Is Florida still the leader of citrus?

It's been a good run for Florida as the undisputed king of citrus, but that reign could be in jeopardy after Hurricane Irma. Overall though, the numbers are not that good. USDA forecasts show orange production for Florida and California this year to be about the same, around 45 million boxes. [Source: WPTV]

See also:
» Crop Insurance Reform for Citrus Needed Now

Florida could add vaping to indoor smoking ban

Vaping and e-cigarettes would be added to the state’s indoor ban on smoking under a ballot proposal advanced Tuesday by the state’s Constitution Revision Commission. But the same panel showed little interest in a separate proposal that could reduce an anti-smoking campaign voters years ago agreed to finance. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

Florida CRE industry has 12-figure annual impact

Florida's commercial real estate industry contributed $189.4 billion to the state's economy in 2017, the third most of any state in the nation, according to an annual economic impact study. Read more at the Business Observer, and download the white paper, "Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate."

Florida Trend Exclusive
Turning back the clock on tax assessments

Florida tax attorneys have been grumbling for years that the Florida Department of Revenue was routinely flouting the statute of limitations by using proposed assessments, instead of final assessments, to beat the clock. Full story here.

Amazon still losing out to Walmart in Florida, Texas

Floridians remain dedicated followers of Walmart, with consumers across all segments spending more with the Arkansas chain than with Amazon. In Florida, consumers' spend at Walmart is more than twice that of their Amazon spend, which in turn, is greater than twice their Target spend. [Source: Retail Dive]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Magic Leap invites developers, artists to preview first product [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
The Plantation-based company said getting the creative community’s feedback is the next step before launching its first product, a headset designed to blend digital light with natural light “to produce lifelike digital objects that coexist in the real world.”
» See also:Magic Leap ends dispute with global security director

› Darden tossing back Wildfish Seafood Grille brand [Orlando Sentinel]
Orlando’s Darden Restaurants is discontinuing its small Wildfish Seafood Grille chain, including closing a restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz. Wildfish was a restaurant brand Darden acquired with Eddie V’s Prime Seafood in 2011.

› Poynter receives $3 million from Google to lead program teaching teens to tell fact from fiction online [Poynter]
The Poynter Institute will lead a project funded by Google.org called MediaWise, a groundbreaking endeavor aimed at helping middle and high school students be smarter consumers of news and information online.

› Silicon Valley just hit ‘send’ on an investment in Miami’s hottest media startup [Miami Herald]
What started as a group meetup project among friends is now officially a million-dollar media company expanding across America. WhereBy.Us, the company that has been publishing Miami’s The New Tropic newsletter for the past three years, has just closed on an investment round worth $1.5 million.

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› Evidence of Tampa Bay Area's growing tech hub: Clearwater counts 50 tech companies, 2K jobs [83 Degrees Media]
Many people don’t realize that Clearwater is home to two strong Tech Districts with more than 50 IT/software companies between the two areas that have created about 2,100 jobs.

› Winter Park included in Southern Living list of best food towns [Orlando Sentinel]
Winter Park’s dining options inspired readers of Southern Living magazine to vote the city in as the No. 6 food town in the South. 4 Rivers Smokehouse was also named the best barbecue in Florida.

› Bike Week business slips at some Daytona hotels [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Despite sunny weather that offered postcard-worthy scenes for motorcycling, hoteliers in Volusia County reported a mix of encouraging and disappointing business results from the city’s 77th Annual Bike Week that concluded on Sunday.

› Hillsborough fire chief agrees to random drug testing after called out by union [Tampa Bay Times]
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones has agreed to submit to random drug tests as he seeks to require the same of rank and file firefighters and paramedics.