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Thursday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Unemployment aid applications fall a second straight week in Florida. Will it continue?
Unemployment assistance applications in Florida declined for the second straight week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. But rising COVID-19 case counts are already giving some economists pause that the improving economic picture may be imperiled. For the week ending Oct. 24, new assistance claims in Florida fell from 40,070 to 30,874. It’s the lowest weekly figure seen since March, although some of the decline is due to applicants exhausting their 12 weeks of state assistance. More from the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
After announcing layoffs, Raymond James posts record annual revenues
Six weeks after announcing plans to lay off 4 percent of its workforce, Raymond James Financial has posted record annual revenues. The St. Petersburg investment firm recorded net revenues of $7.99 billion for the last fiscal year, up from $7.7 billion last year. That includes another record of $2.08 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, which ended in September. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Pandemic turns Tupperware into an ‘it brand’
Tupperware relied on social gatherings for explosive growth in the mid 20th century. In the 21st century, it is social distancing that is fueling sales. Restaurant pain has turned into Tupperware’s gain with millions of people in a pandemic opening cookbooks again and looking for solutions to leftovers. They’ve found it again in Tupperware, suddenly an “it brand” five decades after what seemed to be its glory days. More from the AP.
Jacksonville readies $5.3 million relief for 'sleeping giant' of eviction and foreclosure
Duval County residents and small-business owners facing the threat of eviction or foreclosure because of lost income and paychecks during the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to apply for help from a $5.3 million program being launched by the city of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Bar Association. The money will help confront the building financial pressure on people who have lost income during the pandemic and fell behind on paying rent, which United Way of Northeast Florida administrator Jeff Winkler has called a "one of the sleeping giants of 2021 we're going to have to face." More from the Florida Times-Union.
SunRail, Lynx to help fight human trafficking in Central Florida
Hundreds of Lynx bus drivers and SunRail conductors are being enlisted to battle modern-day human slavery in a new regional effort to identify victims and prosecute their traffickers, officials announced Wednesday. United Abolitionists, an Orlando-based advocacy organization that fights human trafficking, is joining law enforcement agencies in Orange, Osceola and Seminole in the newly launched Tri-County Alliance on Human Trafficking that will train public transportation workers to report suspicious activity. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Giving Trends
Two Central Florida charities unite for a tale of happy tails
Canine Companions for Independence, which trains and matches service dogs to people with disabilities, and Give Kids The World, which runs a va
cation village for critically ill children and their families, are helping each other in these lean times for charities. One desperately needed space — but had a donor willing to cover the cost of renting it. The other needed money — and had space it couldn’t use because of COVID. You can see where this is going.
» More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Business Profile
Seagate Development Group
Seagate Development Group has built a brand in the Southwest Florida construction market by building corporate headquarters. Although those projects grab headlines, and of course bring in revenue for the $65.5 million company, Seagate is, more quietly, developing a profitable niche in another area far from building headquarters projects: self-storage.
» Read more from the Business Observer.
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