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Gov. Scott Announces $35 Million Investments from Florida Job Growth Grant Fund Across State

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Governor Rick Scott today announced $35 million in awards for nine Florida Job Growth Grant Fund projects across the state. This includes $6 million for the City of Jacksonville to construct a new 1.5-mile access-roadway to the city-owned Cecil Commerce Center Mega Site in support of the area’s growing manufacturing industry. All of the awarded economic development projects will help enhance community infrastructure or develop workforce training programs and have demonstrated a strong return on investment. The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund was established by Governor Scott and the Florida Legislature last year to encourage continued economic growth across Florida communities. The Governor’s recommended 2018-2019 budget includes $85 million in continuation funding for the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund.

Governor Scott said, “Last year, I worked with the Florida Legislature to establish the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund to help continue our state’s incredible economic growth by addressing specific infrastructure and workforce needs in our communities. Today, I am proud to announce $35 million in awards for nine Florida Job Growth Grant Fund projects. We have worked to ensure that every awarded project will strengthen Florida’s business climate and bring the best return on investment for Florida taxpayers. Florida is competing in a global economy, and we must do everything we can to ensure our state remains the top destination for families and job creators to succeed. We will continue to work with the legislature to invest $85 million in the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, and I look forward to seeing the successful completion of these projects.”

The nine awarded projects include:

  • Liberty County Board of County Commissioners ($1,448,831) for the construction of a turning lane on Highway 65 South at the intersection of U.S. Forest Service Road 103, and paving 1.5 miles of the service road to create access to more than 500 acres of property for economic development.
  • Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners ($3,125,000) to provide water supply and fire protection to the Interstate 75 and County Road 136 interchange.
  • City of Jacksonville ($6,000,000) for the construction of a new 1.5-mile access roadway to the city-owned Cecil Commerce Center Mega Site to provide access for the manufacturing industry.
  • Canaveral Port Authority ($8,245,000) to improve roadway access to cruise and cargo terminals by increasing roadway capacity for Northside Cargo roads, new intersection signals for public safety and cargo traffic control, and revisions to North Side Cruise Roadway Network to facilitate cruise operations.
  • Columbia County ($3,135,600) for the construction of the North Florida Mega Industrial Park Rail Project, which will run parallel to Highway 90, allowing developers access to an industrial park of more than 2,600 acres.
  • City of Alachua ($6,755,000) for construction of San Felasco Parkway and nearby utilities, connecting a large bioscience cluster – including the University of Florida Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute – to a shovel-ready site of 280 acres.
  • City of Port St. Lucie ($3,003,247) for the development of a roadway improvement project, which will provide access to 100 acres of undeveloped land in Tradition Commerce Park, an area which has the space to accommodate approximately 1.1 million square feet of commercial development.
  • Pensacola State College ($1,860,510) for workforce training programs that will increase the number of students earning industry-recognized credentials and degrees required to enter and advance in the workforce for targeted industries, including advanced manufacturing, aviation maintenance, welding, cybersecurity/information technology, nursing, transportation and construction trades.
  • Washington County Board of County Commissioners ($1,821,461) to build water and sewer infrastructure that will replace the need for future wells and septic systems as a part of the development of a 1,525-acre commercial/industrial/mixed use development district.

These proposals were reviewed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), Enterprise Florida (EFI) and chosen by Governor Scott based on their strong return on investment to the state and to meet the demand for a robust workforce or infrastructure needs. Return on investment was calculated to determine the best projects for the state and economic development in the regions.

Cissy Proctor, Executive Director of DEO, said, “We have worked diligently to evaluate more than 225 Florida Job Growth Grant Fund proposals requesting more than $821 million in funding. Each selected proposal has a strong return on investment and a commitment to improve the regional economic climate by meeting specific workforce and infrastructure needs. We look forward to the opportunities this funding will bring families across the Sunshine State.”

Peter Antonacci, CEO of EFI, “Enterprise Florida’s Board of Directors are thrilled to work with DEO to ensure Florida’s families are getting the best return on investment from our tax dollars. Funding these projects will continue to make Florida the best place to create jobs and raise a family.” 

For more information about the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, visit FloridaJobs.org/JobGrowth.

PSC Approves TECO Outdoor Lighting Conversion as Energy Efficiency Program

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The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) today approved Tampa Electric Company’s (TECO) proposal to convert street and outdoor lighting from Metal Halide (MH) and High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps to energy efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LED).

“Besides using less energy, LED lights provide better visibility for improved security, they are recyclable, and the energy savings reduces TECO’s winter peak demand,” said PSC Chairman Art Graham. “The program is a win-win for TECO and its customers.”

As a Demand Side Management (DSM) program, the initiative is required to reduce electricity use through energy efficiency or conservation, or provide more efficient energy load management. The PSC determined that the five-year program advances important Florida Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act policy objectives.

Tampa, Temple Terrace, Plant City, and Winter Haven, Polk County, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy had asked the PSC to approve TECO’s proposal.

TECO operates approximately 242,000 street and outdoor lighting fixtures, of which 209,821 are eligible for conversion under the conservation program. Program costs–approximately $176 per fixture, or $36.9 million–will be eligible for recovery through the Energy Conservation Cost Recovery component of rates. The Commission declined TECO’s request to include advertising and notification costs.

Tampa Electric serves more than 700,000 customers in West Central Florida.

Nelson urges Pentagon to take steps to deter Russian attempts to influence 2018 elections

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services’ subcommittee on cybersecurity, today urged Secretary of Defense James Mattis to “prepare to engage Russian cyber operators” attempting to influence the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.

“Russia’s influence activities continue in the United States and elsewhere,” Nelson wrote in a letter to Mattis. “U.S. Cyber Command’s Cyber Mission Force, should be ordered to prepare to engage Russian cyber operators and disrupt their activities as they conduct clandestine influence operations against our forthcoming elections.”

Nelson also urged the secretary to implement the recommendations of a Defense Department task force on cyber deterrence, which offered the Pentagon several suggestions on how to the U.S. could deter further Russian cyberattacks. The task force recommendations were presented to the Pentagon last February but have not yet been implemented.

In addition to the Nelson, the letter was signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

Text of the lawmakers’ can be found here.

Florida PSC Approves Early Reduction of FPL Customers’ Bills

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The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) voted to reduce bills for Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) customers today, approving reductions to the fuel, capacity, and environmental cost recovery components of rates. The annual adjustment of those bill elements wasn’t due until next January, but the PSC can adopt “mid-course corrections” when deviation from expected costs warrants it.

FPL filed for the reductions to reflect savings expected from the early retirement of the St. Johns River Power Park generating facility, a decision approved by the PSC in October 2017.

The coal-fired St. Johns plant was retired on January 5, 2018, decreasing fuel and capacity costs. FPL’s environmental costs are reduced by $1.2 million as a result of the plant’s retirement.

FPL’s fuel cost recovery component will be reduced by $0.24 per month, and a similar reduction will be applicable to capacity cost recovery factors. The 2018 environmental cost recovery factor for the residential rate will decrease from 0.159 cents per kWh to 0.158 cents per kWh.

Effective March 1, 2018, the reduced cost recovery factors will decrease FPL’s monthly bills by $.38 (from $99.75 to $99.37) for a typical 1,000 kWh residential customer bill.

UNF Features Anne Frank’s Stepsister in ‘Historic Evening with Eva Schloss’

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The University of North Florida and the Chabad of Southside will present a “Historic Evening with Eva Schloss,” a Holocaust survivor and Anne Frank’s stepsister, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at the Adam W. Herbert University Center, Building 43, in the Banquet Hall, Room 1044.

During an interview with UNF President John Delaney, Schloss will share her experiences as the childhood friend and stepsister of Frank, including accounts of the publishing of Anne’s famed diary, which was first printed 70 years ago.

In 1938, Germany invaded Austria, causing many Jewish families to flee the country to avoid persecution. Schloss was 8 years old when she and her family moved and eventually resided in Holland, where one of her neighbors was Frank, a German Jewish girl of the same age.

The two girls became friends and playmates, passing the time by skipping, playing hopscotch, marbles and drinking lemonade. Ultimately, both Schloss and Frank, as well as their families, were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Schloss survived her concentration camp experience and made her way to England, where she married and raised three daughters. Although Frank didn’t survive, her diary did. Later, the two would become stepsisters.

Since 1985, Schloss has devoted herself to holocaust education and global peace, recounting her wartime experiences in over 1,000 speaking engagements. Her documentary, “116 Cameras,” follows Schloss as she embarks on a project to preserve her story as an interactive hologram that will have conversations with generations to come. The film is in the running for an Academy Award.

Schloss has authored two books and has had a play written about her life. In 1999, she signed the Anne Frank Peace Declaration, along with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and the niece of Raul Wallenberg, a legendary figure who rescued thousands of Jews in Budapest.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, click here or contact Rabbi Shmuli Novack, Chabad of Southside, at (904) 646-4434.

FEMA reverses decision, will continue distributing food and water aid to Puerto Rico

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Under pressure from lawmakers such as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who took to the Senate floor yesterday to call on FEMA to continue providing aid to the people of Puerto Rico “until all of the island has access to potable water and electricity,” FEMA officials reportedly said today that the agency has reversed its decision to end the distribution of food and water aid to the people of Puerto Rico and will continue providing food and water to communities in need.

“The people of Puerto Rico are still struggling to recover from two massive hurricanes, and cutting off aid to them now would have been a travesty,” Nelson said today. “Reversing this disastrous decision was the right thing to do.”

Here’s a background article on the agency’s decision today:

In Reversal, FEMA Says It Won’t End Puerto
Rico Food And Water Distribution Wednesday

By Adrian Florido
Published: Jan. 31, 2018

A spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that the agency’s plan to end its distribution of emergency food and water in Puerto Rico and turn that responsibility over to the Puerto Rican government would not take effect on Jan. 31.

“Provision of those commodities will continue,” spokesman William Booher said. A different spokesperson, Delyris Aquino-Santiago, had earlier told NPR that it would “officially shut off” its food and water mission on the island on Jan. 31 and hand its remaining food and water supplies over to the Puerto Rican government to finish distributing. But on Wednesday, Booher said that date “was mistakenly provided.”

The agency has been working on that transition but has not finalized it, he said, adding that in the meantime, FEMA will continue providing food and water to communities on the island that need them.

The turnabout came after politicians from both political parties reacted angrily to news of FEMA’s plan and after the Puerto Rican government released a statement saying it had not been informed of the impending change. On Tuesday, lawmakers from both parties had called on the agency to reverse its decision.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson said he was “absolutely shocked” by FEMA’s decision. “I urge the administration to reverse this disastrous decision immediately and to continue providing the people of Puerto Rico with the help that they need as they are trying to recover from two disastrous hurricanes.”

His concerns were echoed by Democrats and Republicans alike, including Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

“There are still a lot of people that wonder why we are giving foreign aid to Puerto Rico,” Rubio told USA Today. “You have to remind them, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and its residents are U.S. citizens.”

But perhaps the most surprising reaction came from the government of Puerto Rico itself. In a statement, the island’s public security secretary, Hector Pesquera, said that while he was aware that FEMA would eventually transfer responsibility for distributing food and water supplies over to the island’s government, “this has not happened yet and we were not informed that supplies would stop arriving.”

His statement contradicted information that FEMA sent NPR in an email last week. An agency spokeswoman wrote that “FEMA will continue to provide commodities to the State [Puerto Rico] until January 31st.”

But as public concerns mounted over FEMA’s plans following NPR’s report, the agency released a new statement. While reiterating its belief that emergency food and water supplies were no longer needed on the island, it said that FEMA would “continue to support the Government of Puerto Rico to meet the needs they identify.”

Spokesman Booher said one thing that had not changed was FEMA’s plan to end the shipment of new food and water supplies to Puerto Rico. He said the agency is confident it has enough of a stockpile there already to meet the need that remain. If supplies run out, he said FEMA would reconsider purchasing more. He did not say when the agency would finalize its plan to hand the remaining supplies over to the Puerto Rican government.

Senators request independent review of administration’s actions to combat opioid crisis

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and others sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today requesting an independent review of the actions taken by the administration to address the opioid epidemic since he declared it a public health emergency.

President Trump directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to declare the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Oct. 26, 2017. Despite that declaration, the administration has yet to officially allocate new funds to address the crisis and, instead, has proposed funding cuts to several agencies responding to the crisis.

“Given the severity of the crisis, we have grown increasingly concerned by reports that the President has done little to make use of his public health emergency declaration, leaving state and local communities without the resources they need to fight the opioid epidemic,” the senators wrote. “Despite saying it would work with Congress, the White House has put forward no proposals for authorizing new funding.”

To ensure the federal government is utilizing all resources available, the senators have asked the GAO to review, specifically, what resources are available to the executive branch and what steps they have taken to combat the opioid crisis since declaring the crisis a public health emergency.

An estimated 2.6 million Americans suffer from opioid use disorder and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 42,000 people died from opioid-involved overdoses in 2016. In Florida alone, more than 5,200 people have died from an opioid-related event in 2016 – a 35 percent increase from the year before.

The president’s initial emergency declaration expired on Jan. 23, 2018. On Jan. 24, Acting HHS Secretary Eric Hargan extended the emergency for another 90 days.

In addition to Nelson, the letter was signed by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

A copy of the lawmakers’ letter is here.

Wauchula man claims top prize in new FLORIDA 20X THE CASH Scratch-Off game

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The Florida Lottery announces that Salvador DeLoera, 42, of Wauchula, claimed a $1 million top prize in the FLORIDA 20X THE CASH Scratch-Off game at Florida Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee. He chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $770,000.00.

DeLoera purchased his winning ticket from Cardena Tienda Mexicana 2, located at 1775 North Florida Avenue in Wauchula. The retailer will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the winning Scratch-Off ticket.

The new $5 game, FLORIDA 20X THE CASH, launched on January 15, and features 14 top prizes of $1 million, and more than $110 million in cash prizes. The game’s overall odds of winning are one-in-4.22.

Scratch-Offs are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, generating more than $784 million for the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF) in FY 2016-17, and comprising approximately 68 percent of ticket sales.

UCF Seeks New Way to Mine Moon for Water

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UCF’s Phil Metzger and Juliet Brisset from the Florida Space Institute recently landed a contract to develop a model to mine the moon for water.

Data suggests the moon has water locked away in its icy soil, especially at the moon’s poles. The challenge is finding an effective and inexpensive way to get it.

Water is important because its chemical composition could be split into hydrogen and oxygen, which could then be made into rocket fuel. The ability to generate rocket fuel in space could open up more launch possibilities and reduce costs for transportation throughout lunar space and beyond.

Metzger and Brisset aim to come up with a viable method to extract the water. The idea would be to drill holes deep into the moon and pump heat through the holes to warm the regolith underground, which has water locked in frigid ice chunks. As the regolith warms up, the water would be released as vapor and collected through pipes in the hole.

Others have proposed having big equipment dig for the water and drag ice chunks to processing plants on the moon. But the proposed process may require equipment that has less mass and be more reliable than the wheeled digging equipment needed dig up piles of regolith and haul it to processing plants that would extract the water. By extracting the water in-place in the ground, there would be no need to move tons of soil around, Metzger said.

“When you talk about getting things into space, weight matters,” he said. “So we are looking at a technique that would require less stuff you have to transport which still gets the job done.”

Mining the moon is a focus of many researchers around the nation. But most are investigating techniques that collect and process the regolith of the moon rather than the ice. The regolith is the unconsolidated residual material that overlies the solid rock.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) has contracted the UCF duo to find out if their proposed method is realistic and cost effective.

“Procuring propellant derived from the Moon may be substantially less expensive than hauling the propellant out of Earth’s deep gravity well,” said Bernard Kutter, ULA’s chief scientist. “This in turn could reduce the cost of space transportation by as much as a factor of five.”

Those who can figure out a way to tap into water in space may be in a position to mine it and sell it for a variety of uses from life support systems and rocket fuel to radiation shielding and drinking water for space explorers.

Metzger, a planetary physicist who worked at Kennedy Space Center where he co-founded KSC Swampworks before joining UCF, is leading the project. Brisset, a research associate at the institute who has multiple degrees in mechanical and space engineering as well as physics, will work on the algorithms to run the computer simulations they hope will lead to a viable model. They also plan to hire a student to help with the testing.

The biggest challenge is a matter of geometry, Brisset said.

The team already has data that indicates heating the moon’s underground is possible. But converting the lunar ice into vapor requires high temperatures and unfortunately most of the heat will travel away through the lunar soil and be wasted.

“We have to figure out the right geometric configuration of the holes to increase the area that is heated,” Brisset said. “If we do it right, we should be able to increase the area and the time it stays warm. We will be doing a lot of modeling.”

FWC to meet Feb. 7-8 near Tallahassee

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The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will meet Feb. 7-8 at the Florida Public Safety Institute, 85 Academy Drive, Havana, FL 32333. The Institute is west of Midway on U.S. 90. Both sessions are open to the public.
The FWC is committed to providing opportunity for public input at each Commission meeting. As standard practice, the Commission welcomes public input regarding agenda items using the approved speaker registration process and time limits. To accommodate as much input as possible from those attending, the Chairman reserves the right to designate the amount of time given to each speaker, including time donation to other speakers.
The meeting will start at 8:30 a.m., and the public will be provided opportunities to speak on agenda items each day. The Commission will also provide time for public comment on subjects not on the agenda at the end of the first day, Feb. 7. Those who wish to offer comments during this period will be asked to make sure their comments are not related to any agenda item.
For the full Feb. 7-8 agenda and links to background reports, go to MyFWC.com/Commission and select “Commission Meetings.” Those who cannot attend can follow coverage at Twitter.com/MyFWC (@MyFWC) and join in the conversation by using the #FWC2017 hashtag. Check the Florida Channel for possible live video coverage at TheFloridaChannel.org.