Florida retailers hope consumers will take advantage of storm season tax holiday
Retailers hope Floridians will heed multiple forecasts that the upcoming hurricane season will be more active than normal. With the start of a 14-day sales tax “holiday” on storm-related items a little more than a week away, Florida Retail Federation President Scott Shalley said Wednesday it is important that residents are ready as “we’ve already seen some pretty severe weather in the state.” [Source: News Service of Florida]
Florida lottery winners say unemployment glitch is preventing payout
Hundreds of Florida lottery winners say the Sunshine State is illegally withholding their winnings due to a system error that makes it appear they were overpaid in unemployment benefits. While the incidents are being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, residents claim they weren’t overpaid. Many of these lottery winners, who applied for unemployment assistance during the coronavirus pandemic, claim they never received notice from the state that they were overpaid. [Source: News Nation]
Report indicates Florida tort reform reduced 'nuclear verdicts'
A new report shows that the number of "nuclear" verdicts in the Sunshine State has steadily declined since tort reforms were signed into law in 2023. Marathon Strategies released its 2024 report on corporate verdicts throughout the U.S., and data shows a 30% rise in juries awarding enormous sums of money in legal cases brought against big corporations. However, Florida is bucking this trend. [Source: The Center Square]
NASA indefinitely postpones launch of Boeing’s Starliner crewed capsule
The highly-anticipated first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner was delayed indefinitely Tuesday night and will not take off as planned Saturday. A new launch target was not announced. The delay comes as a result of a helium leak from the capsule's propulsion system. A series of technical issues has waylaid the launch of the CST-100 Starliner, which was initially fueled up and ready for liftoff May 6 before the mission was scrubbed. More from USA Today and the Orlando Sentinel.
Models said we'd see fewer but stronger hurricanes. Were they wrong?
Climmate change was expected to cause slightly fewer but stronger hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones, according to scientific models. That might yet hold true globally. But recent science shows more La Nina-like conditions — maybe also driven by climate change — than most climate models would have predicted. And while the trend toward more La Ninas could mean fewer typhoons in the Pacific Ocean, it also stands to fuel more hurricanes in the Atlantic. [Source: Florida Today]
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› New abandoned building law enacted in Miami
An amended abandoned building ordinance that includes higher registration fees for empty buildings taller than three stories is now officially law in the city of Miami. The new code was unanimously approved by the Miami City Commission on second reading on May 9. It was officially enacted into law on May 20.
› Orlando Museum of Art gets a gift with strings and tries to cut them
Any day that a museum is handed a seven-figure gift is a very good day. But for the Orlando Museum of Art, which recently received a $1.8 million bequest from the estate of Margaret Young, that gift couldn’t have come at a better time. Last December, the museum’s executive director, Cathryn Mattson, had warned trustees and influential donors of “a severe financial crisis” with a projected deficit of nearly $1 million in the museum’s $4 million budget by the end of June 2024.
› Feeding Tampa Bay's new Causeway Center is first of its kind for Tampa Bay
Feeding Tampa Bay’s new home at Causeway Center is the Tampa Bay region’s first community hub of its kind, offering 215,000 square feet of space to meet the immediate and long-term needs of our neighbors. The new home will allow us the ability to fully address the demand for food assistance throughout a 10-county region and the capacity to offer expanded services.
› Space Force training HQ gets official nod to come to Space Coast
The decision has been a year in the making, but the Space Coast will officially become the home of STARCOM, the training headquarters for Space Force. Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, both former Air Force facilities, were named in May 2023 the presumptive home for STARCOM, which stands for Space Training and Readiness Command. It’s one of three Space Force field command units, similar to an Air Force air command.
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› Tampa’s big building boom pushes west with Rome Yards groundbreaking
Tampa’s old city truck yard sits near the west of banks of the Hillsborough River, a sprawling expanse of concrete and weeds surrounded by a barbed wire-topped fence, the downtown skyline visible in the distance. Soon, the old Rome Yard — recently rebranded Rome Yards, plural, because its transformation will take place in phases — is expected to be part of Tampa’s downtown-centered building boom, only this time spreading to West Tampa.
› Miami Downtown Development Authority adds to expansion incentives
Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is offering $1.1 million in incentives for businesses to expand operations in the area, stimulate the economy and attract high-quality jobs for local talent. The grant program expands previous incentives and includes funding for ground floor retail, start-up operations and mid-size businesses seeking to move or grow in downtown’s Central Business District, the Arts & Entertainment District or Brickell.
› Apalachicola Riverkeeper asks DEP to delay oil drilling permit as it weighs legal challenge
The Apalachicola Riverkeeper has asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to delay permitting an exploratory oil well in the sensitive Apalachicola River basin as it weighs a possible legal challenge. Attorneys for the Riverkeeper filed a request on May 16 asking for a 45-day extension of time, which is allowable under administrative rules. The lawyers, Timothy Perry and John Lavia III of Tallahassee, said the organization needs more time to decide whether to challenge the permit.
› UF study: Reclaimed water 'major' source of toxic 'forever' chemicals in Brevard soils
Sprinkling our lawns with treated sewage, or reclaimed water, is a "major source" of cancer-causing forever chemicals in Brevard County soils, a new study suggests. University of Florida's latest findings of so-called PFAS compounds in Space Coast soils strikes yet another alarm bell to those watering their backyard gardens with reclaimed water, implying they ought think twice before eating what they grow.