Despite big bet on biotech, Florida lags in NIH grants

Scripps Florida spinoff Xcovery said last week it would expand not in Florida but in Massachusetts — no surprise given the divergent trajectories of the two states’ biotech hubs. Analysis of National Institutes of Health grants shows Massachusetts brings in the most by far. This fiscal year, Massachusetts has pulled in $174 a person in NIH grants. Florida, despite a $1.5 billion biotech investment spearheaded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, ranked 41st, at less than $12 a person. In overall NIH grants, Florida doesn’t fare as badly — it’s 13th with $233 million raised. [Source: Palm Beach Post]

Fed report cites drop in Floridians without insurance

The share of Floridians without health insurance dropped nearly 6 points to 18.8 percent after key parts of the Affordable Care Act took effect, according to federal data released Tuesday. The slide from 2013 to 2014 mirrored a nationwide trend for people under 65. The controversial health law could be upended if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a legal challenge to the subsidies. A decision is expected this week or next. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Virgin Cruises makes Miami home port

The cruise line has signed a letter of intent with an Italian shipyard to build three ships with room for more than 2,800 passengers each. A final contract is expected to be signed by the end of the year. Virgin expects the ships to be delivered in early 2020, 2021 and 2022, with the first based at PortMiami. [Source: Sun-Sentinel]

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» Carnival 2Q profit soars 126 percent

Jeb Bush Jr. joins the campaign fray

John Ellis Bush Jr., 31, serves as a frequent travel companion and active campaign surrogate for his father, with a focus on building support among Hispanic and millennial voters. They shared a Miami office suite, where they ran consulting firm Jeb Bush & Associates. After contemplating a run for president last year, his father divested his business interests and left his son to run a few projects on his own. [Read more from the Washington Post]

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» Bush leads in New Hampshire poll

DeBary to tout SunRail stop to lure development

Up and down the SunRail line, more than $3 billion worth of projects — townhomes, luxury apartments, offices, retail — are completed or are underway. But none of that has arrived at Volusia County’s only SunRail stop, frustrating commuters, landowners — even the city’s mayor. But look for that to change. [Read more from Daytona Beach News-Journal]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Dubai trade mission will help Florida business soar [OppToday]
Column from Adrian Bishop: The Florida Dubai Link trade mission features up to 15 Florida companies, including real estate businesses, that will fly direct to Dubai on Emirates Airlines from Orlando on Sept. 3, two days after the first-scheduled daily flight.

› Jacksonville repeals moratorium on medical marijuana [Times-Union]
Local lawmakers said they'll consider a new moratorium that won't interfere with nurseries applying for a state license to grow legal strains of the drug.

› State delays panther action [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
The controversial push to end state support for long-standing federal efforts to establish new panther populations drew about 200 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting Tuesday in Sarasota.

› $40 billion of national parks at risk from sea rise [Florida Today]
The report by scientists from the National Park Service and Western Carolina University is based on a study of 40 parks, including Canaveral National Seashore.

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› Miami’s Little Havana endangered [Herald]
Little Havana, perhaps Miami’s most storied neighborhood, is under threat. So much so, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, that it put Little Havana on its annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

› St. Johns County to pursue a half-cent sales tax increase [Times-Union]
The decision comes after the St. Johns County Commission shot down a proposal on June 16 to let voters decide on a 1-cent sales tax hike.

› Florida backslides a bit in construction employment [Herald-Tribune]
Associated General Contractors of America says Florida shed about 1,600 construction jobs from April to May, though the Sunshine State is still up 28,200 jobs, or about 7.2 percent from May 2014.