Florida travel warnings intensify as state lawmakers strike back

A growing chorus of leading civil rights groups are issuing travel warnings about visiting Florida amid Gov. Ron DeSantis’ increasingly hostile laws toward women, minorities, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. On Tuesday, The Human Rights Campaign, which is the country’s largest LGBTQ organization, issued an updated travel advisory designed to highlight laws passed by the state’s Republican-led legislature in what the organization called the “most anti-LGBTQ legislative session in history.” [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Business Beat - Week of May 26th

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

Company pulls hydrogen portion of Osceola County clean energy park after resident backlash

France-based clean energy company, CMG Clean Tech has been in negotiations with the county over the sale of the more than 300-acre Mac Overstreet property in southern Kissimmee since March, which has been a point of contention after neighboring residents established an opposition group called Say No to Hydro, referring to the hydrogen portion of the project. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

New Florida elections law draws 3 federal lawsuits

After Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a major elections bill Wednesday, legal battles immediately began about new restrictions on voter-registration groups. The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill (SB 7050) last month and DeSantis signed it Wednesday, hours before formally announcing that he will run for president in 2024. The bill focuses heavily on placing additional restrictions on “third-party” voter-registration groups, including dramatically increasing fines for legal violations and preventing non-U.S. citizens from handling registration applications. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

What’s likely in store for hurricane season.

At a press conference Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its official prediction for the upcoming hurricane season: 12 to 17 named storms, five to nine of which could develop into hurricanes and one to four that could strengthen into powerful Category 3 or stronger storms. The top end is Category 5. [Source: World Meteorological Organization]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Robot Training: AmSkills is hoping to become the go-to place for learning about automation [Florida Trend]
AmSkills has joined with the Florida Department of Education to offer the state’s first registered robotics technician apprenticeship program. AmSkills has also been designated as an authorized training center for Denmark-based Universal Robots, which makes robots designed to work alongside humans.

› Hialeah won’t annex part of this historic Black neighborhood. Will it look for other areas? [Miami Herald]
Faced with community opposition from the Brownsville neighborhood, Hialeah has reversed its project to annex part of the historic Black area of unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Less than a month after presenting the annexation plan, Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. announced Tuesday night that he has dropped the effort to incorporate an industrial zone to the east of Hialeah.

› Is Tampa so big-time now they actually give golf cart tours of it? [Tampa Bay Times]
Explaining Gasparilla to tourists who have never heard of Tampa’s Mardi Gras-style event — the boats, the beads, the parade of people in pantaloons — is a bit of a trick.

› Key JEA finance official warned CEO controversial bonus plan was 'untoward' [The Florida Times-Union]
At a private meeting in the summer of 2019, JEA's former treasurer voiced concerns directly to the agency's then-CEO, Aaron Zahn, that an opaque bonus plan set to be presented to the board of directors in a matter of weeks was "untoward" and should have been abandoned.

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› SWFL business owners grow anxious about drag show restrictions [WWSB]
Some Southwest Florida business owners are expressing concern about a new law that cracks down on drag shows. The law bans anyone under 18 from attending and one Florida business is already suing the state over the law.

› These 4 native Florida birds are threatened or facing extinction. Here's what to know [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]
The Florida Scrub-Jay is the only endemic or native bird to Florida. Despite being classified as a threatened species by Florida in 1975 and by the federal government in 1987, the Scrub-Jay continues to face population decline. The bird thrives in high, dry and well-drained areas known as scrublands which rely on fire to maintain its arid environment, according to the Florida Audubon Society.

› Miami-Dade eyes rail to carry away solid waste problem [Miami Today]
A resolution by Commissioner Raquel Regalado due before the county commission June 6 would ask the Miami-Dade's mayor to explore “the feasibility of utilizing railroad corridors for the transportation and transfer of solid waste and freight within and outside of the county.”

› Bradenton photographer has big plans for small-scale events [Business Observer]
What Bradenton area photographer Rana Tierney once used as a backdrop for photo shoots while being owned by someone else is now her dream space: a historic-style home she rents out for events.