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Wednesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
With hurricane season looming, the time to prepare is now
Hurricane season is 27 days away. Some people maybe sick of the disaster preparedness messaging they endured the last eight weeks from coronavirus, but like or not, the time to prepare for hurricane season is now, say meteorologists. The start of hurricane season is on June 1, but the chance of an early storm is always present and has been a tradition of the last five years, which all experienced tropical development before the start of the season. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
See also:
» Florida makes plans for dealing with novel coronavirus during hurricane season
Charter fishing captains report falling business, closure
The coronavirus pandemic has threatened the local economy since Florida began its efforts to curb the spread of the virus, and local fishing charters have not been immune to the ill effects. The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is conducting a survey of agricultural and marine industries to determine how the pandemic is affecting the state, and preliminary results show a majority of charter fishing businesses have not weathered the pandemic well. More from the Naples Daily News.
Miami-Dade incentives spur four companies to add 438 jobs
Four unnamed companies are cleared to receive local and state incentives to open or expand operations in Miami-Dade, bringing 438 new full-time equivalent jobs, 131 indirect jobs and more than $51 million in combined capital investments. County lawmakers Tuesday OK’d applications from the Beacon Council to give financial aid to the businesses, which will either set up or increase footprints in or north of the City of Miami. More from Miami Today.
Florida concedes it has no plan on felon voting
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle decided more than six months ago that Florida cannot deny the right to vote to felons who have served their time behind bars and are genuinely unable to pay “legal financial obligations” as required by a controversial state law passed last year. But as a trial in a challenge to the law draws to a close today, a top Florida elections official told the judge Tuesday the state has not settled on a process that will carry out his ruling. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
As work on $1.8B Everglades project begins, low water level on Lake Okeechobee raises concern
As groundwork for the project begins, debate over Lake Okeechobee’s water level continues as area farmers, cities and utilities maintain the Army Corps is not properly maintaining the 2008 Lake Okeechobee regulation schedule and not abiding by the savings clause in the 2000 version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). More from the Center Square.
Sports Business
Hillsborough County reinstates spring pay for football coaches
Only weeks after informing its prep football coaches they wouldn’t receive the spring portion of their annual supplements due to the cancellation of spring football, the Hillsborough County school district has reversed its field. New Hillsborough superintendent Addison Davis informed the coaches in an e-mail late Tuesday night their supplements are being reinstated. The announcement came eight days after Pasco County reinstated spring pay for its coaches.
» More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Out of the Box
A colorful circus birthday salute
Circus legend Willie Edelston, a former trapeze artist and longtime coach for the Sailor Circus Academy, turned 97 this week with the kind of celebration only circus artists could conjure up. Friends and fans from the Circus Arts Conservatory, members of Showfolks, Sailor Circus alumni and current Sailor Circus students created a colorful birthday caravan to salute Edelston. He sat on his driveway next to La Norma Fox, another circus legend, along with a few other friends, as costumed performers and a human cannon truck drove by.
» Read more from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
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