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Tuesday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Can Florida’s newly appointed insurance commissioner bring down rates?
The state’s property insurance crisis is costing many Floridians thousands of dollars a year in increased premiums. Florida has a new insurance commissioner, but can he do anything to help? Florida’s insurance commissioner is responsible for approving or denying rate hikes. The position is considered to be one of the hardest jobs in the state. It had been vacant since December. More from WFLA.
Trulieve adds $5.5 million to pot initiative
As it tries to get the measure on the 2024 ballot, the medical-cannabis company Trulieve contributed another $5.5 million to a ballot initiative aimed at legalizing recreational use of marijuana, according to a newly filed finance report. The $5.5 million contribution in January brought Trulieve’s total contributions to $25.5 million. The contributions have gone to the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which has received only $124.58 in other contributions. More from the News Service of Florida.
Orange County judge dismisses voter fraud case from DeSantis-touted arrests
An Orange County judge Monday dismissed a voter fraud case brought by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election crimes office, finding statewide prosecutors lacked the authority to charge the Orlando defendant. “If the legislature wants a centralized prosecutor with the power to pursue any perceived illegality throughout the state of Florida, the Florida legislature has the authority to create a centralized system,” Orange County Circuit Judge Jenifer Harris wrote in her ruling. “This court will not facilitate such a concentrated power without legislative authority.” More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Miami Spanish-language TV station to be sold for $64M — and there may be on-air changes
Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System, which describes itself as the country’s largest Hispanic-controlled publicly traded media company, has agreed to sell its Mega TV division to a new Texas group whose founders say their mission is to promote conservative politics and “family values.” The $64 million sale agreement, announced Monday by SBS, is the latest ownership change in a fast-changing Spanish-language media landscape in South Florida. The sale requires Federal Communications Commission approval. More from the Miami Herald.
Tampa Bay lost 12% of its seagrass in 2 years; some areas at historic low, study shows
Tampa Bay lost 12% of its seagrass in recent years, a survey shows, leaving the upper bay with an all-time low amount of the plant crucial to life in Florida’s largest open-water estuary. Seagrass in Tampa Bay declined by more than 4,100 acres between 2020 and 2022, according to mapping results unveiled Monday by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Now harboring 30,100 acres of seagrass, Tampa Bay is at its largest deficit since 2010 after nearly a decade of restoration progress peaked at 41,600 acres in 2016. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Arts Business
You can see a bunch of Rodin sculptures in St. Petersburg right now
The sculptures make a big impression. Some are monumental and imposing, others intimate and sensual, but all of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures are brimming with emotion and movement. A major sampling of the renowned sculptor’s works are on display, as well as rarely-shown paintings by his impressionist contemporaries, in True Nature: Rodin and the Age of Impressionism at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg through March 26.
» More from the Tampa Bay Tiimes.
Profile
In the hot seat
Miami-Dade was the first community in the world to appoint a chief heat officer in 2021 when Harvard-educated environmental scientist Jane Gilbert accepted the role. Government health and environmental agencies say that the region’s rising temperatures — Last November was the hottest November on record in Miami-Dade — exact a toll on human health and economic productivity, including lost work days in outdoor industries such as agriculture and construction and put pressure on tourism. Gilbert’s job is to make the city more livable and workable.
» Read more from Florida Trend.
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