Florida unemployment claims dip again

Florida posted its fourth consecutive week of decreases in first-time unemployment claims, according to a U.S. Department of Labor report released Thursday. The department estimated that 5,671 first-time claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Aug. 13, down from a revised count of 5,998 claims during the week that ended Aug. 6. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday will release a July unemployment report. The state’s June rate stood at 2.8 percent, representing 303,000 Floridians unemployed from a workforce of 10.633 million. [Source: News Service of Florida]

Business Beat - Week of August 18th

Get top news-to-know with Florida Trend's headline-focused video newsbrief, hosted by digital content specialist Aimée Alexander.

Quiet hurricane season? Not for long, meteorologists say

It has been well over a month since the Atlantic Ocean has had any rumblings of tropical storm activity. There have been only three named storms so far this year. The last was Tropical Storm Colin, which fizzled out along the South Carolina coast over the Fourth of July weekend. But in the coming weeks, experts expect tropical activity will ramp up. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

‘The perfect storm’: Worries mount that Florida’s colleges face a mental health crisis like no other

In the coming days, Florida’s college students will move into their dorms and apartments carrying laptops, wall posters, new bedding — and the burden of mental health problems they may not yet realize they have. This could be a year like no other. Several schools soon will see record-breaking numbers of incoming freshmen arriving amid a deepening youth mental health crisis catalyzed by the pandemic. Many of them spent most of high school virtually, and at home with their families, reeling from the bombardment on social media of news of gun violence, school shootings and political and racial divisiveness. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

Airborne exposure to red tide could have neurological effect, Florida study suggests

Researchers from the Roskamp Institute found new evidence suggesting that airborne exposure to red tide could have neurological impacts — especially for those with a previous history of migraine or chronic fatigue syndrome. While respiratory symptoms are well-documented during red tide blooms, neurological symptoms haven't been examined in large populations, according to the institute. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Orlando liquidation warehouse rapidly fills up with what big box stores can’t sell [Orlando Sentinel]
Air fryers, toys, Halloween decorations, electronics and scores of other items are stacked to the ceiling on rows of towering shelves inside the cavernous RK’s Liquidation Warehouse east of Orlando. The 11,000-square-foot liquidation warehouse in a business park off Forsyth Road has been getting at least twice as many items as it did a year ago. It buys from a retailer overstocked goods, end-of-season products, returned items and things pulled from the shelves that just aren’t selling, said Ravi Panchal, one of the warehouse’s owners.

› UF receives $3.6 million grant to prepare nurses to meet the growing demand [Gainesville Sun]
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on health care has made it more important than ever for nursing schools to educate the next generation of front-line providers. Now, thanks to an effort by Florida lawmakers to combat the nursing shortage, the University of Florida College of Nursing plans to build a “pipeline” to move well-prepared nurses into the workforce.

› Redwire CEO urges patience as company revenue misses targets [Jacksonville Daily Record]
With Redwire Corp.’s revenue lagging behind the projections it made before going public last year, its chief executive is preaching patience. “Redwire is the kind of company that you measure in years, if not multiyears, due to the lumpy nature of our revenue and the extraordinary pipeline that we have developed as we continue to make investments,” Peter Cannito said during the company’s Aug. 10 quarterly conference call.

› The lowdown on 17-acre county downtown Miami mega-project [Miami Today]
Miami-Dade County has unveiled features of its much-anticipated downtown redevelopment project, for which the county is offering about 17 acres of county-owned land, branded as MetroCenter, in the heart of the 28 acres that serve as the seat of the local government. The county aims to redevelop downtown and transform it into a 24-hour community.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› State Matching Funds Near $7.29 Million [News Service of Florida]
The six candidates receiving campaign-matching funds from the state drew a combined total of $233,305 on Friday, the fourth week of distributions. In the program, public funds are provided to match contributions of $250 or less from individuals to candidates’ campaign accounts. Matching funds are not available for contributions to political committees or outside of statewide races.

› Startup airline offers new flights to Berlin from Fort Lauderdale in December [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Christmas in Berlin? Norse Atlantic Airways, which recently started transatlantic service to Europe from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, now plans to offer round-trips to the capital of Germany starting in early December. The starting one-way fares are as low as $152.

› Super-tower from Swire, Related Companies faces another test [Miami Today]
Brickell City Centre is growing, wide and tall. Helping that achievement is recent action from the Miami City Commission. At its last meeting before the August break, commissioners unanimously approved on first reading two resolutions that would amend the current Special Area Plan, or SAP, for the sweeping mixed-use development in the heart of the city’s financial district.

› Garden Theatre eliminates key positions, loses apprenticeship program, turns to outside producers [Orlando Sentinel]
The Garden Theatre eliminated key personnel positions Wednesday afternoon, including its education director, and said it would turn to outside producers to start its next season as a statement from the Winter Garden theater said the nonprofit would “temporarily shift our operational focus to the organizational health of the Theatre.”