Tuesday's Daily Pulse
 L. Felice Gorordo represents a shift among younger Cubans voting Democrat. He voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. [Photo: Nick Garcia] » MORE |
The influence of Florida's Hispanic population
Diverse, powerful and political, Hispanics in Florida are not easy to pigeonhole. Market research firm Nielsen, in a 2012 report on the growth of the Hispanic market, says Hispanics are "the largest immigrant group to exhibit significant culture sustainability and are not disappearing into the American melting pot." Read the first installment in a weeklong series here.
See also:
» Snapshots of Florida's Hispanic Community
Profiles of different groups, including Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Nicaraguans.
NFL brings out big guns to lobby Florida lawmakers
n meetings Monday with top state lawmakers, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, team owner Stephen Ross and Miami Dolphins CEO Mike Dee made their last-minute pitch, pressing them to support an upgrade of Sun Life Stadium. By day’s end, the NFL firepower succeeded — at least with Legislature’s Upper Chamber. [Source: Miami Herald]
Florida sinkholes: where is the greatest risk?
Florida has the largest concentration of sinkholes in the United States. According to the Florida Geological Survey (FGS), sinkholes cause millions of dollars in damage each year to public property, highways and private homes. The business of sinkhole detection and prevention is booming here in Florida because of the looming threat. [Source: First Coast News]
Senate and House play hot potato with Medicaid bills
The Florida Senate effectively rejected the House’s alternative to expanding Medicaid on Monday, prolonging a stalemate that may prove too difficult to resolve before the legislative session wraps up this week. Senators on Monday took up the House plan, which passed last week, but quickly amended the bill by swapping in their own plan. The Senate is expected to pass the amended bill and send it back to the House Tuesday. [Source: Times/Herald]
Wealth of blacks, Hispanics take harder hit during Great Recession
The Great Recession more severely impacted the wealth of blacks and Hispanics than whites. In 2010, white families averaged six times the wealth of black and Hispanic households, the Urban Institute's Opportunity and Ownership Project reported. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Counties upset over "Triumph Gulf Coast" bill [AP]
A consortium of eight Gulf Coast counties is raising an alarm about a Florida Senate bill that creates a nonprofit board to manage money from settlements from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
› Pinellas' idyllic beaches could appeal to China's travel boom [Tampa Bay Times]
Sand like sugar. Skies as blue as cornflowers. Waves of gentle turquoise. That idyllic portrait of the Pinellas beaches is one that D.T. Minich has painted all over Europe and South America. Last week the Pinellas County tourism chief introduced the beaches of Clearwater Beach, Fort De Soto, Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands to a brand-new market: China.
› Opinion: Florida’s gays, lesbians achieve office despite setbacks [Miami Herald]
Two steps forward, one step back. That’s how you could characterize Florida’s strides to elect openly gay men and women to public office. Just as the tally kept by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute was nearing two dozen, the number moved back again.
› S'Macks to replicate famed Sarasota diner [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
The partners behind Gecko's Grill & Pubs are resurrecting a local drive-in and diner that was once an enormously popular hangout in Southwest Florida.
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› Employee training grants to double under Florida budget plan [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
The Florida Senate and House agreed to double funding going to employers for worker training, part of their 2013-2014 budget negotiations, Workforce Florida announced Monday.
› MoneyWi$e Week is all about financial literacy [Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville’s Family Foundations is hosting its second annual MoneyWi$e Week where volunteers will teach local residents about financial literacy.
› The fastest of the Bulls [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Three diverse Southwest Florida businesses — an insurance agency, a furniture store chain and a wealth-management firm — now have more in common than just geography. They have been named to an inaugural University of South Florida list called the "Fast 56," an honor roll of the fastest-growing businesses owned, or led by, school alumni.
› Northrop Grumman plans meeting at FIT to discuss space technologies [Florida Today]
A delegation from Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector will present an overview of the company’s space technology portfolio, including programs such as the James Webb Space Telescope, that are leading the next generation into space.