March 28, 2024

Monday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 12/14/2020

Jobs are hard to find in South Florida — but so are workers. What gives?

The state of the South Florida jobs market in December 2020? Confusing. On the one hand, about 119,000 individuals remained out of work in October in Miami-Dade County, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. On the other hand, interviews with local hiring managers and staffing experts suggest many establishments are struggling to find not just qualified job applicants, but any applicants at all. More from the Miami Herald.

2020? Awful. But at least Florida hasn’t had a major Red Tide

In a year with plenty of bad, Florida avoided one scourge in 2020: Red Tide. Well, mostly. The state made it through late summer and most of fall before scientists in the last couple of weeks started tracking a bloom off the southwest shore. As of Dec. 10, a patchy blotch of Red Tide was sitting off Sanibel Island. It has not produced widespread fish kills but has led to reports of people experiencing respiratory irritation in Collier County, though nothing like the crippling Red Tide of 2018. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

How Sarasota County scored an Amazon distribution center

Amazon sent shockwaves through Sarasota County when the e-commerce giant announced last November that it would open a distribution center near Venice. Many in the county’s private and public sectors didn’t see it coming. The plan to attract the company that is changing the face of retail across the world came not from the county’s own agency that’s responsible for drawing businesses. It came from a local entrepreneur and County Commission Chairman Mike Moran. More from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Jay Stowe arrives as new JEA CEO with 'night and day' contrast to fired CEO Aaron Zahn

From his then-home in Chattanooga, Tenn., Jay Stowe was among the public power industry advocates who watched the saga of last year's attempted sale of JEA that landed multi-billion dollar offers before it came skidding to an end on Christmas Eve 2019. A year later, Stowe is in Jacksonville as JEA's newly hired CEO after an entirely new board did a national search and hired him. More from the Florida Times-Union.

Mount Dora’s Lakeside Inn marks 10 years under new owners

When Jim and Alexandra Gunderson bought the Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora 10 years ago, the historic hotel was in danger of closing. And as the couple anticipated their 10th anniversary as owners at the start of 2020, they didn’t know this would be another scary year for them as the coronavirus pandemic turned the usually busy streets of Mount Dora in the spring into a ghost town. But the 136-year-old Lakeside Inn never closed, and as the lockdown loosened, people were looking for a break. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Florida Dining
Like dining outside? Swank Table, a rural-chic dinner feast on a farm, announces 2021 events

 Lovers of al fresco dining in sweater weather and dishes by South Florida top chefs, take note: Swank Specialty Produce’s annual rural-chic dinner feast, Swank Table, has unveiled its 2021 lineup on its Loxahatchee farm. Eight dinners will be featured in the January-May 2021 dinner series, in which renowned chefs turn Swank Farms’ bounty of microgreens, fruits and vegetables into top-flight, multicourse meals. But to make it work during a pandemic, the farm’s namesake co-owner, Jodi Swank, had to change everything about the ritzy dinners staged every winter and spring on the 20-acre hydroponic farm.

» More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

 

Business Profile
New craft supply company stands out by focusing on collaborations

floridaIn some ways, it’s the perfect time to launch a craft supplies company — given the pandemic-driven boom for activities from baking to biking to crafting. Maker Forte is capitalizing on that surge. The company, based in east Manatee County in University Park, launched this September, and CEO and Managing Partner Alexandra Stapleton-Smith says it was a fantastic fall for the firm. The company has a base of customers and already received reorders for some products. “Covid has meant that more people are crafting,” says Stapleton-Smith, a crafter her whole life.

» Read more from the Business Observer.

Tags: Daily Pulse, Afternoon Pulse

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Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
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Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

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