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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida sets another record in attracting visitors
An estimated 65.5 million tourists visited Florida during the first six months of 2018 — the most ever for the first half of any year in the state’s history, Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday. So far, 2018 was outpacing 2017, which topped a record, by about 6 percent. See the news release here. Also read more at the Orlando Sentinel, the AP, and Space Coast Daily.
Florida Trend Community Portrait
Sarasota County
From Sarasota County’s northern border with Manatee to Charlotte County on its southern edge, signs of growth are everywhere. This community portrait looks at up-and-coming businesses, the workforce, must-know contacts, business assets, and much more. Full report here.
Want to be a Florida Supreme Court justice?
With three Florida Supreme Court justices retiring in January, an invitation to apply to the job was issued Wednesday by the Florida Bar Association. The Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission set an Oct. 8 deadline for applications to fill three positions that will open in January because of mandatory retirements. [Source: WJXT]
When life gives you greening, grow lemons?
An oil boom is flying under the radar in Florida. That’s lemon oil, not the kind arising from the liquid remains of dead dinosaurs. Lemons have been grown in Florida since the 1920s, but always on a much smaller scale compared with oranges and the other standards. [Source: Lakeland Ledger]
JEA sues, and gets sued, over the fate of expensive nuclear project
Jacksonville’s electric utility and City Hall filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to void a controversial decade-old agreement obligating local ratepayers to help build and eventually buy power from two planned nuclear reactors in Georgia, a significant escalation in a fight over the future of the only active nuclear power project in the United States. See a news release from JEA and the City of Jacksonville about the complaint they filed, here. Also read more at the Florida Times-Union.
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Plans for Sarasota County’s famed Celery Fields still up in the air
The Sarasota County Commission on Wednesday heard a pitch from Fresh Start — a citizens group tasked with identifying appropriate uses for land around the environmentally sensitive watershed — to pass a resolution designating several nearby parcels for public use, not the industrial use the group claims would ruin the serene area.
› Macy's to hire 80,000 seasonal workers, including at stores in South Florida
Macy’s said it is increasing hires in support of online sales, including its buy-online pick-up-in-store strategy. Some of those positions will be in South Florida, at Macy’s stores including Boca Raton, Wellington, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Lakes, Miami and Miami Beach. More info in Macy's press release.
› Does the University of Florida still make money off Gatorade?
With the sports drink having been born on the Gators's playing field and invented by a University of Florida employee, it's not hard to see why both Cade's estate (he died in 2007) and the school get a percentage of royalties from sales, an agreement that's still in place today. But if they had their way, the university would be getting all of it.
› Tampa Bay leads Orlando and Jacksonville in apartment construction
Look around downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg and it’s easy to believe this — Tampa Bay remains among Florida’s most active markets for apartment construction.
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