Florida News that impacts you – July 29th
Bottom Line: Your daily recap of the some of the biggest news from around the state that impacts you in South Florida.
- According the SBA, 3.2 million jobs in South Florida were saved due to the Paycheck Protection Program. Florida had the highest success rate nationally with 96% of small businesses applying for funds approved.
- Florida’s Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz is urging South Floridians to prepare for the potential impact of a hurricane Tweeting: “Time to get your 7 days of Hurricane supplies”. This is on back of the National Hurricane Center’s projections of the potential impact of Isaias this weekend.
- The State of Florida has allocated $5.2 million for the South Florida Water Management District and FAU, to study additional ways to reduce toxic algae from forming in Lake Okeechobee. This study was recommended by the state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force. The Water Management District will use funds to try to remove pollutants from watersheds which contaminate the lake and FAU researchers will maintain a presence to monitor lake conditions.
- Florida passed New York to become 2nd nationally to California in diagnosed COVID-19 cases and posted the highest reported daily death toll of 186 deaths. More optimistically, Florida has performed far better than the country as a whole in outcomes with 285 related deaths per million in population – compared to 460 for the US and nearly 1,700 for New York & New Jersey. Additionally, Florida’s weekly average for cases is now the lowest in 17 days.
- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced more than 5,000 Burmese pythons have now been captured in the Everglades since the onset of the state sanctioned python hunting began three years ago. Approximately 1,700 pythons have been removed by the Python Action Team and 3,400 by the South Florida Water Management District.