As hurricane season begins, thousands of insured damage claims are still open in Florida
As hurricane season begins, the damages from past storms have not fully been resolved as Florida has over 54,000 previous insured damage claims still open. That's about 7.24% of total claims from the last three major hurricanes to hit the state, according to data from Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. More from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Atlantic disturbance headed to Florida could develop by end of week
While Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in Mexico Thursday morning, forecasters also increased their confidence that a disturbance in the Atlantic could form as it heads to Florida. The National Hurricane Center now gives the system a 40% chance of becoming a tropical depression over the next two days. The patch of disturbed weather is moving at 10 to 15 mph and is expected to reach the northeastern coast of Florida or the Georgia coast early Friday. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Passport office coming to Central Florida. Will be the second one in the state
Orlando is one of six cities nationally that will get a new passport office, government officials announced this week. The Orlando office will be the second one in the state of Florida. The first, and currently only one, is in Miami. The addition is an effort to meet the growing demand of Americans seeking passports, which are needed to travel internationally. More from Florida Today.
Hertz starts $750 million debt sale to bolster balance sheet
Hertz Global Holdings said on Thursday it intends to raise $750 million through a two-part secured notes offering, as the company looks to shore up its balance sheet after a failed bet on electric vehicles. The car rental firm expects to use the proceeds from the offering to pay down a portion of its $2 billion revolving credit facility and to improve its liquidity. More from Reuters and Bloomberg.
Disney employees sue over canceled relocation to Lake Nona campus
Walt Disney Co. continues to face fallout from its scuttled plans to move 2,000 California employees to a proposed Florida campus — a controversial decision the company reversed last year following the return of Chief Executive Bob Iger. Now some Disney employees are suing the company over the canceled relocation. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Innovation
Sun-powered sleeping bag? Eco-friendly fishing weights? Brevard teens invent way to DC contest
Two teams of young innovators from Brevard recently headed to the nation's capital with inventions meant to make the Space Coast — and the world — a better place. The teens, from Bayside and Viera high schools, came home from the national Junior Achievement competition with renewed energy and big aspirations — and for one team, third-place honors.
» More from Florida Today.
Profile
Jacksonville attorney delivering ambulances to war-torn Ukraine
Jacksonville attorney Phillip Buhle is a member of an international group of volunteers that in the past week delivered more than 40 ambulances to Ukraine. Buhler specializes in admiralty law. In 2017 he began practicing part-time at Moseley Prichard. He teaches admiralety law at a university in Germany about three months a year and is pursuing a Ph.D. in polar shipping law at a university in Canada when he isn’t delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.
» Read more from the Jacksonville Daily Record.