Friday's Afternoon Update

Posted 3/16/2012

Updated 1 decade ago

Growth in the "sand states"

Arizona, California, Florida, and Nevada are the states where homeowners enjoyed the most extreme runup in prices—until the subprime crisis sent the whole housing industry into its sharpest contraction in decades. Now these four states, which were most hurt in the real estate collapse over the past five years, are taking the lead in job creation. [Source: Businessweek]

In Case You Missed It
Agriculture: Sweet Spot

After his family's Sunny Brook Dairy went out of business in the late 1970s, Dale McClellan decided to run things a little differently when he founded a new dairy operation, M&B Products.

At the company's Citrus County farm, for example, the cows sleep on waterbeds because, McClellan says, comfortable cows eat more and produce more milk.

» Read more

CSI: The Experience

One of prime time's hottest television shows is coming to Orlando, with the debut of CSI: The Experience on International Drive. The new attraction, set to debut next week sometime, uses characters from the show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" to guide visitors through their own criminal mystery. Videos featuring the CSI cast lead "recruits" through the experience of solving a crime, from analyzing DNA and fingerprints to studying blood spatter. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

"Fast casual" restaurants continue to defy poor economy

Fast casual — a segment of the restaurant industry typically defined by quick service but with higher-quality fare and decor than fast-food eateries — continues to defy the economy with powerful growth. Fast-casual restaurants now account for 14 percent of all sales in the quick-service industry (which includes fast-food restaurants), nearly triple their market share from a decade ago. [Source: Lakeland Ledger]

» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming next week to FloridaTrend.com:

A tall order : Can the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida deliver a cure for HIV and ease the state's dependence on real estate and tourism?
Florida Law: The Florida Bar steps up its diversity efforts
Tech tangle: Florida's computer systems are being consolidated
Business Profile: Advanced EMS Designs developed Board Armor
Signs of Recovery: Clean up efforts improve conditions in Lake Apopka

» You'll find all these stories first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.

The Business of the Green

It's not just green beer and pub crawls for St. Patrick's Day in Florida. OK, it is mostly that but there are also parades, art shows, music and family-friendly fun to be had. Check out some of the options we found and if you know of something we missed, post it on our Facebook page.