March 28, 2024

Friday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 1/3/2020

Industrial space is growing in South Florida, and rates are still rising

Warehouse supply is expected to grow at the same rate in the new year as it did in 2019. But it still won’t be enough to satisfy demand in South Florida. The primary driver: e-commerce, said George Pino, the president of the Doral-based commercial real estate brokerage company State Street Realty. As online sales increase, companies need to stockpile goods near consumers for quick delivery. More from the Miami Herald.

NASA’s SLS moon rocket readies for next pit stop on way to Kennedy Space Center

The next rocket NASA wants to send to the moon is about to leave the house it was built in for a new home, but isn’t quite ready for Kennedy Space Center. First, the Space Launch System core stage with its four attached RS-25 engines will make its way by NASA’s Pegasus barge from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi before the end of January. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Is 2020 the year Florida okays testing in Spanish?

Florida’s debate over how to test its more than 265,000 students still learning English has churned for more than a decade, with calls for exams in children’s native languages regularly falling flat with the officials in charge. In 2019, none of the bills filed in the state Legislature on the subject received a single hearing. Might things change in 2020? More from the Tampa Bay Times.

New art museum adds to Sarasota’s cultural heritage

In Sarasota, the subtropics meet the South. Pressed up against the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in southwest Florida, this city, long home to carnies and cowmen, is best understood as a study in contrast. Now the new Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College, which opened last month, aims to spotlight the city’s cultural depth and diversity. More from the New York Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Kumquat growers gear up for annual festival in Dade City

The annual Kumquat Festival is right around the corner. The free event featuring kumquat growers and citrus products is being held on Jan. 25 in Dade City. There will be more than 400 vendors, a kid’s corral with a variety of activities, a car and truck show, live entertainment and a lot of food. There will also be a lot of kumquat products including the famous kumquat pie. More from WTSP.

Business Profile
Skillet sizzle: Naples breakfast chain pushes expansion program

 They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Naples-based breakfast and lunch chain Skillets Restaurants is capitalizing on the adage, with a big appetite for expansion. In October, it opened a new location in Venice — its ninth total. That restaurant is part of an expansion program launched in 2017 to quickly move up the southwest coast of Florida.

» More from the Business Observer.

 

Out of the Box
Mustang from Steve McQueen’s famed ‘Bullitt’ car chase heads to Florida auction

floridaSteve McQueen piloted it in the movie “Bullitt,” and for the next 50 years it was mostly a ghost. Now it’s heading to auction, and the speedy dark-green 1968 Ford Mustang fastback is expected to break records when it crosses the block next week at a Mecum event in Florida. Bravely, its owner is offering the rusty, dented, largely unrestored car “without reserve,” which means it will sell to the highest bidder — however low that bid is.

» Read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Tags: Daily Pulse, Afternoon Pulse

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Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

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