A triumphant year in space despite a difficult 2020, and Florida was at the center of it all

2020, the trying year that it was, was a triumphant one for space exploration. And at the center for some of the year’s most consequential missions was the Space Coast of Florida. In all, Florida saw 31 successful launches — SpaceX missions deploying batches of Starlink satellites for Elon Musk’s growing internet constellation; satellite missions for the military, for SiriusXM and for the South Korean and Argentinian governments; as well cargo resupply missions for the International Space Station carrying dozens of science experiments. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Florida ends year with tens of thousands of workers still receiving unemployment assistance

At least 168,000 Florida workers were still receiving unemployment assistance as 2020 came to a close — a measure of the extreme economic toll the pandemic continues to produce. By comparison, just 36,000 workers were receiving benefits this same time last year. For the week that ended Dec. 26, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday, Florida saw 23,053 new claims for regular jobless benefits and 17,006 new claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). [Source: Miami Herald]

Crime in Florida decreased in 2020, and numbers can provide insight into pandemic’s lasting effect

Data released Thursday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows total crime dropped nearly 12% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time last year, continuing a downward trend in statewide crime rates over the past four years. But some violent crime increased, including 16.2% and 6.5% jumps in murders and aggravated assaults, respectively, FDLE said. Rapes dropped nearly 10% while robberies decreased 14.3%. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Florida sees record-breaking number of new COVID cases, testing over New Year’s holiday

On Saturday, the first reporting day of 2021, the Florida Department of Health confirmed 31,518 additional cases, the highest number recorded yet since the pandemic began — and that’s counting data dumps and two-day reported figures post-Thanksgiving (17,344 on Nov. 27) and post-Christmas (17,042 on Dec. 26). The state did not report figures on New Year’s Day, Friday. As was the case with Thanksgiving and Christmas Day holiday, Florida is reporting two-day today figures in its post-holiday report. More from the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times.

2020 is over, but Florida top political developments will reverberate long into the future

Politically, 2020 is far from over. Although a new Congress is about to be sworn in and Joe Biden will soon be inaugurated as president, many of the year’s political trends — and the decisions made by Florida voters — will continue reverberating through the 2022 campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate and in the 2024 presidential election. The coronavirus pandemic, of course, consumed politics and just about everything else in American life. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Rival Florida banks that feuded over employees, trade secrets settle lawsuit [Orlando Sentinel]
The Treasure Coast bank that accused an Orlando rival financial institution of hiring away most of its commercial bankers who took trade secrets on their way out have settled a lawsuit, according to court records. The nearly year-old legal fight began after a mass exodus of employees from Seacoast on Dec. 26, 2019, without giving two week’s notice, Seacoast said in the federal lawsuit filed in early 2020 against One Florida and several departing employees.

› Who opens a mall in a pandemic? A famous Miami spot is back after a radical makeover [Miami Herald]
If you’ve been hunkered down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, holed up in a makeshift home office and avoiding all outings except for groceries, you may have missed this: CocoWalk has reopened. Yes, CocoWalk. The fabled open-air, faux-Mediterranean “lifestyle center” that lured hordes to the Cheesecake Factory, Fat Tuesday and Banana Republic in the heart of cringing old Bohemian Coconut Grove, before changing tastes and competition from far-hipper South Beach and Wynwood doomed it to tired irrelevance.

› Lakes Apopka and Minneola get new help in battles against algae plagues [Orlando Sentinel]
The suffering Lake Apopka and the swimmable Lake Minneola bear little resemblance to each other, but they have been provided a fresh course of help recently to fight off their common scourge, harmful algae thriving on water pollution. Less than 5 miles apart, Lake Minneola next to Clermont and Lake Apopka on the border of Lake and Orange counties are at different stages in their algae battles. The treatments they received in mid-December are promising but unproven.

› Jacksonville nonprofits that serve refugees to join forces [Florida Times-Union]
Two Jacksonville nonprofits that have collaborated to serve refugees and immigrants plan to merge in the new year. The nonprofits are Beyond90, so named because it focuses on supportive services, crisis management, empowerment learning and housing for new residents after their initial 90 days of federal funding expires, and Project for Healing, which provides multicultural counseling, legal advocacy, training and psychiatric and community support.

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› Florida restaurant featured in Pepsi’s new ad campaign supporting Black-owned restaurants [WREG]
A popular Ybor City restaurant is getting worldwide recognition. The restaurant, 7th + Grove, is one of several across the country featured in Pepsi’s latest ad campaign called Pepsi Dig In. It’s a platform that supports Black-owned restaurants by providing training, business growth opportunities and raising visibility for the industry.

› Florida Power & Light to Begin Accepting Applications Jan. 4 for Small Business Bill Credits Due to COVID [Space Coast Daily]
Florida Power & Light Company will begin accepting applications on January 4 for its new Main Street Recovery Credit Program, offering credits to qualifying small businesses that have been impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. FPL’s Main Street Recovery Credit Program is the latest of several initiatives, the total of which are valued at more than $75 million, that the company implemented to show its steadfast support of adversely impacted customers during the global pandemic.

› What could Weeki Wachee users lose so that the river wins? [Orlando Sentinel]
Hernando County needs the Weeki Wachee River. The river’s headsprings host, in non-pandemic years, the most popular tourist attraction the county provides, the legendary Weeki Wachee mermaids. The county values that image so much that they are asking state lawmakers to give them ownership of the attraction’s old slogan — “The city of live mermaids” — for marketing purposes in the coming years.

› Hanania group buys Downtown Title & Trust Building in Jacksonville [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Automobile dealership owner Jack Hanania and real estate investment partner Joe Hassan paid $1.8 million Dec. 28 for the Title & Trust Company of Florida Building Downtown. Duval County property records show the three-story, 12,000-square-foot building at 200 E. Forsyth St. was built in 1920, although its National Register of Historic Places registration form says it was developed in 1929.