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Wednesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Georgia backs Florida in elections law fight
Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr filed a brief Monday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the Florida law, which, in part, placed additional restrictions on “drop boxes” for mail-in ballots and prevented groups from providing items such as food and water to voters waiting in line at polling places. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled March 31 that the law was unconstitutionally intended to discriminate against Black voters. A panel of the federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Sept. 15 in Florida’s appeal of Walker’s ruling. [Source: News Service of Florida]
University of Florida surpasses $1 billion in research spending for first time in 2022
With $1.076 billion in research expenditures, UF joins an exclusive group of about 15 public universities around the country to surpass $1 billion, including the University of Michigan, UCLA and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. UF Vice President for Research David Norton praised the faculty and staff for driving the university's relentless pursuit of new knowledge and discovery through research and scholarship. [Source: UF News]
Commentary: Better public policies needed to help small businesses achieve their ‘Wildest Dreams’
Back in 2004, I launched One Day Came Construction. For the last 18 years, I have been a proud founder, president, and CEO of a small business. It’s hard work but nothing compares to the honor I’ve felt hiring employees, landing big projects, and growing my company. There are countless stories of Black businesses who found ways to pivot in the worst of circumstances – and it appears we have more hills to climb. Headlines are filled with economic challenges facing small businesses: inflation, workforce shortages and disrupted supply chains. [Source: Florida Trend]
Florida population boom is taxing on trust and estate litigation
Florida has a higher percentage of elderly people, and there are a lot of wealthy elderly people in Southeast Florida. The trend of wealthy moves to South Florida has become more pronounced during the past 10 years. Unlike other states, Florida doesn’t have a state income tax or estate tax, which significantly benefits wealthy individuals. Tax planners are advising their clients to move their residency to Florida because it’s beneficial for tax reasons when compared to states such as New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. More recently, there has been an influx from California and Illinois. [Source: Bloomberg]
Critics fear legislative proposal to fix nursing home staffing shortages may affect care
Lisa Machamer was frustrated trying to get in touch with staff at the memory care facility where her 96-year-old mother was living in Sarasota last spring. Machamer lives in Ireland, and when she finally did get a chance to visit, she saw firsthand how a statewide staffing shortage was affecting her mother. Administrators told Machamer they didn’t have enough staff. Florida’s nursing homes are struggling with workforce shortages at a time when their resources are already stretched thin due to the pandemic. [Source: WLRN]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Tampa-based nonprofit sees more families facing homelessness for the first time. In Florida, landlords hold the right to terminate a month-to-month lease without cause.
Dawning Family Services is receiving more calls from homeless families in Tampa.
› NASA selects Falcon Heavy to launch Roman Space Telescope
NASA announced July 19 that it awarded a contract to SpaceX to launch Roman on the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2026 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The contract is valued at $255 million for the launch and other mission-related costs.
› COVID-19 inpatient total increases in Florida
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data Tuesday that showed 4,444 Florida hospital inpatients had COVID-19, up from 4,168 a week earlier. The data also showed that 429 inpatients were in intensive-care units, compared to 408 a week earlier.
› FSU researcher: Make it your business to see stress as enhancing
You own a small business, and you find yourself stressing about, among other things, staffing, payroll, supply chains, the economy and the latest strain of COVID-19. Sure, you’re overwhelmed, and you see the stress as debilitating. You’re probably doing it wrong, says Samantha Paustian-Underdahl.
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