Monday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 4/20/2020

Many Florida small businesses left out as $349 billion relief fund drained

Since the Paycheck Protection Program launched on April 3, having a friendly, familiar banker has made the difference for many of the 1.6 million businesses that secured loans, much of which can be forgiven if it is spent on line items such as payroll during the next two months. In what turned into a first-come, first-served Darwinian scramble for cash, well-banked companies swooped in. Meanwhile, mom and pops with little more than a business checking account were left on their own to struggle with glitchy application websites. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Stop chewing so loud! Working at home in quarantine is driving Florida couples crazy

This just in: Working from home with your significant other around is officially driving you crazy during the coronavirus quarantine. Especially if you live in Florida, according to a new survey. A survey of 3,000 at-home workers reports that 63 percent of couples in Florida say working from home every day has put a strain on their relationship. The national average is 45 percent. More from the Miami Herald.

Online marketing firm launches name-your-price offer

A new online content marketing firm is lending a hand to Southwest Florida small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with a limited name-your-price offer. The company, ContentClix, will let the first 50 local businesses that respond name their own price for three months of online content marketing. More from the Business Observer.

Publix mandates employees wear masks because of coronavirus

Publix and Walmart employees must now cover their faces with masks while at work because of the coronavirus pandemic. Both retail giants said the new rule would start Monday after previously allowing workers to decide on their own if they wanted to do that. Publix employees will be allowed to decide if they want to wear gloves. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

South Florida nonprofits are ramping up aid amid the pandemic, but it’s costing them

With its widespread areas of high poverty and growing economic inequality, the region has thousands of families that rely on hundreds of nonprofit service organizations offering tutoring, job training, legal aid, family counseling, financial literacy, tax preparation and even jobs. Virtually all of those organizations have had to reconstitute operations and services on the fly, scrambling to help thousands of people who find themselves in sudden economic and emotional distress as jobs are lost and businesses shut down. More from the Miami Herald.

Entertainment
Florida drive-in is the only U.S. theater showing new movies

There’s no natural disaster or worldwide pandemic that can convince John Watzke to close his drive-in theater in Ocala. Even as movie theaters across the country shut down to help slow the spread of COVID-19, Watzke and his small Ocala Drive-In theater continue to show new films and classics to moviegoers desperate for a night out.

» More from WJXT.

Business Profile
Track Shack

Jon Hughes founded Track Shack with two other investors in 1977. Track Shack has grown from being a leading local retailer of running shoes and gear to also becoming the premier foot race organizer in Central Florida.