May 19, 2024
Feature
Pitbullish on Jai Alai
Armando Christian Pérez, aka Pitbull — aka Mr. 305 and Mr. Worldwide — has taken an equity ownership role in the World Jai-Alai League operating at the Magic City Casino.
The move “is not just business,” he says, “it's about celebrating Miami's culture and history. We're going to redefine the game and reach a new generation of fans.”
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Published on 12/20/2023
Florida's First Orthopedic Hospital
It's the first stand-alone orthopedic hospital in the southeastern United States. And when the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute opened in August, it marked the beginning of a new era of orthopedic care in Florida.
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Published on 12/20/2023
Beating the Heat
Was it hot enough for you this summer? One researcher at the University of Florida wants to get a better understanding of how to make popular tourist areas around the state more comfortable during the hottest times.
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Published on 12/19/2023
TGH and Tampa's Next Big Thing
At times, John Couris, the president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital, sounds more like a chamber of commerce pitchman than the president and CEO of a growing hospital network.
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Published on 12/18/2023
Leaps and Bounds
Hong Potomski is named after Hong Kong, the place where she was born while her parents were living in a refugee camp. They had to flee Vietnam as Communists were taking over at the end of the Vietnam War.
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Published on 12/18/2023
Courting Success
Chanel T. Rowe is the high achiever you remember from high school — she was in the pre-law magnet program, worked in retail, was a varsity cheerleader for the Flying L's of Fort Lauderdale High and graduated a year early. She just never slowed down.
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Published on 12/15/2023
A Sweet Spot
Austin Gappelberg, a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Tampa, and his 20-year-old brother, Grant, took an early interest in entrepreneurship, beginning with small door-to-door jobs before they started first grade. The sons of entrepreneurial parents, the brothers worked at the family's chocolate shop in New York's Hamptons, and by the time they were teenagers they'd worked their way up to managing the shop in the summer. “Our dad always used to say, ‘You guys are amazing. Together, you're unbeatable,'” Austin says.
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Published on 12/15/2023
Taxing Gig
Richard Laviña initially followed the traditional career path of accounting majors and newly minted CPAs. He learned the ropes at Miami CPA firms and then landed at PwC, one of the Big Four.
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Published on 12/14/2023
Streamlining School Spending
Jamie Rosenberg, the founder of AdoptAClassroom.org, came to realize funneling money to teachers to buy supplies was difficult. Whether it's teachers buying school supplies or grant recipients of government programs, the compliance requirements to ensure funds are used for the right purpose create friction and thwart the speedy implementation of good intentions.
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Published on 12/13/2023
Entrepreneurial Itch
When opportunity knocked, Sherrel Sampson opened the door, unlocking a new passion, career direction and business of her own.
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Published on 12/13/2023
Building Success
What's the single biggest challenge facing the construction industry right now? Mandy Weitknecht knows the answer: a serious shortage of skilled workers.
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Published on 12/12/2023
Under One Roof
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is expanding clinical research, graduate medical education programs and is launching a new simulation center for hands-on training in a $75-million Research and Education Institute under construction.
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Published on 12/11/2023
Kumbaya
St. Johns County is celebrating the history and achievements of the Gullah Geechee community, along with a decade of its annual festival. Over more than 450 years, the West and Central African influence on the communities of Spuds, Elkton and Armstrong, located in southwestern St. Johns County, helped shape the region's culture and economy.
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Published on 12/11/2023
Reimagining Racetracks
The nearly century-old Hialeah Park thoroughbred racetrack has hosted luminaries Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor — along with the iconic flock of American flamingos seen in the opening credits of Miami Vice in the 1980s.
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Published on 12/8/2023
Protecting Nurses from Violence
The head of the Florida Nurses Association vividly remembers the first time a patient attacked her. He kicked Willa Fuller in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and disorienting her for the rest of the day.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Detecting Dementia
Researchers at the Florida State University College of Medicine have identified a potential low-cost method for predicting if a person is at risk of developing dementia.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Commercial Composter
Sunshine Organics & Compost of Jacksonville is a trashy business in the best way possible.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Testing Ground
Draper, a non-profit engineering research company based in Cambridge, Mass., is building a 5.3-acre aerospace and defense campus near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Titusville. The 37,000-sq.-ft. facility will house one of the world's largest centrifuges and serve as the company's test site for guidance, navigation and control technologies.
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Published on 11/30/2023
A Palm-Sized Solution
Like a lot of parents driving the family to Orlando, Rob and Daniella Sladen had some quiet time when the kids fell asleep. Unlike other parents — but somewhat understandable as Daniella was a structural engineer and Rob a project engineer — they spent the quiet time noodling ways to cut the amount of lubricant and oil in aircraft engines.
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Published on 11/30/2023
3-D-Printed Seawalls
Could habitats within Florida's coral reefs and mangroves be saved by 3-D printers? Miami startup Kind Designs believes its 3-D-printed seawalls can trap carbon and mimic those threatened environments.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Life-Like Learning
Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health College of Nursing are investing $4.4 million in building a nursing simulation lab to offer advanced training for nurses, marking the college's 50th anniversary celebration with a leap into futuristic training technologies.
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Published on 11/30/2023
No Barriers
Able Trust is a non-profit organization that works to connect Floridians with disabilities to career opportunities. Recently, the Able Trust teamed up with the University of South Florida's nursing college for a first-of-its-kind summer program to introduce high school students who never thought they could pursue a career in nursing to see the possibilities.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Paving a Path
Each semester, more than 200 people apply for 106 spots in Seminole State College's nursing program, but the school has been hard-pressed to accommodate additional students. It simply doesn't have enough physical space.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Send Nurse Rover on Over
Earlier this year, Orlando Health launched a pilot program at a series of its hospitals using Epic Rover, a mobile application to aid patient care and improve workflow efficiency for nurses.
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Published on 11/30/2023
RNs, In Demand
Pensacola Christian College's School of Nursing was founded in 1977. Denise McCollim is PCC's dean of Arts and Sciences and holds a doctor of nursing practice degree. Heather Hartkopf is a registered nurse and chair of PCC's Nursing Department. In a recent conversation, they discussed nursing education and workforce trends.
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Published on 11/30/2023
