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Tuesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Restaurants in The Villages desperate due to staffing shortages
The sign on a the front door of a restaurant in The Villages said it all. “Due to short staffing our new hours of operation will be from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Sunday.” It was an announcement that Ruby Tuesday at Spanish Springs has trimmed back its service hours. Culver’s Restaurant at Southern Trace Plaza was forced to shut down it’s dining room and had all of its customers using the drive-through to pick up their Butterburgers and frozen custard.
› SeaWorld celebrates Cinco de Mayo during Seven Seas fest
SeaWorld Orlando is adding Cinco de Mayo flair for select dates of its ongoing Seven Seas Food Festival. Festivities will include a “fiesta in the street” in the Wild Arctic Plaza, a DJ dance party, live bands performing traditional music of Mexico and a menu that includes beef barbacoa tacos, drunken shrimp tostadas and SeaWorld chef’s take on an elote dish, the theme park says. SeaWorld had a similar overlay for Mardi Gras during this year’s festival.
› Buchanan joins effort to maintain monitoring of Florida red tide during government shutdowns
When the last major outbreak of a red tide algae bloom popped up near the beaches of Sarasota and Manatee counties several years ago, a federal government shutdown made it harder for scientists to analyze data and produce forecasts and other reports on where the algae was and where it was going. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, hopes to change that, announcing Monday that he is joining bipartisan legislation that would require continued monitoring of red tide blooms even when the federal government reduces services during a shutdown.
› After years without a new restaurant, LaVilla welcomes Crazy Beans Coffee at JTA transporation hub
Loretta Twiggs came for the cake. A hearty slice of homemade lemon pound cake to be precise. "This is my third slice," Twiggs confided with a chuckle Tuesday morning. "It is delicious and it's made from scratch, too. That's the good kind … to die for cake." Twiggs is fast becoming a regular at the newly opened Crazy Beans Coffee at the heart of JTA's Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla.
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