Things To Do In SW Florida

TALLAHASSEE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a controversial proposal that would lead to using phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the phosphate industry, in a road project.

The EPA on Friday issued a notice of approval for Mosaic Fertilizer, a subsidiary of The Mosaic Company, to move forward with the pilot road project on company property in Polk County. The possibility of using phosphogypsum in road projects has long drawn opposition from environmental groups, which have argued it could pose risks to people working on roads and to water quality.

Phosphogypsum is typically stored in huge stacks, but Mosaic proposed building four sections of test road that would include different mixtures of phosphogypsum in road base material, according to the EPA notice. The project would be at the company’s New Wales facility.

In the notice, which is expected to be published Monday in the Federal Register, the EPA said the “approval applies only to the proposed pilot project and not any broader use.” The notice acknowledged a large number of comments submitted in opposition to the proposal but said the EPA concluded the project would be safe. read more

By ALEX VEIGA

A federal regulator sued JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America on Friday, claiming the banks failed to protect hundreds of thousands of consumers from rampant fraud on the popular payments network Zelle, in violation of consumer financial laws.

TALLAHASSEE — Agricultural production losses in Florida from Hurricane Milton could reach $642.7 million, pushing the state’s potential crop and livestock losses from three hurricanes this year to nearly $1 billion.

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, or UF/IFAS, on Friday released a preliminary estimate of losses from Milton, which plowed into Sarasota County with 120 mph maximum sustained winds on Oct. 9, crossed the state and affected 55 counties.

With losses estimated between $190.4 million and $642.7 million, Milton had a larger impact on agricultural production in Florida than Hurricane Debby in August and Hurricane Helene in September. Both of those hurricanes made landfall in rural Taylor County.

“It’s the area that the storm hit as well as the time of season that they (farmers) were in,” Christa Court, UF/IFAS Economic Impact Analysis Program director, said Friday about Milton during a conference call with reporters.

“It’s both the timing and the geography of the storm in this case,” Court added. read more

TALLAHASSEE — The state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 3.4 percent in November after holding steady at 3.3 percent since April, according to a report released Friday by the Florida Department of Commerce.

The new rate reflects an estimated 376,000 Floridians qualifying as out of work in mid-November — 7,000 more than in October — from a labor force of 11.015 million people. The labor force was down by 14,000 people from October and 46,000 from November 2023.

The national unemployment rate last month was 4.2 percent. Florida’s unemployment rate in November 2023 was 3.1 percent

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area had the lowest unemployment rate last month at 3 percent. Next lowest were the Panama City and the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin areas at 3.4 percent.

The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area rate was 3.5 percent; the Jacksonville area was 3.6 percent; the Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent area was 3.7 percent; and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was 3.8 percent. The North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area, which took the brunt of Milton at landfall, was 3.9 percent. read more

The party is over for a US retailer that for decades bedazzled birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and weddings.

Party City Holdco’s chief executive told corporate employees on Friday that the company is shuttering all stores, according to a report by CNN.

The nation’s largest retailer of party supplies has been dogged by lagging sales, putting pressure on the company to pay its rent at some 800 locations.

Exterior view of a Party City store on January 18, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

People shop in a Party City store on January 18, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Items line the shelves in a Party City store on January 18, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Carts sit in a Party City store on January 18, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)