Lawmakers try to fix 'tainted' lines for Congress

In a two-week special session starting today, the Legislature will assign millions of Floridians to new congressional districts as it obeys an order by the Florida Supreme Court to reshape the political landscape according to what voters want, not politicians. More from the Times/Herald, the Tallahassee Democrat, and the Gainesville Sun.

» Quick poll: Florida legislators are in special session to re-draw district maps. Your opinion?

Florida to spend $700,000 to settle public records lawsuits

Florida is paying $700,000 to settle allegations that Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials flouted the state's public records laws. It is believed to be one of the larger payments ever approved in an open government case in Florida history. More from NBC Miami and WESH.

Inside the company that’s made viral videos big business

Today, old and new TV are unabashedly ad-obsessed. Online video can still be a grassroots thing, but corporate interests have moved in and they’re here to stay. This is where the eyeballs—and the money—are. [Source: Wired]

Oil industry lobbies to drill eastern Gulf of Mexico

The lure of jobs and money is part of a pitch to Congress to open much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to rigs, just five years after the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [Source: Tribune News Service]

Next wave of smarter, faster robots coming for many of our jobs

Will a robot replace you at work? The odds, increasingly, say yes. Next-generation robots will begin to take over not just blue-collar, repetitive-motion jobs, but also white-collar occupations like bankers and, yes, even fashion models. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

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» How artificial intelligence and robots will impact jobs and how we think about work

 

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Farmers look to sky, and UF apps, for planting help [Gainesville Sun]
Today’s farm tractor has more technology crammed into its cab than the first manned spaceships to the moon. And farmers rely more on drones, GPS systems and satellite imagery to help them plant, water and manage their crops than they do the Farmer’s Almanac.

› Florida Rep. introduces startup act in Congress [Observer Chronicle]
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., launched a invoice that may quadruple the quantity of prices entrepreneurs might deduct from federal taxes to $20,000.

› State asks local business to take flooding survey [Tampa Bay Times]
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is asking businesses how they were affected by flooding that recently struck the west central part of the state. Businesses in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Dixie and Taylor counties can take an online survey on the department's website by selecting the "West Central Florida Flooding 2015" option.

› Yachts getting so big they break the old rules [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Today's yachts can approach the size of a football field — so big that the law puts them in the same category as freighters and cruise ships. That's becoming a problem for the people who own or operate them.

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› House-flipping profits rise as properties become scarce [Orlando Sentinel]
If Orlando had a house-flipper show, the investor buyers might be frustrated trying to find properties — but once they did, the episode would end with the sellers getting higher returns than a year ago.

› Shoppers saving as back-to-school tax holiday begins [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Many parents hauled their children to the store for the first of 10 days when Florida shoppers can buy back-to-school supplies without sales tax, within certain limits. The exemption is good for clothing of $100 or less, school supplies of $15 or less, or the first $750 of personal computers and computer-related accessories.

› In Venice, skydivers see a field of dreams [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
The man who wants to bring tandem skydiving to Venice Municipal Airport believes the sport is so safe that he took his then 2½-year-old daughter Skylar on a jump.

› Endeavor taps South Florida entrepreneur Marcell Haywood to join global network [Miami Herald]
With $300, Marcell Haywood started a maintenance company as a side business while in college. Today, Encompass Onsite, formerly called Dirt Pros, is a multifaceted service business with hundreds of employees.