After Hurricane Ian, Florida citrus and agriculture struggle

Citrus is big business in Florida, with more than 375,000 acres (152,000 hectares) in the state devoted to oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and the like for an industry valued at more than $6 billion annually. Hurricane Ian hit the citrus groves hard, as well as the state’s large cattle industry, dairy operations, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and even hundreds of thousands of bees essential to many growers. More from Bay News 9 and the AP.

Florida charter fishing boats bemoan dwindling mahi mahi

Charter captains, as well as recreational anglers, say they are seeing fewer mahi mahi out in the ocean, and the ones they are catching are much smaller than these multi-generational fishermen have been used to catching throughout their lives. This is bad for business, and for the environment, they say. Keys anglers are still catching plenty of smaller dolphin. But missing from the fishery, they say, are sustainable numbers of larger “gaffer” dolphin that start around 20 pounds and grow up to seven feet and 88 pounds. [Source: Miami Herald]

Hurricane Ian left millions of gallons of spilled wastewater, dirty runoff in its wake

The release of at least 17 million gallons of wastewater into Manatee County waters in the first 24 hours after Hurricane Ian would normally be a standout event for those who keep a close eye on water quality. But it’s just one of many pieces in the pollution puzzle after Ian clobbered Florida. As researchers start to piece together the storm’s environmental toll, some conclusions already are clear. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Florida university survey doesn’t show anti-conservative bias

Concerned about what they worried was anti-conservative sentiment on college and university campuses, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers ordered a survey of nearly 2 million students, faculty and staff across the state. Results are in, and they did not go as some Florida leaders expected. Most faculty, instructional staff and administrators who responded described themselves as moderate politically – and more of them described themselves as conservative than liberal. Hardly anyone agreed that endorsing a particular political view would help them be promoted or granted tenure, and more of them agreed than disagreed that their campus was equally tolerant of liberal and conservative ideas and beliefs. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Within hours, the Atlantic tropics map is wiped clean. Is that unusual in hurricane season?

Hours after the National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on what was a post-tropical Karl in Mexico and marked a tropical wave several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands on Saturday morning, the 1 p.m. advisory map is as clean as one could hope for during the hurricane season. But is that unusual? Not really, explains Brad Reinhart, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center. [Source: Miami Herald]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› SRQ continues hot passenger streak even through hurricane [Business Observer]
Even with Hurricane Ian putting a stop to flights with a potential loss of 20,000 passengers, Sarasota Bradenton International Airport still had more passengers in September compared to last year. It was only a 1% increase over Sept. 2021, but last month 190,405 passengers traveled through the airport, which operates under the call letters SRQ.

› Pocket of Miami, dubbed Little Manila, caters to thousands of Filipino cruise ship workers [MiamI Herald]
It’s a little-known microneighborhood — a Little Manila — catering to the thousands of Filipino workers who make Miami’s world-famous cruise business run. While Miami doesn’t have a significant Asian population, workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, India and across the globe flock to the city for contract jobs on the cruise ships.

› Florida spent almost $1 million for two more migrant flights [AP]
Florida has paid nearly $1 million to arrange two sets of flights to transport about 100 migrants who entered the country illegally to Delaware and Illinois, according to documents released Friday by the Florida Department of Transportation. The flights would be a follow-up to the Sept. 14 flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard that carried 49 mostly Venezuelan migrants to the Massachusetts island where former President Barack Obama owns a mansion. Local officials weren’t told in advance that the migrants were coming.

› JEA: Plant Vogtle operator starts loading nuclear fuel [Jacksonville Daily Record]
Georgia Power announced Oct. 14 that it has started loading fuel into Unit 3 of the delayed nuclear Plant Vogtle expansion near Waynesboro, Georgia, a project expected to generate 206 megawatts of electricity for JEA . In a news release, Jacksonville’s city-owned utility called the step “a milestone toward startup and commercial operation” for the first nuclear units to be built in the U.S. in more than 30 years at a cost of more than $30 billion.

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› SpaceX lofts European satellite from Cape Canaveral to kick off weekend [Florida Today]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rose through mostly clear skies above Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Saturday, bringing an end to a longer-than-usual countdown extended by additional data reviews. At the very end of its window at 1:22 a.m. EDT, the 230-foot rocket took flight from Launch Complex 40 after teams delayed twice due needing "additional time for data review," SpaceX said. On board was Eutelsat's Hotbird 13F communications satellite.

› New artistic director to lead major changes to Sarasota’s La Musica chamber Festival [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
One of the leaders of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has been named the new artistic director of Sarasota’s La Musica International Chamber Music Festival in a move that signals some major changes coming to the organization. Pianist Wu Han, who has performed six times for La Musica, will become only the second artistic director, succeeding Bruno Giuranna, who co-founded the organization with Derek Han in 1987. Wu Han performed at a memorial concert for Derek Han in April.

› Firsthand look: Massive MSC Meraviglia calling Port Canaveral home for the winter [Orlando Sentinel]
When the MSC Meraviglia made its Florida debut in Miami in 2019, it was the seventh-largest cruise ship in the world. While the ship may have dropped several places on that list since — thanks to new additions from Royal Caribbean as well as other MSC vessels — it’s still a behemoth and a sight to behold. With 13 guest decks and a 4,500-passenger capacity based on double occupancy, Meraviglia is the kind of ship it’s possible to get lost on.

› $30 million drydock project gets underway at Commodores Point in downtown Jacksonville [Florida Times-Union]
Fincantieri Marine Repair has launched the installation of an estimated $30 million drydock on the St. Johns River at Commodores Point near the Hart Bridge in downtown Jacksonville. A subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Systems North America, the repair facility services military and commercial vessels, bulk tankers, workboats, cruise ships and yachts. It's part of a global network of shipyards, according to the Fincantieri Marine Repair website.