Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 11/3/2017

Why aren’t Florida firms more involved in restoring power to Puerto Rico?

Roughly 70 percent of Puerto Rico’s residents are still without power. With many hurricane restorations under their collective tool belts, Florida utilities’ power crews are arguably more experienced than those anywhere at restoring power after a hurricane has downed poles and lines and flooded substations. More from the Palm Beach Post.

Eric Draper named new director of Florida State Parks System

There's a new man in town leading Florida's state parks — but he's pretty familiar with Florida's environmental issues and conservation efforts. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection named Eric Draper as the new director of the Florida State Parks System beginning Nov. 28. More from TCPalm.

Jacksonville’s Ikea is ready — and the lines form Monday

The new Ikea finally opens next Wednesday, but the lines are expected to form two days before that. The store will allow people to start camping out at 9 a.m. Monday. More from the Florida Times-Union.

Military cluster in Orlando is now BRAC-proof, retired general says

The cluster of military and federal offices known as Team Orlando is now virtually immune to any future base closure efforts, according to retired Gen. Thomas Baptiste. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

St. Petersburg-based iQor opens call centers in Philippines

St. Petersburg-based iQor, a managed services provider, is opening two new call centers in the Philippines, adding 2,000 new jobs. It already has nine other Philippine facilities. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Industry Profile
After the Storm

Like Mother’s Day for a restaurant that specializes in brunch, or the Super Bowl for a sports bar, big storms can make — or break — an insurance company. Hurricane Irma was that kind of moment for insurance companies all across Florida. Many companies are still dealing with the stormy.

» More from the Business Observer.

Out of the Box
Bulletproof Backpack

Applied Fiber Concepts, a Hialeah-based body armor company, has started providing bullet resistant backpack inserts to students at Florida Christian School, where the owner's children attend. The inserts can stop a bullet from a .44 Magnum and a .357 SIG, but not from a rifle.