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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
The shutdown hit the Florida Keys hard. What will it take to get back to business?
Tourism is the lifeblood of the Florida Keys. It pumps up jobs and tax dollars. Supports fishing, hotels, restaurants. So with more than five million people who visit Monroe County in a normal year, the island chain typically has the lowest unemployment rate in the state. But with tourists banned from entering the Keys since late March because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Monroe County’s unemployment rate shot up to the second highest in Florida, a whopping 17.5 percent. More from the Miami Heraldand the AP.
Florida’s unemployment benefits system is improving, but some states are doing much better at paying claims
Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted the progress of the beleaguered unemployment system in paying out claims, but Florida still lags other states half its size in getting desperately needed money to the jobless. In the most recent data available, Florida had a recipiency rate — the amount of people receiving benefits compared with the total unemployed — of 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, the lowest among states. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
See also:
» Florida’s unemployed still haven’t been paid. And they don’t think it’s their fault.
Column: Local residents are now Florida tourism’s bread and butter
International arrivals to the U.S., which account for 15 million high-spending annual guests to Florida, is all but banned by government order. This is all especially bad news for Florida, where tourism is the No. 1 industry, generating nearly $90 billion in overall revenue and $12 billion in state and local tax revenue. So how do we begin the very long journey back? We flip our typical market segmentation upside down by working to attract locals first. [Source: Miami Herald]
‘Back in the game’: SpaceX ship blasts off with 2 astronauts
A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era in commercial space travel and putting the United States back in the business of launching astronauts into orbit from home soil for the first time in nearly a decade. [Source: AP]
Gov. DeSantis has the dream Supreme Court Republicans have always wanted
For all the accolades and credentials on the resumés of newly appointed Florida Supreme Court Justices John Couriel and Renatha Francis, perhaps the most consequential are their ages. Couriel and Francis are 42 years old. Gov. Ron DeSantis is turning the state’s high court over to Gen X. His previous appointees were all born in the same era. And in tapping lawyers with the prime of their legal careers ahead of them, DeSantis has all but guaranteed that a generation of legal precedent will be forged by justices put in place by Republicans. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Volusia looks to step up recruiting space firms
This weekend’s planned launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center is being hailed an historic breakthrough. It is the first private space craft to carry humans into outer space. On Tuesday, the Volusia County Council could take a step that could help bring a bigger share of the growing commercial spaceflight industry here.
› Tech, employment groups team up to hold virtual job fair
Tampa Bay Tech, a nonprofit that supports the region’s tech sector, plans to hold a virtual job fair in response to high unemployment in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The June 10 Career Expo is being held in conjunction with CareerSource Tampa Bay, CareerSource Pinellas and Recruiter Networking Group of Tampa Bay (RNG) and will be free of charge for job seekers and members of Tampa Bay Tech and RNG.
› Amid food shortages, South Florida restaurants raise prices, cut menu items
Hoping to rebound from a two-month lockdown, South Florida restaurants – at half-capacity and barely surviving on sluggish takeout sales – are now grappling with food costs creeping higher. Now restaurants are wrestling with the choice to pass these increases to patrons, stop serving certain dishes altogether, or do nothing.
› Major League Soccer union counters league plan to resume play in Orlando
Major League Soccer players have approved a plan to resume play in Orlando, asking the league to agree to significant changes to its initial proposal, according to The Athletic website. The MLS Players Association submitted the proposal to the league’s owners Friday after receiving enough votes from players, The Athletic reported. The league will now review the players’ proposal and decide whether to accept it or counter.
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