Housing, increased salaries among the incentives employers hope will help with worker shortage

Florida companies are having to get creative when it comes to addressing the ongoing worker shortage. That's meant offering some pretty impressive perks, including one that addresses a big need in the Southwest Florida community. It’s something that might really catch your eye if you're looking for a job right now. [Source: WFTX]

With 140,000 households at eviction risk, Florida sitting on $850M in federal aid

With the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s (CDC) nationwide eviction moratorium ending Sunday, Florida began the week with more than $850 million in Congressionally-approved pandemic assistance in state coffers about 140,000 households at risk of eviction. According to estimates, more than 540,000 of the Sunshine State’s 6.2 million homeowners were behind of mortgage payments, and up to 370,000 Floridians behind on rent in July. [Source: The Center Square]

Opinion: Florida's COVID-addled job market still has storms ahead. Are state leaders getting ready?

Like a tornado spun off from a hurricane, the response to COVID sideswiped Florida's labor market and has already sowed upheaval. Some sectors were torn apart, others survived but were changed forever. But while a tornado comes and goes in minutes, the state's job market isn't anywhere close to a "new normal." Things will keep changing long after COVID is under control (if that blessed day ever comes). [Source: Daytona Beach News Journal]

State, cruise line fight over site of 'passport' challenge

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and the state are battling about which court should hear a challenge to the state’s ban on so-called “vaccine passports,” with the cruise operator fighting an attempt to move the case out of South Florida. Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams is scheduled to hear arguments Friday in Norwegian’s request for a preliminary injunction against the vaccine-passport ban, which would prevent the cruise line from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. [Source: News Service of Florida]

Florida gas prices hold steady following expensive month at the pumps

Florida gas prices have seen little change during the past week following July which was the most expensive month at the pump in seven years. The state average of $2.97 per gallon is the same as last week. “July was the most expensive month at the pump since October 2014,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA – The Auto Club Group. “Florida gas prices remain elevated due to tightening global supplies, as demand recovers from the pandemic." [Source: CBS Miami]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Proposal calls for $25 million for Parkland victims, families [News Service of Florida]
Florida lawmakers next year are expected to consider a proposal that would clear the way for the Broward County School Board to pay $25 million in compensation in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people. Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, filed a bill (SB 84) on Monday that would authorize the school board to pay the money to the estates of students and faculty members who died in the shooting and to other victims of the attack.

› Social media videos help Venice couple thrive in athletic training and real estate [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
When Heydy and Jesse Muench first decided they wanted to move to Florida from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, they started checking online videos. They moved to Altamonte Springs, a suburb of Orlando back in 2018, and the Venice area in July 2020. “We were in a condo in Orlando,” Jesse Muench said. “We wanted to have a garage and a yard and all that too.” Jesse “Snake” Muench has spent the past 16 years teaching basketball skills in person and virtually through social media as Get Handles Basketball, where he has 678,000 subscribers.

› North Florida Land Trust buys part of Intracoastal island chain for conservation [Florida Times-Union]
A Jacksonville nonprofit has bought part of an Intracoastal Waterway island chain that a businessman promoted as luxury home sites to try to protect the undeveloped property’s ecology. The North Florida Land Trust took title to about 28 acres of the Small Islands chain north of Butler Boulevard after collecting $30,500 from a fundraising drive.

› Tampa’s new Publix GreenWise Market store opening this month [Tampa Bay Times]
Publix is almost ready to give Tampa another shot of GreenWise. A much-anticipated Publix GreenWise Market will open in downtown Tampa at 7 a.m. Aug. 19, according to the company. The 26,000-square-foot store is the anchor retail tenant at Heron, the first apartment tower to open at Water Street Tampa, the $3.5 billion downtown development from Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates’s Cascade Investment.

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› Tampa Bay excited at first Comic Convention since pandemic [Tampa Bay Times]
The comic-con, as it’s widely known, is always a joyful release for its most devoted geeks and nerds (self-professed). But that’s even more true this year, even as the coronavirus’ infectious delta variant is shadowing their summer of reunion, spiking cases across Florida among the still-large population of unvaccinated young people.

› TD Bank expansion includes stand-alone Southbank branch [Jacksonville Daily Record ]
TD Bank is renovating two branches, including the former Synovus Bank office on Jacksonville's Southbank. The city is reviewing a permit application for TD Bank to renovate the 1,746-square-foot former Synovus branch building, with drive-thru lanes, at 1326 Prudential Drive at an estimated $400,000. TD Bank closed its branch in the nearby former Stein Mart building at 1200 Riverplace Blvd. in April.

› Army veteran focused on planned growth moves company into 20,000 square foot building [Business Observer]
While many might think Spectrum Custom Molds & Manufacturing Inc.’s recent growth spurt came out of nowhere, the company’s owner says it’s all part of the plan. When the owner, Mike Guidoboni bought the Bradenton-based business in January 2018, it was a small tool shop called Spectrum Custom Molds. But he purchased it with the intent to grow — and that growth has all been organic, he mentions.

› Florida International Air Show returns to Punta Gorda Oct. 16-17 [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
The Florida International Air Show returns to the Punta Gorda Airport Oct. 16-17, with a lineup headlined by the F-16 Viper Demo Team and flybys from the C-17 Globemaster transport plane. The F-16 Demo Team, from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, is loud and fast – it can easily fly at speeds greater than Mach 2. The C-17 Globemaster generates awe because of its size.