian Street Food, which operates 11 restaurants and is looking to hire 86 employees, has committed to paying all non-tipped employees $15 per hour in the next 30 days. The tipped minimum wage will go up to $8. The restaurant chain also is increasing the bonus employees receive for referring a new hire, offering retention bonuses and increasing the discount employees get on Hawker’s food, said spokeswoman Esther McIlvain. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Hialeah, the ‘City of Progress,’ is slowly starting to live up to its slogan
Despite its status as an overlooked underdog in Miami-Dade’s ongoing revitalization, the “City of Progress,” as Hialeah’s slogan reads, seems poised for an explosion of growth and development. “The industry knows that Hialeah is getting hot,” said Kayziah Varela, 29, a broker at the Partnership Realty firm. “I’ve had investors send me letters asking me if I want to sell my home for cash. I bought my house in 2017, a five-bedroom, four-bath place for $330,000. On my same street, a smaller three-bedroom home just sold for $495,000.” More from the Miami Herald.
Out of the Box
Monkey business: Researchers find origins of Florida colony
A colony of monkeys has lived for about 70 years in urban South Florida, near jets taking off from a nearby airport and fuel storage tanks. No one was quite sure where they came from. Until now. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University say they have traced the colony's origins to the Dania Chimpanzee Farm.
» More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the AP.
Entertainment
Shifting politics of gambling could benefit Sarasota card room that began as race track
Much has changed in his family’s business since 1944 when Jack Collins Jr’s grandfather purchased a greyhound racing track in Sarasota for $5,005 in back taxes. The track had burned down. Collins’ grandfather revived it. Collins grew up in the business, witnessing the decline of greyhound racing and the rise of other forms of gambling. The biggest change came after Florida legalized poker rooms at pari-mutuel gambling facilities. The Sarasota Kennel Club’s card room opened in late 2006.
» Read more from the Business Observer.
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