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Wednesday's Daily Pulse
What you need to know about Florida today
› Seagrass beds struggle to grow along Southwest Florida's coastline
It was only a short boat ride to one of the many seagrass beds Dr. James Douglass and his team are monitoring from their Florida Gulf Coast Vester Field Station in Bonita Springs. “We’re really not doing well with our seagrass recovery here," said Dr. Douglass. Dr. Douglass found samples of seagrass at one bed in the South Estero Bay area. He said that area of seagrass has been struggling to grow because it's in a high boat traffic area and it also sees a lot of pollution.
› Florida receivership currently handling 8K claims, 2K lawsuits in homeowner insurance crisis
One Pinellas County woman discovered she had black mold growing in the walls of her new home, but when she contacted her homeowner’s insurance company, she felt like everyone was avoiding her. She later found out it was because her insurance company was was going into receivership. “Everybody was avoiding me, the adjuster, the supervisor,” said Judith Slater. Slater is one of hundreds of thousands of Florida homeowners who were dropped from their insurance company going into receivership.
› Calling all Northwest Florida Black business owners: Grant providing $1,500 for growth
Bantucola is calling all Black small business owners to apply to its Northwest Florida Black Business Investment Grant program. Bantucola is a platform started by Chris Hendricks in 2018 to recognize and uplift Black businesses in Pensacola and Northwest Florida. Raised by private donors, the $1,500 award was created to build the capacity of small Black businesses in the area.
› Sarasota-based entrepreneurs develop app to promote plant-based living
A new app designed to provide resources and information on plant-based living is coming to an app store near you. The Sarasota-based Optamiz app provides users with information including national and local plant-based restaurants, recipes and a social media platform. “We think we came up with something really cool,” co-founder and CEO Heather Hackett-Kaufman says.
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