Mayo Clinic in Florida ranked No. 1 hospital in Florida

Mayo Clinic in Florida has achieved highest rank on the U.S. News & World Report rating for six of the past seven years. “It is an honor to be recognized as the No. 1 hospital in the state of Florida,” Kent Thielen, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida., said in a news release. Mayo Clinic in Florida also ranked nationally among the top 50 hospitals in seven specialties: Cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; geriatrics; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; and pulmonology and lung surgery [Source: Jacksonville Daily Record]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Meet some of Florida's top philanthropic donors who've made seven-figure gifts to non-profits

The nation’s top 50 donors gave away nearly $28 billion in 2021, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Here are some Floridians who’ve made seven-figure gifts to nonprofits in the state over the past 18 months. [Source: Florida Trend]

Tampa, Miami tally highest home price hikes

The Tampa area had the highest increase at 36.1 percent, followed by the Miami area at 34 percent and Dallas at 30.8 percent. Tampa and Miami also led other metro areas in April. They were the only areas of Florida included in the 20-market analysis. [Source: News Service of Florida]

Florida Wildlife Corridor Project founder reflects on first year of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act

The corridor isn’t one long stretch of natural land, but a patchwork of green spaces, like national and state parks, forests, and the rivers and streams that pass through them. State lawmakers passed - and Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law - the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act just over a year ago. The new law’s purpose is “to create incentives for conservation and sustainable development while sustaining and conserving the green infrastructure that is the foundation of Florida’s economy and quality of life.” [Source: WGCU]

Heinz partners with Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice in giving grants to Black-owned restaurants

Heinz, and other culinary workers like bakers, chefs, and restaurant owners, will work together to offer grants to Black-owned businesses nationwide. An additional component included with the grants are seminars hosted by veterans of the food industry who will cover topics such as commercial leases, small business accounting, employee training and retention, according to the organization’s website. [Source: Black Enterprise]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Kodiak Robotics pilots autonomous trucking between California, Texas and Florida [TechCrunch]
Autonomous trucking startup Kodiak Robotics recently completed a coast-to-coast commercial run between Texas, California and Florida for 10 Roads Express, a USPS mail carrier, according to Kodiak. The pilot marks the first time Kodiak has run an autonomous freight service to Florida.

› Commentary: The gift that took my breath away: Here's the rest of the story [Pensacola News Journal]
In 2017, the University of West Florida received a gift of $3.1 million to create the American Dream Scholarship Endowment. This endowment provides need-based scholarships to UWF students with preference given to immigrants and refugees. Since its inception, we have awarded more than $557,000 of American Dream scholarships. The endowment will continue to provide funding in perpetuity.

› Huge Pasco County industrial employment hub gets nod from planning board [Tampa Bay Times]
A massive job-generating development that will remake the area around the Interstate 75 and State Road 52 interchange has gotten a nod of approval from the Pasco County Planning Commission. Set on 967 acres on the southeast corner of the interchange, the project will include 4 million square feet of industrial space, along with other business and residential uses.

› Former Miami-Dade superintendent says sex ed is important and wants new books to be adopted quickly [WLRN]
The fourth-largest school district in the nation won't be teaching students about safe sex or STI prevention for at least several months. That's after a small minority of parents successfully challenged comprehensive health textbooks for middle and high schoolers in the Miami-Dade school district.

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› Flagler County unemployment rate rises to 3.4% [Palm Coast Observer]
Although 99 more locals found jobs last month, Flagler County’s unemployment rate increased to 3.4% in June 2022. This is 0.7% higher than May 2022’s low 2.7% rate, according to the latest data release from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

› Tampa public company AutoWeb to be sold in $5.5M deal [Source]
AutoWeb, a publicly traded car-shopping and car-dealing platform headquartered in Tampa, is being sold. The company announced Monday that its board has reached a deal to be acquired by San Francisco-area tech conglomerate One Planet Group, a firm founded by AutoWeb founder Payam Zamani.

› 4 founder tips for building resilience and staying sane [Crunchbase]
Running a company can be stressful at the best of times. When challenging market conditions start throwing you curveballs, those stress levels can spike for both founders and their teams.