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Wednesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Doubts linger after Gov. Scott pitches biggest budget
After deep cuts in spending for Florida schools and other public programs following the Great Recession, outgoing Republican Governor Rick Scott this month proposed an $87.4 billion budget he says boosts spending on some depleted services to record levels. [Source: Reuters]
The real first Thanksgiving...was in Florida
Tradition holds that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, as English Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts shared a bountiful harvest with their Native American neighbors. The first Thanksgiving celebration in North America actually took place in Florida. [Source: Florida Today]
Commentary: High-school physics at core of Florida's future in aerospace
The most important problems facing the pipeline for science and engineering students at the high-school level in Florida have little to do with glitzy rocket competitions and much more to do with what goes on in high school science and math classrooms. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Florida banks' profit growth outpaces national gains
The 135 commercial banks and savings institutions headquartered in Florida posted $401 million in combined net income for the third quarter of 2017, a 6.4 percent increase from Q3 2016. [Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal]
Part-time professors struggle to put food on the table. Some want a union to fix that.
Frustration with the permanent limbo of an unsteady job with low pay and no benefits has led an increasing number of faculty members seeking to unionize, including at Broward College. The organization spearheading the movement in Florida is the Service Employees International Union, under their “Faculty Forward” campaign. [Source: Miami Herald]
› Now you can register to vote online. Here are Florida’s one-month totals.
In the first month of online voter registration in Florida, more than 8,000 people electronically joined the voter rolls in Florida. A lot more people would have registered online, says the League of Women Voters of Florida, but few people know the program exists.
› Florida crime rate drops
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Tuesday released a report that analyzed reported crimes in the first six months of the year. The good news in the report showed that Florida's crime volume dropped two percent compared to the same time period in 2016. But the bad news is that the number of rapes jumped up 8.1 percent.
› Palm Beach realtors blame home sales drop on post-Hurricane Irma hangover
Palm Beach County home sales fell in October, while the median sale price of a house stood at $325,000, unchanged from September’s number, according to data released Tuesday by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale.
› Activist investor grabs stake in Tampa’s Bloomin’ Brands
Tampa’s Bloomin’ Brands — parent company of such prominent restaurant chains as Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill — has been treading water the past few years with flat restaurant sales and a lukewarm share price.
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