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Tuesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida Realtors backs affordable housing ballot proposal
After years of battles about lawmakers using affordable housing money for other purposes, the organization Florida Realtors is backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would dedicate tax dollars for housing programs. The Florida Department of State on Friday gave initial approval to the proposal by a political committee known as Floridians for Housing. Florida Realtors has provided $5 million to the political committee since March 31, finance reports show. The proposed constitutional amendment would dedicate 25 percent of revenues from a documentary-stamp tax to affordable housing programs. More from the News Service of Florida.
Florida Trend Exclusive
The Chinese government calls paying U.S. researchers ‘talent recruitment' but is it intellectual espionage?
Although few researchers have been prosecuted for actual spying, a growing number are being charged with engaging in fraud by concealing their affiliations with the programs on applications for federal grants and on university conflict-of-interest forms, and by lying to federal investigators about their activities. Several have been charged for failing to disclose income from talent programs to the Internal Revenue Service. More from Florida Trend.
These are the ten most profitable companies in Florida
Florida is among the top five U.S. states in terms of GDP size. This state is heavily dependent on tourism, and gets about 100 million visitors a year. Despite tourism being the main contributor, Florida is home to some world-class companies, and many of these are tech and financial based. More from Entrepreneur.
Jury sides with South Florida business in court battle over paid sick leave
A jury sided with a business in the case of a South Florida man who sued his former employer, claiming he never got paid sick leave while at home quarantining with COVID-19. According to the complaint, Timothy O'Bryan had been working as a mold and fire technician with Joe Taylor Restoration Inc. since 2018. Then he got sick back on March 30, 2020. He said he had symptoms of COVID-19, so the Delray-based company asked O'Bryan to stay home, quarantine and fill out two health forms. More from NBC Miami.
Saharan dust cloud heads toward Florida and may suppress storms
A plume of dusty air from the Sahara desert will sweep across southern Florida this week, suppressing storms, enhancing sunsets and threatening to worsen air pollution. The dust cloud appears likely to smother a developing storm system heading toward the Caribbean from Africa, preventing it from strengthening into a tropical depression or anything more dangerous. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Arts Business
Two St. Petersburg galleries celebrate new digs
As the face of St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue continues to change, and with new proposed spaces at Sundial forcing retailers out, two local galleries have found larger spaces in the MLK Business District in Historic Uptown. Articles Art Gallery and Custom Framing/Leslie Curran Gallery and D-Gallerie are now next door to each other, and celebrating with a grand opening event on June 18.
» More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Out of the Box
Florida town mistakenly sells its water tower
A small town in Florida accidentally sold its water tower in a blundered real estate transaction. A businessman purchased a municipal building underneath the city of Brooksville’s water tower last April for $55,000 with the goal of converting it into a gym. However, when Bobby Read went to the county to get an address for his new business location, he was told the parcel he bought included the entire water tower site.
» Read more from the AP. and the Tampa Bay Times.
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