The shutdown hit the Florida Keys hard. What will it take to get back to business?

Tourism is the lifeblood of the Florida Keys. It pumps up jobs and tax dollars. Supports fishing, hotels, restaurants. So with more than five million people who visit Monroe County in a normal year, the island chain typically has the lowest unemployment rate in the state. But with tourists banned from entering the Keys since late March because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Monroe County’s unemployment rate shot up to the second highest in Florida, a whopping 17.5 percent. More from the Miami Heraldand the AP.

Florida’s unemployment benefits system is improving, but some states are doing much better at paying claims

Gov. Ron DeSantis has touted the progress of the beleaguered unemployment system in paying out claims, but Florida still lags other states half its size in getting desperately needed money to the jobless. In the most recent data available, Florida had a recipiency rate — the amount of people receiving benefits compared with the total unemployed — of 7.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, the lowest among states. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

See also:
» Florida’s unemployed still haven’t been paid. And they don’t think it’s their fault.

Column: Local residents are now Florida tourism’s bread and butter

International arrivals to the U.S., which account for 15 million high-spending annual guests to Florida, is all but banned by government order. This is all especially bad news for Florida, where tourism is the No. 1 industry, generating nearly $90 billion in overall revenue and $12 billion in state and local tax revenue. So how do we begin the very long journey back? We flip our typical market segmentation upside down by working to attract locals first. [Source: Miami Herald]

‘Back in the game’: SpaceX ship blasts off with 2 astronauts

A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era in commercial space travel and putting the United States back in the business of launching astronauts into orbit from home soil for the first time in nearly a decade. [Source: AP]

Gov. DeSantis has the dream Supreme Court Republicans have always wanted

For all the accolades and credentials on the resumés of newly appointed Florida Supreme Court Justices John Couriel and Renatha Francis, perhaps the most consequential are their ages. Couriel and Francis are 42 years old. Gov. Ron DeSantis is turning the state’s high court over to Gen X. His previous appointees were all born in the same era. And in tapping lawyers with the prime of their legal careers ahead of them, DeSantis has all but guaranteed that a generation of legal precedent will be forged by justices put in place by Republicans. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Volusia looks to step up recruiting space firms [Lakeland Ledger]
This weekend’s planned launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center is being hailed an historic breakthrough. It is the first private space craft to carry humans into outer space. On Tuesday, the Volusia County Council could take a step that could help bring a bigger share of the growing commercial spaceflight industry here.

› Tech, employment groups team up to hold virtual job fair [Business Observer]
Tampa Bay Tech, a nonprofit that supports the region’s tech sector, plans to hold a virtual job fair in response to high unemployment in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The June 10 Career Expo is being held in conjunction with CareerSource Tampa Bay, CareerSource Pinellas and Recruiter Networking Group of Tampa Bay (RNG) and will be free of charge for job seekers and members of Tampa Bay Tech and RNG.

› Amid food shortages, South Florida restaurants raise prices, cut menu items [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Hoping to rebound from a two-month lockdown, South Florida restaurants – at half-capacity and barely surviving on sluggish takeout sales – are now grappling with food costs creeping higher. Now restaurants are wrestling with the choice to pass these increases to patrons, stop serving certain dishes altogether, or do nothing.

› Major League Soccer union counters league plan to resume play in Orlando [Tampa Bay Times]
Major League Soccer players have approved a plan to resume play in Orlando, asking the league to agree to significant changes to its initial proposal, according to The Athletic website. The MLS Players Association submitted the proposal to the league’s owners Friday after receiving enough votes from players, The Athletic reported. The league will now review the players’ proposal and decide whether to accept it or counter.

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› Florida says Busch Gardens can begin reopening June 10 [WTSP]
Get ready, roller coaster fans. Busch Gardens can officially reopen. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, part of SeaWorld Entertainment, presented and got approved for its reopening plans on Thursday by Hillsborough County. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor also approved the plans. The plans then went to the state for final approval, which was given Saturday.

› People’s Trust pays workers bonuses to cut corners on repairs, lawsuit claims [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
A property insurer that requires its customers to get their homes fixed by its own repair company is facing allegations that it pays bonuses to workers for cutting corners on those repairs. People’s Trust Insurance Co., based in Deerfield Beach, pioneered what’s called the managed repair insurance model in 2008 by forming its own contracting company, Rapid Response Team, which operates out of warehouses around the state.

› Sarasota officials say hurricane shelter space could be cut by one-third due to COVID-19 [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
If a hurricane approaches, Sarasota-Manatee residents who flee to disaster shelters could be met with medical screenings, and even “no vacancy” signs. That’s because more space is needed at shelters to accommodate the Centers for Disease Control’s new social-distancing guidelines. The hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts until Nov. 31. However, weather experts are calling for an above-average season and there have already been two named storms: Arthur and Bertha.

› Crashes are down more than 50 percent across Tampa Bay and Florida [Tampa Bay Times]
Like it has done with so many areas of our lives, COVID-19 changed everything. The respiratory infection, caused by the novel coronavirus, triggered social distancing under safer-at-home orders issued in March. Traffic fell dramatically. As traffic counts dropped, so did crashes, according to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.