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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida jobless claims up slightly
New unemployment claims increased last week in Florida but remain similar to pre-pandemic levels. The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated that 6,494 first-time unemployment claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Aug. 21. That was up from a revised count of 5,432 claims in the week ending Aug. 14. The agency initially estimated 4,092 claims during the week that ended Aug. 14. The Florida increase last week came as the number of estimated national claims grew by 4,000 over the previous week. [Source: News Service of Florida]
Business Beat - Week of August 27th
Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video newsbrief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.
Designed to fail: How Florida's lack of condo board oversight could mean another Surfside
The deadly Surfside collapse is casting a spotlight on how Florida's condominiums are built and regulated. The 40-year-old Champlain Towers South in Miami-Dade County killed 98 people when the 12-story building unexpectedly crumbled on June 24. A USA Today Network analysis of property records in the coastal communities of Miami Beach, Fort Myers Beach, Daytona Beach and Palm Beach show more than a thousand condos three stories or taller close to the water constructed in 1981 or earlier. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
South Florida tourism leaders work to hire employees
The national worker shortage continues to put a strain on Florida's fragile tourism industry. But hotels and restaurants across South Florida are collaborating to bounce back. Tourism is Florida's top industry, but the biggest challenge that many hotels and restaurants face right now are the vacant positions, especially as we head into the busy season. [Source: WFLX]
Panhandle could feel effects of developing storm
The National Hurricane Center is advising Panhandle residents to keep an eye on a rapidly moving and growing storm in the west-central Caribbean. “The system is expected to enter into the Gulf of Mexico Friday night and continue moving northwestward toward the central or northwestern U.S. Gulf coast, potentially bringing dangerous impacts from storm surge, wind and heavy rainfall to portions of the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle by Sunday and Monday,” the center said in its tropical weather outlook. More from the News Service of Florida] and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Florida’s surgeon general to depart next month, DeSantis administration says
Dr. Scott Rivkees, who oversaw the Florida Department of Health during the coronavirus pandemic, will depart state government next month. Taryn Fenske, a DeSantis spokesperson, said in a statement that Gov. Ron DeSantis enlisted Rivkees’s help as long as the law allowed. “We thank him for his meaningful work during the most trying pandemic in our lifetime and we wish him all the success!” Fenske said.
› Florida redfish stocks in good shape, except in Indian River Lagoon, researchers say
Redfish — or red drum, as they are also known — are one of Florida's premier game fish. Anglers pursue them throughout the state, along with snook, tarpon and spotted seatrout. On the shallow grassflats, anglers can sight-cast to "tailing" redfish, as they are called when they feed nose down to root up small crustaceans and mollusks. In deeper waters, anglers use larger baits such as live crabs and croaker to catch and release redfish as long as a man's leg and weighing more than 35 pounds.
› Sloppy Joe’s, a Hemingway haunt in Key West, comes to Orlando’s Icon Park
Key West bar and restaurant Sloppy Joe’s is expected to open at Icon Park on International Drive. A sign on doors at the dining and entertainment destination says Sloppy Joe’s is “Coming Soon.” The Key West Sloppy Joe’s has undergone two name changes and its “official” start was the day Prohibition in the United States ended, Dec. 5, 1933, according to the restaurant’s website. Author Ernest Hemingway was a regular at Sloppy Joe’s, and the Key West restaurant hosts an annual Hemingway look-alike contest.
› St. Pete belly dance studio Hip Expressions to close after 10 years
As attendance dropped off at Hip Expressions belly dance studio in St. Petersburg during the pandemic, owner Johanna Krynytzky tried everything to stay afloat. She began offering virtual classes. But it wasn’t enough to pay her monthly rent at 2033 54th Ave N., a space she’d occupied for nearly a decade. Krynytzky was prepared to tell her landlord, April Hill, that the dance studio had to leave. But then she got a better offer.
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