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Friday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Tri-Rail service to downtown Miami clears a barrier
Plans for Tri-Rail’s long-delayed arrival to serve downtown Miami have advanced with a three-way agreement for Tri-Rail’s team to start training and testing to get service rolling. The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which controls Tri-Rail, has “received a signed Tri-Party Agreement, with Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway and Brightline, that gives permission for SFRTA personnel to begin training and testing for the implementation of Tri-Rail services at Miami Central Station,” Frank Garcia, SFRTA information officer, said in a Monday news release.
› Local nonprofit is developing a building model to help stem Brevard homelessness
As the affordable housing crisis continues with no clear end in sight, one local nonprofit is proposing an approach that will hopefully address the issue or, at the very least, mitigate it. Community of Hope is developing a land trust model to help Brevard residents pay less to rent or buy a home. It does this by removing the cost of the land from the bill of sale, leaving only the expenses of building homes as the main hurdle for people needing an affordable place to live.
› Disney Cruise Line to buy unfinished ship that will become largest in fleet
One cruise line’s loss is Mickey Mouse’s gain. Disney Cruise Line has announced it will acquire the unfinished Global Dream cruise ship under construction in Germany. The 208,000-gross-ton ship was being built for Genting Hong Kong, which ran Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises as well as the Lloyd Werft and MV Werften shipyards. That holding group, though, filed for bankruptcy in January, and a court ordered the sale of its assets including the Global Dream.
› Venerable St. Pete advertising agency promotes chief strategy officer to president
St. Petersburg-based Paradise Advertising & Marketing Inc., celebrating 20 years in business this year, has promoted Chief Strategy Officer Rudy Webb to the role of president. According to a news release, Webb has been with the firm, which specializes in tourism and hospitality marketing, for 14 years, starting as an account manager. He was promoted to vice president of client services before becoming chief strategy officer.
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