SHARE:
Tuesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Floridians continue pulling plug on phone lines
Not that long ago, millions of Florida homes and businesses had landline phones. But a new state report details the continued disappearance of what was a staple of life and how demand and competition have “exploded” for wireless and internet-based technology that most Floridians now use to make calls. More from the News Service of Florida.
$3 million proposed for JEA utility bill assistance, nonprofit grants
Councilman Reggie Gaffney announced his intent on Monday to reallocate $3 million in previously reserved federal funding. Two-thirds of money would go toward helping Jacksonville homeowners and renters pay outstanding JEA utility bills. The last million would continue Gaffney’s previous goal of giving grant money to nonprofits with the potential to reduce the city’s crime rate. More from the Florida Times-Union.
The Denison family ends 70-plus years of ownership legacy with sale of Fort Lauderdale yachting business
For more than 70 years, one or another member of the Denison family has owned a market-leading marine business in Fort Lauderdale. Frank Denison, who arrived in the city in 1948, turned boat builder Broward Marine into the county’s largest employer for a time, put America back in the large yacht-building game and spawned so many other boat makers and marine businesses that Fort Lauderdale became a yachting capital. More from Florida Trend.
A little shoe repair shop somehow survived nearly a century in downtown Tampa
The shoe repair shop was there when the nearby Maas Brothers department store was open and bustling with shoppers, and when it was demolished in 2006. It was there when 40 students staged a historic sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter blocks away — a store where protesters said they were allowed to spend their money but could not sit down and order a Coke. Today, the shop is still fixing shoes. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Thursday has 2 Canaveral launches plus Central Floridian space tourist flight on tap
Thursday could be a banner day for rockets launching from the United States with both SpaceX and United Launch Alliance set for liftoffs from Cape Canaveral while another Central Floridian could make it to space from a Blue Origin launch from Texas. A ULA Atlas V rocket carrying the SBIRS GEO-6 missile defense satellite is up first with a planned liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 during a 40-minute window that opens at 6:29 a.m. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Business Profile
On-the-move parking entrepreneur revs up successful business strategy
Radostin Nikolov worked for several years as a valet in downtown Naples, where he saw firsthand the challenges of parking cars in the increasingly busy Fifth Avenue South area. The Bulgarian native talked to his boss about improvements and changes that could be made. But the boss wasn’t interested. So in 2013, Nikolov and friend and fellow valet Dimitar Bubarov went into business for themselves, launching Valet Pros. “We decided to start our own company and put our vision to work,” says Nikolov, 38.
» More from the Business Observer.
Out of the Box
Tropicana creates Tropical Crunch Cereal for orange juice – not milk
Bradenton-based juice maker Tropicana doesn’t want you to just drink your orange juice with breakfast. It also wants you to pour your orange juice over a bowl of its new Tropicana Crunch Cereal — flavored with honey and almond clusters. The new cereal — available online at TropicanaCrunch.com — sold out in one day, and Tropicana has not announced if the cereal will be reintroduced or if the effort was just a sales stunt for orange juice.
» Read more from Florida Trend.
In case you missed it:
