Florida bans Venezuela business dealings

State government agencies will be barred from investing in companies doing business with the government of Venezuela, under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Rick Scott. The law, which becomes effective July 1, is intended to put pressure on the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. [Source: WJXT]

See also:
» See text of HB 359, "State Investments," which prohibits the State Board of Administration from investing in institutions doing business with Venezuela.
» See Gov. Scott's statement applauding passage of HB 359

Florida Trend Exclusive
M2Gen's CEO wants to take personalized cancer treatment to the masses

M2Gen's CEO Timothy R. Wright is on a mission to help people who have cancer. “There’s more hope built into cancer over the next 10 years than the last 50. We’re on the verge of something very disruptive in the area of cancer," Wright said. M2Gen is a spinoff of the Moffitt Cancer Center. Full story here.

Also in the series:
» A Show of Support: Cancer treatment now comes with music, pet therapy, yoga and more

This series will be running all week on FloridaTrend.com. Visit FloridaTrend.com/news for the latest installment, or find links to all the latest in cancer care and treatment, here. 

Don’t be confident voting systems can stand up against Russian hackers, Rubio warns

Fresh off a new round of questions into the Russian attempt to infiltrate voting systems in Florida and 20 other states, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio warned that the 2016 hackers were “probing” system vulnerabilities and he expects them to return this year with another attempt at putting U.S. elections “in doubt.” [Source: Times/Herald]

Broken records, remarkable stats made 2017 hurricane season one for the history books

There are many reasons why emergency officials would prefer to simply forget the historically devastating 2017 hurricane season, said Ed Rappaport, acting director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. [Source: Florida Today]

Florida may soon become ground zero for midterm spending

Since 2000, outside spenders have pumped more than $100 million into Florida Senate elections alone. That spending will come into play in what’s slated to become one of the most expensive — and contested — races of the midterms. [Source: Center for Responsive Politics]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Debates scheduled in gubernatorial primaries [Gainesville Sun]
The Children’s Movement of Florida and the Florida Press Association announced Wednesday that a pair of debates will be held Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, in advance of the Aug. 28 primaries. The announcement didn’t confirm the appearances of any candidates at the debates, which will be held at the University of Miami.

› Jacksonville named top Florida city to start a business [WJXT]
If you want to start a business in Florida, Jacksonville is the place to be. The River City is the top-ranking Florida city for entrepreneurs and start-ups, according to Business.org. Jacksonville is the top city in the Sunshine State coming in at 28.

› Alabama aerospace firm acquires Florida company [Birmingham Business Journal]
An Alabama aerospace company is expanding its operations in Florida through a recent acquisition. Montgomery-based Kelly Aerospace Energy Systems acquired AeroKool Aviation Corp., which is headquartered in Hialeah, Florida.

› Vinik to tech community: Tampa Bay is 15 years behind Nashville and needs to step up [Tampa Bay Times]
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik told his love story with his adopted hometown to hundreds of local tech workers Wednesday. But it was a message of tough love, too.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Uber branch goes to Florida Supreme Court in records dispute [Orlando Sentinel]
A subsidiary of Uber Technologies has gone to the Florida Supreme Court in a dispute about whether Broward County needs to release records about the number of passengers picked up by Uber drivers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

› Homeland Security raids a Florida business and arrests 28 undocumented immigrants [Miami Herald]
The Department of Homeland Security detained and administratively arrested 28 illegal immigrants in Fort Pierce on Wednesday. At this time, deportation is not a certainty, as the department wants to investigate the possibility of human trafficking, authorities said.

› Orioles surpass 100K fans for spring training in Sarasota [Business Observer]
The Baltimore Orioles drew 103,294 fans for 15 home spring training baseball games in Sarasota this season. According to a press release, it's the eighth time in nine seasons the Orioles have hosted more than 100,000 fans at Ed Smith Stadium.

› Developer plans $500 million Midtown Tampa project near Westshore [Tampa Bay Times]
In what would be one of Tampa Bay’s biggest developments, a New York company plans a 1.8 million-square-foot project designed to help link downtown Tampa with the city’s booming Westshore area.