March 28, 2024

Tuesday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 9/14/2021

'Hurricane tax' could boost Floridians' property insurance by $300 each a year

Ballooning reinsurance costs, “loss creep” from 2017-18 hurricanes, coastal flooding and excessive litigation costs are among converging “perfect storm” factors that are hiking Florida property insurance renewal rates by 30% to 40%. According to a 12-page analysis by the R Street Institute published last week, a provision of President Joe Biden’s proposed ‘Made in America Tax Plan’ (*MATP) being debated in Congress could add to that increasingly expensive pain for all 6.5 million Florida residential and commercial property owners. More from the Center Square.

Walmart adding robot-powered market fulfillment centers in Jacksonville

Walmart Inc. is rolling out its market fulfillment centers in Jacksonville. Walmart said in January a market fulfillment center is a compact, modular warehouse built within, or added to, a store for faster order pickup. The city is reviewing civil engineering plans for the centers to be added to Walmart Supercenters at 13490 Beach Blvd. and 6767 103rd St. More from the Jacksonville Daily Record.

Silicon Valley’s biggest bank is landing in Miami to serve the growing tech sector

Silicon Valley Bank, the largest bank serving the U.S. tech sector, is opening an office in Miami. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based bank, with more than $60 billion in deposits, announced Tuesday it will initially station a “handful” of workers in a Brickell office as it looks to grow in South Florida. More from the Miami Herald .

Hawkers Asian Street Food’s staffing woes were a mess. Raising wages fixed it.

Orlando-based Hawkers upped its non-tipped minimum wage to $15 an hour and $8 an hour for tipped employees in June. Hawkers also gave raises to workers already making more than those amounts to account for tenure and experience, leading to 72% of its staff receiving a pay increase. Just months later, the chain is no longer facing the employment crisis bedeviling much of the restaurant industry. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Hillsborough offers $500, extra days off to vaccinated county workers

Hillsborough County will sweeten the carrot it’s using to entice county government employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. In a Monday email to county workers, County administrator Bonnie Wise said employees would receive $500 and two extra days off if they submit documentation of receiving the coronavirus inoculation. Previously, the county offered a $50 wellness reward and one floating holiday as incentive. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Energy Trends
OUC experiments with ways of generating and storing electricity from renewable sources

 Last fall, OUC, Orlando’s public power utility, announced plans to convert its two coal plants to natural gas by 2027. The move is part of the utility’s commitment to slashing its CO2 emissions by 50% within the next nine years and 75% by 2040 — with the aim of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. To get there, the utility is expanding its research and development efforts to ensure it can eventually meet the bulk of its customers’ energy needs via a combination of solar energy and storage technology to provide adequate backup during the cloudy days.

» More from Florida Trend.

 

Business Profile
This Overtown soul food pop-up was a pandemic hit. Now it’s opening a permanent spot

floridaThe Overtown soul food pop-up Rosie’s grew out of a broken dream. Jamila Ross and Akino West, partners in life and business, had to close their boutique Copper Door Bed & Breakfast during much of the pandemic. The silver lining was their impromptu restaurant, Rosie’s, where they cooked out of the hotel kitchen and served in a makeshift patio outdoors for the past year. With buttery vanilla-nutmeg waffles, crispy fried chicken, flaky biscuits, pastrami hash, and cheddar grits with tomato coulis, Rosie’s was an instant hit.

» Read more from the Miami Herald.

Tags: Daily Pulse, Afternoon Pulse

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Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

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