Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 9/9/2016

After a rotten year, Florida tomato growers hope for better one

Always an optimistic bunch, Florida’s tomato growers hope for a better year ahead. As growers huddle at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples this week for the 41st Annual Join Tomato Conference, they'll hear industry updates, presentations on research and the latest on tomato breeding and food safety. More from the Naples Daily News.

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft lifts off from Florida's Space Coast

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast as planned, beginning a journey that could revolutionize our understanding of the early solar system.. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft is designed to rendezvous with, study, and return a sample of the asteroid Bennu to Earth. Read the full story from NASA, here.

TIAA announces new leadership for EverBank purchase

TIAA has announced the new leadership changes that will take place after its acquisition of the Jacksonville-based EverBank Financial Corp. is completed. TIAA, which provides retirement services and insurance, announced in August that it would buy EverBank for $2.5 billion cash. More from the Florida Times-Union.

Competition could drive PACE program prices down in Florida

Costs could start to fall for Florida consumers who want to finance energy efficiency improvements with no money down and no credit check. That's the optimistic view from Paul Handerhan, a principal of the new Fort Lauderdale-based company, Clean PACE Inc. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Wynwood mega-project good to go, with unexpected twist

Entrepreneur Moishe Mana won Miami Commission approval on Thursday for a mammoth redevelopment project in the heart of Wynwood in an unusual hearing that saw commissioners publicly mediate a dispute between the developer and his fellow neighborhood property owners. More from the Miami Herald.

Out of the Box
Florida prison Airbnb listing

Are you tired of staying in hotels that don't offer accommodations such as razor wire, uncomfortable bunk beds located mere feet away from a toilet and an ell-encompassing sense of dread? Well then you're going to want to check out this airbnb listing enthusiastically titled "Spend the Night in PRISON!"

» More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida Originals
Up in the Air(stream)

In 2007, Frank Bates and a team of workers used a crane and a backhoe to bury eight vintage Airstream travel trailers, creating “Airstream Ranch” in a field he owned just east of his Bates RV dealership in Dover.