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Tuesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Tech companies' remote work policy spurs employee exodus from to Florida
Workers who never have to go back to an office are leaving high-cost cities like New York and San Francisco for warm weather and low taxes in the Sun Belt. Yelp, known for its crowdsourced reviews of businesses, analyzed three years of internal data on its own workforce, which is fully remote. It found the share of workers living near its office locations plunged between 2019 and 2022, with its headquarters in San Francisco seeing the most dramatic drop (down 70%), followed by New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago (each down 67%). In the same period, the number of Yelp workers living in Florida and Texas jumped by four times. More from WKRG.
Prominent accounting firm seizes opportunities with Tampa expansion
One of the nation’s fastest-growing accounting firms has joined the stampede of companies relocating or expanding to the Tampa Bay region. Centri Business Consulting, headquartered in Philadelphia, recently opened an office in Water Street Tampa, near Sparkman Wharf, as it looks to grow its national footprint. Managing Director Thomas Arseneau will oversee the office and its 12 employees, and he says the firm’s staff will grow by at least three by the end of the year. More from the Business Observer.
How a cold snap, a basket of oranges and a clever marketing campaign changed Miami’s luck
“Miami, the magic city” As a slogan, it works well on billboards, neon signs, travel guides, and in political speeches. How did this moniker come about? What did Henry Flagler have to do with Miami’s century-old nickname? Have you ever wondered why Miami has so many canals and lakes? What is the reason the state was named Florida? And where did Miami get its name? Read more from the Miami Herald and watch the video below:
Florida bill would ban allowing dogs to stick their heads out of car windows, declawing cats
Florida Sen. Lauren Book (D-Broward) filed a new bill intended to protect animals by making it illegal to let a dog be in a driver’s lap or stick their head out of a window in the car while driving. Additionally, Senate Bill 932 includes provisions to make it illegal to have a dog transported “on the running board, fender, hood, or roof of a motor vehicle,” as well as in a trunk, or enclosed cargo space. Dogs may also not be transported in a car that is being towed. More from WKRG.
Venice growth plan change could impact development of former hospital site
A change in how Venice tracks growth in areas targeted for mixed residential and commercial uses could mean more predictability but also jeopardize future plans such as the envisioned redevelopment of the former ShorePoint Health Venice Hospital site city's center. Planners will now know how many homes can be built when a developer files an application for a project and reserve those once a complete application is applied and paid for. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Out of the Box
Odessa family’s pool shaped like six-shooter gun
The swimming pool in the backyard of Louis Minardi’s home near Tampa may be distinctive to Florida: The custom-built pool is shaped like a six-shooter revolver, in a state made famous — sometimes infamous — by guns, gun politics and gun culture. “Neighbors that have bought houses around here have all come by,” Minardi said. “They’re all, ‘Is this guy a whack job?’” The story behind the revolver-shaped pool goes back roughly 40 years to an idea proposed by Minardi’s high school friend.
» More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Profile
Paddleboarding for a Cause
At age 4 in 2011, Piper Suits was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder affecting the lungs and other organs. Piper’s Angels, founded by her father, Travis Suits, hosts the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis, an 80-mile stand-up paddleboard journey from Bimini to Lake Worth Beach. Travis and a few others first made the journey — 15½ hours — in 2013 to create exposure for the cystic fibrosis community. Ten years later, it’s grown into an endurance challenge and international championship race.
» Read more from Florida Trend.
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