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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Carnival Corp. is the first U.S. company sued for using ‘stolen’ property in Cuba
Carnival Cruise Lines was hit Thursday with unprecedented lawsuits filed by businessmen who for decades have sought justice after their families’ properties were seized by Fidel Castro nearly 60 years ago. The Miami-based cruising conglomerate was sued in federal court by Mickael Behn and Javier Garcia-Bengochea, both of whom hold claims certified by the federal government for assets confiscated shortly after the Cuban Revolution. More from the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel.
Florida passes bill to promote career training in schools
Florida schools will help students plan for careers even if they don't want to seek a four-year college degree under a wide-ranging education bill sent to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday. The bill is a priority for DeSantis, who called for the changes in his State of the State speech that opened the 60-day legislative session. The bill was unanimously passed by the House and Senate on the 59th day of the session. [Source: AP]
Column: Protecting your business’s information technology is a 24/7 job
In addition to loss of reputation and disruption of business, a data breach is an expensive and inconvenient ordeal. Hackers often target small and medium-sized businesses/organizations and set the ransom price low enough so victims are inclined to pay. [Source: Miami Herald]
SpaceX confirms its astronaut capsule was 'destroyed' during testing at the Space Coast
SpaceX confirmed Thursday the explosion and destruction of its astronaut capsule during a recent test, adding that the company is hopeful it can still make its goal to launch astronauts by the end of the year. SpaceX and NASA also ensured that there were no correlations in the accident between Crew Dragon and its cargo version, which is set to head to the ISS Sunday on SpaceX’s 17th resupply mission to the station. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
See also:
» SpaceX scrubs launch to resupply the ISS due to several issues. It will try again Saturday
Autonomous vehicles with no human aboard could soon be on Florida roads
Self-driving vehicles could be operated in Florida without a human on board under a bill going to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Senate unanimously passed the bill with no debate Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for companies like Uber and Lyft to deploy fleets of driverless vehicles. [Source: AP]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Southwest Florida construction jobs grow faster than state and U.S.
Construction payrolls continue to expand in Southwest Florida, outpacing the state and the nation. Contractors in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties hired 2,300 more workers during the 12-month period ended in March, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. The Sarasota-Manatee metro area provided 1,800 of those jobs, a 7% growth rate that tied for 49th among the 358 U.S. metro areas measured.
› Hollywood may have a fix for its craziest intersection. But it will cost $20 million and take six years.
Insane. Crazy. Outrageous. That’s how skeptics are describing a gutsy plan to ease congestion along frenetic Young Circle, where Federal Highway merges with Hollywood Boulevard in one of the most car-clogged gateways to Hollywood.
› Sarasota named No. 2 place to start small business in U.S.
Verizon ranked Sarasota second among 300 cities as “Best Small Cities to Start a Small Business.” The company looked at factors that would categorize these cities as “small” without dipping into “town” status. Verizon also examined the financial climate of each city and an overview of its demographics, including population, education, travel time to work, income per capita, broadband access, loans per capita and tax scores.
› Tampa Bay's commercial real estate market 'is on fire'
Despite rising construction costs and a "hint of conservatism'' in lending, Tampa Bay's extraordinary building boom could continue for several more years. And despite concerns about an oversupply of apartments and storage units, any gluts are apt to be temporary and limited to certain geographic areas.
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