Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Thursday's Afternoon Update

Gov. Scott proposes $30 million for worker training

Gov. Rick Scott is in Jacksonville Thursday promoting yet another aspect of his "It's Your Money Tax Cut Budget." Scott wants the Legislature to allocate $30 million next year for a new workforce training initiative focusing on careers related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) occupations. More at the Tampa Bay Times.


Florida TaxWatch honors top Florida principals in high-risk schools

The Florida TaxWatch Center for Educational Performance & Accountability, in partnership with the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University, honored six recipients of the 2014 Elite Principals Awards. The inaugural awards program recognizes the top performing principals in Florida based on student achievement gains in reading and mathematics in high-risk schools. Read more...


Near Disney World, number of homeless families soars

Out of the Box

Amnesty offered to exotic pet owners

hedgehog
The Florida Fish and Wildlife is offering amnesty to people who own exotic pets.

The program is an effort to reduce the number of non-native species that are being released into the wild by pet owners who can no longer take care of them.

» Full story from WSVN

In the shadow of Walt Disney World, Osceola County has one of the highest rates of homeless families in the nation, and the problem continues to grow at an "astonishing" rate, officials told more than 300 community leaders Wednesday. More at the Orlando Sentinel.


Event celebrates products 'Made in Brevard'

No this isn’t Silicon Valley or Redmond, Wash., so there are no iPads or Microsoft systems to showcase. Still, there was plenty of innovation, entrepreneurship and enthusiasm on display Wednesday as companies and their community supporters gathered in Melbourne for an event showcasing products “Made in Brevard.” More at Florida Today.


AutoNation courts millennials as customers and employees

To attract the Millennial generation as customers, don't call and leave a message. Text. And reduce their anxiety over face-to-face meetings by focusing with them on a computer screen. Those were just two tips from "The Gen Y Guy," Jason Dorsey, an expert invited to South Florida this week to advise AutoNation store managers. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

What's in a Name?
Port of Tampa gets new name: Port Tampa Bay

port tampa bayCargo is the lifeblood of a port. It's Tampa Port Authority chief executive officer Paul Anderson's job to bring more of it to his. The Port of Tampa unveiled a new brand with a familiar name Wednesday to do just that: Port Tampa Bay. After all, what sounds better to a potential client: a port that serves a city of 347,000 people in the city of Tampa or a port that serves the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region of 2.84 million, one of the largest metro areas in the United States?

» Read more at the Tampa Bay Times