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Tuesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida hotels try to attract ’work from home’ families
Some Florida resorts are morphing the pandemic-bolstered “work from home” trend into a business promotion: Work from hotels. More elbow room, strong and reliable WiFi and redefined “working vacations” are among the inspirations for relocating home offices, at least temporarily, executives say. Children attending virtual school can also be a factor. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Companies announce plans to hire hundreds in Jacksonville area
Unemployment and lost wages during the pandemic have taken their toll on families, but at least three businesses have announced substantial hiring campaigns for the Jacksonville area. Bite Squad is hiring 200 delivery drivers, and Domino’s is looking to add 700 team members. Meanwhile, mortgage-lending company NewRez LLC plans to double its employee team here with another 100 employees. More from the Florida Times-Union.
Orange County will halt all work on controversial convention center expansion
Orange County will stop all work on a more than $600 million convention center expansion — a project that records show was already threatening to balloon far over budget even as tax collections collapse amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a memo to county commissioners, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings announced that his administration will suspend or cancel all contracts tied to the proposed expansion in a bid to conserve cash. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
After 3 unplanned shutdowns at Turkey Point nuclear plant, feds launch ‘special inspection’
After three unplanned nuclear reactor shutdowns over three days this month, federal regulators have launched a “special inspection” at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point plant. In a statement issued Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was inspecting the plant this week to determine why one of the reactors in the two-unit facility “tripped” or shut down three times between Aug. 17 and Aug. 19. Such visits from the federal agency that oversees nuclear power plants aren’t unheard of but are unusual. More from the Miami Herald.
Ex-felons are facing new hurdles when registering to vote in Florida: inaccurate records
A controversial law signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — and recently upheld by the Supreme Court — requires ex-felons to pay off all court fees and fines before they can cast a ballot. Many people don't know how much they owe because of Florida's "arcane" record-keeping system. The problem is made worse by a lack of digitization, poor record-keeping, and the fact that information is kept county-by-county, instead of in one centralized, state database. More from CBS News.
Business Profile
Trade Mark Interiors
A degree in psychology isn’t required to practice interior design. But it can help. Tracee Murphy, CEO and principal designer of Sarasota-based interior design firm Trade Mark Interiors, pursued a career in design after first earning a psychology degree. “It wasn’t until I was out of college and had my own place that I started to find it and fall in love with it,” Murphy says. “I began to do my house, my neighbor’s house and neighbor’s cousin’s house. It just naturally evolved.”
» More from the Business Observer.
Out of the Box
Seminole County Chamber ‘crushes’ on local restaurants to boost business
The Seminole Chamber Crush is not new, but since COVID-19, it’s vastly improved. The idea first hatched about a year and a half ago, says Rebekah Arthur, the Chamber’s vice president of programming. They’d throw restaurant-member names into a fishbowl, draw one and gather there for lunch. Informal, she notes, but the restaurants and members appreciated the gatherings. Post-COVID-19 closures, however, as the restaurant industry struggles to drag ledgers into the black, the Crush is back.
» Read more from the Orlando Sentinel.
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