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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Churches manage to keep funding steady during pandemic
Local churches are now recovering from the pandemic as people slowly return to the sanctuary rather than watching from home. Although services were in an empty sanctuary, funds stayed steady and helped local poor. CrossBridge Church, with a campus in Pinecrest, Brickell, Key Biscayne, Miami Springs and Homestead, did not have a startling adjustment in online worship. “Our church was already positioned to go online. We were already live streaming. So the thing for us is how can we serve the city?” said Carter Brown, lead pastor at CrossBridge Church. Tithing stayed steady during the pandemic, and the church turned to give the money to the community.
› UF Study Gives Strawberry Growers a Ray of (UV) Light at the End of Their Pest Tunnel
Researchers with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are trying to reduce pests and diseases for Florida’s $300 million-a-year strawberry industry. Plant pathologist Natalia Pres has been using an ultraviolet light system for a few years now that prevents strawberry pathogens like powdery mildew, but fellow UF researchers are focused on whether that UVC radiation can also control plant pests like mites and thrips.
› Two ‘move to Miami’ tech titans just launched their first Magic City-based company
There’s an expression tech executives use to prove their ideas’ worth, according to former PayPal executive and new Miami resident Keith Rabois: At the end of the day, a founder must be able to “eat his own dog food” to show the world that it’s good. Which is why Rabois is now launching OpenStore, a platform that allows Shopify digital store owners to sell their companies, from Miami: To show the world — and, more pointedly, his fellow techies — that billion-dollar ideas can be executed from the Magic City.
› OneWater Marine to acquire Naples Boat Mart
OneWater Marine Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Naples Boat Mart, which will expand the company’s presence on the West Coast of Florida and enhance new and pre-owned boat sales, storage, service and repair, and finance and insurance offerings. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
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