Friday's Afternoon Update
With Canadian snowbirds not coming to Florida because of COVID-19, businesses suffering
With the border from Canada to the United States closed, snowbirds are staying up North and so is their money. Experts said the financial impact from snowbirds is hard to calculate on a local level, but statewide, the figures do show that Canadians bring about bring about $6.5 billion annually to Florida’s economy. This year, because of their absence, the loss is already being felt by local businesses who are painstakingly waiting until the border reopens. More from WPLG.
Weather system expected to move into Gulf of Mexico, potentially strengthen
Forecasters are watching a patch of weather near Grand Cayman Island that is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico over the next several days and could strengthen into a tropical cyclone. Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center said Friday morning that the system has become “much better organized” as it moves northwest toward Cuba. The system is expected to move slowly over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by early next week. More from the Tampa Bay Times.
Jacksonville-based Florida Capital Bank: On track for growth
Florida Capital Bank, one of only two banks along with TIAA headquartered in Jacksonville, started 2020 coming off its best year since opening in 2004. Despite the pandemic, President and COO Mark Johnson said this year is on track to be better, attributing growth to several lines of business: mortgage lending, warehouse lending and commercial real estate loans. More from the Jakcsonville Daily Record.
Orlando airport travel rebounding gradually
Orlando International Airport leaders are celebrating some of the busiest days for travelers since the plunge in activity this spring because of the pandemic. Airport director Phil Brown said the activity levels indicate the beginning of a multiyear recovery and “reflects a pent-up demand for travel” that he hopes will carry through to the holidays. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
To fight gentrification, a working-class Miami enclave wins plan to spur development
Residents and property owners who banded together in the newly rechristened working-class neighborhood of Wynwood Norte have won Miami commissioners’ enthusiastic approval for an innovative plan that would tame looming gentrification by spurring development. The Wynwood Norte Neighborhood Revitalization District, a special zoning plan approved on first reading by a 5-0 vote on Thursday, arose from a grassroots effort to reverse the historic residential enclave’s declining fortunes. More from the Miami Herald.
Florida History
Jacksonville icon reflects on recording Lynyrd Skynyrd's first songs, including 'Free Bird'
Tom Markham, 83, still has the record he helped make, and he still has the tapes on which the six Skynyrd songs were recorded, all carefully stored in an air-conditioned space in his house in Mandarin. He and his friend, the late Jim Sutton, formed Shade Tree Records in the late 1960s with high hopes. “Let’s make some money," Markham proposed. "Maybe we could make millions."
» More from the Florida Times-Union.
Florida Dining
Cugino's Sausage Co.
Christopher Condon has an appetite for good food and a passion to share it with family, friends and strangers alike. An avid home cook, the former banker inherited his grandfather's authentic, old-world recipe for Italian sausage — the mainstay of many a meal at his close-knit family's table. A taste of his family tradition can be found in each one-pound package of Cugino's Sausage Co.'s mild, medium or hot Italian sausage.
» Read more from the Florida Times-Union.