Thursday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 4/4/2019

Help coming for troubled Florida natural springs

The natural springs in Florida are in need of some serious help and Florida’s Governor continues to allocate resources for improving the liquid treasure. Half of Florida’s most important springs received grades of D+ or lower based on a summary by the Florida Springs Institute. Gov. Ron Desantis has moved quickly to restore many of the states fouled natural water resources by pledging $50 million to restore springs in Central Florida. More from WJXT.

Florida Senators introduce bill to bring more business to disaster impacted areas

A new bill, introduced by both of Florida's senators, is aimed to bring new business into the area and would create more opportunity and an economic push in the panhandle. On Wednesday, Senator Marco Rubio and Rick Scott introduced the Disaster Opportunity Zones Act in Washington D.C. More from MyPanhandle.com.

Sanford entrepreneurs refurbish helicopter blades and make blades for electricity generation

Jeff Small owes his company, in a way, to having long hair years ago. His Advance Composite Structures at Sanford’s airport, specializing in the esoteric craft of refurbishing helicopter blades, has 33 employees and projects more than $6 million sales this year. The company is nurturing another enterprise, one that involves spinning blades that generate electricity and don’t fly around. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

José Andrés suddenly shutters one South Florida restaurant. Here’s what it means for the other

José Andrés followed Michael Schwartz to a posh new hotel in Brickell, and now he’s following him out. Andrés’ seafood-focused restaurant at the SLS Brickell hotel, Bazaar Mar, a playground for whimsical dishes and molecular gastronomy, closed March 30, his representatives confirmed Wednesday. More from the Miami Herald.

If Florida gains Census seats, where would they go?

Florida is about to win. And Central and Southwest Florida might win even more. Less than a year out from the 2020 U.S. Census, analysts project the state to gain two additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives (and, correspondingly, the electoral college). More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Retail Trends
Wawa is undergoing a huge expansion

Wawa grew by an average of 8 percent per year from 2009 to 2018 and surpassed $12 billion in revenue last year. There are more Wawas in New Jersey than in Pennsylvania (251 to 236), but the company said it expects Florida, which has 167 stores, to surpass each state by the end of 2021.

» More from Philly.com.

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Ocearch

When the shark-hunting team from Ocearch at Jacksonville University gave the name “Miss May” to a white shark caught 40 miles off Mayport, the name signified more than the just a nod to the location where the shark was tagged. “Miss May” also refers to Ocearch’s upcoming move to Mayport, made possible by Jacksonville City Council’s approval of a 10-year lease of city-owned land and two historic buildings that will become Ocearch’s home base.