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Monday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
2021 hurricane season near record-pace, experts say more to come
The 2021 season was expected to be above-average and has lived up to that expectation. While not surpassing the record years of 2005 and 2020, the 2021 season has already generated 20 named storms, and could very well generate more before the Nov. 30 end of season. The average year observed between 1991 and 2020 is 10.9 named storms, according to CSU measurements. Also of note, the average season has 5.1 hurricanes and 2.3 major storms. The 2021 season has produced seven hurricanes and four major storms, thus far. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
DeSantis awaits appeal on social media censorship law as legal experts call it ‘doomed’
As Florida waits for a federal appeals court decision to see whether it will be allowed to enforce a new law that prevents social media companies from shutting down accounts of political candidates, some legal experts predict the law is “doomed” because it is flatly unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta is considering whether to overturn a preliminary injunction a federal trial judge in Tallahassee approved in June that temporarily banned Florida from enforcing the new law. The appeal ruling could come at any time. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Florida restaurant hauls in $170M with IPO debut
Breakfast-brunch-lunch chain First Watch debuted as a public company Oct. 1, selling shares at $18 each and raising $170 million. Wall Street responded well to the IPO, pushing shares up nearly 22% by afternoon trading, and hit a day-high of $23.43 a share before closing at $22.13, up $4.13. The stock trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol FWRG, for First Watch Restaurant Group. More from the Business Observer.
Plants, scrunchies, tie-dye and more: Kids launch businesses at youth fair
Nora McFarland, the executive director of the Brevard Children's Business Fair, said she came up with the idea for the fair when her children asked to start a lemonade stand several years ago. As she's watched the events grow, with the first fair in 2018 drawing a group of about 25 participants, to Saturday's drawing about 80, McFarland said she's seen kids excel and exceed their parents' expectations. More from Florida Today.
Florida Forever conserves ecosystems as money dwindles
Florida Forever, touted as “the largest land acquisition program of its kind in the United States” by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, aims to find willing sellers of undeveloped land to conserve in perpetuity. That work continues. To date, the program has purchased about 850,000 acres of land with approximately $3.2 billion. FDEP collects money from real estate transactions, called document stamps, to fund its acquisitions. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Business Profile
Good Greek Moving & Storage
Spero Georgedakis, founder and CEO of Good Greek Moving & Storage, is nothing if not courageous — a great quality for an entrepreneur. After graduating from Buffalo State University, he went into law enforcement, becoming a police officer in Miami. He even served on the SWAT team and, after six years on the force, intended to make the leap to fighting crime at the federal level with either the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Instead, Georgedakis pivoted to entrepreneurship.
» More from the Business Observer.
Out of the Box
Want to see the world’s largest croqueta? Watch as Miami restaurant tries to make history
Croquetas are as 305 as the beach and Pitbull. So it only makes sense that the world record for largest croqueta would be unofficially broken in Miami. Sergio’s Cuban restaurant answered the call in creating the world’s largest croqueta on Friday, which both Miami-Dade and Broward County recognize as Croqueta Day.
» Read more from the Miami Herald.
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