Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Monday's Daily Pulse

New college grads see more job opportunities

As they don their caps and gowns, college graduates this spring are finding more reason to celebrate: It's the best job market since the Great Recession. New graduates are fielding more job opportunities than last year or even last fall, college career counselors said. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]


Small Business Basics

Forms & Licenses

Forms, Permits & Licenses

The certificates needed to get your business going. Unless you plan to go it alone — as a sole proprietor with no employees, for example — you will need to obtain licenses and permits in order to legally operate..

Part of Florida Small Business

Businesses may quickly abandon health insurance for workers

The days of Americans getting health insurance through their employers may be numbered. As the Affordable Care Act goes from thousands of pages of legalese to real-life public policy, the future of employer-provided health insurance is one of the most fascinating questions. [Source: New York Times]


A lopsided comeback: How the housing recovery favors the rich

The gulf between the haves and have-nots has been widening around the nation, but in few places so diametrically as in South Florida. The growing gap between the region’s rich and poor emerged starkly in an analysis of 11 years of home sales data in Miami-Dade and Broward counties parsed by ZIP code. [Source: Miami Herald]


Florida grapefruit industry squeezed

A combination of disease, negative publicity and urban sprawl has pushed the Florida grapefruit industry to its smallest size in decades. A decade ago, Florida produced nearly 41 million boxes of grapefruit annually. This year it is expected to produce only about 16 million. More at the Tampa Bay Business Journal and the New York Times.


Florida Legislature 2014: What passed and what failed

From craft beer to tanning to solar energy, see a list of the bills that passed and failed in the 2014 session. Bills must be approved by Gov. Rick Scott. More from the Tampa Bay Times, the Orlando Sentinel and the AP.

See also:
» 'More thoughtful session': Legislature switches gears this year
» Gov. Scott to tout tax cuts approved by legislators


ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Film commissioner: Tax snub will keep movie out of Florida
The state Legislature declined on Friday to replenish Florida's flat-broke entertainment tax incentives program. The program is vital to attracting film, television and digital productions, because it provides tax credits on money spent for wages, materials and services in Florida.

› Hertz move kicks into high gear
One year after rental car giant Hertz's decision to move its world headquarters here, the Fortune 300 company's impact is already being felt. Construction has begun with site work at the Estero campus and Hertz has placed 300 headquarters' employees in temporary offices in Bonita Springs and Naples.

› VISIT FLORIDA given record setting $74 million budget
Florida lawmakers are hoping to share a little more sunshine with tourists by boosting funding to promote the state's tourism industry. VISIT FLORIDA, the state's official tourism marketing organization, will get an additional $10.5 million dollars next fiscal year.

› Chocolate is sweet for BBX Capital investors
BBX Capital's Jarett Levan admits he has a sweet tooth. But he insists his appetite for buying chocolate companies will be richly rewarded in the years ahead.


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› Travelers fall victim to scams overseas
Many Americans have been scammed or fallen prey to deceptive tactics when traveling abroad. The scammers and lawbreakers don't often discriminate, targeting inexperienced travelers and some of the savviest.

› Anglers asked to help collect tarpon DNA samples
Scientists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Mote Marine Laboratory use DNA as a way to track tarpon movements in coastal and inshore waters. It also gives scientists information about tarpon's long-term survival.

› Homeowners frustrated by delays in state mortgage-aid program
More than 10,000 Floridians who applied to the state for help with their mortgages seven months ago are still waiting to hear whether they will get any assistance, state records show.

› For capital-hungry Florida startups, a new way to attract investors emerges
Venture capital — the early funding that can make or break business startups — remains about as common in Florida as icebergs.