Florida will start paying $300 ‘lost wages’ unemployment benefits this week

Floridians eligible for the additional $300 weekly benefits under the federal “lost wages” program should expect their money to arrive this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday. Anyone who’s currently eligible will automatically receive their three weeks of benefits, at $300 each, according to a DeSantis administration news release. Floridians do not need to reapply for the benefits. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Ed Chiles is a Florida Icon

The son of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles talks about his childhood and what he considers important issues in Florida. His thoughts on community: “The most important thread in the fabric of a community, a village, a small city, to me is the small business district. If you don't have a place to go get a frock or a newspaper or a cup of coffee or a sandwich or a gift and convene with people, then you’re a subdivision.” [Source: Florida Trend]

In swing states like Florida, mail ballot rejection rates could triple

Thousands of absentee ballots get rejected in every presidential election. This year, that problem could be much worse and potentially pivotal in hotly contested battleground states. With the coronavirus creating a surge in mail-in balloting and postal delays reported across the country, the number of rejected ballots in November is projected to be significantly higher than previous elections. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Florida reports fewest new COVID-19 cases in nearly three months

Florida’s coronavirus report for Tuesday showed promising trends continue even as the state officially surpassed 650,000 cases of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. The state Department of Health reported 1,823 new infections of the infectious disease, which is the second straight day with fewer than 2,000 new cases based on people testing positive for the first time. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

SeaWorld, Hard Rock plan layoffs at Florida properties

Large-scale layoffs are coming to two Florida brands that specialize in tourism and entertainment: SeaWorld and Hard Rock. The Seminole Tribe of Florida has notified the state of a mass layoff at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, where up to 1,527 workers could be affected. Many had been let go early in the coronavirus pandemic; some had been brought back to work in June. Meanwhile, in Orlando, SeaWorld Entertainment last week filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission saying it had reached a “plan of termination” for an unnamed number of furloughed employees. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› DeSantis pushes back on challenge to Supreme Court nominee [News Service of Florida]
Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis are trying to scuttle a lawmaker’s renewed challenge to DeSantis’ appointment of Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis to the Florida Supreme Court. The DeSantis administration late Friday filed arguments that said Rep. Geraldine Thompson’s “efforts amount to no more than an impermissible attempt at a second bite of the apple.”

› Mental health startup ready for untapped market [Business Observer]
Armed with a cutting-edge mental health treatment, Tampa-based NeuroSpa TMS believes it’s set to capitalize on a wave of demand about to crest. Getting the word out is a principal challenge.

› Firehouse opens ‘restaurant of the future’ in Palatka [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Jacksonville-based Firehouse Subs opened its first restaurant – designed as a modified “restaurant of the future” prototype – in Palatka in Putnam County. Vice President Meg Rose said the company searched for more than five years “for the right location to place a Firehouse Subs in Palatka.”

› Lakewood Ranch posts record home sales for August [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Lakewood Ranch said it posted a record-setting 189 sales in August, up from 115 one year earlier. The 33,000-acre community, which spans the border of Manatee and Sarasota counties, has now secured 1,197 new home sales through the first eight months of 2020, topping last year’s pace by 8%.

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› Challenge to amendment that restructures Florida primaries is tossed out [News Service of Florida]
A state appeals court has cleared the way for a cost estimate to be placed on the November ballot about a controversial constitutional amendment that would revamp Florida’s primary-election system. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal on Friday tossed out a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling that ordered a state panel to revise an estimate of the cost of carrying out the amendment.

› Gator's Dockside Baymeadows, family-friendly Jacksonville sports bar, closes after 25 years [Florida Times-Union]
A quarter-century of serving up savory grilled chicken wings, hand-battered fried gator tail and signature pickle chips came to an end when Gator's Dockside Baymeadows abruptly closed this week. The family-friendly sports bar and grill at 8650 Baymeadows Road in Jacksonville closed permanently on Tuesday.

› Royal Caribbean’s next entry for world’s largest cruise ship gets first taste of water [Orlando Sentinel]
Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas moved from drydock to the water over the weekend as construction progresses on the next sister ship of the largest cruise ships in the world. While COVID-19 has delayed the fifth Oasis-class vessel until 2022, the ship that will be incrementally larger in terms of gross tons than its four previous sister ships was floated out and moved to a new dock at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France on Saturday.

› Veterans seek to open Charlie Foxtrot Brewing as first brewery in North Port [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Nicolas York and Timothy Price first met in 2012 while deployed to Afghanistan. York, an infantryman, and Price, a medic, developed a friendship that lasted beyond that to become the foundation of Charlie Foxtrot Brewing – a fledgling business that may just become the first brewery to open in North Port.