In this episode of This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition, host Kent Justice talks with Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, about the latest data showing a decline in childhood poverty across Florida. They discuss what this means for local businesses, the importance of targeting efforts at the zip code level, and how businesses can play a crucial role in breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

First-time unemployment claims in Florida remain relatively flat and at a pre-pandemic pace, reflecting strong economic activity amid lingering inflation.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried this week teased a June 1 announcement for entering the race for governor and former Republican governor turned Democratic congressman Charlie Crist has already announced his bid, but early polling shows Democrats have a lot of ground to make up.

“It eliminates those that have over-influence and who can influence these ballot initiatives through their dollars,” Payne said. That is not what these ballot initiatives are,” Jenne, D-Dania Beach, said. Ad“The plain fact of it is that they don’t like these ballot initiatives that have passed,” she said. Lawmakers also made sweeping changes last year to the petition-gathering process to make it harder to put initiatives on the ballot. “Here and across the country, state legislators are attempting to dismantle democracy just because they haven’t liked the outcome of recent elections and ballot initiatives.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Chamber of Commerce says it has been told by the state that unemployment taxes will go up next year by almost 200 percent, but so far the state is mum on the increase. On March 1, Florida’s trust fund for paying unemployment claims sat at just over $4 billion. To replenish the fund, Carolyn Johnson, the director of business, economic development & innovation policy at the Florida Chamber, said the state has indicated minimum rates will increase by almost 200 percent. “If you’re an employer with 100 employees, you’re seeing a $1,300 tax increase that you might not have expected coming Jan. 1,” Johnson said. The Chamber said layoffs made because of the pandemic will not count against an employers’ records because an executive order exempted them.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida set a new record for daily COVID-19 cases Friday, with 3,822 residents and nonresidents testing positive. Despite the steadily rising case numbers, a new survey conducted by the Florida Chamber of Commerce shows Floridians by and large are optimistic about the future. Cases have been steadily rising since June 6 when the survey began, but the survey period ended just before the four-day streak of skyrocketing cases. According to the survey, Republicans were far more likely to see the situation positively compared to Democrats. The survey shows 85% of Republicans approved of the governors handling of the crisis compared to just 31% of Democrats.