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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
The first of three tax-free weeks starts Friday. Here’s what Floridians will save on
Florida consumers will save on hurricane and school supplies as well as concert tickets and outdoor gear under a $200 million bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday. HB 7061 includes sales tax holidays on back-to-school and hurricane preparedness items that Floridians are used to, but it also has a sales tax holiday for outdoor recreation goods and tickets to sports and cultural events. More from the Orlando Sentinel and the Miami Herald.
Once nearly extinct, the Florida panther is making a comeback
The panther's historic territory used to be the entire Southeast. But they were hunted so relentlessly that by the 1970s, only a handful were left in the swamps west of the Everglades. Their long road to recovery began in Fisheating Creek. In 1972, a cougar hunter from Texas tracked down one underfed female panther, and it was discovered that inbreeding was hampering their ability to reproduce. Twenty-three years later, state legislators supported a plan for him to bring in eight female pumas from West Texas. Nature took its course. What had once been fewer than 20 panthers, now have rebounded to more than 200. [Source: NPR]
Florida says it is researching whether to continue federal jobless benefits
State officials are weighing whether to end Florida’s participation in federal pandemic unemployment benefits amid reports that employers are finding it difficult to hire workers. Currently, a Florida worker filing for unemployment can earn up to $575 a week — or about $14.38 an hour — from $300 in supplemental assistance from Washington on top of the state’s $275 maximum credit. Prior to the pandemic, the state’s minimum wage was $8.65 an hour. [Source: Miami Herald]
Commentary: Enterpreneurs, online stores helped by home-based business bill
The Florida Legislature passed a bill this year that could bring sanity to local laws dealing with home-based business regulations. House Bill 403, sponsored by Rep. Mike Giallombardo and Sen. Keith Perry, sets to curb excessive regulation at the local level that often feels like regulation for the sake of regulation. It’s not just computer upstarts and lemonade stands that need protection from local governments. Another rapidly growing home-based business model is one where people manufacture and sell items through online retail platforms such as Etsy. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]
Subtropical Storm Ana develops, marks 7th year in a row with early hurricane season start
Subtropical Storm Ana formed early Saturday morning, making it the first named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. But it developed more than a week out from the official start date of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Is this normal? Ana marks the seventh year in a row that the Atlantic hurricane season started before the official June 1 date. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Meet the new Miami: A series of self-sustaining, interconnected villages
Not so long ago, Miami-Dade was a story of east — the sprawling Beach — and a mainland of undifferentiated suburbs, centered by a central business district that shut down at 5 p.m. Today the county increasingly is coalescing around a series of urban villages or centers — compact, pedestrian-friendly places where people can live, shop or dine out, even work or go to school, with few or mercifully short trips by car. Some Miamians are even choosing what once seemed unthinkable in a metro that for decades has been designed and built around the automobile — forgoing car ownership entirely.
› Florida recyclers take a 'back to basics' approach to public education
Florida is taking a “back to basics” approach to recycling education to help it meet its 2020 goal of reaching a 75% recycling rate, stakeholders said during a panel discussion the Florida Recycling Partnership Foundation hosted on May 18. While officials are still compiling data for 2020, they say it’s unlikely Florida met the 75% goal. Florida’s 52% overall recycling rate in 2019 was a slight improvement over the 49% rate in 2018, said Karen Moore, environmental administrator of waste reduction for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Yet Florida's recycling rate has generally declined since 2016.
› Sandwich chain magnate helps launch area business law institute
Ave Maria School of Law in Naples has launched the Ave Maria Institute for Business Law, following a substantial gift from Peter and Tatiana Cancro, long-time Ave Law supporters. Peter Cancro is the founder and CEO of the Jersey Mike’s sandwich chain. Cancro was the commencement speaker at the Naples-based law school’s commencement ceremony held May 15, where establishment of the institute was announced.
› Hospitality workers affected by COVID-19 sell crafts, magic at Orlando artisan market
The market is the first of many being organized by Ashley DePaul, a former event coordinator for the Walt Disney Company who now runs Bleach Please Customs, a custom apparel business she began after she was laid off in September due to the pandemic. Organized partly through a Facebook group, the next is scheduled June 19 for Pride Month and will continue to be held monthly until the end of the year.
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