Four types of seeds bred at the University of Florida were sent to the International Space Station via the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to see how they grow. This could hold clues to crop growth on Earth as drought and extreme heat become more common.
“This could be a way of generating more crops that are resilient to those kinds of stressors,” says Wagner Vendrame, a professor in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Science environmental horticulture department and part of UF’s Astraeus Space Institute.
The seeds, which included strawberries from the Tampa area, two types of orchids and a type of turf grass, were set to remain on the ISS for approximately a week and then return on the next trip back to Earth. Vendrame will germinate the seeds and test the plants that grow for changes that would have developed from the space flight.
RAIL
- Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha and Norfolk Southern Corp., which is headquartered in Atlanta but has a Jacksonville presence, are set to combine their two companies in a stock and cash transaction. This will create a combined enterprise of more than $250 billion. The deal will connect more than 50,000 route miles across 43 states. The transaction is slated to close in early 2027.
- CSX has laid off 125 employees, including 77 at its Jacksonville headquarters. Many of the layoffs include management positions. The Jacksonville location has about 2,000 employees.
HEALTH CARE
- The UF Health Florida Recovery Center in Gainesville, which treats patients recovering from addiction, has opened a new location near its UF Health Springhill medical complex, expanding its capacity from 80 to 124 beds on the five-acre campus. It features 47,600 square feet of residential, therapeutic and recreational space, an 18,700-sq.-ft. administrative building, a pool, a pickleball court and other amenities.
- UF Health now has opened a mobile stroke treatment unit in The Villages that includes a 32-slice CT scanner, telemedicine capabilities and stroke medications. UF Health’s other stroke units are in Gainesville and Jacksonville.
- A $15-million, 11,000-sq.-ft. freestanding emergency room built by Marion County and HCA Florida Healthcare is coming to western Ocala. It will be located in the On Top of the World retirement community and golf-cart accessible for area residents. The facility will employ 45 providers and include 11 emergency exam rooms, a CT scan, general X-ray and on-site lab services.
- Florida Gators head football coach Billy Napier made a philanthropic gift to help create an ALS research fellowship at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. The gift is in honor of Napier’s father, Bill, who died of ALS. The annual one-year fellowship will include a focus on clinical research to improve the care and understanding of ALS. Dr. A. Enrique Martinez Nunez is the first recipient of the fellowship.
- Baptist Health of Northeast Florida has named Eric Fletcher its first executive vice president and chief strategy officer. Fletcher was most recently senior vice president and CSO of Mary Washington Healthcare in Fredericksburg, Va.
DEVELOPMENT
- Unicorp National Developments of Orlando has joined BH Group of Miami as the co-developer of The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Hammock Dunes, an oceanfront development in Palm Coast that will have 128 oceanfront residences and two towers.
PARKS
- A $147-million grant for the Emerald Trail in Jacksonville from the U.S. Department of Transportation was canceled as part of a tax cut and spending package signed by President Donald Trump. City and state leaders say they will still search for funds to finish the 30-mile trail, which is partially complete.
HOTELS
- The World Golf Village Renaissance St. Augustine Resort was sold for $24.25 million to Sun Development & Management Corp. of Indianapolis. The nearly 268,000-sq.-ft. hotel was originally built in 1998. Sun Development now owns four hotels in Florida and others across the U.S.
IN MEMORIAM
- Terry “Donnell” Gwinn, co-owner of Gwinn Brothers Farms in Suwannee County, died in August at the age of 71. The 1,137-acre farm near Live Oak has cultivated peanuts, watermelons, soybeans, corn and peas, and Gwinn served as treasurer of the Florida Peanut Federation. But in 2023, he made history as the first Black farmer in Florida to be issued a medical marijuana growing license.
Under the Sea
The city of Palm Coast will become the home for a subsea cable landing station and data center in its town center in conjunction with Google and the digital infrastructure company DC BLOX of Atlanta. It’s the first phase of buildout of up to eight subsea cables. The first cable, called Sol, will connect to Europe.
More than 95% of all international communications are transmitted by cables that are laid on the ocean floor.
City leaders say they are hopeful that this addition will bring other digital infrastructure industries to the area, including AI and cybersecurity. The facility should open in 2027.
JENA DENNIS
BOARD CHAIR,
HASTINGS MAIN STREET
Small Town Success
The small town of Hastings in St. Johns County, also known as “the Potato Capital of Florida,” is a downtown success story. It had an 80% vacancy rate in 2023 and now enjoys a 90% occupancy rate. The town joined the Florida Main Street Program last year, which helps to revitalize historic old towns. Jena Dennis is board chair of Hastings Main Street and co-owner of Great Expectations Realty along with her husband. They plan to open The Venue, a special events locale, this fall.She shared the following thoughts about the revitalization:
The Backstory: “A few years ago, my husband and I stumbled upon the historic Stanton Ford building, which had been used for storage and needed major restoration. We fell in love with it and bought it to renovate and house our business.”
Changes: “Most buildings in Hastings are under renovation, and we’ve added beautiful murals, a new library and a pocket park.”
Why Visit: “Come for the Rails to Trails bike path, stay for the small-town charm. Enjoy lunch, grab a coffee, ice cream or energy tea while you snap photos with our murals and take in the peaceful farmland views.”