Florida job cuts rise again in July, despite national decline
Florida employers announced 1,944 job cuts in July, up from 1,609 cuts in the prior month, according to data from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Job cuts in the Sunshine State ranked second in the Southeast last month, surpassed only by Kentucky’s 2,025 announced cuts. Read more from the South Florida Business Journal and see the full report.
The hard work begins at Florida Poly
Florida Polytechnic University is still a long way from opening its doors, but a loose framework for the new school is beginning to take shape. No tenure, no general education courses and guaranteed local jobs for Florida Poly graduates: Those were among the ideas tossed around Wednesday at the first meeting of Florida Poly's Board of Trustees. Read more from the Tampa Bay Times and the Lakeland Ledger.
Backstory:
» USF Polytechnic Survives the Veto Pen
» System Failure
 [Rendering: USF Polytechnic] |
Red Cross jumps into the hurricane app industry
South Florida has been without a major hurricane since 2005, but it has no shortage of hurricane apps. Search "hurricane" in the Apple App Store, and, yes, the University of Miami shows up, and so do at least 75 variations of storm tracking and disaster preparedness mobile software. On Wednesday, as an Atlantic storm became the fifth tropical depression, the American Red Cross joined the field. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Kid's causes
Charities for children get a helping hand by these Floridians. See our profiles.
 Tampa Bay Rays baseball player Sean Rodriguez high-fives Riley as they reach the end of the runway during the annual Fashion Funds the Cure for pediatric cancer patients. [Photo: James Branaman/Tampa Bay Times] |
Mango farmers get creative to keep business
U.S. mango farms have been declining as grocery stores stock their shelves with South American grown fruit. In Florida, some experts say there are just 500 acres of mango farms left, most on Pine Island right here in Southwest Florida.
But local farmers' sales are growing and some are even planting more fruit trees.
[Source: WZVN]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Tampa Bay drop in unemployment among the biggest nationally
Tampa Bay tied for the second-largest drop in unemployment over the past year among major metro areas, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report Wednesday.
› Jacksonville-based Web.com reports profits up for second quarter
Jacksonville-based Web.com reported the second-quarter earnings this week which shows the Internet design, development and marketing firm on solid financial footing.
Total revenue for the company on Jacksonville’s Southside more than doubled for the same time period a year ago.
› René Ruiz, maker of luxurious dresses, looks to expand
More than two decades after he started fashioning women’s dresses, business is booming. Ruiz’s firm has expanded into a multimillion-dollar design house, with 35 employees crafting and selling glamorous collections that grace runways during Fashion Weeks in New York and Paris.
› Bankruptcy filings dropping in Central Florida
Personal-bankruptcy filings in Central Florida fell at a double-digit percentage pace during the first half of 2012, hitting their lowest mid-year mark since 2008, before the worst of the Great Recession had kicked in, according to the latest federal figures.
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› Penny auction site targets Hispanics
Several months in the making, the auction site has been live in the United States and Mexico since May but is now embarking on a major promotional push. The company has hired Univision fitness celebrity Claudia Molina as its spokesperson and plans to advertise soon on Spanish-language television and radio stations.
› Marco Rubio wants to exempt Olympic medalists from paying tax on prizes
Cut the taxes on the rich. Cut the taxes on the poor. Cut the taxes on the middle class.
Now ... cut the taxes on Olympic medal winners?
› IRS steps up probe of Miccosukee Tribe
The Internal Revenue Service has escalated its investigation into the Miccosukee Indians’ finances, demanding that the West Miami-Dade tribe hand over a mountain of internal records showing millions in allegedly unreported payments from its gambling profits to tribal members.
› All but two counties get ‘exemplary’ score in Scott grading of emergency managers
Gov. Rick Scott’s administration has finalized the grading of county emergency managers even after the association representing the local officials asked Scott to terminate the project.