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Monday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Francis Suarez’s wealth boomed while he promoted Miami as tech capital
In his first term as mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez increased his personal net worth five-fold as he used his public office to court technology and real estate companies eyeing business opportunities in the Magic City. Financial disclosures filed annually with the city and state show Suarez’s net worth increased from $245,015 to $1,338,551 between mid-2017 and the end of 2021. But the records do not provide an income breakdown, obscuring important details that could provide insight into the mayor’s expanding wealth.
› Tampa has never hit 100 degrees. The heat index has. Here’s why that matters.
Despite its hot and steamy reputation, the city of Tampa has never cracked 100 degrees. The reason Tampa has never hit 100 is its close proximity to water. Cooler breezes from the Gulf of Mexico tend to roll in during the afternoons, regulating temperatures. The process works the same in most coastal areas, said Austen Flannery, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office.
› JEA board agrees to $400.8 million, 20-year solar power deal with FMPA
JEA will enter into a $400.8 million, 20-year agreement to buy solar power from the Florida Municipal Power Agency and receive it via Florida Power & Light Co. transmission lines. The JEA board voted 6-0 on June 27 to approve the two-part deal. The first part is a $306.4 million power purchase agreement with the nonprofit electric agency that will provide JEA with 340,000 megawatts hours per year of solar power, which the board expects will be integrated into its power portfolio by December 2026.
› Annual Florida scrub-jay watch rallies volunteers in Central Florida
Wandering the sandy scrub habitat of Deltona’s Lyonia Preserve, traversing rolling dunes filled with short oaks and prickly pear cactus, Stephen Kintner greets resident Florida scrub-jays as if old friends. While not a single jay showed its face one recent morning (attributed perhaps to the hot Florida summer sun or nearby predators), the longtime volunteer and former Volusia County environmental management director knows the preserve’s population well.
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