March 29, 2024

Wednesday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 9/7/2022

Lawmakers eye $175 million in local projects

Florida lawmakers Friday could approve disbursing $175 million across the state for more than 230 local projects and programs, including a few similar to spending proposals that Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed in June. The Joint Legislative Budget Commission, which is made up of House and Senate members, will consider a list of “Local Support Grant” proposals. Lawmakers submitted 971 requests for the grants this summer. More from the News Service of Florida.

What’s next for Artemis I moon mission after 2nd scrub?

Whatever went wrong with Artemis I happened on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, so that’s where NASA has decided to try to fix it. Mission managers said they would hold off rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building the massive 5.75 million-pound, 322-foot-tall combination of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion capsule and mobile launcher. More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Inmate numbers expected to steadily climb

As a legislative panel prepares Friday to consider a plan to activate Florida National Guard members to help at short-staffed prisons, a recent report by state analysts shows that the number of inmates is expected to steadily climb in the coming years. The number of inmates plunged early in the COVID-19 pandemic, in part because court closures caused a backlog of cases. The state ended the 2020-2021 fiscal year with 80,495 inmates, down from 95,626 two years earlier, according to a report issued last month by the state Criminal Justice Estimating Conference. More from the News Service of Florida.

One night, one concert: Fort Lauderdale forked over $432,000 in taxpayer dollars

Fort Lauderdale billed its Summer Jamz end-of-summer concert as a free event at Mills Pond Park. But it wasn’t free at all — at least not to the taxpayer. This year’s Aug. 19 event cost an eye-popping $432,000, not including the required cost of police and fire-rescue crews. That’s nearly 10 times what it cost when Fort Lauderdale first started hosting the event five years ago. The astronomical expense was news to most of the commission and only came to light after Commissioner Steve Glassman started asking questions. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

UF Health flight, ground paramedics vote to unionize amid compensation concerns

An essential unit part of UF Health Shands has recently decided to unionize amid concerns over working conditions, training and compensation. A team of flight and ground paramedics along with dispatchers known as ShandsCair recently voted unanimously to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a national union dating back to the civil rights movement. More from the Gainesville Sun.

Natural Resources
Cute and cuddly? Nah. But a rare plant, clasping warea, is focus of exhausting rescue attempt

Manatees, panthers, tortoises and jays are creatures that people dedicate passion and careers to protecting. But a plant that maybe 99 percent of Floridians have never heard of – who would break a sweat over its fate? Here’s the tale of clasping warea, a flowering annual found in a handful of spots in a corner of Central Florida, teetering on extinction and the focus of a rescue effort by scientists, volunteers and even Duke Energy.

» More from the Orlando Sentinel.

 

Sports Business
Tennis sees resurgence during the pandemic

The USTA National Campus in Lake Nona hosts about 9,000 people a week and more than 150 events a year. The facility has also embraced other racquet sports that are growing in popularity. Last year, the USTA campus added four pickleball courts and offers clinics and camps for the sport, which combines aspects of badminton, tennis and table tennis and uses a wiffle-like ball. Nearby are four padel courts. The fast-paced sport of padel — popular in Latin America and Spain and starting to take off in the U.S. — borrows from tennis, racquetball and squash and is played in an enclosed court with glass walls.

» Read more from Florida Trend.

Tags: Daily Pulse, Afternoon Pulse

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Facial recognition cameras in Florida city spark privacy concerns
Facial recognition cameras in Florida city spark privacy concerns

New security cameras in downtown Lakeland are raising concerns about privacy. The Lakeland Downtown Development Authority has begun installing 13 new security cameras on streets, sidewalks, and alleyways, and there are mixed feelings about them.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

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