Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 8/17/2018

Florida unemployment falls to 3.7 percent

Florida’s unemployment rate inched down to 3.7 percent in July from June’s 3.8 percent. The state added 27,400 jobs in July, according to the latest state figures released Friday. Florida’s unemployment rate has held steadily at or below 3.9 percent for almost a year and hasn’t hit 3.7 percent since April 2007. Full report from Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, here. Also read more at the Tampa Bay Times.

End of ‘Yappy Hour?’ State cracks down on canine friends, brewpubs.

The state health department is trying to kick dogs out of local craft brewpubs, where they’ve long been as much of a tradition as cornhole, vintage board games and extra-hoppy India Pale Ales. Brewpubs are banding up to fight back. More from the Florida Times-Union.

Miami Beach built a sea wall without a permit. Now it may have to tear parts down.

Miami Beach may have to tear out three chunks of its newly constructed Indian Creek Drive seawall — at a potential cost of about $800,000 — after the now-ousted chief city engineer built the wall without proper permits. More from the Miami Herald.

Civil rights groups sue for bilingual ballots in Florida

Civil rights groups in Florida are suing for bilingual ballots, claiming the English-language ballots in a state with a growing population of Spanish-speakers are a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. More from the Hill, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Gainesville Sun.

Orlando VR company's tech makes it to NFL Hall of Fame

An Orlando entrepreneur partnered with a former NFL executive to build a virtual reality headset that the company showed off during this month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Canton, Ohio. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Grocery Wars
Safeway’s Florida exit shows how Publix is still king grocer in Florida

Florida’s three Safeways are handing their keys over to Publix, which will reopen the stores under its signature green banner this fall. In Florida, it always comes back to Publix. And the competitors that try to beat Publix at its own game? Well, they historically get burned.

» More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Business Profile
MyRentHero

Searching for quality housing in Florida is hard for anyone on a budget. That goes double for college students, who compete against hundreds of thousands of their peers for the same affordable, attractive living spaces close to campus. Wynwood-based MyRentHero is helping them land their dream apartments by connecting them to off-campus housing listings.