Florida ended federal unemployment benefits to push people back to work. New numbers suggest it didn't work
In May, the state of Florida announced it would end the $300 federal unemployment benefit. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the extra financial incentive was keeping people from returning to the workplace. But, new numbers suggest so far it could be having the opposite effect. Payroll companies, which keep tabs on workers’ hourly shifts, recently found the loss of the $300 federal unemployment benefit was not pushing people back into the workplace. Payroll Management Firm UKG found employment fell .9 percent in states where the federal benefits ended but rose 2.3 percent in states that still have them.[Source: WTSP]
Amid new virus surge, Florida skeptics reconsider vaccines
In a rural stretch of northeastern Florida where barely half the people have gotten a coronavirus shot, Roger West had no problem telling others he was “adamantly anti-vaccination.” But something happened to change his mind: Two of West’s close friends became ill with the virus, and a third died. West is not alone. In this inland area of Nassau County, sandwiched between Jacksonville and the Okefenokee Swamp at the Georgia-Florida line, a devastating resurgence of the coronavirus is making even some die-hard vaccine skeptics reconsider the shots. [Source: AP]
Florida Trend Exclusive
Dr. Phillips Charities combines traditional philanthropy with real estate development to fund non-profits
Dr. Phillips Charities’ extensive real estate holdings are unusual for a non-profit, enabling it to create a unique business model combining traditional philanthropy with real estate development. It also provides a way for the charity to hedge its bets. “We sort of split up our money equally” between the stock market and real estate, Robinson says. As the value of its stock market investments fluctuates, real estate enables it to get a more stable return. [Source: Florida Trend]
Florida universities to assume ‘normal, pre-pandemic operations' when fall semesters begin
More than 300,000 full-time students and 60,000 faculty and staff are returning to Florida’s 12 public universities for fall semester over the next week as “normal, pre-pandemic operations” resume with in-person classes and campus events proceeding without mask mandates or vaccine requirements. The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the 12 public universities, has issued guidance that “strongly recommends” students, facility and staff be fully vaccinated and wear masks indoors regardless of vaccine status and encourages campus officials to administer regular COVID testing, but will comply with a newly adopted state law that prohibits mask mandates. [Source: The Center Square]
$22 billion NYC hedge fund to open second headquarters in Wynwood
A $22 billion hedge fund announced Tuesday it would be opening a second headquarters in Miami, joining a slew of other finance groups making the Magic City jump. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, founded by billionaire Steven Schonfeld, said in a release it would be moving into Wynwood in the coming months. It has selected The Dorsey, a new mixed-use development from Arquitectonica located at 280 NW 28th St. [Source: Miami Herald]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Tab for DeSantis, dignitary security nearly $4.85 million
Florida taxpayers spent nearly $4.85 million during the past fiscal year to protect Gov. Ron DeSantis, his family, the governor’s mansion and various visiting dignitaries, according to a state report released Monday. The bulk of the costs during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, nearly $4.82 million, went to guarding DeSantis and members of the first family, along with securing the governor’s mansion, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s annual “Report of Transportation and Protective Services.”
› There’s a Tropicana Field NFT for sale, and it comes with big VIP perks
The Tampa Bay Rays are getting in on the NFT business. The Rays and all the other Major League Baseball teams are partnering with New York tech company Candy Digital to auction a series of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, featuring artwork of their stadiums. The Rays’ Tropicana Field token is the team’s first item auctioned through Candy via the company’s new “Stadium Series” partnership with Major League Baseball.
› Miami Seaquarium to be sold to Mexico marine theme park company
The Miami Seaquarium is changing hands. The Dolphin Company, a Mexico-based theme park operator, is buying the Virginia Key marine park from California-based Palace Entertainment, a subsidiary of Spanish theme park operator Parques Reunidos, for an undisclosed amount.
› Founder Joshua Vickery to leave Central Florida Community Arts
Joshua Vickery, founder and leader of Central Florida Community Arts, will depart the organization — and Orlando — in October. CFCArts announced the departure Tuesday morning. Vickery is the third major cultural leader — after Holocaust Center executive director Pam Kancher and Orlando Ballet artistic director Robert Hill — to announce a departure in the past two weeks.
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› Florida officials move forward on Pasco road project abandoned by contractor
State transportation officials set this week as the deadline for receiving new bids from road builders hoping to complete the diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 75 and State Road 56 in Pasco County. The project is one of seven major road improvement jobs stretching from Hillsborough to Citrus County abandoned by D.A.B. Constructors last month.
› Siesta Key hotel projects moving forward as opposition grows
Red-lettered signs sprout all along Higel Avenue, just after crossing Siesta Key’s north bridge, exclaiming “Stop High Density Hotels.” The signs dotting Sarasota’s premier tourist attraction are a direct response to explosive proposals by four developers to build the barrier island’s first hotel developments in more than five decades.
› South Florida film producer duped investors with lies, SEC suit says
They say the movie business is about the art of creating illusion — making an audience believe what cannot possibly be real. A complaint filed Aug. 13 by the Securities and Exchange Commission accuses a Fort Lauderdale-based movie producer of duping investors by creating an illusion that they were helping to finance a busy studio with multiple films in production, a deep library of existing films with well-known stars and a large South Florida production facility.
› North Florida Land Trust cancels Sept. 16 Jazz'N to Save Little NaNa due to COVID concerns
North Florida Land Trust has canceled its upcoming fundraising event in historic American Beach due to concerns over the rising cases of COVID-19. The nonprofit land conservation organization had planned an event on Sept. 16 to provide an opportunity for people to learn about the ecological importance of American Beach and the Little NaNa Dune system and to raise money to pay back a loan obtained to save the dune system from development.