Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Tuesday's Daily Pulse

So many elderly, so few care workers

Trends in the health aide industry -- including stagnant wages and high turnover -- are poised to create a major crisis in the coming years when the aging baby boomer population creates a tsunami of demand for home care workers. [Source: CBS News]

U.S. stiffens check-cashing rules to fight South Florida fraud

Federal authorities have issued tough new rules on check-cashing businesses in South Florida as part of the ongoing fight against rampant identity theft and tax fraud. More from the AP and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

See also:
» Feds target tax-refund ripoff with new order

In Florida, millionaires make up nearly a third of legislature

Nearly a third of state lawmakers are millionaires, with two members of the Senate having net worths that top $20 million, according to newly filed disclosure reports. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Why Tuesday's Pluto flyby will be a spectacular event for all of us

On Tuesday, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will zip past Pluto at more than 30,000 mph, having traveled over 3 billion miles since its launch in 2006. The flyby, which will collect reams of data, will be humankind's first encounter with Pluto. More from the Washington Post and the AP.

Redistricting legal bill, paid by taxpayers: $8.1 million and counting

According to the latest tally by the Florida House and Senate, the cost to taxpayers for the Legislature's defense of the redistricting maps that the Florida Supreme Court ruled invalid last week is $8.1 million. [Source: Times/Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Sarasota No. 3 in nation for retirees
Sarasota racked up another accolade on Monday, this one as the third-best small city for retirement by credit card promoter NerdWallet.

› Lockheed Martin is top candidate to buy Sikorsky helicopter unit
Sikorsky, a unit of United Technologies Corp., builds and tests helicopters in Palm Beach County, where it has 1,200 employees. Sikorsky shares a campus in northwestern Palm Beach County with Pratt & Whitney, which develops jet engines.

› First look at 2015 Epcot International Food & Wine Fest
The 2015 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival is more than two months away, but Disney has been releasing taste-bud-tempting details. The latest news comes out of a preview for Tables in Wonderland participants.

› Going tiny to get BIG
At one end of the Octex LLC injection-molding factory in east Sarasota County, workers are making clear plastic blanks that will be welded together to become Tervis Tumblers. That is the legacy side of the Octex plant, and it is going strong.

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› Craft beer boom puts pressure on state regulations
Bloomberg reports that the U.S. craft beer business — the fastest-growing segment of a $102 billion market — has some states looking closely at “an opportunity to capitalize on the nation’s growing thirst for India pale ale and imperial oatmeal stout.”

› Florida Agriculture Financial Management Conference Scheduled For August
In its fourth year, the Florida Agriculture Financial Management Conference (FAFMC) has established itself as a premier source of agribusiness information and education.

› Gas prices slipping, but not dramatically
Oil prices have dropped to their lowest level since April, but gasoline prices are falling more slowly, travel club AAA says.

› 10 things to know about U.S., South Florida trade
2015 is not shaping up to be a good year. Not for South Florida, not for the United States. South Florida is on track to see its trade decline for the third consecutive year, something that has not occurred in at least two decades, if ever.