Wednesday's Daily Pulse

Posted 9/7/2016

Updated 8 yearss ago

Florida a focus as Clinton and Trump sprint toward election

The spotlight on presidential politics is growing more intense as summer comes to a close and both major party candidates are signaling they will play hard for Florida in the home stretch. Labor Day marks the beginning of the final leg of the presidential campaign — “this is the countdown” Clinton said Tuesday — and it is shaping up to be a tight race in Florida, a must-win state for Trump. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

7 new non-travel-related cases of Zika confirmed in Florida

Florida health officials are investigating whether mosquitoes carrying Zika are spreading even farther in South Florida as the number of locally acquired cases continue to climb. More from USA Today and Click Orlando.

Zika in Florida - a roundup of latest stories:
» Controversy over Zika spraying grows
» Miami Beach to Spray Powerful Insecticide ‘Naled’ in Zika Fight
» Zika Funding Fails Again in Congress
» Marco Rubio, Patrick Murphy trade blows over Zika funding
» Congress returns to session, adding urgency to Zika funding debate
» Miami-Dade’s $10M Zika tab bites the 2017 budget
» To fight Zika, Central Florida hospitals and doctors ramp up patient education, surveillance

ITT Tech shuts down, causing confusion for Florida students

ITT Technical Institute is closing all campuses nationwide, including nine in Florida, effective immediately. In a statement, ITT blamed their closing on the U.S Department of Education after an Aug. 25 order barred the school from enrolling students receiving federal financial aid. ITT campus locations in Florida are in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm Beach. Senator Bill Nelson said the Department of Education shouldn’t leave ITT students holding the bag. “While I support the Department of Education’s efforts to increase oversight of our nation’s for-profit universities, it’s important that we do everything we can to protect the students enrolled at these schools when they unexpectedly shut down -- as we’ve done before in similar cases, “ Nelson wrote. More from WFTV, WESH, the Tampa Bay Times, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

State prisons offer some Florida districts extra political clout

Florida’s prison inmates are often considered residents of the voting districts in which they’re incarcerated despite not being able to vote and typically residing in other areas of the state. This results in outsized political representation for communities that have prisons, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. [Source: Florida Watchdog]

Brazil is back: buyers turn to investment properties in South Florida

Brazilians are back in South Florida real estate, this time as investors. Amid political and economic instability, buyers from Brazil are picking up investment properties instead of second homes. [Source: The Real Deal]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Economy drives strong commercial real estate market in Jacksonville [Jacksonville Daily Record]
With a stable area economy, job growth and the benefits of being part of Florida’s continued attraction for business, tourists and new residents, Jacksonville saw higher occupancy rates as well as higher rents.

› Panhandle firm continues push into Sarasota hotel market [Business Observer]
Gulf Breeze-based hotel management company Innisfree Hotels added another Sarasota hotel to its portfolio with the purchase of Hotel Indigo. The hotel is in the Rosemary District, just north of downtown Sarasota.

› Office Depot's Boca Raton headquarters receives sixth 'green' award [News Release]
Office Depot's headquarters in Boca Raton has been awarded a gold re-certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design.

› First-in-state court podcast humanizes judges [Orlando Sentinel]
On a recent morning, Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Fred Lauten walks into a small office, sits down in front of a Bluetooth microphone with notebook in hand and settles into a different role for the next half hour: podcast host.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Miami-based Carnival Corporation going green with three new mega ships [News Release]
Carnival Corporation is going green in a big way with three new mega ships slated for delivery in 2020 and 2022. The Miami-based cruise company said Tuesday that the vessels will be powered by liquified natural gas, considered to be the cleanest-burning fossil fuel.

› Florida fiber network partners with Jacksonville's GoRack [Jacksonville Business Journal]
GoRack, a Jacksonville data center, has been hired by Florida LambdaRail LLC of Tallahassee for network co-location services.

› $400 million resort gets Osceola funding [Orlando Sentinel]
A public board for Osceola County has authorized spending $75,000 on planning services for a $400 million resort, the details of which are secret.

› Opinion: Florida mature-green industry needs to change [The Packer]
As Florida’s tomato industry meets Sept. 6-9 in Naples, Fla., for the joint tomato conference, growers and shippers need to consider the future of their business. Since 2000, mature-green production has fallen 35% and the yearly value of mature-greens and vine-ripes has been low.