SHARE:
Monday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
NAFTA 2.0 could pose disaster for Florida tomato, strawberry, bell pepper growers
A University of Florida study forecasts state tomato, strawberry and bell pepper growers could lose up to $400 million a year if Congress ratifies the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) without measures preventing Mexico from “dumping” subsidized produce into American markets. The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) study examined potential impacts on three crops if the updated iteration of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is ratified as is by Congress. See the study here and read more from the Center Square and KPVI.
Florida Trend Exclusive
The new Florida Supreme Court
In just its first few months, the newly remade Florida Supreme Court has already delivered a string of decisions upending previous rulings in ways that have helped businesses and other defendants in civil lawsuits, affirmed the powers of the governor and shown much greater deference to the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature. More from Florida Trend.
Florida economic development group rebrands
The Bonita Springs Estero Economic Development Council wants existing and prospective businesses and employees to know that the organization represents more than only its namesake’s municipalities. That’s why it has launched a rebranding campaign to reflect a name change to South Lee EDC. More from the Business Observer.
80 percent chance tropical system will form in Gulf this week
The National Hurricane Center is forecasting an 80 percent chance that a tropical system will form in the northern Gulf of Mexico over the next five days, possibly becoming the second named storm of the 2019 hurricane season. The prediction is unusual because the area of concern is an upper level trough of low pressure located over Georgia that is expected to move into the Gulf and form up into something tropical. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Port Tampa Bay lands third weekly container ship service from Asia
Port Tampa Bay said Monday it is getting another weekly container ship from Asia, its third since December. The new service will start toward the end of this summer and consist of a rotation of 10 ships carrying about 4,500 containers each, though only a fraction of those will likely be destined for the dock at Tampa. See the annoucement and read more from the Tampa Bay Times.
Entertainment
With Florida's film incentives plan on the cutting room lloor, Miami-Dade shouts "Action!"
Imagine, if you will, South Florida through the eyes of a movie director. The Everglades could double as the Amazon rainforest. And if you’re doing a period piece set in 18th Century Europe, how does using Vizcaya as a Spanish castle grab you? You would imagine that South Florida would be the first choice for movies or TV shows set in a tropical paradise. Yet, in the three years since state lawmakers pulled the plug on a tax incentive program for the film industry, Florida has been losing movies to other southern states, mostly notably Georgia.
» More from WJCT.
Out of the Box
With much Good Humor, vintage ice cream trucks serve nostalgia on a stick
The sound of the Good Humor Ice Cream truck’s bells is embedded, like a long-unused cellphone ring tone, deep in the childhood memories of many Americans. In South Florida, two nostalgia-driven ice cream sellers have made it their mission to ring those bells, summon those memories and share the joy that comes flooding out. “It was a treat for many people,” says Richard Blech, an attorney-turned-nostalgia peddler. “The world wasn’t as affluent back then, and the simple pleasures of life weren’t as common. Ice cream was special. You remembered it.”
» Read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
In case you missed it:
