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Thursday's Afternoon Update

Since 2017, a ludicrous 101 named storms have formed. Expect more this hurricane season

Each hurricane season since 2016 has registered above average activity, all landing in the top third of years since 1950. A ludicrous 101 named systems over 2017-2021 have racked up the most accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) of any five-year period in hurricane climatology and brutally translated into 32 named storms, 15 hurricanes, and 7 major hurricane landfalls on the continental U.S. coastline. More from the Tallahassee Democrat and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Cuba drops all COVID restrictions for foreign travelers in a bid to boost tourism  

Travelers going to Cuba will be able to enter the country without showing proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or a negative PCR test, a sudden lifting of restrictions the government announced Wednesday that aims to boost tourism to the island. The new rules come when the Caribbean island desperately needs cash. Cuba’s economy has hit record low levels of production of food and other goods. More from the Miami Herald.

Data Trends: Jacksonville a strong market for entrepreneurs

According to Roofstock, a national real estate investment and analytics firm, Jacksonville is No. 9 among major metropolitan areas for startup businesses, with entrepreneurs and self-identified CEOs accounting for nearly 10% of the businesses opening annually. That puts Jacksonville ahead of Houston, Los Angeles, Tampa/St. Petersburg, San Diego and St. Louis, Missouri, among other cities. More from the Jacksonville Daily Record.

Miami voters to weigh in on century-long Riverside Wharf lease

City of Miami voters will get a second chance to weigh in on a vast mixed-use downtown project at an August special election that would add a luxury hotel and a site lease up to a century. In December, MV Real Estate Holdings, along with Driftwood Capital, announced Riverside Wharf, a hospitality-driven entertainment complex on the historic Miami River. The public-private partnership involves the city, which owns the site on the river’s east bank and leases it to Riverside Wharf LLC. More from Miami Today.

How did tech startup Fast’s big Tampa plans unravel so quickly?

On Tuesday, Fast made the sudden announcement that it was shutting down amid reports it was burning through cash with little return, after raising some $135 million the last three years. The news shocked many in the tech investment world. Headquartered in San Francisco, Fast had substantial backing from premiere online payment company Stripe and was at one point thought to be nearing a billion-dollar “unicorn” valuation. More from the Tampa Bay Times.

Florida History
UCF students unearthing spear points up to 6,000 years old at Cape Canaveral SFS

 Swarming across an archaeological pit, University of Central Florida students wielding hand tools are carefully unearthing a long-hidden Ais Native American gathering place near the Banana River — where prehistoric stone spear points date back to 6,000 years old. "We've found lots of these shell clusters that were in these very centralized kind of pockets, that almost look like (they) would have been maybe an eating area," said Amanda Groff, UCF senior lecturer of anthropology, standing at the dig site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

» More from Florida Today.

 

Out of the Box
Florida man creates app to help users identify dangerous snakes

floridaWhat kind of snake is this, and can it hurt me? It's a common question and social media post. That's why Florida businessman Jason Compton helped develop SnakeSnap, an app to identify whether snakes are dangerous.

» Read more from WRAL.