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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida declares public health emergency over its ballooning Hepatitis A cases
With 56 new cases of Hepatitis A reported statewide in the week since the last reporting period, the Florida Surgeon General declared a public health emergency on Thursday, allowing health officials to test and treat people suspected of carrying the virus. The number of reported Hepatitis A cases in Florida in 2019 rose to 2,034 as of July 27, up from the 1,978 cases reported on July 20, the Florida Department of Health said. More from the Miami Herald, Spectrum News, and WPTV.
Florida utilities will start burying more power lines. You'll pay the bill
A new law requires Florida public utilities to strengthen their infrastructure against storms, and that means state regulators are hammering out a major change to customers’ bills. Customers, the law says, will foot the bill for these efforts. But how big that bill could be — and how it's calculated — is in the hands of the Florida Public Service Commission. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
As big stores close, niche retailers could be coming to your neighborhood
There’s a saying that “when one door closes, another opens.” In retail, it’s true. If you live in South Florida, you may have noticed that some major chain stores such as Sears and Kmart leaving your neighborhood. At the same time, you could see new stores popping up, some with less familiar names such as “Aldi” and “Trulieve.” [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Universal Orlando announces a new Florida theme park, Epic Universe
The Florida theme park wars just got hotter. Universal Orlando announced Thursday that it will open a brand new theme park called Universal’s Epic Universe, nearly doubling the entertainment company’s acreage in Central Florida. This will be Universal’s fourth Florida theme park. Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, and Volcano Bay water park in 2017. More from the Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel.
See also:
» Universal will offer workers at its newest resort a base pay of $15 an hour
Despite hurricanes, Florida turtle season hatching well
Despite a landscape altered by one hurricane and deluged by a second, as the 2019 sea turtle nesting season reaches a midpoint, it is shaping up quite, pardon, swimmingly. Maybe not a record breaker, unless Indian Pass beaches are one’s haunt, but the season, as it shifts focus from nesting to hatching, is one of note beyond the surrounding circumstances. “We won’t have a record-breaking year, but it has been a successful nesting season so far,” said Jessica Swindall with the St. Joseph Peninsula Turtle Patrol and its non-profit umbrella the Florida Coastal Conservancy. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Jacksonville to Buffalo: Show us how to revive our city
How’s this for an about-face? A group from a fast-growing Sun Belt city have come to Buffalo to see what’s happening to revive downtown. For years, it was Buffalo officials who were trekking across the country in search of initiatives that succeeded elsewhere. But now, it’s a group from Jacksonville, Fla., who have flown to Buffalo to see if any of the things that have been done there to breathe new life into downtown could be duplicated in their city.
› Florida regulator calls open Hurricane Michael claims ‘discouraging’; Plans data call
With more than 20,000 claims related to Hurricane Michael still open nine months after the storm hit the Florida Panhandle, Florida’s top insurance regulator is calling on the insurance industry to take “all actions necessary” to bring policyholder claims to a close.
› Embry-Riddle partners with industry to bring veterans into the aviation workforce
As an MV-22 Osprey crew chief and mechanic in the U.S. Marines, Chris Porter was able to do two things he had always loved: work with his hands and solve mechanical problems. Now transitioning into civilian life, he has an opportunity to transform his experience and skill into a high-prestige career, thanks to a program offered by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
› Two Orlando Vietnamese bakeries with the same name both say they thought of it first
Husband and wife Hien Tran and Doan Nguyen own Paris Bánh Mì Cafe Bakery in Coytown, a neighborhood on Colonial Drive of mostly Asian restaurants and businesses. Located off Mills Avenue next to Lazy Moon Pizza and Lineage Coffee, they’ve been selling French pastries and Vietnamese boba tea since May. A few weeks after they opened, another restaurant popped up with an almost identical name, owned by a man the couple briefly considered partnering with.
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