Down to the wire: Florida poll shows Nelson-Scott and DeSantis-Gillum races too close to call

A poll of Florida likely voters released Tuesday — one week before Election Day — shows the critical races for Florida governor and U.S. Senate are too close to call. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson have slight leads over their Republican opponents — but they’re so close that the races effectively are tied. See the full release from Suffolk University/USA Today and the official poll results here, and read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

See also:
» Hurricane Maria victims are not going to decide Florida’s statewide elections
» Democrats up in hard-fought Florida; Republicans close gap in Arizona

Impending crisis looms for South Florida farmers

South Florida specialty crop farmers produce a sizeable amount of the country’s fruits and vegetables including tomatoes, lychees, strawberries. dragonfruit, mangos, avocados and mamey, among other specialty products. Many of them have been in business for decades, keeping family legacies alive in a part of Florida that provides most of the country’s winter produce. [Source: Miami's Community Newspapers]

The fight over Miami Beach’s minimum wage law continues before Florida Supreme Court

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office and major business groups urged the Florida Supreme Court this week to prevent the city of Miami Beach from moving forward with a local minimum wage. The legal battle stems, in part, from a 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment that gave Florida a higher minimum wage than the federal rate. [Source: Miami Herald]

Florida invests $3.5M to finish Everglades highway project

Gov. Rick Scott has directed $3.5 million in state transportation funds to finish raising a highway across the Everglades. Scott also directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to request $40 million more in state money to complete the project. [Source: AP]

Slot machine dispute heads to Florida Supreme Court

The 1st District Court of Appeal in August upheld a circuit judge’s ruling that the so-called “pre-reveal” games are illegal slot machines. But Blue Sky Games, which developed the games, and Jacksonville-based Gator Coin, which leased the games to businesses, have filed notices that are a first step in asking the Supreme Court to take up the issue. [Source: WJXT]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida’s tallest building could begin construction next spring [Building Design and Construction]
SkyRise Miami, a 1,000-ft tall entertainment and observation tower, is set to begin construction in the first quarter of next year, according to Plaza Construction, which recently was chosen to build the structure by its developer Berkowitz Development Group.

› CordaRoy’s expands manufacturing space to Alachua County [Gainesville Sun]
Gainesville’s bed-in-a-beanbag company CordaRoy’s has grown exponentially since appearing on ABC’s “Shark Tank” about six years ago. Owner Byron Young pitched his business to entrepreneurs and made a deal with multimillionaire Lori Greiner, who told him she’d make him a millionaire. See Florida Trend's 2013 profile of CordaRoy's.

› Fort Myers-based NeoGenomics Inc. reports "outstanding" third quarter [Naples Daily News]
Fort Myers-based clinical laboratory NeoGenomics Inc. swung to a profit in the third quarter. The company's chairman and CEO Douglas VanOort described the quarter as "outstanding" in a news release.

› AutoNation invests in online used-car retailer Vroom [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation said Tuesday it has invested $50 million in New York-based Vroom, which gives it an ownership stake of 7 percent and further extends AutoNation’s focus on pre-owned vehicles.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› Second Harvest Food Bank to sell new product line — including soup, honey — for charity [Orlando Sentinel]
Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando is rolling out its own signature product line — including a chef-created tomato-basil Soup For Good, organic Honey For Good and shortbread Cookies for Good — with all proceeds going back to charity.

› Florida Gas Prices Expected to Drop In Coming Weeks [WFSU]
AAA says the average price for a regular unleaded gallon right now in Florida is $2.71. That's five cents cheaper than last week’s price and eleven cents less than the price last month. But it still costs thirty-one cents more than a gallon did this time last year.

› ‘Zombie’ homes fading away in the Tampa Bay area [Tampa Bay Times]
As of the end of September, the area had just 410 zombies, or vacant homes in some stage of foreclosure, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. That was 6.7 percent of all homes in foreclosure, down from 7.3 percent at the same time last year but still far higher than the current national rate of 1.52 percent.

› New area code to land in Central Florida next summer [Orlando Sentinel]
A new area code is heading to Central Florida next summer. The Florida Public Service Commission announced on its website Tuesday morning that it would start to roll out phone numbers with a 689 area code on June 4 in areas now served by 321 and 407.