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Wednesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Florida Trend Exclusive
Along with the price of natural gas, Floridian's electric bills are climbing sky-high
The price of natural gas — which generates roughly 75% of Florida’s electricity — more than doubled over the summer and is driving increases in electric bills at utilities around the state. Florida residents and businesses likely will get hit with higher electric bills in 2023 as utilities continue to struggle with increased costs of natural gas. And that might not be all: The utilities also could seek to pass along higher-than-expected fuel costs from this year, though they are holding off on making such requests. More from Florida Trend and the News Service of Florida.
Florida Trend Exclusive
Florida Icon: Rhonda Shear
"When I auditioned for Up All Night, there were so many women auditioning, and they all dressed like newscasters," says the actor, stand-up comic and entrepreneur of St. Petersburg, Florida. "I wore a dress cut really low, and I took out my blow dryer, turned it on during the audition and pretended like I was blow-drying my hair. I was creating a character. If I didn’t get the part, I didn’t get it, but I was tired of being told I was too sexy to be funny, so I just went for it, went for being overtly sexy. I did Up All Night for eight years, 450 shows." [Source: Florida Trend]
Craft brewing industry growth slows in Florida
While the number of craft breweries in Florida increased in 2021, the pace of growth slowed significantly as compared to the past decade. After averaging more than 40 new breweries per year over a five-year stretch, the state only added six breweries in 2021. Additionally, the volume of beer produced by craft breweries in Florida decreased, despite an increase in the number of breweries. [Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal]
Florida handing out opioid overdose prevention kits to the public after deaths spike
Friends don’t let friends overdose on opioids anymore. The state Department of Health is rolling out an initiative to provide overdose prevention kits to the public so families and friends can help save the lives of loved ones at risk of overdosing. The state agency is distributing naloxone kits to 16 county-level health departments as a starting point. [Source: Naples Daily News]
Florida’s property insurance crisis lingers as hurricane season nears peak
As the peak of hurricane season approaches, Florida is still dealing with a property insurance crisis. More than 400,000 Floridians have had their policies dropped in the last two years and the average premium has more than doubled. In 2019, Florida accounted for just 8.16% of all homeowners’ claims opened against insurance companies in the U.S. However, 75% of the nation’s lawsuits against carriers were filed by Floridians. [Source: Click Orlando]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Spending shortage affects Southwest Florida businesses as much as worker shortage
Big companies like Uline and Tesla are moving into Southwest Florida, but some worry the area can’t sustain that level of growth due to a shortage of spending as much as a shortage of labor. Prices have gone up everywhere. That, paired with inflation, has fewer people going out to eat at restaurants or to shop. Overall, Southwest Floridians are living more frugally than they perhaps used to, sometimes as a matter of necessity.
› Global youth baseball tournament coming to Sarasota-Manatee
Some of the best young baseball players in the world will compete this month in Sarasota-Bradenton for a baseball World Cup title. This week kicks off the World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup 2021 at two local spring training venues — Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium and Bradenton’s LECOM Park. The event brings together the top 12 under-18 baseball teams from all over the world to compete in 50 games for the WBSC Baseball World Cup.
› Voluntary turnover is on the rise. How Okaloosa's top employers are increasing retention
The COVID-19 pandemic uprooted the traditional workplace in way that is having a lasting impact on the job market as more people quit their jobs to find a better work-life balance. It has often been termed the "great resignation." According to an April report from Gartner, a technology research consulting firm, employee voluntary turnover in the U.S. was predicted to jump to 20% this year.
› Shaquille O’Neal’s Big Chicken restaurants are slam-dunking their way into South Florida
NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal is sending his Big Chicken franchise to South Florida, with a blitz of fast-casual restaurants set to open across the tricounty in 2022 and 2023. All told, the fried-chicken franchise founded by the basketball icon in 2018 inked a deal for 45 franchises in Florida, with Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach slated to open first. New storefront leases are “days away” from being signed with future outposts destined for Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers. No addresses have been announced yet.
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