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Wednesday's Afternoon Update

Surviving hurricanes, sea rise in Keys may mean $3 billion in home buyouts, elevations

A bird’s eye look at the Florida Keys is all it takes to understand that little stands between the chain of islands and the sea. A new federal study all but confirms that there are few big, structural options to keep the Keys safe from the stronger hurricanes and rising seas that climate change is expected to bring. The answer, it suggests, is a combination of elevation and retreat. More from the Miami Herald.

Weeki Wachee Springs — mermaids and all — lands on National Register of Historic Places

Decades ago, Weeki Wachee incorporated as a city to get on tourist maps and road signs. Now, as state lawmakers consider disbanding the city, the state park that bears the Weeki Wachee name and touts its mermaid attraction, has a new reason to be on the map. The Florida Department of State has placed the Weeki Wachee Springs onto the National Register of Historic Places. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida veterans warn lawmakers against capping THC in medical marijuana

Veterans are pushing back against a proposal backed by Florida House leaders that would limit the amount of THC in medical marijuana, an effort they say is not based on science and could be harmful to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. House Speaker José Oliva has called the proposed 10% cap on THC, the euphoria-inducing component in cannabis, a priority, but Senate leaders have remained skeptical about the need for such a limit. More from the Miami Herald and the Orlando Weekly.

Tight labor market forces Southwest Florida employers to seek out creative methods to recruit, retain

With unemployment continuing to hit lows in Southwest Florida, hiring professionals have been forced to get creative to recruit and retain workers. According to data from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, Lee and Collier counties’ unemployment rates both dropped to 2.5% in December. More from the Fort Myers News-Press.

Drugmaker reached a billion-dollar deal to settle with Florida, other states over opioids

The generic drugmaker Mallinckrodt has a tentative $1.6 billion deal with Florida and dozens of other states to settle lawsuits over its role in the U.S. opioid crisis, it announced Tuesday. The deal is intended to end hundreds of lawsuits faced by the company over opioids. More from WPTV and the Miami Herald.

Out of the Box
Miami agrees to trim Coconut Grove’s peacock population, but it’s not an easy job

 Quinton Glenn, a trapper in Miami-Dade, has captured a lot of peacocks in the past two years. The last bunch he took off a woman’s land in Coral Gables. “They need to take them off the protected list,” he said. “They’re not from the area, and they have no natural predators. There’s more of them than iguanas.” The city of Miami wants to remove some of the peafowl that run wild in Coconut Grove, especially in the Bay Heights neighborhood, where residents complain about the birds’ loud squawking, the poop they leave, the cars they scratch and the gardens they wreck.

» More from the Miami Herald.

 

Tech Trends
Camera-guided dogs

floridaThree University of West Florida undergraduate students and a research professor are developing technology designed to help handlers better communicate in the field with military dogs, search-and rescue dogs and law enforcement dogs. Their device features a small camera that can be mounted onto a dog sent into hazardous environments, such as missions to locate enemy bunkers, improvised explosive devices or people trapped in collapsed buildings.

» Read more from Florida Trend.