Hemp expected to be multibillion-dollar industry in Florida

Interest in growing hemp in the state is high following legislation legalizing the plant. Floridians will get a say in the future of the hemp industry through participation in a series of workshops scheduled in June. The agriculture commissioner and cannabis director will tour the state in late June, asking the public what they want Florida’s hemp industry to look like. Read more from WJXT and WFTS.

Florida homeowners are getting a break. One insurance company is cutting its rates.

Hurricanes gave South Florida a break last year, and State Farm Florida listened. The company is dropping rates for its 270,000 Florida customers by an average of 14.4 percent. It’s a rare bit of good news for Florida, where hurricanes frequently bring higher home insurance rates. For any homeowner with a mortgage, storm insurance is required by lenders. [Source: Miami Herald]

Report: Florida has more boats stolen than any other state

When your state is surrounded by water and has thousands of lakes, it attracts lots of boaters. Boat thieves, too, it turns out. A recently released report puts Florida as the state with the most watercraft thefts in the U.S. by far. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

National study ranks Orlando near the top for video game development

Orlando’s video game development community received some recognition this week, when a study by WalletHub ranked the city as the fourth-best city for gamers. The study ranked 100 cities using 23 metrics - among them the number of video game schools, game-related meetups and average Internet speed - to create the list. While the city ranked No. 2 in gaming environment and No. 5 in gaming and development opportunities, it fell far short on Internet Quality. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Hurricane Michael debris hasn’t been cleared. Why that really matters now.

The damage left in its path may take a decade or more to address, state officials have estimated: about 500 million trees, or 72 million tons of forest debris across more than 2.8 million acres of land. And though debris pickup after hurricanes has often plagued local and state governments, Hurricane Michael’s path through the heavily forested northwest has put the problem of storm trash on a different scale.Read more from the Tampa Bay Times.

Building today's student housing - The average dorm is not the norm

Universities are growing in attendance at an unprecedented rate. The demand for additional student housing will continue to increase over the next decade. Adding to the challenge are not only space and time constraints, but requirements for the actual living space. Today’s student housing is very different from the communal, no frill dorms some of us remember in our college days. Advancing technology has transformed the way we live, work, play, and the way we build. [Sponsored report]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Jacksonville DIA board violated Sunshine Law, attorneys say [Florida Times-Union]
The Downtown Investment Authority board violated the state’s Sunshine Law when board members anonymously turned in evaluations that were used to select a new CEO, according to two lawyers who are experts in public meetings law. Secret ballots violate the Sunshine Law, said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Tallahassee.

› Blood testing lab with 40 Florida locations says patient info may have been hacked [Miami Herald]
BioReference, a blood testing lab firm with approximately 40 Florida locations, said in a government filing Thursday that some patients’ information may have been hacked in a third-party data breach. The company is a subsidiary of Miami-based OPKO Health.

› Cuban travel restrictions impact Southwest Florida businesses [Fort Myers News-Press]
Cuban native Gloria Jordan has been taking groups from the U.S. on trips to Cuba through her company, Gloria’s Culture Humanitarian Travel, for more than two years. Jordan, who was born and raised in Havana, is the owner of La Trattoria Café Napoli, a Fort Myers restaurant. Jordan said she had mixed feelings about the set of restrictions imposed on Tuesday by the Trump administration, immediately affecting all cruise ship and educational travel.

› Electronics giant Samsung invests in Orlando nanotechnology company [Orlando Sentinel]
A Lake Mary technology company has landed $3.5 million from a group of investors led by the technology giant Samsung. Florida based DeepWork Capital also contributed to the round for NanoPhotonica, which has been developing technology to improve displays on devices like flat-panel televisions and smartphones.

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› Four Sarasota-Manatee businesses are finalists for GrowFL ‘Watch’ list [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Four Southwest Florida businesses are among the 50 statewide chosen as finalists for the GrowFL 2019 “Florida Companies to Watch.” The companies are DMT LLC, EarthBalance, StrataPT LLC and WG Wood Products, according to GrowFL, an economic development group that promotes second-stage companies.

› Jaguars hosting job fair to fill 1,000 jobs at TIAA Bank Field [Florida Times-Union]
The Jacksonville Jaguars and its stadium partners, SMG Jacksonville, S.A.F.E. Management, Delaware North and City Wide, will host a job fair on Sunday, June 9 and Monday, June 10 in an effort to fill over 1,000 part-time stadium jobs. Open positions include security, ushers, parking attendants, cashiers, cooks, food service, prep staff, bartenders, bar back, servers, ticket takers, housekeeping and escalator operators for 2019 home games and other events held at the stadium.

› Disney Cruise Line announces fall 2020 deployment [Orlando Sentinel]
Disney Cruise Line has revealed where it’s sending its four ships in fall 2020, the final year before the line welcomes a new ship to its fleet. Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy will continue to call Port Canaveral home, continuing their service the Central Florida since their debuts in 2011 and 2012.

› Columbia Restaurant ownership group plans major improvements [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Now that the group behind the Columbia Restaurant in St. Armands Circle owns its building, the company will be able to upgrade the kitchen and improve the rear of the property, which has become a higher-traffic area since the Circle’s new parking garage opened in February.