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Thursday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
Hurricane Nicole makes landfall at 3 a.m. near Vero Beach, weakens to tropical storm
Hurricane Nicole made landfall at 3 a.m. Thursday on North Hutchinson Island just south of Vero Beach but quickly weakened to a tropical storm with 70 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said. Despite the storm’s weakening, most of Florida is in for a day of rainy, windy weather. At 4 a.m., the storm’s center was about 60 miles southeast of Orlando, moving west-northwest at 14 mph. More from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Gainesville Sun.
Florida ranks No. 1 in new report for attracting and retaining skilled workers
Florida ranked No. 1 in the nation for maintaining its skilled talent pipeline, according to a new scorecard from labor analytics company Lightcast. In addition, Hillsborough County is the No. 1 large county in the state and No. 8 in the nation for attracting and retaining skilled workers, according to the same scorecard. Hillsborough’s nationwide ranking is up from No. 20 in 2019. Incentive and marketing programs are becoming increasingly popular post-pandemic as highly qualified workers retain leverage despite fears of a recession. [Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal]
Preliminary estimates put Hurricane Ian's economic impact to the ag industry between $786 million and $1.56 billion
Hurricane Ian made landfall along the coast of Southwest Florida on September 28 as a powerful Category 4 storm bringing high winds, heavy rains, and storm surge levels this part of the state hasn’t seen in more than 150 years. While it will still take time to know the full extent of economic damages caused by Ian, preliminary estimates range from around 65-billion to as much as 120-billion dollars. Ian will rank among the top 10 costliest storms in U.S. history — possibly as high as third behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Harvey in 2017. [Source: WGCU]
Republicans dominated Florida elections. What happened to Democrats?
Nationwide, Florida was an outlier. Despite predictions of dominant Republican performance across the board, Democrats in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan found success. Across the nation, Democrats put up tight margins — all of which makes Florida’s poor Democratic performance, and low turnout, more stark. More from the Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel.
Florida doctors use saliva test to reveal someone’s future risk for Alzheimer’s
Florida doctors are using a new test to determine someone’s future risk for Alzheimer’s disease from a few drops of spit. At a time when the disease’s prevalence is rising, the saliva test called genoSCORE analyzes more than 114,000 different genes to provide a score of 0 to 1 for your risk of getting Alzheimer’s. A score of .5, for example, means you have a 50% of developing Alzheimer’s at some point in your life. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
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ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› Curious about listing your place on Airbnb? New Airbnb Academy teaches Miami hosts
Winter is coming and that means Miami is about to be flooded with tourists. Before the international event that kicks it off — Art Basel — Airbnb is launching an Airbnb Entrepreneurship Academy to help Miami locals learn how to use the platform and earn some extra cash from the visitors who need a temporary place to stay.
› Tales from 100 years of spring baseball in St. Petersburg shared in new book
The first time Rick Vaughn saw Al Lang Stadium, stepping off the Orioles team bus for a 1985 spring training game against the Mets, he was in awe of the postcard setting on the shimmering downtown St. Petersburg waterfront. “It was like another world,” Vaughn said. “The ballpark was like nothing I’d ever seen before.” Vaughn ended up writing a richly detailed book: “100 Years of Baseball on St. Petersburg’s Waterfront — How the Game Helped Shape a City.”
› NASA pushes Artemis I launch attempt to Nov. 16
NASA officials opted to delay any attempt to launch the Artemis I mission to the moon from Kennedy Space Center until at least Nov. 16. The move allows for safe conditions for employees to return to work along with time to assess any damage to the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and mobile launcher at KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B, where it will be riding out the storm, NASA stated on an update to its website.
› Hard Rock casinos accused of pocketing millions by shortchanging gamblers at payout time
A New York man is suing the Hard Rock casino and resort chain over what he claims is a scheme to pocket millions of dollars in change unclaimed by thousands of gamblers each day. The proposed class action suit seeks more than $5 million on behalf of thousands of customers it says were shortchanged at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and other Hard Rock casinos in the United States. Hard Rock Cafe International is owned by the Seminole Tribe and headquartered on tribe-owned property in Davie that is also home to the company’s flagship South Florida resort and casino.
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