Florida’s unemployment claims hit another pandemic low despite COVID-19 surge

Florida’s first-time unemployment claims dropped to another COVID-19-era low as 20,787 workers filed for jobless benefits during a holiday-shortened week ended Nov. 28. The number of filings fell by 6,144 claims from 26,931 the week before, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. Nationally, the figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 712,000, a decrease of 75,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 787,000. While lower, the state and national numbers remain well above pre-pandemic levels in 2019. More from the Orlando Sentinel and the Miami Herald.

Florida power shutoffs are up slightly from last year as pandemic continues

This fall, as power companies around the state began to announce that they would resume disconnections, several advocacy groups brought a legal challenge before the Florida Public Service Commission to try and halt the shutoffs. It would have worked similarly to the federal eviction moratorium. Lawmakers, too, called for an outright moratorium on power shutoffs during the pandemic. State regulators denied the requests, calling it “unnecessary.” [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Facing $2.7B budget shortfall, Florida lawmakers again will ponder ‘e-fairness’ legislation

Florida is one of seven states that does not require remote retailers to collect and remit sales tax from online purchases, placing an honor system on residents to pay the state’s 6 percent sales tax. Florida also is the nation’s only state that hasn’t changed online sales tax collection laws in the wake of the June 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, which allows states to compel out-of-state remote sellers to remit sales taxes. [Source: The Center Square]

Orlando ranked in top 5 of cities where expenses are rising

The cost of living is going up in Orlando, and that’s not just your bank account talking. ApartmentGuide.com released a survey this week ranking Orlando No. 5 in cities where it is getting more expensive to live. Costs went up this year in the City Beautiful, despite the COVID-19 pandemic pushing the area unemployment rate over 10%. What’s more, the Orlando metro area was the only city in the top 10 to have increased in every metric surveyed: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care and miscellaneous expenses. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Tony Robbins puts money behind Cape Canaveral space balloon business

A start-up business that wants to send people into space on board balloons from Kennedy Space Center has a famous investor in the form of motivational speaker Tony Robbins. The company called Space Perspective, which aims to carry up to eight passengers 100,000 feet above the Earth on tourism flights, received $7 million in investment from a group that includes Robbins, according to a press release. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› State still hailing electric bus applicants [News Service of Florida]
An effort to remove older diesel buses from Florida roads has gotten off to a slow start. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection this week extended its “Electric School Buses Funding Opportunity” application deadline by a month, to Jan. 18. The department has not received any applications, press secretary Weesam Khoury said Wednesday in an email.

› Air taxis and gondolas: Tampa Bay looks to the skies for next transit options [Tampa Bay Times]
Imagine flying in a small, pilot-free aircraft between Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, or riding in an aerial gondola — like at a ski resort — to get from Tropicana Field to the St. Pete Pier. They’re not concepts lifted from a comic book or sci-fi movie, but real-life proposals being considered by Tampa Bay transit officials. They fit into the latest vision for local transportation — innovative, creative and futuristic.

› The Miami-based CMX movie theater survived bankruptcy. But can it survive the movie crisis? [Miami Herald]
For a while last April, after the COVID pandemic forced all non-essential businesses to cease operations, it looked like Cinemex Holdings USA Inc. — the parent company of CMX Cinemas, owner of 41 movie theaters around the country, including seven in Miami-Dade — had screened its last picture show. But this is one story that gets a happy ending.

› Florida aerospace company explores an HQ move to Texas [Orlando Business Journal]
Firehawk Aerospace is in the market for a new headquarters and is looking to land somewhere in Texas, the Florida-based rocket manufacturer's CEO Will Edwards told the Dallas Business Journal Wednesday. Edwards says the Melbourne-based company is evaluating research and development sites that could accommodate a footprint of up to 45,000 square feet.

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› Kissimmee food truck park operator to add location as sales climb during Covid [Orlando Business Journal]
The owner of a Kissimmee food truck park that has seen an uptick in business during the pandemic wants to expand to a second location. World Food Trucks has roughly 51 operators in Kissimmee with 100 on a waiting list. World Food Trucks is billed as the largest, permanent food truck park in Florida.

› Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show takes stage at Sun ‘n Fun Expo [Orlando Sentinel]
Though thoughts of Santa usually conjure images of the jolly bearded man on a sleigh, he’ll soon be flying into Lakeland in a vintage Stearman aircraft. Holiday fun meets aviation during the first Holiday Flying Festival and Car Show at Lakeland’s Sun ‘n Fun Expo Dec. 4-5. Visitors can spend time with more than 150 cars, see dozens of airplanes and hot air balloons on the ground andsee F-16s and F-35s soaring overhead.

› Hillsborough unplugs MOSI property redevelopment, at least for now [Tampa Bay Times]
Hillsborough County has unplugged, at least for now, the planned redevelopment of the Museum of Science and Industry property along Fowler Avenue. Plans from private companies seeking to redevelop the 74-acre county-owned MOSI site had been due Dec. 11. But, county officials confirmed this week they cancelled the requests for proposals, known as RFP in government vernacular, citing the economic uncertainty from the coronavirus pandemic.

› Once the darling of Miami Beach, Delano has ‘lost its edge.’ A new owner plans changes [Miami Herald]
When Studio 54 impresario Ian Schrager reopened the Delano Hotel in 1995, the refashioned Art Deco gem was immediately dubbed the epitome of cool, revitalizing Miami Beach and launching a tsunami of “boutique” hotels that forever changed how Americans vacation. But the one-time nexus of hip has been shuttered since March amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it has a new owner.