Friday's Daily Pulse
Ian impacts seen in jobless numbers
In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Florida continues to see its highest numbers of unemployment claims in more than a year, with some Southwest Florida resorts announcing large temporary layoffs. The U.S. Department of Labor released a report Thursday that said Florida had 9,077 first-time unemployment claims during the week that ended Oct. 22, putting the state’s four-week average at 9,905 claims. Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida Sept. 28 before crossing the state. [Source: News Service of Florida]
Business Beat - Week of October 28th
Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video newsbrief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.
Florida projects $10B hit from Ian’s damage to hurricane insurance backup fund
The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, a state program that provides critical backup coverage to property insurers, is estimated to have $10 billion in losses from Hurricane Ian, officials said this week. The program commonly known as the “Cat Fund” will be able to handle Ian’s financial hit, though it will go into the 2023 hurricane season with reduced amounts of cash. [Source: Miami Herald]
Pension system funded at 83.4 percent
Florida’s pension system is 83.4 percent funded to meet its projected future obligations, according to a new state report. As of July 1, preliminary numbers showed the pension system had what is known as an “unfunded actuarial liability” of $35.6 billion, according to a report by the state’s Florida Retirement System Actuarial Assumption Conference. It said the “system’s funded status remains essentially the same as the 2021 final valuation at 83.4%.” [Source: News Service of Florida]
Floridians with past convictions wary of voting after wave of arrests
The upcoming 2022 midterm election brings a feeling of unease to Debra Bennett-Austin. She is among over a million Floridians who had their voting rights restored in 2018, when nearly two-thirds of voters approved a constitutional amendment that gives people with felony convictions access to the ballot after completing the terms of their sentence. Bennett-Austin, who was convicted of trafficking a controlled substance, meets the criteria, yet she remains hesitant to vote. [Source: Orlando Sentinel ]
Baptist Health Cancer Care: South Florida's cancer experts
Should a screening test lead to a cancer diagnosis, patients can seek treatment from Baptist Health Cancer Care. Miami Cancer Institute and Lynn Cancer Institute are partners in Baptist Health Cancer Care and have integrated their programs to become the largest provider of cancer services in South Florida. U.S. News & World Report has recognized Miami Cancer Institute and Lynn Cancer Institute as top healthcare facilities in the nation for cancer care. [ Sponsored report]
| Trend Mention |
|
ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:
› South Florida as a tech hub: How ‘Innovation Day’ is uniting entrepreneurs [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Hundreds of attendees gathered for daylong event in South Florida focused on collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship in the tech sphere. The South Florida Innovation Day brought people from across the tri-county area and other parts of Florida for the first event of its kind Wednesday. “The most important theme is to show that collaboration is the key to success,” said John Wensveen, Nova Southeastern University’s chief innovation officer and executive director of the Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation.
› Demand rising for office space in Jacksonville, 'the fastest growing metro in the state' [Florida Times-Union]
The number of unused or unoccupied office spaces around Jacksonville, which jumped during the COVID-19 pandemic, is decreasing at the tail end of 2022. About 20% of Jacksonville’s office spaces were vacant in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest Jones Lang LaSalle Office Insight Report for the area in October. The report from JLL, a commercial real estate services company, described Jacksonville as “the fastest growing metro in the state.”
› Despite slowing, Sarasota-Manatee housing market still near top of US ranking [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
Real estate statistics on September home sales in the Sarasota-Manatee County area continued to show a slowing market, but continued strength on price, according to the Realtor Association of Sarasota Manatee. “We are continuing the trend that we’ve seen for several months now where the number of closed sales is dropping, and prices are leveling off,” said 2022 RASM President Tony Veldkamp.
› What happened to Orange County Convention Center’s expansion? [Orlando Business Journal]
Before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world in March 2020, Central Florida's meetings industry was watching a planned $605 million expansion for the Orange County Convention Center that was expected to be done in 2023. However, Covid shut down all business and travel around the world — and Orlando — and brought the expansion's source of funding — resort tax collections — to a standstill.
Go to page 2 for more stories ...
› The history of Black pioneers told through quilts at The James Museum in St. Petersburg [Tampa Bay Times]
Learn the largely untold stories of the people who made up the fabric of this country’s history — literally, through textiles — at The James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art. “Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West” is the first of its kind, exploring Black history in the West through a timeline of pictorial quilts. It dispels myths and illuminates facts about Black people’s occupations, religions and achievements.
› Four decades after his death, this Miami soldier got a street named after him [Miami Herald]
Kirk Smith Jr. never met his uncle. The man who’s his namesake – Lance Corporeal Kirk Smith Sr. – was killed in the 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beruit. But thanks to a new street sign and the tremendous treasure trove of stories courtesy of the senior Smith’s friends, the memory of his uncle will never die. “From what I know of him, he was a good dude and the honor that they’re doing for them is respectable because he died for the United States,” Kirk Jr., 37, said.
› Private aviation club lands $100 million investment [Business Observer]
Just weeks after private aviation AeroVanti Club had a major funding announcement, it’s happened again — though this time on a much larger scale. Lafayette Aircraft Leasing led a $100 million investment to AeroVanti to support a fleet expansion, which will allow the company to keep up with customer demand, according to a statement. The first plane of the expansion has already arrived in Sarasota at the company’s headquarters.
› Spanish fashion retailer Mango plans 40 US stores by 2024, including one in Orlando [Orlando Business Journal]
Spanish fashion retailer Mango is continuing its expansion in the United States, after opening a new store in Miami last week with plans to add 10 in the U.S. by the end of the year, including three more in Florida. “The opening of this new store marks a starting point for Mango’s expansion in the state of Florida and a major step forward in our strategic goals for international expansion and consolidating our brand presence in the United States, one of the most important fashion markets in the world,” said Daniel López, Mango’s global expansion director.