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Friday's Afternoon Update

With health law, workers ponder the I-Quit option

For uninsured people, the nation's new health care law may offer an escape from worry about unexpected, astronomical medical bills. But for Stephanie Payne of St. Louis, who already had good insurance, the law could offer another kind of escape: the chance to quit her job. More at the AP.


How business can lift people out of poverty

How do you profitably sell to a customer who earns less than $2 per day? It is probably the most daunting business question in the world—as well as the most important, because that’s the earning power of nearly one third of humanity, the two billion people at the so-called “base of the pyramid.” More at Forbes.


Panama Canal chief: Florida, America must choose wisely in funding port projects

Research

Natural Niche

tarpon
For three decades, marine researchers from the Melbourne-based Florida Institute of Technology have used a former U.S. Air Force radar tracking station on a four-acre site in Indian River Shores in Indian River County as a lab. Now the university wants to raise $10 million to build a world-class education, research and outreach center there dedicated to the lagoon.

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Deciding which ports should be expanded to accommodate larger post-Panamax ships is a tough call, the head of the Panama Canal Authority said Thursday. "You may not have all of the funds to do all of the projects,” said Panama Canal Authority CEO Jorge Quijano, who was visiting Gainesville during a University of Florida symposium on the canal. More at the Jacksonville Business Journal.


One Spark crowd-funding festival grows beyond Jacksonville

One Spark is growing beyond its Jacksonville birthplace … way beyond. The same group that will put on One Spark next month is going to do it again in Germany. More at the Florida Times-Union.


IRS inspector warns of massive phone scam

The Internal Revenue Service's watchdog warned taxpayers Thursday about a sophisticated nationwide phone scheme that it said is "the largest scam of its kind" it has seen. The scheme involves callers claiming to represent the IRS and demanding immediate payments with a prepaid debit card or wire transfer, the watchdog said. More at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Business Profile
Florida Tech Toybox

etch toyboxThe Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center’s newest tenant takes up two rooms filled to bursting with saws, drills, lathes, welding equipment, stacks of wood and odds and ends. A 3D printer, only a foot tall, dominates the wall of one room while a placeholder sign shows where someday soon an electron microscope will be available for use.

» Full story from the Gainesville Business Report