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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida Trend Immigration Series
How Florida relies on immigrants
The hospitality, construction and agriculture sectors, which employ many immigrants in Florida, struggle to find enough workers. We ask representatives of those three sectors about their hiring needs and suggestions for immigration law reform. Full story here.
Also in this series:
» Unauthorized Immigration: About a third of illegal immigrants in Florida come from Mexico and Haiti.
» Immigration scams: Coming to America, by hook or crook There’s no shortage of scams for trying to get U.S. citizenship.
» Coming tomorrow: The final installments look at E-Verify and permanent visas.
Despite political winds, Florida Aquarium will keep working with Cuba to save reefs
As human contributions to climate change and U.S. relations with Cuba continue to divide the country, the Florida Aquarium is pushing ahead with a project that cuts across both issues. President and chief executive Roger German visited in Havana on Tuesday to sign a new memorandum of understanding with Cuba’s National Aquarium enabling them to continue working together on restoring the coral reefs in Caribbean waters. See the announcement from the Aquarium, here. Also read more at the Tampa Bay Times.
Mail-in ballots top 500,000 across Florida
Voting in the Nov. 6 general election has already surpassed the half-million mark. Numbers posted by the Florida Division of Elections show 554,350 people had cast vote-by-mail ballots. Florida’s 13 million registered voters will also have the option of going to polling places for early voting, which runs statewide from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3, though county supervisors can add some extra days. [Source: WJXT]
HSN to cut hundreds of workers as it merges with QVC
After struggling to turn a profit under its new parent company, HSN is being combined with QVC under a new name, prompting major layoffs at the local headquarters. HSN and QVC will maintain their brand identities but be placed under a business unit called "QXH," the home shopping networks’ parent company Qurate Retail Group announced Wednesday. Approximately 350 positions will be eliminated by year-end 2018, the majority at HSN's St. Petersburg, FL and Long Island, NY operations. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
News release:
» Qurate Retail Group announces initiatives to deliver long-term growth: HSN and QVC US will come together in new "QXH" business unit, while maintaining unique brand identities and the St. Petersburg, Florida headquarters for HSN
The Space Coast hoped Rocket Lab would launch from the Cape. It's going to Virginia instead.
One of the small satellite launch providers the Space Coast was hoping to snag by the end of the year has chosen to go elsewhere. California-based Rocket Lab will build its first U.S. launch pad for its Electron rocket at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Natural gas put to the test
Testing Florida’s water supply is serious business. Since 1974 and passage of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act to eliminate pollution from animal wastes, pesticides and wrongfully disposed chemicals, the state requires a battery of tests on the water we drink. TECO Peoples Gas is helping a Florida laboratory install natural gas technology to support crucial water supply testing operation. See the report fromTECO, here. [Sponsored ]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Giant law firm Baker McKenzie picks Tampa for business services center with 300 new jobs
An innovative hub, connected with the Firm’s offices globally, the Tampa Center will provide expert support to Baker McKenzie and its global clients — for example, in Legal Services, Finance, IT, Knowledge Management, Operations, Business Development, Marketing and Communications, and Talent.
› Shahid Khan backs out of deal to buy Wembley Stadium
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan said Wednesday he withdrew his bid to buy Wembley Stadium in London, an unexpected termination of an $800 million deal that Khan attributed to a lack of overwhelming support from the England Football Association.
› Amazon Air joins Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport last week became part of Amazon Air’s cargo flight operations, at the same time that the airport was marking a nearly 4% gain in cargo carried for the year to date. Amazon launched twice-daily freighter service at Miami International to destinations across the US.
› Everglades restoration must deal with rising ocean, new report says
Are we restoring the Everglades just so the ocean can swallow a lot of it back up? Eighteen years into the multi-billion-dollar restoration of the Everglades, a scientific review committee called for a broad re-examination of future projects in light of the changing climate and rising oceans.
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